Skeleton Woman, reprised

I was going over my recordings and I found this one from 2016. It was recorded during a show called Blood and Bones that I performed with Natasha Clery, but we also had several friends share the stage with us that night in Ottawa at the Origin Studio.

I originally posted the Skeleton woman story back in 2010, but I lost the recording somewhere along the way. It is such a great story; definitely worth repeating.

I make a slight mistake in this story, but recovered quickly. But this probably why I haven't shared it before. However, Jason Sonier's haunting melodies make this story totally worth listening to.

Have a listen. I hope you enjoy it.

A Sample Clip from Northern Exposure

Riding with the Winds

So... I don't know if you remember, but back in early June of 2012, I had the immense honour of appearing with Concerto Della Donna in McGill's Pollack Hall during the Northern Exposure fundraiser. I was called to take part as the storyteller to tell the classic Norwegian tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon (image taken from çizgili masallar zaman blog, artist Mercer Mayer). The hall was almost filled to capacity with over 500 people in attendance.

This was the most ambitious thing I have ever attempted and even up to hours before the show itself, I wasn't sure I was up to the task. Fortunately, everything went smoothly and we got through it. My heartfelt thanks to maestro Iwan Edwards for his infinite patience and passionate guidance, and to my beloved Sarah for calming me down and helping rehearse the piece until I got the timing right.

Then this past weekend, I was sent the recording of the entire show, including the piece I worked on with the choir. Due to restrictions with rights and such, I can't post the whole thing, but I can post a clip (which is 2 minutes of the 30-minute piece). In this piece, the heroine is traveling with the East Wind in the hopes of finding her prince who is trapped in the castle that is East of the Sun and West of the Moon.

In this clip, you can hear myself telling the tale along with the 17-member Concerto Della Donna. On Stradivarius violin is Caroline Chéhadé and on cello is Michael Nicolas. The piece was composed by Marie-Claire Saindon and the maestro was Iwan Edwards.

Skeleton Woman with Drums and Rattles

So this past summer, I was at a festival in Ontario and I had the opportunity to tell the tale of Skeleton Woman with the band Wychwood Children. This telling was completely unrehearsed, although the drummer (Rikke LaCoste) and the rattler (Greg Currie) knew different versions of the story. We had the chance to talk a little about the story and the particular moments that needed emphasis, but the rest of it was completely improvised in terms of mood music.

The performance was recorded, but the microphone is physically behind the musicians instead of being in front of me. Consequently, the drum and rattle are really loud and my voice is softer. I tried boosting the sound and filtering out the instruments a bit, but it's not ideal.

However, I really happy with my telling of this story. It's still a work in progress, but it gets better every time I tell it. I want it to be a touching love story despite the presence of a skeleton. I still need to work on the ending, but its coming along.

Skeleton Woman -- Told by JD Hickey with Wychwood Children on drums and rattles(6:42 minutes)