The Autumn of my Life: 40 Years of Song

Today's Song Share is a sketch from a Community Theatre Production called Valley Girl. I was commissioned as the Songwriting Consultant to visit over 800 women and girls throughout the South Wales Valleys, collecting their views of themselves and their lives' as 'Valley's Girls'. 

Rehearsals of Carmen Jones of Trevethin

From the conversations I had with the community, I penned and sketch-recorded 32 songs which were adapted by the outstanding and well respected Director, Chris Durnall from Company of Sirens. He created 4 incredible productions across the Heads of the Valley themed around the seasons.

I was invited to come and perform some of the songs, 'Autumn of my Life' being one of the  tracks in the production at the White Rose Centre  in Tredegar. The song is written with a group of Dinner Ladies talking about what is important to them and the lyrics are direct text from teh conversation. I call this method of working Ethnographic Poetics -  in that my songs become the conduit for the cultural context of those with I am working with.

'The Festival of 4' as it was known was the brain child of my visionary friend Kate Strudwick, Director at at Head4Arts. I remember sitting in her posh cottage chatting about it before it was even birthed as a fully formed idea in her mind.

Kate pulled together a team of exceptional people. I have stayed connected and worked since with  Gina Roberts who headed up Dance and Fiona Winter, also leading on Dance, has become one of my dearest confidantes and heart friends.

Both Chris and Kate will never know the immense impact they had on how I went onto work with the community as a result of being involved in the Festival of Four. It changed my view of what was possible ... and I will be forever grateful to them for sharing their expertise and experience.

From this post, I went onto become the Artistic Director of a huge Community Production  'Carmen Jones of Trevethin' and the Creative Director of Celtic Womenfest,  as well as the Children's Storytelling Trail for the National Botanic Garden of Wales. 

To hear more songs from my 40 years of Songwriting, why not pop over to my Bandcamp Shop.