Lately I’ve been poking around the Berkana Institute website reading (and rereading) Margaret Wheatley and her good work. The first thing on the website in big bold script: “Whatever the problem, community is the answer.”
Tonight I had the great pleasure of hearing the string Quartet known as ETHEL. They were playing a free concert, the first in the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Series, which runs through August 15th. Ethel uses music as a medium for building connections between people, styles, and cultures. For the last couple of years they’ve produced a show called Ethel Fair, and tonight it was time for singer-songwriters Juana Molina and Dayna Kurtz to climb into my heart. I believe they’ll be staying there. The concert at times seemed like an out of body experience, and even when it was just rock-n-roll, the addition of a string quartet was enriching for all and more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
About those connections Ethel’s out there building: watch the video below and then check out their latest CD OSHTALI, where Ethel plays works for string quartet by student composers from the Chickasaw nation.
I love it when my worlds collide.