This interview was conducted in Spring 2021 by Connor Beaton for the ManTalks podcast.

https://mantalks.com/podcast/

2021 March - ManTalks Podcast, Connor Beaton interviews Stephen Jenkinson

Alchemy

Tides

striped marsh frogs/northern banjo frog/aquatic life
wet season in the kroombit mountains, qld
february, 2016

Morning Chorus: Above and below a creek in the Kroombit mountains

Dusk falls in Mohoba forest as a distant thunderstorm rumbles. The insect chorus is deafening. Turacos, hornbills, parrots and other birds prepare for the night.

Recorded in the Congo Basin Rainforest with a pair of DPA 4061 HDs going into a Sound Devices Mixpre D and a Sony PCM M10. Get more sounds at https://mindful-audio.com

Dusk In The Forest

Listen / Purchase: https://lnk.to/oldcapital

The Old Capital (out on Lost Tribe Sound) is the debut album from Melbourne composers Claire Deak and Tony Dupé. The album is their first recorded collaboration, though Dupé has released two solo albums under the name Saddleback. 

The duo describes themselves as a home orchestra well-suited for late night rambling. Much like traveling in the dark of night, the sound explorations found throughout The Old Capital come into view seemingly out of nowhere. Headstrong rhythms of shuffling organic debris and lumbering stomps help light the path with some brief success, only to be swallowed up by a slow moving fog of droning organs and dampened strings. However with the proper guides, finding ones footing in this shadowy landscape doesn't have to be difficult. Claire and Tony echo this sentiment throughout with a fine balance of both playful and haunting passages. Their confidence reassures us that once our eyes adjust to the dark, it need not be a frightening place. 

A wide variety of acoustic instrumentation weave their way into the music, including: pianos, accordion, harp, harpsichord, pump organs, pipe organ, recorder, flute, trumpet, euphonium, clarinets, stroh violin, viola, wulf fidel, cello, double bass, guitar, charango, mandolin, baritone ukulele, banjo, xylophone, glockenspiel, gamelan, drums and voices. 

Lost Tribe Sound feels incredibly lucky to have stumbled upon the duo's music because of a kind tip from the good folks at the Preserved Sound label. It makes perfect sense that Claire and Tony hail from Australia. This location has turned out many our favorite electroacoustic acts, known for cobbling genres together in ways that leave just enough of the roughhewn framework showing. Comparatively speaking, Brambles, Part Timer, and Thomas William Hill (aka Origamibiro) come to mind.

The Old Capital

From a Rooftop

Claire Deak & Tony Dupé - From a Rooftop (from The Old Capital)

Purchase / Stream: https://lnk.to/gallowglas

Lost Tribe Sound presents the debut album from Gallowglas, titled, ‘I Dream I See You Hit The Water, I Dream I See You Change Your Mind’ (or for short, IDISYHTW, IDISYCYM). From the start, Gallowglas has been a captivating study in duality… a push and pull of opposing forces, techniques, voices, and philosophies battling it out to create something quite profound, an album that felt close to never coming together at all.

Ultimately strong wills prevailed, working through disagreements, lost sessions, and stretches of post-world stopping malaise with an undeniable knowing that the results of this struggle were becoming a body of work that felt worth fighting for. Hardly a shiny sales pitch, but if you’re looking for another glossed up one sheet about an alt rock band who just found that perfect sound and rode it... Gallowglas is not that band.

That said, ‘IDISYHTW, IDISYCYM’ is an album with some fire in it. It’s a smoldering, crawling sort of indie that will most likely be treated like an outcast in the genre… a grandiose, experimental and bruised sort of classical that won’t be sweet enough or keep its mouth shut long enough for the neoclassical types. It’s a crude, ballad-heavy breed of outsider music that just speaks to us.

Galloglas feels wounded, at times almost beyond repair, but in a relatable way. A pain or sadness that you live with, internalize, live through, learn from. There is quiet strength to ‘IDISYHTW, IDISYCYM’ that it maintains throughout. Some moments bring tears when least expected, and some flood the heart with an anxious sort of excitement. It moves like a sharp blade through fog, cutting from seemingly out of nowhere with a deceivingly effortless amount of force. Gallowglas pairs stark, affecting vocals, derelict piano melodies, and a succinct array of ghostly background mechanics.

I dream I see you hit the water, I dream I see you change your mind

There is nothing flawless

Gallowglas - There Is Nothing Flawless (from IDISYHTW, IDISYCYM)

Episode 146 - Stephen Jenkinson

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, Stephen Jenkinson.

Culture activist, teacher, author ~ Stephen teaches internationally and is the creator and principal instructor of the Orphan Wisdom School, co-founded the school with Nathalie Roy in 2010, convening semi-annually in Deacon, Ontario, and in northern Europe. He has Master’s degrees from Harvard University (Theology) and the University of Toronto (Social Work). Apprenticed to a master storyteller when a young man, he has worked extensively with dying people and their families, is former programme director in a major Canadian hospital, former assistant professor in a prominent Canadian medical school. He is also a sculptor, traditional canoe builder whose house won a Governor General’s Award for architecture. Since co-founding Nights of Grief and Mystery with Gregory Hoskins in 2015, he has toured this musical/tent show revival/storytelling/ceremony of a show across North America, U.K. and Europe and Australia and New Zealand.

He is the author of Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble (2018), the award-winning Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul (2015), Homecoming: The Haiku Sessions (a live teaching from 2013), How it All Could Be: A workbook for dying people and those who love them (2009), Angel and Executioner: Grief and the Love of Life – (a live teaching from 2009), and Money and The Soul’s Desires: A Meditation (2002). He is contributing author to Palliative Care – Core Skills and Clinical Competencies (2007).

Stephen Jenkinson is also the subject of the feature length documentary film Griefwalker (National Film Board of Canada, 2008, dir. Tim Wilson), a portrait of his work with dying people, and Lost Nation Road, a shorter documentary on the crafting of the Nights of Grief and Mystery tours (2019, dir. Ian Mackenzie).

His books, recordings and DVDs are available for purchase at the Orphan Wisdom Shop.

Website: orphanwisdom.com

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

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thecuriosityhourpodcast.com

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Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast - Season 7

2020 April - Curiosity Hour Ep146, Dan Sterenchuk & Tommy Estlund interview Stephen Jenkinson

ROUGH GODS - Excerpt From Exegesis

An interview with Will Adolphy, originally released on December, 2020.

December 2020 - Into The Void, Will Adolphy interviews Stephen Jenkinson

This piece originally aired on BBC radio in December 2020. Produced by Phil Smith.

Contributors (in order of appearance):
Stephen Jenkinson
Kofi Mawuli Klu
Andreas Weber
Esther Stanford-Xosei
Anita Barrows

Voice of the chorus:
Niamh O’Brien.

Cello improvisations:
Lucy Railton

Additional words and music:
Phil Smith

Produced by Phil Smith.
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3.

2021 March - ManTalks Podcast, Connor Beaton interviews Stephen Jenkinson

Orphan Wisdom

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