about:

The Ängsudden Song Cycle celebrates Ängsudden, a point in the Swedish archipelago that juts into the Baltic Sea where sea collides with sky in dramatic ways. Though born without music, the Song Cycle is a collaborative project between the artist MuKha and composer Michael McGinnis who set music to the "song-poems" inspired by Ängsudden. The poems were first written in Tagalog and translated into Swedish and English, then illustrated with brush and ink paintings featuring the Philippine script, a system of writing which is nearly extinct and registered as part of UNESCO's "Memory of the World Programme." McGinnis,
inspired by the script and images, as well as the lyrical sound of the poems in three languages, then composed the music for the songs, with arrangements for solo saxophone; for trio (piano, voice, woodwinds), and for chamber ensemble. In an effort to promote and preserve the living script still in use on the island of Palawan, Philippines, the artist MuKha has exhibited her Song Cycle Series of brush and ink works in the Philippines, Sweden and France. Together with other musicians, longtime collaborators McGinnis and MuKha bring music and art alive in the kind of encounter that uniquely defines the influence artists and musicians  have on one another in the creation of totally new works.

personnel:

Kyoko Kitamura: voice
Mike McGinnis: clarinet/bass clarinet
Sara Schoenbeck: bassoon
Khabu Doug Young: cavaquino
Sean Moran: acoustic guitar
Jason Kao Hwang: viola
Dan Fabricatore: bass
Harris Eisenstadt: percussion/vibraphone

Jun Kitamura - voice (SPECIAL GUEST)

Davalois Fearon - percussion (SPECIAL GUEST)

MuKha - percussion (SPECIAL GUEST)

Music by Mike McGinnis © 2009 by Mike McG Music (ASCAP)
Words and Images by MuKha 

Recorded on June 19th, 2012 by Mike Marciano at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY
Mixed by Mike Marciano & Mike McGinnis at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY
Mastered by Mike Marciano at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY