Did you see the KANU concert at Orcas Center before Thanksgiving? I didn’t plan to, but our neighbors called the morning after the first night and said they had been talking about the concert for TWO hours! Even though we were packing for a trip to Texas, I decided our family better see the concert. No one talks about a concert for two hours unless it’s extraordinary.
Extraordinary it was.
It wasn’t a concert. It was like stepping into a whole different world for a few hours, immersing in the life of Rafe Pearlman, who grew up in the Alaska wilderness with sled dogs and ravens for friends. He has translated his formative thoughts and experiences into music that is nothing like the kind you’re accustomed to hearing in everyday life. (If it is, you’ve got to connect me with what you’re listening to!) It sometimes doesn’t even have words. The sounds he makes combined with the sounds his instrumentalists create are powerful, reaching a deep, stirring place inside you. I could have stayed there a lot longer, and photos or videos won’t do it justice. I think all of us in the audience were swept into another realm.
I had seen Rafe before, fleetingly when we showed up later than we wanted to at the Mount Baker Farm 4th of July celebration and concert before the laser light show a few years ago. We only heard the final two or three songs that were played, and I wished we had seen the whole thing. That’s when he first came onto my radar, but I had no idea what the KANU concert was going to be.
Throughout the show, Rafe was captivating. He can sing in umpteen different styles – by the end of the show, I gathered that he has devoted himself to the practicing of vocal nuances heard in cultures around the world. He even did the calls of ravens.
Rafe’s CD of the concert songs came out the weekend he performed, and were made available at Orcas Center when we walked out of the show. We bought one and listened to KANU again and again on the way to SeaTac early the next morning, and all the way back from SeaTac to Orcas Island after being in Texas a week.
Orcas Center did not record KANU for their website archives because Rafe and his phenomenal instrumentalists plan to do some more shows in the near future, according to Jake Perrine, who helped produce the show and the CD.
I look forward to seeing more of what Rafe does. Don’t miss it. Remember his name.
Here are a few clips of what he does, though they can’t compare to seeing him live…
Here’s more about Rafe from his website:
Rafe Pearlman started his singing career with the wolves, ravens and sled dogs of the Alaskan wilderness. The wild nature of his exploratory singing has led to performances spanning the globe, from India, Hong Kong, Israel and Germany, to Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Thailand, Mexico and all across the United States.
Rafe’s intention with his music is to inspire a vision of a world in harmony and unity, celebrating diversity, sustainability, and equality for all beings. Sometimes a simple song is all it takes to open a connection.
Highlights of his many years of music making include performances at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (USA), America’s Got Talent (USA), Festival Internacional (Mexico), Lightning in a Bottle (USA), Burning Man (USA), and Shantipi (Israel).
Collaboration is central to Rafe’s creative process and he’s had the opportunity to work with some amazing performers and composers over the years including William Close and the Earth Harp Collective, touring with the world’s largest stringed instrument. Rafe was accompanied by a full orchestra, working with one of Hollywood’s top soundtrack composers, Tyler Bates, at the festival of film composers, “MOSMA,” in Malaga, Spain.
Rafe’s voice is featured on soundtracks for Netflix, Direct-TV, NBC and Thunder Road Films, and on Sony’s top video games. Rafe will be a new voice on the upcoming season of Motherland: Fort Salem, creating vocal spells for the cast of characters.
I just loved Rafe’s voices, sounds, and calls. I decided I needed to run across him sometime soon. What do you know, one bright, snowy, early-December morning, I passed him on the street and we chatted. I asked if he would let me record his raven call and he kindly obliged:
Thank you, Rafe. I just love your love for nature, people, and depth.
If you’d like vocal training with Rafe, click here.
