Years ago, The Missus and I first encountered — the verb carefully chosen — Gabrielle Roth and the Mirrors via a local greeting-card store known not just for its offbeat card assortment, but also for its soundtrack. “What is that?” we asked the proprietor, and he directed us to the Bones CD propped up by the cash register.
From her Web site:
Gabrielle Roth has turned thousands of people across the globe on to the inner, healing rhythms of their dancing souls, the creative brilliance of their innate originality and the unexpected daring to express themselves in theater, dance and poetry. Through her movement philosophy, the 5Rhythms®, Gabrielle and her certified teachers world-wide have helped people of all ages discover that when you put the psyche in motion, it heals itself.
Based in New York City, Gabrielle has written three books, produced three DVDs and 20 albums. Through her ongoing interactive-live theater, catalytic classes and workshops around the world, Gabrielle continues to inspire and guide people on the path of shaping life itself into a work of art.
[She] is a musician, author, music director, dancer, philosopher and recording artist in the world music and trance dance genres, with a special interest in shamanism. Known as the “urban shaman”, she is music director of the theatre company The Mirrors and has been a member of the Actor’s Studio… She is currently teaching experimental theater in New York based on The Roth 5Rhythms and training others to use shamanic methods within artistic, education, and healing contexts.
I didn’t know almost any of that before working on this post. I knew only her music. (I’d never heard of the “trance dance” genre, either. After reading Wikipedia’s entry on it, I think I know even less about it than I did from pure guesswork.) To “get” it, maybe you just need to know that the liner notes for 1989’s Bones lists the following instruments, among others:
| Synthesizer | Conga |
| Tom-Tom | Shaker |
| Wood Block | Fiddle |
| Whistle (Human) | Whistle (Instrument) |
| Balafon | Dun-dun |
| Rattle | Cowbell |
| Guiro | Jimbae |
| Asheiko | Cello |
| Bells | Cowbell |
“The Calling,” below, opens the Bones album and is typical: eight minutes of complex percussion, underlying and interwoven with something very much like a flute. It doesn’t strike me, exactly, as hypnotic — trance-inducing — but it’s not exactly melodic or “tuneful,” either. You won’t find yourself whistling the melody long after hearing it, even many times over. But you could fairly describe it as absorbing: quietly infectious, especially in the background when you’re working to (say) unravel a knotted plot. Not that I’ve ever used it for that purpose.
[Below, click Play button to begin The Calling. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 7:57 long.]
Froog says
The flute theme is very Twin Peaks. Very. Which came first?
But then, I only realised last night for the first time that Twist and Shout IS La Bamba.
John says
Oh, excellent association there.
Twin Peaks and this album are nearly contemporaneous. The former was on the air 1990-92; Bones came out in 1994. Which gives a slight edge to David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti. :)
A Google search on “La Bamba” and “Twist and Shout” together turns up over 256,000 hits. If it’s any consolation, it’s news to me, too!
The Querulous Squirrel says
I like it but also find it annoying. I think it would be therapeutic in helping me clean my house. That’s a kind of dance, no?
John says
That’s a kind of dance, no?: I suspect your housecleaning may be rather more… more elegant, let’s say, than my own. Heh.
From what I’ve read of Ms. Roth in the last few days, I wouldn’t be surprised if your comment pleased her greatly. Not the “annoying,” obviously — but that despite the annoyance, you’re imagining settings and occasions for which the music might be actually useful.
Jayne says
In all the years I danced I hadn’t heard of Roth. I did a little exploring (I know I’ll want to do more later) and what I found is that her practice is very much like other types of free or expressive dance, but not as controlled as the genre (modern–loosely controlled) that I studied. Some of the more “chaotic” movements might be a little hard on an older, taxed body.
The music reminds me of the cool down music used in Nia– a dance/martial arts practice (my sister-in-law teaches it in Boston–excellent workout, too!)–which bills itself as a sensory-based form of dance. I think it’s an odd way to advertise as most dance is sensory-based. But some are clearly more inward looking than others, and perhaps, more healing as in the 5Rhythms.
Roth’s music comes at the perfect time for me. Its hypnotic rhythm makes me want to close my eyes and sway, let it take me to where it may…
Who knows, might be good for a chapter or two? Hmm.
John says
Good to get some insights from someone who knows the field from the inside, more or less.
I’d never heard of Nia until reading your comment. I just looked at a page describing the credentials etc. of a whole bunch of Nia instructors; judging from both the text and the photos, Nia practitioners seem to be disproportionately healthy, mentally and physically, vs. the rest of the population! The 5Rhythms thing seems to have sprung from Roth’s particular interest in shamanism, which may be another point of difference between it and Nia. (Not that the health benefits of one over the other would necessarily be greater, one way or the other.)
When I listen to Bones and the other GR&TM music, I almost always listen to entire albums. When I listened to the uploaded version of “The Calling,” posted above, I was disappointed by how abruptly it seemed to end. To make up for that, here’s “Wolf” — the last track on Bones.
[Below, click Play button to begin Wolf. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 8:27 long.]
Jayne says
Oh wow, I like the chopping and howling sounds on that recording. It’s a bit trippy, too. But it would definitely not get me to dance. Might get me to lounge on a comfortable chaise. And pretend I’m tripping.
Had to laugh about your Nia comment on the state of Nia practitioners! It’s kinda true. Although my s-i-l is a brown belt in pretty good condition. Dance, however, especially the more “out there” forms, can bring in some very interesting characters… ;)
John says
Well, y’know, there are some interesting differences listening to GR&TM this way — listening to them, vs. the way I usually just hear them. I would say close to 100% of the time they’re on my audio player, it’s as background to something which won’t require me to listen to them at all: something I need to keep as fully in the foreground as possible. Writing and editing, sure, but also working on things like taxes, and using graphics software to do one thing or the other to old photos, and programming…
As for the practitioners: if I were offering a sort of service whose primary objective is improving people’s (mental/physical) health, I’d definitely want a staff of fit and happy people. It was hard to look through that page and imagine any of those Nia trainers angsting, say, about always being tired, or hating their lives, or, oh — just groping for an example here — breaking apart a novel and reassembling it on the fly, while reading. Which is completely unfair. I know appearances can deceive (and everyone has an intractable problem at some point in their well-ordered lives). But they can also speak a sort of truth! :)
Jayne says
Ha! That’s funny how you perceive the practitioners. Oh, we all have our crosses to bear. Nia’s founder suffered health issues and learning disabilities as a child/adolescent, so there’s that! I haven’t really delved into the practice, and the only place I’ve ever taken a class was in the living room of my s-i-l. But it really is a darn good feel good work out, and anyway, I don’t want to see angst in my instructors eyes–I want to know Nia’s mind/body thing actually works! I want my teachers to be ecstatic!
In RI, Nia is offered at several senior centers. I wonder if I can get a discount by the end of this month? Hey, I’ve got my AARP card! (Boy, they like to rush things.) ;)