live – John David Hickey

A few years back, I had the unbelievable honor of sharing a stage at McGill’s Pollack Hall with Concerto Della Donna for a charity event (Northern Exposure). The last piece was called “Ost for vinden”, which was a Norwegian folktale put the music. I was the storyteller and Concerto Della Donna sang the songs. It was by far the most ambitious project I have ever undertaken (back then and ever since). Thanks be to Erika Wood for believing in me.

I had a personal copy of the recording, but due to rights and other legal stuff, I wasn’t allowed to share it with anyone. All I could do was play it for people in the car. Well now the author of that piece (Marie-Claire Saindon) has put the entire recording up on her SoundCloud page. If you’re going to listen to it, I highly recommend that you put headphones on and immerse yourself in it. It’s beautiful and has brought tears to many who have listened to it.

In February 2012, I went to a festival in Mansfield, Ontario called Northern Lights Gathering and I did a show and gave a workshop on storytelling. There was also a folk-band from Sarnia called Pagan’s Folly that did their show on Saturday night, and when I saw they had a fiddle player, I approached the band. Sarah the fiddler enthusiastically agreed, we spoke quickly about the story, and then performed it. Sarah’s instincts were dead on and the story performance was unbelievably perfect (my greatest regret was that I didn’t record it).

Émilie Boisvert witnessed this performance and a couple of months later, created this work of art. I am gobsmacked at its beauty, but also to have inspired such a thing. My heartfelt thanks go to Sarah and Pagan’s Folly for their musical accompaniment and my deepest gratitude to Émilie for creating this painting. To listen to the story itself, visit Shortening the Road (although it’s not the version from that mystical night).

Tag: live

Northern Exposure: the Live Recording

Storyteller Artwork