#4446: The Top 10 of 2020

For this New Sounds, John Schaefer presents his annual highly-opinionated top 10 list of notable new music releases from 2020. Hear music based on an Icelandic poem in the ancient Edda tradition, music for modified guitar with a Passerelle bridge which turns 6 strings into 12, music about gentrification and displacement, music about being Black in America, and several reworkings of traditional folk music and mountain music.

There’s music from a tribute to Pete Seeger featuring Kronos Quartet and many friends, woven together by composer and arranger Jacob Garchik, in an arrangement of "Mbube," or "Wimoweh." Hear an excerpt from a musical memoir from Bang on a Can Co-Founder and composer Michael Gordon about his neighborhood in lower Manhattan for the unaccompanied voices of the Philadelphia-based Grammy-winning choir, The Crossing, conducted by Donald Nally. Then, listen to an epic orchestral collaboration between Sigur Rós, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Andersen and Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, based on an Icelandic poem in the ancient Edda tradition, Odin’s Raven Magic.

There’s also music by Sam Amidon, the London-based shape-note singer/fiddler/banjoist/guitarist by way of Vermont and a version of the folk song "Little Margaret," which he calls, "Maggie." Next, sample a piece by guitarist and instrument-builder Kaki King, who in her piece, “Teek,” has modified the guitar by adding a bridge, which turns the six strings into twelve, so that it almost resembles a toy koto or a zither in its sound capabilities. 

Also, listen to an excerpt from the multimedia work by Ted Hearne in collaboration with the poet Saul Williams, Place, a “multifarious meditation on white supremacy, fatherhood, displacement and loss, at once intimate and monumental” (Bandcamp.) The top ten also includes music by Joseph C. Phillips Jr. – his The Grey Land – a work about being Black in America. The libretto, written by Phillips, chronicles a single Black mother and her son, sung by soprano Rebecca L Hargrove, and accompanied by the “mixed music” big band ensemble, Numinous.

Then, hear music from fiddler, singer, banjo player and a key figure in an emerging wave of queer roots musicians, Jake Blount, who has extensively researched Black and Indigenous mountain music for his 2020 record, Spider Tales, named for Anansi—the great trickster. Listen to his version of "In the Pines," which he calls "Where Did You Sleep Last Night." Hear bird sounds and field recordings of South America collected from along the Magdalena River in Colombia, by Simón Mejía, founder and co-leader of Bomba Estéreo from his project, called Monte, and the 2020 record called Mirla. Plus, there’s music from trio Bonny Light Horseman (Anais Mitchell, Eric D Johnson, who leads the band Fruit Bats; and Josh Kaufman, who’s played with The National, Craig Finn, and many others), and a re-imagined version of “The Roving” with its 500 year old lyrics and new singalong chorus.   

Program #4446, John Schaefer's Top 10 of 2020 (First Aired 1/11/2021)

10. ARTIST: Pete Seeger, Kronos Quartet, Jacob Garchik
WORK: Solomon Linda; arr. Jacob Garchik: Mbube (Wimoweh-The Lion Sleeps Tonight) [2:44]
RECORDING: Long Time Passing
SOURCE: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
INFO:  folkways.si.edu/kronos-quartet-celebrate-pete-seeger

9. ARTIST: The Crossing
WORK: Michael Gordon: Anonymous Man - IV. It's Julie Passing Through [5:44]
RECORDING: Anonymous Man
SOURCE: Cantaloupe Music
INFO: michaelgordonmusic.bandcamp.com

8.ARTIST: Sigur Ros with Steindór Andersen, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir
WORK: Dvergmál [7:37]
RECORDING: Odin's Raven Magic
SOURCE: Krunk 
INFO: sigurros.bandcamp.com

7. ARTIST: Sam Amidon
WORK: Maggie [4:54]
RECORDING: Sam Amidon
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: nonesuch.com

6. ARTIST: Kaki King, with Ralph Farris, violas
WORK: Teek [3:28]
RECORDING: Modern Yesterdays
SOURCE: Velour Music
INFO: kakiking.bandcamp.com

5. ARTIST: Ted Hearne
WORK: Boundary [4:14]
RECORDING: Place
SOURCE: bethmorrisonprojects.org
INFO: tedhearne.com

4. ARTIST: Rebecca L Hargrove, soprano; Joseph C. Phillips Jr. and Numinous
WORK: Joseph C. Phillips Jr.: Don't [3:44]
RECORDING: The Grey Land
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: numinous.bandcamp.com | newamrecords.com

3. ARTIST: Jake Blount
WORK: Where Did You Sleep Last Night  [5:04]
RECORDING: Spider Tales
SOURCE: Free Dirt Records
INFO: https://smarturl.it/spidertales

2. ARTIST: Monte
WORK: Mirla [5:45]
RECORDING: Mirla
SOURCE/INFO: youtube.com. also available via Apple Music or Spotify

1. ARTIST: Bonny Light Horseman
WORK: The Roving [4:26]
RECORDING: Bonny Light Horseman
SOURCE: 37d03d Records 
INFO: 37d03d.com