A chance encounter at the Americana Conference in Nashville last September led to me to the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center in NYC in October. The occasion was an event called “From Story to Song“, produced by NYC-based Keepsake House.
The premise of the event was to pair a storyteller with a musical artist and have the songwriter create a song from the storyteller’s tale. It being the age of Covid, the storytellers and songwriters collaborated over Zoom. The result being that the night of the performance was simultaneously the storytellers first time hearing the songs and meeting their collaborators.
Each segment of the live performance featured the storyteller sharing the relevant piece of their work. The musician then premiered the composition that resulted from the collaboration.
The performances were both magnificent and heavy. The stories and songs generally focused on family, specifically inter-generational relationships, and the immigrant experience of trying to strike a balance between acclimation and maintaining a connection to familial heritage.
Did I mention the orchestra? The songwriters performed with a 12 piece ensemble that included strings and brass. It made for some epic performances.
Here are videos of the four pairings that night:
Alex Wong <> David Glover (poet)
Jay Miners <> Claudia Acevedo-Quiñones (poet)
Marcie Hernandez <> Annie Tan (activist)
Erika Ji <> Kelly Bachman (comedian)
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.