Amid the vibrancies of fall, a spectrum of colors bursting from the trees and drifting to the earth, leaving bare skeletal figures to be frozen and, eventually, reawoken — The ReMemberers presents “The Lindworm” at True Nature on Oct. 9.
Recalling the oldest of human traditions, this mythical performance weaves storytelling with music, humor and poetic depth to deliver a soul-penetrating experience.
“These old folk tales that were told by our ancestors and their ancestors, they talk about what it means to go down into darker spaces, darker places, realms of uncertainty, realms of silence, realms of loss. The secret to all of this is, it’s down there that we find the dreams. It’s down in those darker realms that we find mystery, imagination, soulfulness, tenderness,” Alex Harvey, one of the three performers, told The Sopris Sun.
The ReMemberers is a traveling trio of musicians and mythtellers based out of the Berkshires in Massachusetts. They’re motivated to connect audiences with grander realms of belonging. “For whatever reason, we have become dismembered through life — through severing, through our disconnection with the ancestors, our disconnection with the land, our disconnection with each other,” Harvey continued. “These stories are built and created and performed and whispered into the mind to try and put together those dismembered parts of us. They’re trying to re-member us.”
So, what is a lindworm? In Scandinavian folklore, it’s a dragon-like creature, without wings, like a monstrous, armed serpent. And what does “The Lindworm” remember for us?
“It is about how avoidance works,” Havey explained, “neglect, reactivity, shame. And then, the way in which the things we try to hide grow into monsters in the shadows.” It’s the story of two princely brothers, one that is “normal” and greets the day, and the other a lindworm hidden from sight until he grows too big to be ignored. Then, a wise shepherdess who regards the creature not with fear or contempt, but curiosity.
According to Harvey, the story originally came from central India and found its way to what’s today Sweden some 700 years ago. “What I think often happens is these stories travel all over the world and then they find a particular culture or a particular society or particular village that fits energetically, and then they really get inside that community.”
Harvey is an ethnomusicologist, filmmaker, theater director, death doula and more. He will be joined on stage by John de Kadt, an internationally acclaimed percussionist and storyteller who mentored with the legendary poet Robert Bly. Violet Southard is a singer and experimental sound artist. “She writes songs, tones ceremonial sounds, sings traditional songs in a number of languages,” Harvey praised.
The music creates an impressionist ambiance, Harvey continued, “where a myth really enters the marrow of your bones. It’s a lot different than studying it in fourth grade.” He also promised, “It’s hilarious,” adding, “The story has elements of great lightness.”
The ReMemberers tours different stories at different times, always responding to the moment we inhabit. With each new series comes a new cycle of songs “chosen and curated and shaped to create a kind of poetic resonance, or poetic tension with the story,” Harvey concluded.
In a nutshell
When: Oct. 9, 7pm
Where: True Nature Healing Arts
How: www.truenaturehealingarts.com (early bird ticket sales end Oct. 6)
More: For a sense of the music, catch “Everything Under The Sun” on KDNK at 4pm this Thursday, Oct. 2 or archived later at www.kdnk.org