NOAH'S DREAM
Jazz Oratorio by Kjell Habbestad
Ingeborg Hugnes - soprano
Njål Sparbo - bass-baritone
Svein Tindberg - narrator
Morten Halle - saxophone & flutes
Rune Klakegg - piano / keyboard
Helge Nordbakken - percussion
Edvard Askeland - el-bass / doublebass
GRAPPA - GRCD 4156
Recorded in Rainbow studio, Oslo, June 1998
Engineered by Mariann Kleiven and Alf Christian Hvidsteen
Mixed and Mastered by Jan Erik Kongshaug
Produced by Kjell Habbestad and Edvard Askeland
GRAPPA, Oslo, 1998
Total playing time 55:46
CONTENTS:
Meg skapte Herren
The Lord created me at the beginning
Himlane er skapte ved Herrens ord
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made
Han grunnfeste jordi med visdom
The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth
Som regnet risle hans læra
His teaching shall drop like rain
Øydemarki og turrlendet skal gleda seg
The wilderness and the desert shall rejoice
Kor fagre tjeldi dine er, Noah
How beautiful are thy tents, Noah!
Veks sevet anna enn i ei myr?
Can the rush grow where there is no marsh?
Nimrimsvatni vert øydemarker
The waters of Nimrim shall be desolate
Du var ein seder på Libanon
You were a cedar in Lebanon
Den som no vil høyra desse ordi mine
Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine
Høyr brusen av mange folk
Woe to the multitude of many people
Hjarto våre ropar til Herren
Our hearts cry unto the Lord
Vatni såg deg, Gud
The waters saw thee, O God
Eg kjende han ikkje
And I knew him not
Han er den som kom med vatn og blod
This is he that came with water and blood
Alle mine kjeldor er i deg
All my springs are in thee, O Lord
Eg skal få døy i reiret mitt
I shall die in my nest
Kjell Habbestadís biblical water music
Water flows throughout the Bible. The story of creation begins in a mythical primordial sea. There the verdant land rises up, the land that God fills with trees and vegetation of every kind, with birds and animals and human beings. And the story of creation ends with the great flood that drowns all living creatures - all except those that are in Noahís ark.
And thus it continues throughout the Book of Books, from the rivers that run through Eden to Jacobís well and the river Jordan; Moses was hidden in a basket on the Nile, and later he leads his people dry-shod across the sea. Prophets and warriors, good and evil, lean over the water and drink. Jonah journeys into the deep in the belly of a whale. The Master from Nazareth allows himself to be baptized in the river Jordan, turns water into wine and calls himself the living water. Water plays a prominent role in the land of promise, and through the new heaven runs the river of life.
Water streams forth everywhere in individual verses and biblical passages; broken cisterns are condemned, the rain gives life. Yes, everything gets its life from the water; Godís word and water are combined in the most profound symbol, baptism. Water ripples nearby, thunders in the distance, floats in the heavens as clouds, gives power and life to the entire biblical tapestry.
It is the sound of running water, of dripping rain, of roaring flood that also reverbates through Kjell Habbestadís musical fable, Noahís Dream. Habbestad writes that he has fused Bible verses together, and from the water he captures the din and the tumult, the roaring of mighty torrents and the rhythm of raindrops, powerful waves thundering in the distance, the trickle of rain right beside oneís ear. He draws his tonal language from distant oriental sources, thereby achieving an ancient Jewish-Yemenite sound, but lets the inspiration from jazz infuse the whole. This acoustical polyphony from a primordial spring is transformed and adapted to human voices and instrumental sounds. Ingeborg Hungnesí bell-like soprano and Njål Sparboís warm baritone, Svein Tindbergís resonant speaking voice - all interwoven with the undulating waves of the saxophone, the deep passages of the bass, the cascading sonic waterfalls of the piano, the rumbling and trickling and splashing of the drums. A mighty, pulsating sound of water echoes in every instrument. The familiar cadences of the old biblical texts (drawn mainly from the earliest Norwegian version, hence the heavy dependence on the King James version in the English translation) evokes images of rushing rivers and pattering raindrops, trickling fountains and pictures that rise up from wells deep within us. The tones we hear do not lead us to a particular ocean out in the world or to a river we have seen. They take us, rather, to an inner landscape. We let the mental picture come into focus, let the thoughts flow until we glimpse the shores of a world we have forgotten but have carried in our souls - up through the ages, forward through the years, until we stand where we are now.
Water gives life, water destroys the house of him who builds on sand. Noahís dream warns of the great destruction, water carries the boat upon the sea of life. New sounds unlock the old myths.
When the water ceases to sound there is total silence.
Edvard Hoem (English translation by William H. Halverson)