Marijo bela kumrijo with Vismaya Lhi - soprano and Dusan Bogdanovic - guitar

All of the videos in this series were shot at the historic Presidio Chapel in San Francisco in a single short session. They are essentially real time ’jazz’ improvisations based on the harmonic structure, melody, words and feeling of a folk song; they are not intended to be understood as performances based on tradition. Malcolm Cecil was the videographer. Vismaya Lhi and Jaromy Russo were the audio engineers. Marijo bela kumrijo is a song about longing. The head of the village asks ’Mary’ why she is so quiet; why her voice has lost its bright lilt. He wonders if it is because of the heavy water pitchers she carries or the heavy necklaces she wears. But when asked, she responds that “No“, it is not these heavy objects that are the cause of her downheartedness, it is separation from the man she loves......