Adiu, Adiu, Dous Dame Jolie by Francesco Landini (Voice and Gittern)

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“Adiu, Adiu, Dous Dame Jolie”, or "Farewell, Farewell, Sweet Fair Lady” is a beautiful and bittersweet song of lost love and exile. It is sung in Old French, and I have arranged it here for gittern (medieval guitar).

Francesco Landini was blinded by smallpox during childhood; but he went on to become famous across Europe during his lifetime (c.1335-1397) for his musical memory, his skill in improvisation, and his virtuosity on the portative organ.

I'm a musician and visual artist based in the UK, interested in re-interpreting classical music from a queer, feminist and outsider perspective that disrupts the conservative & elitist conventions of the genre (think Lo-fi / Classical on a shoestring!). What does classical music for a late Capitalist society look like?

In this video I am interested in themes of marginalisation and alienation, neoliberal dystopias, and new queer utopias forged in marginal spaces!

Filmed on location in Birmingham (UK) in derelict spaces that were formerly for use by the community but are now sadly sealed and fenced off by private companies, for the enrichment of the few! These particular buildings were once splendid and grandiose in their architecture, but for years now they have been going to rack and ruin-- a terrible waste.

This video features live sound captured on-site from the filming locations.
(The audio recording will be available in January via my Bandcamp page and on Spotify.)
All Video and Audio recorded and edited in Birmingham, UK by Katherine Evans, copyright 2024.
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In my choreography I am working towards embodying, or at least conveying the difficult and often cruel and harsh relationship I have with my body, given 25 years of living with an eating disorder as well as obsessive compulsive disorder.
Jagged and distorted, moving between graceful and grotesque, it is a similar aesthetic that draws me to portraits by painter Egon Schiele.

Classical music has a poor track record when it comes to including and representing artists from disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as other marginalised groups. This music is still very inaccessible to all but the privileged (both in terms of participation and consumption)-- and statistics show that this trend is worsening.

As a queer artist from a disadvantaged background, YouTube provides me with a platform where I can share with you my own individual voice without being vetoed by gatekeepers who preserve society's power structures. Western classical music is currently not inclusive enough of Feminist perspectives, as well as the empowered voices and stories of people from ethnic minorities, the working class, LGBT+, and disabled people.
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Medieval French:

Adiu, Adiu, Dous Dame Jolie
Kar da vous si depart, Lo corps plorans
Mes a vous las, l’esprit et larme mie.

Lontan da vous, aylas, vivra dolent
Byen che loyal sera’n tout ma vie.

Poyrtant ay! Clere. Clere stelle vos prie,
Com larmes e sospirs, tres dousmante,
Che loyaute, haies pour vestre amye.

--

Farewell, farewell sweet fair lady
For my body in tears take leave of you
But I leave you my soul and my spirit.

Far from you I shall live, alas, in sorrow.
Though all my life I shall be loyal to you.

That is why, bright star, I beg you
With tears and gentlest sighs
Implore that you be loyal to your friend.