Remember The ReMemberers? Last fall, True Nature Healing Arts brought this musical myth-making trio into their underground Kiva room for an intimate retelling of “The Lindworm.” Upon a carpet, among an assortment of altar items and soundmakers resonating in that circular space, Violet Southard’s sirenesque singing and Alex Harvey’s string instrumentation built a sonic nest for John de Kadt’s expert spinning of the tale with wit, humor and rhythm.
The performance was so well received that True Nature has invited The ReMemberers back for another performance, plus an additional three-hour deep dive into the five layers of myth according to Mayan traditions. Whoever commits to the workshop will be extra prepared to receive the medicine of the story that evening. All ticket holders are also invited to gather around a fire after the show to discuss personal impressions and finer details with the cast.
Based out of the Berkshires in Massachusetts, the group tours with a fresh myth each season. Blending their backgrounds in music, myth, cinema, sound healing and wellness, The ReMemberers consider their offering more of a living ceremony than simple entertainment.
The Sopris Sun caught up with Harvey to learn more.
“It’s so great to be able to sit with a living, poetic, explosive, highly-visual story that is just delivered through sound,” he remarked. “We’re told by everyone right now that the attention span is gone forever. The ReMemberers are here to convince you otherwise.”
This year’s myth is “The Firebird,” a 1,000-year-old Russian folktale transcribed by Alexander Afanasyev, a 19th-century ethnographer. Whereas last year’s selection was “interior,” Harvey explained, “‘The Firebird’ is about soul retrieval in a time of totalitarian rule by the ego made sovereign.”
He continued, “We build a new story each year with new music — a new project each year as opposed to a band that plays their hits. When we return to a place, we return with a new piece.”
The group enjoys bringing their art to life in a variety of spaces, from churches to concert halls to libraries to festivals.
“Each place brings a different history to it,” Harvey noted, adding, “I’ve thought about that night in the Kiva with you all more than any other room we played [last] year.”
On the heels of performing for eTown in Boulder, The ReMemberers will deliver “The Firebird” in Carbondale on Oct. 3 and to Paonia the following night, before traveling on to New Mexico for the tour’s conclusion.
This year’s myth has a political undertone, depicting a person’s will becoming overridden by and enmeshed with that of a tyrant ruler. While Harvey thinks “politics per se doesn’t make great art,” he believes that “The Firebird” holds a relevant message for this time, depicting the journey of a lowly hunter into powerful, spiritual initiation.
“Like an ICE agent falling in love with one of the people he’s tasked to deport,” Harvey mused. “How do you save your soul in that situation? [The myth] became a big indictment of our whole moment right now, as we are swayed to the whims of a kind of rudderless, out-of-control ego.”
From 1:30 to 4:30pm, Oct. 3, The ReMemberers will teach a framework for storytelling inherited from renowned educator and author Martín Prechtel. This same class will be offered at the University of Colorado and nowhere else on the tour. Then, at 6pm, the doors of True Nature’s Kiva open to guests for the 90-minute performance. The integration fire in True Nature’s Peace Garden will remain lit from 8 to 9:30pm for a “collective metabolizing” of the myth. Ticket prices are tiered and scholarships are available thanks to the Connection is the Medicine Foundation.
“The sense of our entire species and culture coming to a head right now is just absolutely everywhere,” Harvey concluded. “The stories are built for this moment.”