Embracing another autumn sabbath...

As I slowly ease into this autumn Sabbath, I find myself listening to Rokia Traore and reading Mary Oliver.

We came upon Traore in London a few years ago doing a concert marking 500 years of Mozart's music. Wondering how she might meld West African sounds into classical European music was enough of a challenge to get us to her show... and it was unlike anything I have ever experienced. To be sure, Traore did NOT perform anything even remotely Mozart-like; but she DID capture the composer's playfulness, skill and commitment to beauty. What's more, she blended her songs into a video montage that simultaneously told the story of an immigrants entry into England and a West African wisdom tale. Brilliant.

Mary Oliver, writing in another context entirely, thinks of Mozart like this in her poem, "Mozart, for Example (in Thirst, Beacon Press: 2006.)

All the quick notes

Mozart didn't have time to use

before he entered the cloud-boat

are falling now from the beaks

of the finches

that have gathered from the joyous summer

into the hard winter

and, like Mozart, they speak of nothing

but light and delight,

though it is true, the heavy blades of the world

are still pounding underneath.

And this is what you can do too, maybe,

if you life simply and with a lyrical heart

in the cumbered neighborhoods or even,

as Mozart sometimes managed to, in a palace,

offering tune after tune after tune,

making some hard-hearted prince

prudent and kind, just by being happy.

photo credit: dianne de mott