Spinning

 Spinning is an activity found the world over, with many stories relating women to notions of destiny and the spinning of fate. We find allegorical evidence of this in language: the word spin is related to the word span (as in one’s ‘lifespan’), just as ‘line’ is embedded in the word lineage. In the Irish tradition, a woman acting as midwife often also served the parallel role of lamenter. A bean chaointe (‘woman crier’) oversaw the ushering of the departed to the Otherworld. Much like midwifing (and again, often the midwife), the keening woman would act as ‘deathwife’, not sleeping when on watch as she oversaw the ushering in and guiding out of life, acting as a bridge between worlds. In this workshop, we will explore these themes in the context of Irish sean-nós and keening, examining women’s roles as gatekeepers of liminal spaces and their related and often simultaneous activity: spinning.

“And she, singing indoors with a beautiful voice, wove at her loom, walking up and down with the golden bobbin.” This seemingly innocuous scene described by Homer in the Odyssey paints the picture of the Greek nymph Calypso on her desert island. There she enchants Odysseus with her singing as she works at her loom, imprisoning him for seven years. Fear and awe, i.e. magic, surround her dominant activities: weaving and singing. Following the warp-weighted loom’s northern journey through the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Nordic lands, and Celtic enclaves, this workshop will introduce a variety of women’s song traditions and their relation to textile arts and notions of magic.

In all the cultures of the world, birds are important symbols of beauty, happiness, love, peace, and freedom. They can also be harbingers of good or ominous tidings. The most wondrous aspect of the avian world is the power of flight. In this workshop participants will be encouraged to let their voices fearlessly soar while breathing life into Persian poetic verses.

MAHSA VAHDAT is an award-winning performer of Persian vocal art and a strong advocate of freedom of expression in music. Her career has given a deeper knowledge of Iranian poetry and music to large audiences in the world and has taken Persian poetry and music to new heights. Mahsa believes in creating a universal expression of music based on her traditional and regional musical roots. She and her sister, Marjan, have taken part in numerous world music festivals and concerts in countries around the world and have been performing as independent singers and musicians for nearly 3 decades. Without being visible in her own society because of restrictions of female solo voice after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in Iran, she and her sister Marjan Vahdat have continuous contact with a large audience who appreciate their art, both in Iran and abroad. Following the recording of "Lullabies album from the Axis of Evil" (2004), Mahsa and Marjan started a long-lasting collaboration with the Norwegian record label Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV). This led to a worldwide release of a series of award-winning and critically acclaimed albums. Mahsa has three decades of pedagogical experience in teaching classical Persian music to Iranian, and non-Iranian students alike, and has mentored her students on a variety of wide-ranging collaborative projects. "To represent an old and great culture, appreciated by all in one's homeland and abroad, honored and heard by everybody, could consume a whole lifetime. It could fill a lifetime because the task is huge, and the longing to take on the task even greater. You can hear this great commitment in every tone, every part of Mahsa Vahdat's songs... this longing for life, for peace, for freedom. Mahsa Vahdat, together with her sister Marjan, tell us that they have not given up, and will never give up, the work of bringing the world’s people to an understanding that Iran is a nation of culture, a nation of poets and thinkers, and great singers male and female." - Volker Magazine (DE)