Episode 029 : Guy Mendilow
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I first got intrigued about Guy Mendilow from an article in the JP Gazette. I was familiar with his work, but didn't realize that he was a neighbor in my hometown of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. As I began digging deeper into his music, I got more fascinated: a mixture of folk, jazz, rock, overtone singing, and infused with elements of music from around the world, it really did sound like something completely unique.
Truth is, Mendilow is something of an indication of how small our world really has become. A citizen of the Great Britain, Israel, and the United States, he has lived all over the world (due to his father, a musician-turned-professor who was invited to a succession of teaching posts), including South Africa, Israel, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. Mendilow's language skills are also telling: he sings in six tongues and is fluent in four: Hebrew, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
As we discuss in the interview, music has been an integral part of Mendilow's home and family lives. He also talks about his time in his early teens with the American Boychoir, which brought Mendilow on the road performing around the world, as well as learning sitar from Hasu Patel, collaborations with singer/songwriter Josh Ritter (who I interviewed back in 2003), and the various approaches he's learned over the years from other musicians.
A recent Boston Phoenix article states "Mendilow is no dilettante. He learned the music of these countries by living and working there — so when he sings about a massacre by paramilitaries in Chiapas, he knows what he’s talking about." And The Jewish Advocate writes that “The glory of what [Mendilow] does is finding a common ground among different cultures."
Mendilow's debut, Soar Away Home, was released in 2001 and it's a record Mendilow now sees as being more folk music than anything, but it did hint at musical explorations and a singing style that he has begun to make his own. The debut experimented with overtone singing, also known as throat singing, which is a vocal technique found in Central Asian cultures where one singer produces two pitches simultaneously.
Mendilow also just released his second CD, Guy Mendilow Live, a compilation of recordings from performances in Boston and New Jersey that captures some of the more spontaneous and magical moments that occur when musicians are onstage together. Mendilow's current band includes Daniel Gale (Violin, Cajun accordion, Percussion), Andy Bergman (Electric Mbira, clarinet, Jaw Harp, Flutes, Penny-whistle, Saxophones, Percussion), Shannon Lambert-Ryan (Vocals), and Gregor Harvey (Octave Mandolin, Mandolin, Guitar, Vocals).
Mendilow is also an accomplished musical educator, with classes and workshops based upon the theories of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, a Swiss composer who believed that the human body is the source of all musical ideas. He called his approach to music education Eurhythmics. It means, literally, "good rhythm". Followers of Dalcroze include theatre pioneer Constatin Stanislavski, writer George Bernard Shaw, choreographer Meredith Monk, and singer Annie Lenox, who named her band 1980’s The Eurythmics (with a slightly different spelling) after this approach. Mendilow has presented at workshops, courses, and conferences for adults and children across the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and abroad.
We recently met in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (on a cool and perfect Sunday morning in between near-constant rains and the inevitable New England summer swelter) to discuss:
* how the diverse cultures and sounds that he’s grown up around has mixed into his music
* how he has incorporated the theories of Dalcroze into his music education programs
* where politics comes into play in his work and his lyrics
Mendilow is also on the road this summer, with shows in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylviania, and Wisconsin in July and August.
Music selects featured in the interview include:
1) Experiment (Guy Mendilow Live) (in preview)
2) Awendeje (Guy Mendilow Live)
3) Soar Away Home (Soar Away Home)
4) Blackberry Blossom (Soar Away Home)
5) True Colors (from American Boychoir)
6) The Running Game (Soar Away Home)
7) Raga Darbari-Kanada (from Hasu Patel)
8) Hine Ma Tov (Guy Mendilow Live)
9) La Avot Sheli (Guy Mendilow Live)
10) Carry On (Soar Away Home)
11) Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain (Soar Away Home)
12) Experiment In Tintal For Overtone Singing, Cello And Violin (Soar Away Home)
13) Potters's Wheel (from Josh Ritter with Guy Mendilow)
14) Aemer Ahava La Yam (Guy Mendilow Live)
15) Gesher Tsar Meod (Guy Mendilow Live)
16) Simple Gifts (Guy Mendilow Live)
17) Pura Samine (A Joyous Number with electric mbira, berimbau) (live and unreleased)
Photo by Clark Gainnie
Guy Mendilow recommends the Warsaw Village Band and Ghazal.
Well-Rounded Radio recommends: Selective Service.
