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Irreversible Entanglements At EartH

Courtesy Geert Vandepoele
Many of Ayewa’s words were made inaudible by high-decibel collective improvisation, off the scale in its intensity. But we heard enough of them to get the message. Poetry ‘n’ jazz only rarely achieves this degree of impact.
EartH Theatre
Protect Your Light
Hackney, London
November 15, 2023
Co-winners of this parish's Best Album of 2023 for Protect Your Light (Impulse!), sharing the blunt with the late

Jaimie Branch
trumpet1983 - 2022

Irreversible Entanglements
band / ensemble / orchestrab.2015
Irreversible Entanglements' connections with Branch, however, run deeper than geographical concurrence. Until their move to Impulse! this year, the band was a labelmate with Branch and Fly Or Die at International Anthem, where they had released three magnificent albums. The two liberation-oriented bands were on the same team, and post-Branch the musicians still are. Fly Or Die's cellist,
Lester St. Louis
cello
Keir Neuringer
saxophoneCamae Ayewa
vocals
Moor Mother
poet / spoken wordIrreversible Entanglements was formed in 2015, after Neuringer, Ayewa and bassist

Luke Stewart
bass, electric
Aquiles Navarro
trumpetTcheser Holmes
drumsAnd to those cheers, Irreversible Entanglements began a resequenced and extendedand high decibelperformance of all the material on Protect Your Light, also weaving in "No Más" from Who Sent You? (International Anthem, 2020). The set began delicately with small percussion instruments and soft chanting, and then built to the first of some half a dozen blazing climaxes. It was a ninety-minute outpouring of fire, passion and rough-cut beauty, off the scale in its intensity.
The downside was that most of Ayewa's wordswhich are more than worth hearing, as are the subtleties of cadence she brings to her performancewere lost among the thunder. The only tune on which she could be clearly heard was the relatively (repeat relatively) subdued "Our Land Back." The rest of the time, only snippets of verse emerged..."We call you in the room, come on in the room... you are safe here, you are welcomed here... let's fly, let's get free... let's get free from all the trouble... nothing can hold us down... take me down to the river, to a deeper past... before oil, before the master's plan... keep fighting, keep shouting, keep voting..." But we heard enough to get the message.
What would be welcome from Impulse! next is a live album, remixed to render Ayewa as clearly audible as the rest of the band. And this time it would be good to have a double disc, like the band's International Anthem chef d'oeuvre, 2021's Open The Gates. To borrow from

Fats Waller
piano1904 - 1943
Meanwhile, the seven hundred or so people who were present at EartH will likely have the performance burnt into their memories, to be relived and taken heart from in the future. It was a morale boosting, magical performance. Poetry 'n' jazz only rarely achieves this degree of impact.
Set List
Sunshine; Free Love; Soundness; Root And Branch; Celestial Pathways; No Más; Degrees Of Freedom; Our Land Back; Protect Your Light.Personnel
Camae Ayewa: voice, percussion; Aquiles Navarro: trumpet, percussion, synth; Keir Neuringer: soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, percussion, synth; Luke Stewart: upright acoustic bass, percussion; Tcheser Holmes: drums, percussion.Tags
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Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
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