Sassafrass and Norse Mythology

[alexxkay]

Last Saturday, I went to a concert by Sassafrass, which was pretty awesome. Skill levels varied, in both composition and performance, but they seem to be improving on both fronts. The material from their currently-in-progress concept CD based on Norse mythology was, for me, significantly the best material (not to say the rest was bad, mind you). I was sad that gyzki wasn't there, as he would have gotten quite a kick out of it.

I've held off on posting, because I was waiting for YouTube videos to show up that I could link to. Not all of them have yet, but I'm going ahead and linking anyways. (None of the recordings are as good as live, however, so do check them out in person if you can.)

My Brother, My Enemy. A brilliantly-structured duet between Odin and Loki.

(I went up to Emily/Loki after the concert to praise both the composer and her performance. She was very glad, as the composer (who wasn't at the concert) often plays the part of Loki, and she was trying hard to "live up to" her performance. Having done some comparisons via YouTube, I actually prefer Emily and Kara's version. I'm not an expert at musicality, so Amy may be a better singer -- but Emily and Kara are better *actresses*, and that's very relevant for this piece.)

Hearthfire. A Norse nobleman welcomes a traveler to his house, but not all is as it seems. (From open filk at Boskone 2010.)

The Futhark Song. Learn your nordic runes!

Also (alas no video yet) Ice and Fire. Snorri Sturlsson asks the Seeress how the world was created, and gets the lowdown (though they disagree on some of the details :-).

Comments

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Hm. My Brother, My Enemy sounds good. But, given the characters involved I wonder what it'd be like if sung by two men.

[negothick.livejournal.com]

I second that heartily! I'm afraid I have such cognitive dissonance hearing these sweet voices, little say watching the sweet young faces, that I simply can't suspend disbelief.
The composer stretches the boundaries of what can be done with a capella, and the high quality of the lyrics means that any accompanying instruments might just blur them further (it's hard enough to understand them). But I'd like to hear this done by a bass and a baritone, at a slower speed.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Ada as Loki, in rich costume and red contact lenses?

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

I surrender. I've been hopelessly fanboyish over this group for a while. I searched out videos and made a private Google Documents page of it, but now I'm publishing it so I can link to it here:
Sassafrass on the Web

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Nope. If she had lenses in any of the online videos, they weren't clear enough to see.