AHT VIDEO PROD: DAVE MEDER ” EXILE “

Film: Adrien H. Tillmann // Dave Meder (piano), Philip Dizack (trumpet), Marty Jaffe (bass), Michael Piolet (drums)

ABOUT THE MUSIC: The piece embodies the feelings of mental and emotional exile: the sensation of profound disillusionment at the actions of your leaders and fellow citizens. In early 20th century Spain, a rising right-wing political coalition of generals, Christian clergy, and wealthy landowners was successful in gradually transforming Miguel de Unamuno (and intellectuals like him) into enemies of the state. The rifts between societal factions ultimately threw the country into a costly civil war. Unamuno would die under house arrest in 1936, months into the war that would ultimately bring down the democratically elected government of Spain and impose a right-wing dictatorship until 1975. Historical comparisons are always tenuous and difficult. Still, recent political movements in the United States have driven many of us closer to the state of mental, emotional, and human exile that Unamuno experienced in his time. In my relatively short life, I have never felt so detached from my country as I did from 2016 – 2021. I can only hope we can find our collective footing again. We are so polarized that we have completely lost our ability to delineate fact and fiction, as Unamuno does so eloquently in his writings. We have lost the ability to reconcile deeply held religious beliefs with the indisputable scientific truths that affect us all. We have forgotten the importance of education and critical thought, which helps us recognize and strike down false prophets and leaders. Major facets of American society now resemble the kowtowing nationalists in Unamuno’s Spain: placing their loyalty in utterly misguided leaders who seek power and self-enrichment at any cost, at the expense of the marginalized and vulnerable. What happens if these kinds of ideas and leaders take power again in this country? What happens if voting rights are restricted to such a degree that the majority political ideology in this country is relegated to a permanent minority status — where one side can gain power not through the strength and appeal of their ideals but through the simple suppression of the other side? What happens if our leaders succeed in burying our own history and implanting false narratives of American culture? What happens if religious views infiltrate the courts to such a degree that our legal system begins to resemble a theocracy? What happens to the academics, artists, and other citizens who would still try to speak the truth in this hypothetical new world? It is no longer an exaggeration or an overreaction to imagine such scenes in the United States. In this piece, the melody (1:29) is brief and direct. The expansiveness comes from the musicians themselves. The group begins as a unified force, playing the melody together, but we quickly become exiled from each other (2:33), pursuing our own paths, rhythms, phrases…conversing here and there but largely existing independent of one other. As the piece builds, we begin to come together again (3:59). The trumpet and piano begin to talk to each other, answering each other in our own individual solos. All the while, we are beginning to build something together: a grand and beautiful musical metropolis, if you will, where everyone maintains their individual voice while being an integral part of the whole. More importantly, everyone has an equal right to express their individual voice within this whole. Eventually, we reach a sort of catharsis (5:38), an outpouring of love and beauty, and the recognition of the collective pain we have experienced. Back together again, we return to the melody (6:30) in a new spirit: one of hope, optimism, and a sense of rebirth, tinged with the visions of what we will become if we fail to unite again. I hope we rediscover this collective hope as a people. Above all, I hope we can fight together to see that no one in this country is left unwillingly in exile. More at http://www.davemeder.com/unamuno