Can I get a B-sharp?
Music festival makes a point with ‘My Words Are My Sword’
Darius Wallace • Photo by Joe Cantrell
By Eliot Sekuler
For the TODAY
Acclaimed as “bold, stylistically diverse, rhythmically rich,” “My Words Are My Sword” is a groundbreaking musical drama for actor and orchestra that fuses jazz, hip-hop and classical music.
The Siletz Bay Music Festival will present two performances of the piece in a celebration of Black History Month at B’nai B’rith Camp near Lincoln City this Friday, Feb. 9.
The evening’s event will also serve to honor the life and work of the late Yaacov “Yaki” Bergman, who provided the festival with guidance and inspiration as its longtime artistic director prior to his untimely death in 2023. A reception will follow the concert.
The piece, a celebration of Black music, culture and history, was written by poet and actor Darius Wallace in collaboration with Portland-based pianist and composer Jasnam Daya Singh and with Bergman, who first presented the work in 2022 with performances by the Portland Chamber Orchestra and the Walla Walla Symphony, both of which he served as conductor.
“This is one of the freshest, most unvarnished and relevant new works we could share with our audience in times of so much division and hunger for hope and reconciliation,” said Bergman at the time of the work’s premiere. “The work explores the magical word ‘if’ and how true liberation grows from an understanding of the manifestation of self within body, mind, soul and spirit, specifically toward a people but universally towards all. The term ‘blackness’ is redefined through story, monologue, characterization, poetry and song as it addresses current issues with the buried history of black bravery and excellence.”
Currently based in Memphis, Wallace is a founding company member of that city’s Tennessee Shakespeare Festival and has performed extensively around the country in schools, universities, theaters and libraries in a one-man show as Frederick Douglass. In writing “My Words Are My Sword,” Wallace has “incorporated text from the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr., poetry by Langston Hughes and Richard Wright, the writings of Malcolm X and a re-enactment of Douglass’ childhood history.
Composer Singh is a Latin Grammy-nominated concert and jazz pianist whose performances in many countries have earned worldwide acclaim for their innovative style and virtuosity. His music draws from a broad range of influences, including the samba music of his native Brazil, straight-ahead jazz and the European classical tradition.
Many of the Portland Chamber Orchestra’s members will travel to the coast for the presentation in Lincoln City. A full orchestra will perform the piece, conducted by Raúl Gómez-Rojas, music director of Portland’s Metropolitan Youth Symphony. Gómez-Rojas has won accolades for his guest performances with the Oregon Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic and Oregon Ballet Theatre, among others.
The Siletz Bay Music Festival was founded to bring multi-genre, world-class music to the area, reaching across race, culture, age, social and economic barriers and providing extraordinary musical experiences.
Friday’s 1:30 pm concert will be presented free for area students, grades seven through 12. The evening performance begins at 7 pm. Tickets are $40 and $15 for students. B’nai B’rith Camp is located at 3509 NE East Devils Lake Road in Otis. For more information and tickets, go to www.siletzbaymusic.org.