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From City Weekend
Folk singer Abigail Washburn and producer Dave Liang recorded songs and stories of students relocated after last year’s tragic earthquake. Abigail tells us about their CD to be released on the anniversary of the quake.
How did this project come about?
Last December, I was at Sichuan University teaching traditional American music … I hung out at The Bookworm (in Chengdu) with my friend Peter Goff, and he said, “It would be fun to get you out to these relocation schools … I’m involved in a group called Sichuan Quake Relief, which does all kinds of projects with the schools.” So, over two days, we went to six different schools … After I would perform, some of the kids would come up to me and share their stories and their songs.What was your response to that experience?
After I left, I kept thinking, there must be something more I can do. I felt like I had been given these kids stories so directly and so personally … I had the idea to go back with my friend Dave Liang to make a pop album with the kids — something that would have mass appeal to bring attention and money back to the disaster zone.So what was the process like once you were back in Sichuan?
(Sichuan Quake Relief) scouted schools to find the right mix of students … We wanted to have Tibetan and Qiang minorities represented on the CD because they had lost so many people in the earthquake.Wow. And how did you work with the kids?
We set it up as an event. As soon as I got there, I played a show for all the kids … We asked the kids to sing songs for us. And then we asked them stuff like, “What did your parents used to sing you at night while you were going to bed?” So they came to us with these interesting songs and we recorded them there.How long did this process take?
We spent four days at the school … Then we went up into Wenchuan, to the kids’ hometowns and visited with their parents. They hadn’t seen their kids since last August, so everyone was missing each other. We gave them portraits of their kids and let them listen to their kids singing their songs, and just connected with them. We also recorded them leaving messages to their kids, singing songs … and also the sounds of rebuilding.Details
The CD Afterquake will be released on May 12, the anniversary of the Sichuan Earthquake. Find out more at www.afterquakemusic.com
Sichuan Quake Relief: sichuan-quake-relief.org
Abigail Washburn: www.abigailwashburn.com
Dave Liang and The Shanghai Restoration Project: www.shanghairestorationproject.com(Above photo by Amanda Kowalski)
The collaboration was inspired in 2008, through Abigail’s volunteer work for Sichuan Quake Relief where she performed in ‘relocation schools’ with kids from pre-school to high school – most of whom were relocated from mountain villages to schools in new locations far from their families. “The children and teachers expressed intense grief at the loss of home and family,” says Washburn, a former Sichuan resident featured in Newsweek for her “weirdly wonderful” blend of Chinese culture and American-roots music. “I wanted to return and record their stories and songs in their own voices.”
