This morning we welcome vocalist and composer Sara Serpa to pick three Sunday morning musical selections for us.
Sara has been crafting composed and improvised music for over 10 years, utilising her classically-trained voice on her compositions. Her approach touches on various musical threads, but it is not necessarily tethered to any—refracting, bending, suspending, and shifting sounds and syllables, creating a kind of linguistic limbo.
Sara Serpa’s selection
Béla Bartók – Violin Duets, N.28 — Sorrow
Sara Serpa: ” I have been learning Béla Bartók’s vocal music for a year now, and it has been an incredible experience. I practiced the Mikrokosmos for Piano when I was a child, but this immersive practice has exposed me more to his music and compositions, and I just love it. From the vocal works, I started digging more into his instrumental music, and this particular violin duet has been on my mind for a while now. “
Fanta Damba & Batourou Sekou Kouyaté – Tatou
Sara Serpa: ” I discovered this singer’s work recently. From Mali, she is still alive but retired in 1985. I love her voice, her sound, her phrasing, her time. I am drawn to her sound, and the combination of voice and cora is really beautiful. “
Nina Simone – Just in Time (Live at The Village Gate)
Sara Serpa: ” My favorite version of Just in Time, it is so different from all the other versions I have heard of this famous jazz standard. Nina Simone is so joyful here, there is so much space, her piano solo is incredible. The fact that was recorded live just shows her brilliance even more. “
MailTape’s selection
Sara Serpa & André Matos – Lisboa
Sanjay: ” This tune, a nod to their old haunt, is in an airy but enigmatic space for me. Sara’s atmospherics over André’s spare phrasing and minimalist percussion brings that to life after a purposefully tentative start. “
Cécile McLorin Salvant – You’ve Got to Give Me Some
Sanjay: ” From her Dreams & Daggers album, Cécile brings a puckish heat to Bessie Smith’s ‘You’ve Got to Give Me Some’: a blues aria of sexual innuendo with some great double meanings about butchers and milkmen. “
Amira Kheir – Amwaj (Waves)
Sanjay: ” Amira Kheir picked a few Sunday morning tunes for us back in October 2017. She has since released a new album—Mystic Dance—and this is its opening track. Its hypnotic, mellow and steady rhythm, alongside a modestly groovy bass, melodically evoking its name. “
Meeta Pandit – Thumri Pilu (Live)
Sanjay: ” This thumri is a lilting raga in Pilu by the South Asian classical musician, Meeta Pandit, of the Gwalior Gharana. Meeta’s voice stretches over an impressively wide range of over three octaves. She is also equally adept with genres of Tarana, Bhajan and Sufi, as well as cross-cultural music. ”
That’s it for this morning. As always thanks so much for listening! Much love and respect to Sara Serpa for her Sunday selections, and to Camille Célestin for this episode’s cool illustration.
