Current Projects
Cantat Ergo Sumus
Cantat Ergo Sumus (It is singing [as in it is raining], therefore, we are) combines my interests in philosophy and music. I recently received a grant from TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities) at Oxford University to develop this project with Oxford band Flights of Helios.
The songs (see below for demos)
Zarathustra's Roundelay: A poem by 19th C philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche which appears in his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Of Shadow and Eccho:from Poems and Fancies by the 17th C philosopher
Brahma: A poem by 19th C 'Transcendentalist' philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Love Draws Me: A setting of a few words from Ch 122 of The Mirror of Simple Souls by 12/13th Century philosopher Marguerite Porete
Foolishness: A song based on Sec 79 of The Book of the Lover and the Beloved by 13th C philosopher Ramon Llull.
The Island: An amalgam of two poems (Of an Island and The Ruine of the Island) from Poems and Fancies by the 17th C philosopher Margaret Cavendish.
New Angel: Based on the ninth of the theses from 20th C philosopher Walter Benjamin's "On the Concept of History" AKA "Theses on the Philosophy of History".
Small Country: A song based on a passage toward the end of the Tao Te Ching, credited to the philosopher Laozi.
I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine: A cover of a song by Bob Dylan from his 1967 album John Welsey Harding.
Oh Redness of Blood: A setting of 'O rubor sanguinis' by 12th C philosopher Hildegard von Bingen.
Love (III) is a poem by 17th C 'metaphysical poet' George Herbert. Its primary significance for Cantat Ergo Summus lies in the role that it played in the evolution of the thinking of 20th C philosopher Simone Weil