Brer Rabbit Retold, by Arthur Flowers, Sarathy Korwar, Vinay Kaushal and Gandhaar Amin

Brer Rabbit Retold

by Arthur Flowers, Sarathy Korwar, Vinay Kaushal and Gandhaar Amin

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1.	Big Party 06:10	buy track
2.	Long Look 07:57	buy track
3.	Big Wind 10:04	buy track
4.	Brer Beetle 06:00	buy track
5.	Lucky Mojo 08:42	buy track
6.	Trouble 11:08	buy track
7.	Holy Ground 03:37	buy track

about

Watch a short film on the project at: tarabooks.com/brer-rabbit-film

The Brer Rabbit stories were originally oral tales told by slaves from the American South. In this powerful rendering for children and adults, writer and griot Arthur Flowers re-tells them as wisdom tales for a contemporary audience, bringing them back to us as one of the sturdy roots of African-American culture.

This version also straddles storytelling forms – connecting the spoken and written word in surprising ways. The text is heir to the original oral stories, exquisitely illustrated by Jagdish Chitara, a ritual textile painter from Gujarat. Arthur Flowers then takes his stories back into the realm of the oral, with a musical spoken word performance in collaboration with a group of young Indian musicians.

The seamless fusion of blues and Indian musical elements on this album, mirrors the coming together of griot storytelling with Indian textile art in the book that accompanies it. Recorded live during an informal weeklong studio session in Chennai, the songs capture a fresh and unstructured dialogue between the musicians (and their musical traditions) – as they play off each other, create a mood, and respond to twists and turns in the narrative.

Printed and bound by hand, this limited edition artists’ book comes with a music album and short film. This genre defying cross-media project pushes the boundaries of narrative art – inviting the reader (and listener) to explore through sight and sound, text and imagination.

Buy the book (includes CD and download) at: tarabooks.com/shop/brer-rabbit-retold/

credits

released September 1, 2017

THE MUSICIANS

ARTHUR FLOWERS a Delta-based performance poet and writer, teaches at the English Department of Syracuse University in the United States. A native of Memphis and co-founder of The New Renaissance Guild, he considers himself heir to the western written tradition as well as the African oral one. He has written fiction as well as non-fiction, including Another Good Loving Blues and Mojo Rising: Confessions of a 21st Century Conjureman. I See The Promised Land, a life of Martin Luther King Jr. was his first book with Tara. Brer Rabbit Retold is the second.

SARATHY KORWAR is a percussionist and composer born in the US, raised in India and now based in London. Sarathy has been trained as a classical tabla player, but is equally at ease on the tabla and drum-kit. His critically acclaimed first album Day To Day was released on Ninja Tune in July, 2016 and features field recordings of Sidi musicians, who are descendants of African migrants in India.

VINAY KAUSHAL is a composer, guitar player and music educator based in India. Vinay’s playing boasts of a unique stylistic versatility with a repertoire that includes genres like the blues, funk, jazz, rock and fusion, although not necessarily in that order. He is the principal song writer of the Vinay Kaushal Collective, a vehicle for his own compositions, and also for the world music act Empty Café.

GANDHAAR AMIN is a composer, producer and flute player from Pune, India. Born into a family witha rich musical tradition, Gandhaar started learning Indian classical music on the bamboo flute when he was 5 years old. He is currently based in Mumbai and is a partner in Ghar Baithak, an organisation working on spreading and taking classical music back to its roots of chamber music. His first foray into fusion music came with Vinay, when they founded Empty Café together.

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Brer Rabbit Retold Chennai, India

tarabooks.com

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