12 June 2011

hadestown

Quite by accident I stumbled across this delightful folk-opera by Anais Mitchell with the lovely rumbling Greg Brown playing the role of Hades. I don't know an awful lot more than what the blurb tells us on the video so (and I'm hoping no-one takes offence at this) I'm just going to cut and paste it here:


Hadestown: A folk opera retelling of the story of Orpheous journey to the underworld to save his wife Eurydice, in the setting of a post-apocalyptic depression era America. Rich with archetypal images and elements, and in the context of the current global economic problems (even though it was written years before the Sept 08 banking crisis), it is more Americana than Greek tragedy, although it closely follows this Orpheous story version. The arrangements, the lyrical story creation, and the players, including Greg Brown as Hades in "Why We Build..." and Ani DiFranco as Persephone in Our Lady of the..." are robust, masterful and immaculate. This recording is destined to be considered a Masterpiece amongst musicians and listeners alike.


Who said folk music doesn't have balls? 

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