Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Elizabeth Swados/Faith Hubley






I watched some Hubley Studios films last week and decided that I much prefer Faith Hubley's solo work. There's a sort of earthy pan-ethnic left-wing quality to it that instantly fires off "New York" associations, or rather the mythical New York I learned about by watching Sesame Street. I also decided that the important collaboration wasn't between John and Faith Hubley so much as between Faith Hubley and Elizabeth Swados, who composed music for and wrote a few children's books with Faith in the late 70s/early 80s. Swados wrote some big Broadway hits like The Runaways, but it's her boho underground stuff (workshops for Peter Brook, crazy spoken word performances, open mics) that really interests me. Here is a homemade mix of Swados's music for Faith Hubley films. Lots of kalimba and other African instruments with choral shenanigans -- sort of like a more folksy Sun Ra. (The songs are ripped from a DVD collection of Hubley films.) And here is some Youtube action: first a Faith Hubley film called "Enter Life" (music by Swados) and then a few clips from a 1977 movie about Swados called The Girl With the Incredible Feeling. It seems like Swados really LIVES life.




6 comments:

  1. Thanks, Ben. Enjoying the mix right now with my morning coffee. Here's to you for what you do!

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  2. Thanks, Greg. The music is definitely weird but for some reason I like it. There are parts of "Sky Dance" that are really pretty in a capoeira warm-up kind of way.

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  3. I had never heard these names before. Thanks a lot for this! So many right and wrong things at the same time, lovely.

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  4. ha ha, yeah there are some wrongs for sure, especially with the vocal stylings...

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  5. John and Faith Hubley's daughter Georgia (whose voice can be heard in several of their animated shorts) is the drummer/percussionist/vocalist in the long running indie band Yo La Tengo.

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  6. Hi Ben. If you ever choose to reup your mix, w/b much appreciated :-)

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