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The Skies Above Us... The Decay Down Below: From Cavafy and Mahler to Mingus, Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden
Raul d'Gama Rose
When you hear great music, be prepared to be touched in your soul...."So now, although we lost the election, we have not lost the commitment to reclaim our country in the name of Humanity and Decency.
"Don't give up... the struggle continues!"
Like Cavafy and Mahler, Mingus and Coleman, Charlie Haden and a growing group of musicians, committed to improving the human condition, have never given up the struggle to hold up a mirror to society by giving us art in the name of Humanity and Decency. Haden had done so publicly in the past (notably in 1971, when he dedicated his performance of "Song for Che" in Portugal to the anti-colonialist revolutionaries in Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau, leading to his subsequent arrest by the then-repressive Portuguese regime) and in the political statements on Ballad of the Fallen (ECM, 1983) and with Dream Keeper (Polydor, 1990), once again, Charlie Haden and Liberation Music Orchestra have created a stark image of the America that the world sees—hypocritical and warmongering. Once again, holding up his mirror to society the artist—in this case the deeply committed bassist—has created bass lines so lyrical that you hear in their every note a growling of the heartbeat that breaks through to become strong and free...
And suddenly we can hear the sound of hope... A hope that belies love and faith in humanity and fills us all with a sense of the ultimate triumph of the human soul... Now all we need to do is listen, take heed and move forward.
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