Living & Arts
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Epic poem ‘Beowulf’ returns to its musical roots BY DINA ZINGARO dzingar1@swarthmore.edu Typically, one is primarily exposed to the epic poem “Beowulf” in its written form. Swarthmore students, however, will have the opportunity to appreciate the verses in its medieval oral tradition. World renowned vocalist and musician Benjamin Bagby will perform “Beowulf” this Friday, Nov. 5 in LPAC at 8 p.m. in the story telling tradition characteristic of the medieval bard or poet. With “Beowulf”’s roots in the art of the scope or entertainer of early medieval England, bardic story-tellers would recite the Anglo-Saxon epic poem at formal gatherings. Drawing from this tradition of tribal society, Bagby uses a six-stringed harp in his re-telling of the story in both song and speech. Though a modern English translation is projected on a screen for the audience, Bagby even performs in the dead language of Anglo-Saxon, or Old English. Famous for his “Beowulf” project, Bagby first gained worldwide acclaim in his direction of “Sequentia,” an ensemble he founded in 1974 that is dedicated to performing medieval music. After his musical studies in the U.S. at Oberlin College and later in Switzerland, he founded the ensemble in Germany and eventually relocated it to Paris where he now teaches medieval music performance practice at the Sorbonne University. Bagby remembers being fond of “Beowulf” as a child, but always considered the poem solely a literary text. After
his performance work with “Sequentia,” Bagby saw Beowulf as a performance text and began to consider the project of mixing instrument and word. To make the poem into a performance, Bagby first envisioned the performance’s “sound-image,” which is the image of how the sound of the language, in this case Old English or Anglo Saxon, can be employed musically with singing. “It was just an image which allowed me to then proceed with the work — kind of like unlocking the door,” Bagby said. “In other words, I didn’t approach it as an intellectual process. It started with a real gut reaction.” Bagby performed a short scene from “Beowulf” in 1987 as a segment in a “Sequentia” concert program of medieval English music. The Utrecht Early Music Festival in the Netherlands invited Bagby to perform “Beowulf” in 1990 and in less than five months, Bagby transformed his original 10-minute song into an hour-long performance of the epic poem. Bagby then gained recognition in his performances across Europe and North America. Bards performed stories such as “Beowulf” over a few days, usually performing about 400 lines per evening. Currently, he performs one third of the poem, which is about 1,062 lines of text. To learn the remaining two thirds would require him to cease his other work in order to dedicate the time for memorization. For his performance, Bagby uses a specially made instrument, a six-stringed harp, fashioned after the medieval lyre
excavated from a 7th-century German nobleman’s grave. Bagby taught himself to play the instrument and studied the use of such small-sized harps in other cultures such as Africa and Asia. “I am not copying techniques from another culture, but instead I am learning from how they approach the instrument, how they view it and how it is employed,” Bagby said. The crafting of his performance did not involve any musical notation, but Bagby studied extensively early medieval modal theory, which is the study of melodies or harmonies based on modes other than the ordinary major and minor scales. Bagby used his own artistic license to choose and combine the various sounds, especially since he is limited in using his hands for expressive means. However, he considers such artistic limitations also to be a blessing. “In a way, the extreme limitation of the circumstances of performance are to my benefit because clearly when you are working with a lot of limitations, you begin [to be] much more creative,” Bagby said. To bring life to the performance, Bagby heightens his speech selectively and relies on facial expressions. He also draws from traditional story-telling techniques and also adds his own style from his experience in training as an actor and singer. In 2002, Professor of English Literature Craig Williamson attended Bagby’s performance at Bryn Mawr College. Now, as head of the Medieval Studies program, Williamson invited Bagby to perform at Swarthmore. He recalls how Bagby “took
on the voice of the characters,” especially when narrating verses about the monster, Grendel. “It’s pretty spectacular. You are not actually sitting at a table eating meat and drinking, but it does make you feel like you are in an eighth-century gathering,” Williamson said. “We don’t really have many opportunities to actually experience what oral forms of prose were like.” “Beowulf,” written between the eighth and eleventh centuries, continues to live on in contemporary culture in novels, translations, comic books and in the 2007 film “Beowulf.” In regards to this enduring appeal, Bagby points to the tale’s “archaic or ahistorical” character. Bagby feels the text’s universal concepts of power, strength, ambition and especially of fearlessness attract readers. “We would all love to be fearless, but we live in a world of fear,” Bagby said. “[Bagby] has this incredible voice and energy to him - it really feels like watching a 10th century bard,” Ben Hattem ’12 said. “I l o v e Beowulf, and Bagby does it the way it's supposed to be done.” Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/lpek0, http://tiny.cc/43v3tgv8vl
S watStyleSnapshot Name: Ming Cai Year: 2011 From: Wynnewood, PA Current Residence: The Barn What She’s Wearing: “My top and my skirt and my belt are all from Goodwill,” Cai said. Her camel corduroy jacket is from American Apparel and her heels, worn with grey tights, are the Sunset Sandals from Madewell. Her salmon hued bag is by Swedish brand Fjallraven, which Cai calls the “L.L. Bean of Sweden,” but she purchased it from the online store Need Supply Co. Cai’s pocket watch necklace is from Etsy and her silver knuckle ring is from H&M. “My sunglasses are vintage Ray Ban before Ray Ban switched over from being Bausch & Lomb,” she said. From the widely coveted Madewell heels to the exquisite combination of camel and red, Cai is wearing, headto-toe, one of the most sartorially spot-on outfits for fall. How She Describes Her Personal Style: “My style’s kind of all over the place now,” Cai said. “There are days when I dress sort of ... androgynously and then there are days when I’m really girly.” Cai gravitates towards items or outfits that evoke the look of the 50s and early 60s, specifically those that have cinched waists. While Cai is sporting a below-the-knee skirt in the outfit pictured, she admitted it wasn’t something she used to typically wear. “A few years ago, I would tend not to wear anything that went below my knees, but lately I’ve found myself wearing a lot of floor-length dresses, floor-length skirts, [and] things that I guess [are] a little more modest-looking,” she said. Fashion Influences / Inspiration: Cai used to browse through many fashion blogs. Now, she has both a tumblr blog and a bloglovin account, which organizes all your favorite blogs onto one place and checks those out for both fashion and photography blogs. “Any sort of photography tends to inspire me more
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now,” Cai said, whose favorite photographers include Jeff Wall and Helmut Newton. Some photography blogs she looks at include the street style blog Turned Out and Half Girl, which hails from Copenhagen. Cai studied abroad in Copenhagen last year and loved how put together Swedish girls were, even when they were riding around the city on their bikes. “Definitely, I think [it] influenced how I dressed on a dayto-day basis,” she said. She also draws inspiration from her favorite TV show, “Twin Peaks,” as she finds her style to be “somewhere in between the Log Lady and Audrey Horne,” as well as movies, like Sissy Spacek’s paired-down look in “The Bad Lands.” Besides photography and film, Cai also likes designers like Chloé, A.P.C., Celine and Marni. Where She Shops: Cai tends to shop online at “every site possible,” but focuses more on items she loves rather than brands. While she’s been trying to shop less, she enjoys eBay hunts for specific items and also hits up the thrift store at the local Trinity Church. Favorite Items in Her Closet: “I have this one pair of black patent Ferragamo heels that I got a thrift store,” Cai said. “Those have lasted me through every sort of situation here, from interviews to Pub Nite or Olde Club shows.” She also loves wearing an off-white 50s shirtwaist dress with a leaf print that she purchased on eBay.
November 4, 2010
Do you think you (or a professor) have great style? Then submit a photo of you in your best outfit to cryder1@swarthmore.edu. Please include your name and contact information.
TEXT BY CAMILA RYDER, PHOTO BY MING CAI
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