David Dalle
Thursday February 10th, 2022 with David Dalle
George Crumb; Vietnam; celebrating Senegal

This past weekend the Africa Cup of Nations was decided with Senegal beating Egypt, winning the cup for the first time. The final had added drama because two of the biggest stars in English Premiere League football, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané, are teammates for Liverpool FC, but played against each other in this final (both players do enormous charitable work at home and beloved). Both stated that, though they have won Europe's and the Premier League's biggest prizes, winning the Africa Cup of Nations for their home country was more important. We will celebrate Senegal's first win with Senegalese music! Before we get to Senegal, we will start the show with American composer George Crumb's most famous work, "Black Angels - Thirteen Images From the Dark Land" for electric String Quartet. This work was composed in 1970 as threnody for the Vietnam War. Crumb states that "the work portrays a voyage of the soul. The three stages of this voyage are Departure (fall from grace), Absence (spiritual annihilation) and Return (redemption)." The three main movements are subdivided into 13 smaller sections: I. Departure Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects Sounds of Bones and Flutes Lost Bells Devil-music Danse Macabre II. Absence Pavana Lachrymae Threnody II: Black Angels! Sarabanda de la Muerte Oscura Lost Bells (Echo) III. Return God-music Ancient Voices Ancient Voices (Echo) Threnody III: Night of the Electric Insects George Crumb died this week aged 92 years old.