Back in November, we shared a special guest article from London-born singer songwriter and composer Ana Silvera on Light, Console Me, a project featuring Gambian kora master Sefo Kanuteh. It consisted of three movements and reflected on the Mourner’s Kaddish – an Aramaic prayer from the Jewish tradition. In her own words “I was to create something that meditated on these themes of grief and sadness – relevant, given what was unfolding in our midst.”
Her latest release, titled Gift, also consists of three pieces of music, one of which was written for BBC Radio 3’s The Verb and one a Björk cover – All three songs were composed or arranged on the harmonium. While different, Ana’s three songs are just as moving and enchanting in their own way as Light, Console Me.
She shared the following on the three tracks – the final piece, Björk’s Jóga, features Simran Singh on viola and violin.
Ana Silvera on Gift
‘One Morning‘ was written as part of a lockdown challenge to write a song on the theme of ‘Wherever I Go, There I Am’ and this is what emerged.
‘Exile‘ was written for Radio 3’s The Verb, a commission on the theme of ‘The Language of Leaving’, an anthology concerning different states of exile. This is a bit of a sketch and I plan to record a fuller version at some point, but I like the bare-bones of it for now.
‘Jóga‘ is one of my favourite songs by Bjørk, and has been a constant refrain in my head this year with its chorus of ‘state of emergency…’.
Order Gift via Bandcamp here: https://anasilvera.bandcamp.com/album/gift
Photo Credit: Matt Hensby