Ardea Ensemble presents an evening of vocal traditions from around the world, featuring selections from Appalachia, The Philippines, Taiwan, Palestine Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia, and more. Our program focuses on themes of preservation, oral tradition, co-arrangement, and building solidarity, featuring new selections arranged by ensemble members Joe Galang, Sean Thompson, and Nuxia Peng.
About Ardea: Ardea is a Bay Area voice ensemble dedicated to exploring folk polyphony, voice traditions, and contemporary and classical composition. We place special emphasis upon using singing and choral traditions as vehicles for cultural and linguistic preservation, creative collaboration, music education, original arrangements, vocal exploration, and solidarity-building. Our current members are Joe Galang, Tasya Abbott, Nuxia Peng, Amy Loftus, Jordan Lowe, Sean Emmett Thompson, Rowan Katz, and Nuru Boone - each of whom are multifaceted artists, scholars, composers, and arrangers performing music in the Bay Area and beyond. Recently, Ardea has been honored to sing at The DeYoung Museum, Our Freedom Festival, and The Shop at 1525 Peralta.
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PROGRAM
Flos In Monte Cernitur (On the mountain a flower is discerned) A 12th century early music conductus frequently attributed to Hildegarde of Bingen, arranged by Sean Thompson for Ardea Ensemble.
All Shall Be Well And All Shall Be Well, All Manner of Thing Shall Be Well The famous mystic transmission from 14th century Anchoress and Christian Mystic Julian of Norwich, who wrote these words after receiving a vision from Christ. This melody was composed by Folklorist Danica Boyce, improvised as a round for 8 voices by Ardea.
Deng Shan Lie Che (Mountain Train) A Taiwanese folk song composed by educator, politician, and Indigenous organizer Gao Yi-Sheng, also known as Yata'uyungana, his Tsao name. The song isabout a train in Taiwan’s Alishan district that takes you on a journey through the mountains of Alishan, naming Indigenous historical sites and villages on the way, exploring the realities and violences of colonialism juxtaposed against the natural landscape and Indigenous history and presence in the mountains. Arranged by Nuxia Peng.
Saan Ka Ma Naronoon (Where You Are) A beloved Filipino Kundiman (or art song) and an important piece of cultural folk music about longing and distance, now frequently sung at funerals. Originally composed by Restie Umali and Levi Celerio, arranged by Ryan Cybayab in 1981, Joe Galang’s new arrangement for Ardea Ensemble deepens the jazz harmonic context and melodic theme building for eight voices.
Sheel Sheel Ya Ajmal Sheel, aka "The Drone Song" A Palestinian folk-resistance song made famous during the ongoing Palestinian genocide by Ahmed Muin AbuAmsha of Gaza Birds Singing, a music education and child welfare initiative in Gaza.
By the Floods of Babylon This canon is based on Psalm 137, which portrays the sorrow of the Israelites exiled in Babylon. The lyrics, “By the floods of Babylon we sat down and wept for thee, Zion,” express a longing for the lost homeland and faith.
Ergen Deda A Bulgarian folk song about a foolish older man, the “Ergen Deda”, who feels young at heart and chases around the village’s young girls in the middle of their dance.
Letila Zozulya A Ukrainian folk song about a lonely young woman who learns a heartbreaking truth from a cuckoo bird - she has fallen in love with a Cossack who already has a family.
Tsintskaro A Georgian folk song of unrequited love. It tells of a young man who, while passing by a spring, encounters a beautiful girl carrying a water jug; when he speaks to her, she becomes angry and turns away. This arrangement was initially popularized by the famous Georgian singer Hamlet Gonashvili.
Žegar Polje Žegar Polje is a traditional song from the village of Žegar in the Dalmatia region of present-day Croatia. It is a proud ode to its verdant fields and rivers, and in a way, to the concept of home itself.
Scarborough Fair/Canticle Joe Galang’s arrangement of a traditional ballad from Yorkshire, England, that you have probably heard before.
Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens & Bright Morning Stars Appalachian Folk Traditionals co-arranged by Ardea, transcribed by Joe Galang and Amy Loftus.
How Can I Keep from Singing? An American hymn first published in 1868, later re-written and re-arranged by Pete Seeger as a protest song. This version is co-arranged by Ardea, based on the arrangement by folk musicians and scholars Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir, and Ed Trickett.