{"id":19894,"date":"2016-07-08T00:33:44","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T07:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=19894"},"modified":"2016-07-06T16:14:17","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T23:14:17","slug":"songs-with-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/07\/08\/songs-with-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Songs with meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geoff Berner brings his hard-hitting, eminently entertaining klezmer to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival on July 16 and 17. (photo by Fumie Suzuki)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Geoff Berner doesn\u2019t mince words. An excellent musician, he puts them to melodies that range from mournful to joyous to angry, sometimes all in one song, sometimes all at the same time. There are lyrics that inspire and those that disturb. Every song makes you think, feel, move. Berner will no doubt draw an enthusiastic crowd at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival next weekend.<\/p>\n

His latest CD, We Are Going to Bremen to be Musicians<\/em> (2015, Oriente Musik\/COAX), was produced by Socalled, aka Josh Dolgin, who also contributes piano and vocals to the recording. The title song is a reinterpretation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Town Musicians of Bremen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had an urge to retell that fable,\u201d he told the Independent<\/em> in an email interview. \u201cAt the time, I didn\u2019t know why. I just became obsessed with it. It\u2019s so strange. It\u2019s a kids story about talking animals who are condemned to death but instead run away, with the plan of becoming professional musicians. Then they drive some thieves from their den, and take over the den and all the stolen goods. \u2018The End.\u2019 What?\u201d<\/p>\n

The animals in Berner\u2019s song, who \u201cpeople say\u201d are \u201ctoo used up to be allowed to live,\u201d head to Bremen to be musicians, \u201cto speak of death another day and have a sacred feast with what we stole from the thieves.\u201d The donkey fearlessly leads his small troupe, \u201crealism is something he\u2019s not needing. People talk like they understand the world but they may find, when it kicks them in the head, it\u2019s liable to change their mind.\u201d The rooster, meanwhile, \u201cthinks he can predict the future. Actually, he\u2019s just a rooster. If he could read his own entrails he would see the comfort-giving chicken soup that is his destiny.\u201d Finally, the \u201cdog is full of moral confusion, but the cat is under no illusion. The dog did his killing out of loyalty, and for pay, but the cat knows why he would have done it anyway.\u201d The animals are on their way to Bremen to be musicians: \u201cThey\u2019re going to build a statue of us in the square. To commemorate the fact that we were never there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berner told CBC that he thought that his obsession with the story was connected to the loss of both of his parents from cancer within a short amount of time of each other (2013-2014). \u201cGrappling with the story,\u201d he said, \u201cwas me trying to find a back door to processing what was going on in my life at the time \u2026 contemplating and dealing with mortality of people who were really great parents and very important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raised in Vancouver in the Reform and Conservative traditions, Berner\u2019s lyrics, while mostly English, are steeped in Yiddish culture and his style is most definitely klezmer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandparents spoke Yiddish,\u201d he explained to the JI<\/em>, \u201cbut it was not seen as something worth teaching to their children. So, to a certain extent, I\u2019m trying to reclaim my heritage. We listened to some klezmer music at home and at Hebrew school, and a lot of other stuff, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI originally learned music playing improvised blues piano. I love all kinds of music but, by bringing klezmer into my songwriting, I get to connect with a part of myself that I\u2019d otherwise feel was missing from my life. And I feel strongly that there\u2019s a radical left-wing Jewish culture that deserves to live, as much or in fact more than the nutso Orthodox tradition that represses women and worships a toxic, murderous form of Zionism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berner has strong opinions, that\u2019s for sure, and his songs can be highly critical, no doubt \u2013 just ask Gregor Robertson or Stephen Harper, among many others who have made their way into Berner\u2019s discography. But, while he may be tilting at windmills, Berner is trying to rouse action and, with his music, he is trying to do something himself to change the world. Which is why a description of Berner in the Ottawa Citizen<\/em> as \u201ceternally cynical\u201d doesn\u2019t quite ring true, nor do other similar categorizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I get more of a thrill than a lot of people out of somebody saying flat-out, unvarnished, just how bad a thing really is,\u201d Berner told the JI<\/em>. \u201cDoes that mean I\u2019m a cynic? I don\u2019t know. I like the way George Orwell defined himself, as \u2018an independent man of the left.\u2019 That\u2019s how I would define myself, politically. Am I cynical if I believe that a lot of public figures are lying and don\u2019t have the public interest at heart? OK, so be it. Am I cynical if I don\u2019t believe that the narrative of the human story is \u2018progress upwards\u2019? OK, so be it. I believe that there\u2019s genuine, eternal divinity residing in the act of fighting the good fight, even if you strongly suspect you\u2019re going to lose. To me, God lives there, so I don\u2019t need optimism in order to feel hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the most fun and, at the same time, discomforting songs on Berner\u2019s latest recording is \u201cDance and Celebrate,\u201d which doesn\u2019t just talk about celebrating the \u201cmisfortunes of people we hate\u201d but wishes misfortunes on people, and lumps together the likes of Joseph Stalin, Margaret Thatcher, Ariel Sharon and Harper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat song is more about allowing yourself to feel so-called \u2018negative\u2019 emotions like, for instance, white-hot, burning hatred, without judging yourself,\u201d Berner explained. \u201cI\u2019m a big believer in that. What you then do with those feelings, that\u2019s another thing. I think the Irish peace process is a good model for other conflicts because, in that case, instead of demanding a utopian, inhuman level of forgiveness from enemies, it asked less of people. Let\u2019s not worry about whether or not we love each other, or whether or not, deep down, everyone is the same, blah, blah, blah. Let\u2019s just begin by not actually killing each other \u2013 today. Then take it from there. If we acknowledge our real emotions, truthfully, maybe that\u2019s a better way to begin improving the situation than to ask for the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Realism \u2013 unnecessary to the Bremen-headed donkey and so many of us \u2013 is at Berner\u2019s core, and it sets him apart. A Georgia Straight<\/em> article earlier this year was headlined, \u201cGeoff Berner finds the humor in being a Lotusland outsider.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I really am on the outside \u2013 I have loads of privileges \u2013 but I feel like I\u2019m on the outside,\u201d he told the JI<\/em>. \u201cI feel apart from this culture that we\u2019re living in, which seems floridly insane to me. In this world, there are half the birds that there were the year when I was born. Half the birds are gone. It doesn\u2019t seem to matter to anyone. People go to plastic surgery and pay thousands of dollars to cut themselves up to look more like magazine covers. Christmas. Weddings. \u2018Camping.\u2019 What the hell? None of the things that seem central to this culture make any sense to me. I need an alternative culture to belong to, so I don\u2019t just feel like everyone else is right and I\u2019m a monster. So, my writing is a way to try to be part of building that. The feedback I get is that some people appreciate it. And, of course, some people don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"bookMany people have appreciated We Are Going to Bremen to be Musicians<\/em>, it seems. In addition to the recording, Berner created a book of the tale, with illustrations by Tin Can Forest. Tin Can Forest Press\u2019 first printing of it, published in 2015, sold out; the second printing will be available next month.<\/p>\n

Berner has also written a novel, Festival Man<\/em> (Dundurn Press, 2013) \u2013 wherein \u201c[m]averick music manager Campbell Ouiniette makes a final destructive bid for glory at the Calgary Folk Festival\u201d \u2013 which was well received, and he has a second novel on the way, called The Fiddler is a Good Woman<\/em>, expected in late 2017.<\/p>\n

On Berner\u2019s website, the Bremen story is described as \u201can absurd tale of irrational hope and optimism in the face of horror, and that\u2019s where the story connects with the songs on the album.\u201d Berner describes the album \u201cas a compendium of strategies against despair.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s right \u2013 as serious as Bremen<\/em> is, it\u2019s uplifting. There is much humor, as song titles such as \u201cI Don\u2019t Feel so Mad at God When I See You in Your Summer Dress,\u201d readily attest, and much with which Vancouverites in particular will relate \u2013 take the song \u201cCondos,\u201d for example. And where else will you hear David Bowie\u2019s \u201cAlways Crashing in the Same Car\u201d in Yiddish?<\/p>\n

Berner is one of more than 60 performers scheduled to perform at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival this year. The festival, which takes place at Jericho Beach July 15-17, also includes Israel\u2019s Yemen Blues with Ravid Kahalani. For a 2011 interview with Kahalani, click here<\/a>. For the full lineup and tickets of the folk festival, visit thefestival.bc.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geoff Berner brings his hard-hitting, eminently entertaining klezmer to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival on July 16 and 17. (photo by Fumie Suzuki) Geoff Berner doesn\u2019t mince words. An excellent musician, he puts them to melodies that range from mournful to joyous to angry, sometimes all in one song, sometimes all at the same time. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[6059,6058,284,3597,6060,1546,4153],"class_list":["post-19894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-bremen","tag-geoff-berner","tag-klezmer","tag-politics","tag-tin-can-press","tag-vancouver-folk-music-festival","tag-vfmf"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}