Abraham Brody & Trys Keturiose ‘ANCESTORS’ live at National Sawdust

Abraham Brody & Trys Keturiose 'ANCESTORS' live at National Sawdust from Abraham Brody on Vimeo.

Abraham Brody & Trys Keturiose perform 'ANCESTORS' live at National Sawdust in New York, April 12 2018
Compositions by Abraham Brody with traditional Lithuanian ritual songs 'sutartines'
Videos/VJ by Zane Zelmene

In our modern society, many of us have lost our roots. Knocked off balance by the speed and immediacy of modern technology, we have lost touch with many of the traditions which both ground us and orient us to the rhythms of life. First premiered at the Barbican Centre in London, ‘Ancestors’ draws from both folk music and ancient rituals of Baltic Culture, exploring the connection to Brody’s roots through ritual, gesture, and music. Joined by renowned Lithuanian folksinging ensemble Trys Keturiose who perform alongside him ancient polyphonic ‘sutartinės’, which mean in Lithuanian ‘to sound in harmony, to agree’, they bring the performers and the public deeper into the rich Baltic tradition, and a form of meditation in performance. The rituals and songs are based around themes inherent to Lithuanian culture-the process of Linen works (long considered a magical process), bees and beekeeping, and rituals all connected to the word ‘Teka’, which in Lithuanian represents the flowing of time, the rising of the sun, the flowing of water, and the flowing of a bride to her husband. The music itself reflects the cyclical nature and eternal flow of these rituals. The mythological threads collected here intertwine like the music of the polyphonic songs themselves as if weaving a symbolic message.