Have you ever asked yourself the question - what is music? Does nature around us - the birds, the trees - make music? What is music supposed to do? I had never thought of these questions (and I didn’t even plan on asking them) until I spoke with my guest today, composer Alexander Liebermann.

Alexander is an award-winning composer, arranger and educator who trained at Musikhochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin, at New York’s Juilliard and is currently doing his doctorate at the Manhattan School of Music. Alexander’s work is wide-ranging, he writes for ensembles, choral music, orchestras, solo instruments, film scores and how I discovered him, transcribing animal sounds.

We talk about Alexander’s childhood raised in a household of musicians. His composition process, how his lockdown pastime of transcribing animal sounds has not only impacted his composition writing but other musicians. We talk about why a lot of his work centres around nature and climate change, but that he always desires to convey a hopeful message- that hope and positivity can be more effective tools to engage people rather than fear and cynicism.

We talk about how the classical music emphasis on technique and virtuosity isn’t always as important as the story or the passion a musician is trying to convey. We talk about how multi-faceted art and the artist is - as Alexander says, a line I love, 'critique is very easy, but art is difficult’. 

My conversation with Alexander wasn’t about finding or establishing answers, for me it was - and why I love doing this podcast - about someone creating work that caused me to consider the world around me in a new way. And as this series is about creative ways to bring about social change, is it possible to do so in joyful and unburdened ways, in ways that inspire fascination and curiosity? I think Alexander has inadvertently done that. Isn’t that what art can do - bypass the mind and go straight to the heart?

Guest: Alexander Liebermann
Title: What is music?
Music on playlist: Erwin Schulhoff, Hot - Sonate

Alexander's links:
Bio - https://alexanderliebermann.com/biography
Website - https://alexanderliebermann.com/
IG - https://www.instagram.com/lieberliner/

Featured music by Alexander:
De Poeta - https://soundcloud.com/alexander-liebermann/de-poeta
Cello Sonata, II, Lento (feat. Raphaël Liebermann) - https://youtu.be/isfCghad2EA
Erwachen - https://soundcloud.com/alexander-liebermann/erwachen follow the score - https://youtu.be/r2_HjV-cEuM
Welcome to the Anthroprocene - https://soundcloud.com/alexander-liebermann/liebermann-welcome-to-the-anthroprocene-2020

Animal song:
Humpback whale - https://www.instagram.com/p/CCtRY15qbzy/
Uirapuru Wren - https://www.instagram.com/p/CEo3BGtKsGn/
Seal - https://www.instagram.com/p/CK4Iku1K0we/


To Learn more about Airbnb's work with Afghan Refugees
https://www.airbnb.org/refugees

Alexander Liebermann - What is music?

We have come full circle and reached the end of season 3 - time really flies! I started this season expressing my desire to talk about social justice, racism and discrimination. I gave the example of the Japanese art of Kintsugi - the broken vessel that is mended to make new. And who better to talk about these Kintsugi ideals than the person who introduced me to this concept, return guest (S02 Ep.7), artist Makoto Fujimura. This time he joins me with his incredible wife, lawyer and justice advocate Haejin Shim. 

This episode was so powerful and whilst it was recorded sometime in June, the themes remain ever-relevant. We talk about the ways in which beauty, art and justice intersect. Can beauty be found in justice, can art be used as an instrument for justice? What does justice really mean? We talk about faith and beauty. Beauty not as perfection, it’s not cosmetic - but beauty as a journey - a journey into the new. And we can’t talk about beauty without talking about sacrifice and suffering - suffering that leads to what Mako calls ‘generative love’. 

I have so much to say about this episode, so much that it’s better that I just say less and you listen and draw your own conclusions.

Guests: Makoto Fujimura & Haejin Shim
Title: Beauty, Art & Justice
Music on playlist: Susie Ibarra, Walking on Water

Makoto Fujimura Links:
Bio - https://makotofujimura.com/about
Website - https://makotofujimura.com/
IG - https://www.instagram.com/iamfujimura/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/iamfujimura
Kintsugi Academy - https://www.instagram.com/academykintsugi/
Culture Care Podcast - https://culture-care-podcast.simplecast.com/
Books - https://culturecarecreative.com/

Haejin Shim Links:
Bio - http://shimassociates.com/our-attorneys/#Bio1
IG - https://www.instagram.com/haejinshim/
Embers International Website - https://www.embersinternational.org/about
Embers International IG - https://www.instagram.com/embersint/
Shim & Associates Law Firm - http://shimassociates.com/

To Learn more about Airbnb's work with Afghan Refugees
https://www.airbnb.org/refugees

Makoto Fujimura & Haejin Shim - Beauty, Art and Justice

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