Mirror Butterfly:
the Migrant Liberation Movement Suite
Mirror Butterfly: the Migrant Liberation Movement Suite (MLMS) was created by an interdisciplinary, collaborative team of Ben Barson (composer), Gizelxanath Rodriguez (vocalist), Peggy Choy (choreographer), and Ruth Margraff (librettist). The team was loosely inspired by the revolutionary Zapatista myth (of Chiapas, Mexico) relating to local ecology, sustainability and rebellion—told through metaphors of a tree, a stone, and a river. The MLMS story focuses on portraits of three women, inspired by actual interviews conducted with living activist/artist women--Mama C (a former Black Panther now in Tanzania) symbolized by the Mulberry Tree, Azize Aslan (part of the Kurdish woman’s movement, a remarkable democratic, matriarchal and ecosocialist movement, fighting ISIS and Turkish repression) is symbolized by the Stoneflower. Finally, Yaqui women Reyna Lourdes Anguamea and Gizelxanath Rodriguez are both represented by the almost-extinct Kautesamai Butterfly of Sonora, Mexico. The portraits show women’s confrontation and engagement with the violent, repressive colonial occupation (symbolized by the Sword character), whose destruction of ecologies results in forced migration and climate crisis. Other characters/dancers provide depth to philosophical and environmental themes. The Snail symbolizes the Zapatista philosophy of slow, revolutionary spiral-like transformation, and the Mushrooms represent underground networks of fungal intelligence as well as the legacy of guerrilla fighters--inspired by the Underground Railroad, the Black Panthers, today’s Kurdish women fighting ISIS, and the long history of Mexican revolutionaries, including Zapatista women. The work is sung in multiple genres (opera/soul/hip hop) and multiple languages, including the Yaqui language of Yoeme, with translation into English provided by a narrator character. This multi-genre and multi-aesthetic approach is meant to communicate the diversity of migrant experiences and cultures, and fight stereotypical and destructive representations of migrants entering or living in the United States.
Mirror Butterfly has been presented at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the National Performance Network’s 2018 Annual Conference, and at the Mesopotamian Water Forum in Iraq. The MLMS was premiered at the New Hazlett Theater, under the direction of Cynthia Croot, and conducted by Federico Garcia-De Castro, to open up Season 6 of the CSA (community supported art) series. It was presented in October in dialogue with Indigenous People’s Day. The piece featured a 15-piece band multicultural jazz band, three choral singers, and 7 dancer-actors including one hip-hop/spoken word artist.
REVIEWS:
"...this is a call to action. To become educated about the impact climate change has on indigenous peoples. To listen more carefully to the “renaissance” of street band music and activists of which Afro Yaqui’s members are an integral part. And, to more closely consider a compassionate, cosmopolitan ethic, which exercises hospitality to migrants and displaced peoples." [FULL ARTICLE] - Jacob Kopcienski
"Ever wonder what 25 musicians improvising a funk-jazz opera score with Asian, African, European and South American instruments sounds like? No? The Afro Yaqui Music Collective wants to change that." [FULL ARTICLE]
POINT OF DEPARTURE
"The death of Fred Ho was a severe blow to the great jazz project of petitioning for social justice. Mirror Butterfly; The Migrant Liberation Movement Suite by the Afro Yaqui Music Collective signals that a new generation of activist jazz artists are continuing the struggle. Composer Benjamin Barson and librettist Ruth Margraff have created a concert-length work that speaks compellingly to these troubled times. They meet the standard Ho set." – Bill Shoemaker
The Afro Yaqui Music Collective has been described as “music without borders or boundaries; future music from the well of the past” [FULL ARTICLE]
"With Mirror Butterfly: the Migrant Liberation Movement Suite, the members of Pittsburgh’s Afro Yaqui Music Collective have created something even bigger than themselves. It’s an impressive feat, considering the multilingual jazz band can boast anywhere from a few main members to a 20-plus piece ensemble." [FULL ARTICLE]
"Described as a jazz opera, it begins with a free jazz blast from a saxophone quartet before moving through dramatic spoken word interludes, funk beats and classical arias as well as musical influences from around the world. As the work unfolds, the Collective, who describe themselves as a “25-piece postcolonial big band,” straddles all these styles with grace and vitality, retelling a story based on a Mayan folktale that has strong parallels with the plight of people in 2019." [FULL ARTICLE]
"this is boundaries being pushed in a well conceived way." [FULL ARTICLE]
"Overall, the suite is artful, gripping, relevant, highly listenable and surely indicative of a composer and librettist whose work must be widely heard." - John Pietaro [FULL ARTICLE]
"Fully orchestrated and magnificently realized, Afro Yaqui Music Collective make funk and jazz music uninhibited by rules or expectations. Firmly committed to social justice, the Pittsburgh-based ensemble takes aim at climate change, immigrant issues and dismantling cultural narratives. Mirror Butterfly, the group’s 2019 live jazz opera, is a sprawling narrative that details a chaotic world caught in a state of flux. Musically, the album similarly rises and falls, pairing rollicking, funky bangers with stark spoken-word pieces." [FULL ARTICLE]
The piece was developed in dialouge with these Activists:
Mirror Butterfly is out on Innova Recordings.
"Overture of the Sword" from MIrror Butterfly.
“Overture of the Mushroom” from Mirror Butterfly,
Workers' March and Stoneflower Requiem from Mirror Butterfly
From the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, November 23, 2018. Musical excerpt is "Orchid Mantis," composed by Ben Barson, sung by Kelsey Robinson.
The MLMS was presented by the Kennedy Center on November 23rd .
Charlotte O’Neal "Mama C” is a former Black Panther, now an ecosocialist community organizer, living in Tanzania. She is one of the living revolutionaries who provided the inspiration for the Mulberry Tree character, played by Kelsey Robinson.
A Window into the Process of Building MLMS from our friends at Recital.
