In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Crosscurrents, a retrospective on the groups and projects that laid the foundation for current work.
Lingua Franca (1999-2001)
Lingua Franca is an a cappella world music quartet whose name stands for "music as the common tongue." Quartet members have collectively visited 23 countries, all 12 Canadian provinces and territories, and (we think) all 50 states, and speak over a dozen languages. Powerful harmonies blend in a joyful and infectious celebration of music, the universal language.
Our popular set GLOBAL HARMONIES begins with freedom songs from South Africa, where bass Alan Field works with local communities to install Macintosh computers in classrooms while touring with the international chorus Sharing a New Song. Mediterranean harmonies then move to the Balkans, Italy and Spain, where alto Liz Lewis spent her junior year abroad. Lingua Franca crosses the Channel with chanteys from the Netherlands and Britain, to England where tenor Ed Softky and soprano Lynn Noel have collected pub songs and sea music as morris dancers. Sailing out across the North Atlantic, we return to North America with French-Canadian voyageur songs and Ojibwa chants from Lynn's decade of work with the Canadian Park Service, and sacred harp and Appalachian hymns from Ed and Liz's roots in American popular music. South of the border, the set celebrates Latin rhythms with traditional and new music from Latin America, where Liz works in international health care.
Our popular set GLOBAL HARMONIES begins with freedom songs from South Africa, where bass Alan Field works with local communities to install Macintosh computers in classrooms while touring with the international chorus Sharing a New Song. Mediterranean harmonies then move to the Balkans, Italy and Spain, where alto Liz Lewis spent her junior year abroad. Lingua Franca crosses the Channel with chanteys from the Netherlands and Britain, to England where tenor Ed Softky and soprano Lynn Noel have collected pub songs and sea music as morris dancers. Sailing out across the North Atlantic, we return to North America with French-Canadian voyageur songs and Ojibwa chants from Lynn's decade of work with the Canadian Park Service, and sacred harp and Appalachian hymns from Ed and Liz's roots in American popular music. South of the border, the set celebrates Latin rhythms with traditional and new music from Latin America, where Liz works in international health care.
