Discussion Topic |
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adatesman
climber
philadelphia, pa
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 23, 2011 - 02:22pm PT
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This has been eating at me a while now... What's the darkest/most haunting a capella song you can think of? There's some good ones on the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, but me, I keep coming back to Behind the Wall by Tracy Chapman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iUoqTaowaI);. Dunno what is, imagery in the lyrics, the almost plaintive wail of her voice... Just fills me with sorrow and almost-dread every time I hear it.
What's your vote?
-a.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Nov 23, 2011 - 05:18pm PT
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Ooh, I found a Norwegian Death Metal cover, does that count?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWYhn7Xythc
I'm actually going to put some thought into this, 'cause I like Appalachian a capella murder ballads and such.
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Nov 23, 2011 - 05:22pm PT
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It would have to be the last hymn in a Russian Orthodox funeral or memorial service, Vechnaya Pamyat (Eternal Memory). Both incredibly beautiful, and powerfully sad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77GebvPh8as
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adatesman
climber
philadelphia, pa
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 23, 2011 - 06:56pm PT
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Thanks for the links All, will give a listen as soon as I can. I'm putting up a literal ton of stucco at the moment with no wifi's (look up the old house rehab thread), so listening to linked stuff only happens when I'm home (only 3G on the phone while at the new place, so streaming doesn't work so well.)
-a.
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adatesman
climber
philadelphia, pa
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 23, 2011 - 07:06pm PT
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Erm, not to say I'm praying for death but like with climbing there comes a point with stucco where death might be preferable. I ran out of mix 400'pounds into it today, and my body is rebelling at the prospect of the 1000 pounds I just brought home.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Nov 23, 2011 - 07:53pm PT
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I have started an email with links to the music links in this thread.
I will share it with a few, ----maybe more than a few friends.
The email starts:
The things I find through Super Topo.
Goddess knows what I would find on a non-climbing blog-site.
Thank you all: for posting the links to that great music.
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andy@climbingmoab
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Nov 23, 2011 - 07:59pm PT
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The Thomas Tallis Motet for 40 voices is really wonderful - not really dark, but very moving. A favorite for listening to in the dark by candlelight.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Nov 24, 2011 - 12:27am PT
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OK.
I have sampled all the posts so far.
Despite the appeal of Tracy Chapman----and my much-loved Judy Collins:
The dark & haunting Russian Orthodox: a cappella songs rule.
Dark & haunting.
One of the 3 Marlow posted, with the monuments to those who gave their lives in the "Great War:" reminds me of an American Patriotic song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=k3hQDRvlXbc
No doubt, the Russian stole it from us;)
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Nov 24, 2011 - 12:58am PT
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Not quite a capella, but
State Trooper
by Springsteen has a very minimal guitar and is very haunting.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 24, 2011 - 02:57am PT
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here is a link to Tomas Tallis - Spem im alium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G-_73qnTRo
Spem in alium numquam habui praeter in te
Deus Israel
qui irasceris
et propitius eris
et omnia peccata hominum in tribulatione dimittis
Domine Deus
Creator coeli et terrae
respice humilitatem nostram
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ruppell
climber
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Nov 24, 2011 - 04:36am PT
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Man the evanascence link was great. Haunting voice for sure
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MoonGoon
climber
canadistan
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Nov 24, 2011 - 07:45pm PT
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I was trying to think of the most haunting voice. I think this might take the cake for me:
A cover of Dylan's knocking on heavens door by Antony & the Johnsons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbZ0JgqR3cE&feature=related
Sorry I couldn't find one without a stupid add before the song.
Enjoy
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 24, 2011 - 11:52pm PT
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If you have some help to load up, you might benefit from learning to work a two-handed plasterer's darby at least for your scratch coat. Especially if your elbows are singing the blues...
Are you going over lath or wire?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 25, 2011 - 12:27am PT
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Do the Bee Gees count?
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Nov 25, 2011 - 11:40pm PT
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MH2: Your first link just took me to a "hooting" web site.
More link please?
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Nov 25, 2011 - 11:52pm PT
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The work is not often performed, as it requires at least forty singers capable of meeting its technical demands.
The discipline that comes with performing the masterpiece is highlighted in the importance of the conductor and the performers alike. Whilst performers are distributed throughout a venue, the conductor becomes truly the hub for the piece throughout, as often there is little or no visibility between the performers, and a large venue will present acoustical challenges, not regarded with traditional choirs co-located.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G-_73qnTRo
This one (previously posted) must be an incredible and not reproducible electronically, experience in it's intended venue.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 26, 2011 - 12:08am PT
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Weep, O mine eyes
John Bennet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNnhnN4fBmo
Weep, o mine eyes and cease not,
alas, these your spring tides me thinks increase not.
O when begin you to swell so high
that I may drown me in you?
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MisterE
climber
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Nov 25, 2013 - 08:48pm PT
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Bump for another excellent thread!
This is it, hands down for me.
Just found this guy, 7-foot clown with a voice like an angel.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Nov 26, 2013 - 03:36pm PT
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I've never had a chance to sing the Tallis "Lamentations of Jeremiah," but I did sing the Poulenc "Vinea Mea Electa," except in English rather than Latin. I think the most haunting a capella singing I've done in Latin is the Vaughn Willaims Mass in g minor (snippet follows: the Agnus Dei)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju8Efr54l2c
and in English, the H. G. Graun "Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs" (Yes, I know he wrote it in German, but I sung it in English), except I can't find a decent link to an a capella recording of it (the few I've found are accompanied, but I sang it a capella when I was in Pasadena).
As for darkest, I can't pick just one or even a few. Maybe after another day or two i can winnow it down, though.
John
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Nov 26, 2013 - 03:50pm PT
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Great thread and I'm loving all the links... but...
For those of you who need clarification:
Definition of "A Capella": A cappella Music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It contrasts with cantata, which is accompanied singing... In the 19th century a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music.[1]
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 26, 2013 - 06:18pm PT
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Justthemaid,
Good point. Addressing my choices:
I worried about mentioning the Chilites because the the first thing you hear on one of their cuts is an instrument, but they come from a tradition of totally unaccompanied singing (really: street corners and stairwells).
W.R.T Hildegard: I'm not sure anyone knows what voices she intended to present her music. I'll have to ask my musicologist friends. Now we hear her compositions in echoey cathedrals accompanied by instruments invented after she lived. But yeah, I wished I could have found a samples without accompaniment.
Did Persuasions ever performed with instruments?
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Joe Metz
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Nov 27, 2013 - 01:34am PT
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Great thread!
There is nothing on earth like the Russian Orthodox choir music. Pure, simple, powerful, human.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Nov 27, 2013 - 02:18pm PT
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The Wailin Jennys
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Posted by Nita on another thread.
Hauting... yes... Dark... hardly... Though also used during times of darkness...
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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W.R.T Hildegard von Bingen and accompaniment.
People more in the know than myself, based on the notation and accents in original/earliest(?) scores think that: Hildegard von Bingem, regardless of how she's performed now, originally wrote for unaccompanied voice.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Me and a Gun
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Haunting for me was Madonna singing "Cry for me Argentina" in the movie "Evita." Not quite, but nearly, a capella.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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The Joan Baez clips from the 1960s brought back some good memories. I was a grad student at the U of Alabama in the early 1960s and my first wife and I attended a Baez performance at Stillman College during troubling times for civil rights. It was an incredibly moving experience, with the audience standing and joining in, black and white together, in unity while outside the racial divide was deep and profound. What a marvelous performer and human being she was, and is.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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May 12, 2015 - 11:02pm PT
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For the Bay Area (East Bay specifically), I caught the Kitka Community Chorus performance tonight. Summary: It was wonderful, and I loved it. For those who don't know, Kitka is a chorus that mostly does Balkan music (a cappella), and they have a number of fantastic recordings and even better live performances. Two of their members Janet Kutulis and Caitlin Tabancay Austin run a workshop/community chorus program. It wasn't obvious to me that a community chorus of Balkan music would be a good thing, but they F*#KING KICKED ASS. It was beautiful, eirie, moving and grabbed me just the way the pros do. Man, what a good choice I made in going to see that. Check it out the next time they perform.
And yes, purely a cappella.
http://www.kitka.org/calendar/communitychorus.html
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couchmaster
climber
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May 18, 2015 - 04:50am PT
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For the win: Hayley Westerna doing Amazing Grace - live version. Joan Baez also did a good job on this (as has about every singer worth their salt).
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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jfailing
Trad climber
part Texas, part Oman
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May 18, 2015 - 03:38pm PT
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[Click to View YouTube Video]
One of my favorites.
Árstíðir - Heyr himna smiður
Done impromptu after a show in a train station.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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May 18, 2015 - 09:21pm PT
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best performance by a quartet in history (and best held note, ever)of the old spiritual:
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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zBrown
Ice climber
Brujò de la Playa y Perrito Ruby
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May 19, 2015 - 09:41am PT
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Well this is sort of the antithesis of dark, but I've always liked it.
Didn't attend Woodstock or Altamont, glad I didn't.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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May 20, 2015 - 12:32am PT
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SuperThread!
Threadbare song!
It's gonna be fun checking these all out.
We're all so alone and life is brief, and it's about dang time ( in fact I'm raging over it! And I'm even crying some, too, but I'll get over it ) some of you recognized/remembered old Joan Baez and her immense talent.
I dreamed I heard St. Augustine
Out walking by the sea
All by himself
--he was singing up a storm--
And calling up the gulls to accompany
With polyphonic harmony.
He had the voice of a devil inside
As he sang of his mother's pride
And the love they shared
Because she had cared
For the little child inside her devil.
And now their hearts are filled with gold.
Theirs tears of rage and grief
Have vanished just like some thief.
_MFM_
[Click to View YouTube Video]
We carried you in our arms
On Independence Day
And now you’d throw us all aside
And put us on our way
Oh what dear daughter ’neath the sun
Would treat a father so
To wait upon him hand and foot
And always tell him, “No?”
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Why must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We’re so alone
And life is brief
We pointed out the way to go
And scratched your name in sand
Though you just thought it was nothing more
Than a place for you to stand
Now, I want you to know that while we watched
You discover there was no one true
Most ev’rybody really thought
It was a childish thing to do
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We’re so low
And life is brief
It was all very painless
When you went out to receive
All that false instruction
Which we never could believe
And now the heart is filled with gold
As if it was a purse
But, oh, what kind of love is this
Which goes from bad to worse?
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We’re so low
And life is brief
Copyright © 1968 by Dwarf Music; renewed 1996 by Dwarf Music
Bob Dylan has an official website, which I did not know.
Heretofore.
Here's to Bob, who knows that an old broken bottle still has a useable neck as well as looking like a diamond ring. (Thank you, Mr. Prine.)
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jbaker
Trad climber
Redwood City, CA
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The Month of January is pretty haunting. John Doyle also does a nice version, but it isn't a capella.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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seano
Mountain climber
none
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That's an unexpected topic... but it's hard to beat Carlo Gesualdo. After catching his wife cheating on him, he brutally murdered both her and her lover, was tortured, and retreated to his palace to pay musicians to sing his weird choral works to him for the rest of his life. Maybe you'll enjoy "Sparge La Morte Al Mio Signor."
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Mar 22, 2019 - 02:14pm PT
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To stay with the song above: Our Father - Kedrov - Russian Chamber Choir dir. V. Maximov
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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