Program Notes
Natalie Joachim, vocals, flute, and electronics
Spektral Quartet

Clara Lyon, violin
Maeve Fienberg, violin
Doyle Armbrust, viola
Russell Rolen, cello

Streaming Premiere
Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 7pm

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at Black Ensemble Theater, Chicago, on September 15, 2020.

PROGRAM

Fanm d’Ayiti
by Nathalie Joachim

Interlude: Couldn’t Tell Her What to Do

Papa Loko
Traditional Haitian song, arranged by Nathalie Joachim

Interlude – September 24, 1918

Manman m voye m peze kafe
Original song by Emerante de Pradines (1918–2018), arranged by Nathalie Joachim

Legba na konsole
Original song by Emerante de Pradines, arranged by Nathalie Joachim

Madan Bellegarde
Lyrics by Ipheta Fortuma, music by Nathalie Joachim

Suite pou Dantan: Prelid
Lyrics from a traditional Haitian song, music by Nathalie Joachim

Suite pou Dantan: Alléluia
Lyrics from a traditional church hymn, music by Nathalie Joachim

Suite pou Dantan: Resevwa Li
Lyrics from a traditional Haitian song, music by Nathalie Joachim

Interlude: The Ones I Listened To

Lamizè pa dous
Traditional Haitian song, arranged by Nathalie Joachim

Fanm d’Ayiti
Traditional Haitian song, arranged by Nathalie Joachim

Note: following its premiere, the video recording of this concert will be available on demand through January 12, 2021.

My journey to Fanm d’Ayiti started in late 2015, shortly after the passing of my maternal grandmother. She and I spent many a cherished moment underneath the mango and coconut trees in her yard in Haiti—and in my childhood home in America—singing songs with one another. It was our way of telling each other stories, and her way of passing on a centuries-long cultural practice of oral history. She taught me to embrace and share my heart freely through song, without fear of judgment. This honesty and absence of judgment is how she lived her life, as can be heard in her own words on “Madan Bellegarde,” one of this programs featured works.

Her absence ignited a deep desire for understanding in me. In what ways did our voices connect with the voices of other Haitian women? What did our songs tell us about our past, and what might they mean for the future?

The foundation of Fanm d’Ayiti began to reveal itself readily through conversation: with my family, and with others willing to share their piece of our cultural puzzle. These ex­changes led me to learn about dozens of Hai­tian female artists, each committed to carrying forward the story of the first free black republic—people known for making treasured somethings out of nothing. These women used their voices to uplift future generations by celebrating our strength.

In Fanm d’Ayiti, I share recordings from my conversations with three women: Emerante de Pradines, a prized voice of Haiti’s Golden Age; Milena Sandler, daughter of the late, famed chanteuse Toto Bissainthe; and celebrated vodou songstress Carole Demesmin.

Emerante, at 98 years old, speaks of our connection to one another as female Haitian artists and a deep need to return home and help our people. This is one of her final recorded interviews prior to her passing in January 2018. Milena speaks of her mother’s devotion to authentic artistry and social justice, which drove her to sing freedom songs fearlessly in the face of notorious Haitian dictator François Du­valier. Carole speaks of using her songs to offer light in a time of darkness in Haiti, and of advancing the work of Emerante and Toto into the next generation.

These voices and my grandmother’s are intertwined with recordings of the girls choir from my family’s farming village of Dantan, sending their voices into heaven with hope for tomorrow. I feel lucky to be joining my voice with theirs, bringing listeners a sonic portfolio of my originals and arrangements of historic Haitian songs, woven together in a musical celebration of activism and hope.

The entrance to my grandmother’s yard was a beautiful archway of red hibiscus flowers—her favorite, and a national emblem of Haiti. Walking through that archway into her light was a rite of passage. This work has also welcomed me into a space of self-discovery and historical reckoning, guided by the irrepressible spirit of my ancestors… a revelation now given voice through Fanm d’Ayiti.

Nathalie Joachim is a Grammy-nominated flutist, composer, and vocalist. The Brooklyn born Haitian-American artist is hailed for being “a fresh and invigorating cross-cultural voice” (The Nation). She is co-founder of the critically acclaimed urban art pop duo Flutronix and comfortably navigates all kinds of music, from classical to indie-rock, all while advocating for social change and cultural awareness. A 2020  United States Artist Fellow and 2019–20 Kaufman Music Center Artist-in-Residence, Joachim has performed and recorded with an impressive range of today’s most exciting artists and ensembles, including Bryce Dessner, Bon­nie “Prince” Billy, Richard Reed Parry, Miguel Zenón, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and is the former flutist of the contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird. As a composer, Joachim is regularly commissioned to write for instrumental and vocal artists, dance, and interdisciplinary theater, each highlighting her unique electroacoustic style. Her Fanm d’Ayiti is an evening-length work for flute, voice, string quartet, and electronics that celebrates some of Haiti’s most iconic yet under recognized female artists, and explores Joachim’s personal Haitian heritage. The work, released in 2019 on New Amsterdam Records as Joachim’s first featured solo album, received a Grammy Award nomination for Best World Music Album.

SPEKTRAL QUARTET

The three-time Grammy-nominated Spektral Quartet actively pursues a vivid conversation between exhilarating works of the traditional repertoire and those written this decade, this year, or even this week. Since its inception in 2010, Spektral has become known for creating seamless connections across centuries, drawing in the listener with charismatic deliveries, interactive and intimate concert formats, and bold, inquisitive programming.

With a tour schedule that routinely includes some of the country’s most notable concert venues—including the Kennedy Center, Miller Theater, Library of Congress, and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts—the quartet also takes great pride in its home city of Chicago: championing the work of local composers, bridging social and aesthetic partitions, and cultivating its ongoing residency at the University of Chicago.

Named “Chicagoans of the Year” by the Chicago Tribune in 2017, Spektral Quartet first attracted national attention in 2013 with Mobile Miniatures—a project in which over 40 composers including David Lang, Shulamit Ran, and Nico Muhly were commissioned to write string quartet ringtones for mobile devices. (Spektral has enhanced the project’s scope and scale with each passing season to include new works from luminaries including Anna Thor­valds­dottir, George Lewis, and Augusta Read Thomas.) The group has launched three unique concert series in Chicago: Close Encounters, which elevates listeners’ enjoyment of non-mainstream music through gastronomy, architecture, and nature in exclusive settings; the Dovetail Series, which unites Chicago’s historically segregated north and south sides by way of improvisation and devised collaborations; and Once More, With Feeling!, a series that answers contemporary music’s most daunting hurdle by presenting an unfamiliar work twice on the same program, with a charismatic composer interview in between.

The quartet’s distinguished artistic collaborators include Claire Chase (flutist, Inter­na­tional Contemporary Ensemble founder, MacArthur fellow), Theaster Gates (artist, Rebuild Foun­dation founder), Julia Holter (critically acclaimed songwriter and Domino Records recording artist), Nathalie Joachim (composer, Flutronix co-founder, Eighth Blackbird flutist), Mark DeChiazza (choreographer with credits including Kronos Quartet, John Luther Adams, and Steven Mackey), and Miguel Zenón (saxophonist, MacArthur and Guggenheim fellow).

Committed to both sustaining and transforming the string quartet tradition, Spektral Quartet is in-demand for its presentations on inclusion, progressive programming, and entrepreneurship at leading institutions and programs around the country including Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, the New World Symphony, and the National Association of Schools of Music.

Special Guests

Emerante de Pradines (Interlude: September 24, 1918; Interlude: The Ones I Listened To); Michelange Lundi and the Girls Choir of École Presbyterale Fatima de Dantan (“Suite pou Dan­tan”); Milena Sandler (Interlude: Couldn’t Tell Her What to Do; Interlude: The Ones I Listened To); Ipheta Fortuma (“Madan Belle­garde”); Carole Demesmin (Interlude: The Ones I Listened To)

All original music and arrangements © 2018 Nathalie Joachim and Flutronix Publishing (ASCAP).

Special Thanks

For their support of the recording, commission, and world premiere performances of Fanm d’Ayiti: Kate Nordstrum and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music Series, Conor O’Neil and the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, Justus Schlichting, and New Music USA.

Willy Joachim and Yolaine Chatelain, Toto Bissainthe, Carole Demesmin, Emerante de Pradines, Bing Chang, Jean Joseph and Betty Exume, Juliana “Gigi” Joseph, James Lauture, Jean Ary Louis, Rosemana Prosper, Milena Sandler and Joel Widmaier, Farah Cedieu, Lucy Dhegrae, JP Merz, Yves Penel, Jean-Claude Nazon, and Jon Oulman.

“This work would not have been made possible without the tremendous kindness and encouragement of my family and friends, the people of Haiti, and the ancestors who guided me through this process.”

—Nathalie Joachim

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