Ottawa Meditations

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 Paul Horn, Agra

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 North American Flute, Improv

With another exam route fast approaching next week - I’m looking forward to a swing through south-western Ontario - I am reminded of my fine adventures while on the road last summer, performing in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and conducting Woodwind and Brass exams for the RCME in Ottawa.

On the last day of exam’s in our nation’s capital, and just a few blocks from Parliament Hill, I took a few minutes to record in the hotel’s pool area before suiting up and grabbing a taxi across town. Paul Horn is central to the inspiration behind Urban Flute Project, and his seminal piece, Agra, was originally played and recorded in the Taj Mahal. It was listening to my original vinyl LP of his pioneering ‘Inside’ recording that planted the seed for what has emerged here on Urban Flute.

Although currently out of print, Paul Horn’s printed music can be found at Toronto’s Metro Reference Library, and is definitely worth checking out. Agra is currently included in List B at the Grade 4 level of the current RCME Flute Syllabus; it is at once exotic and improvisatory, with pauses written into the score to allow for the 17-second reverberation of the Taj Mahal.  Despite the electric buzz of the overhead lights in my recording here, the echo in this pool enclosure gives you an idea of meditative spaciousness of the piece. My thanks to the staff at the Holiday Inn, and, of course my heartfelt thanks to Paul for this iconic composition!

Before giving Agra a read-through, I warmed up to the space with an extended improv on my Native American Flute, similar to the one I played in that ancient river gully deep in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. As you may have noticed, I generally keep it to one-recording-per-post, but consider this a bonus track! With its rather chalky tone yet distinctively liquid, timeless voice, this wonderful cedar flute was particularly aromatic that fine summer morning – especially given the humidity of the pool!

Incidentally, a book was published late last year postulating that Canada’s First Nations were fundamental in shaping Canada’s unique sensibility of compassion, tolerance and collaboration both domestically as well as on the world stage: well, no duh-h!! I’ll try to find the name of that well-publicised book and it’s author along with links for your convenience. Even if its general premise doesn’t come as a complete revelation, it certainly offered a fresh perspective on our country’s usual English-French diatribe!

I guess the question that begs to be asked is: way-back-when in Canada’s history as explorers and traders opened the continent – even here in this historic city – who actually ‘civilized’ who?