David Borgo – Suite of Uncommon Sorrows

(Digital only)

The Suite of Uncommon Sorrows in an eleven-part suite of original music composed in response to the tumultuous events of 2020, including the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, the growing Black Lives Matter movement, and the debilitating polarization of U.S. politics that made it impossible to address either of these adequately.

Each movement explores a different “uncommon sorrow,” such as kuebiko (a state of moral exhaustion inspired by acts of horror in the news, which forces you to revise your image of what can happen in this world), kenopsia (the eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet), chrysalism (an amniotic-like tranquility while a storm rages outside), liberosis (an ache to let things go; a desire to hold your life loosely and playfully), zenosyne (the sense that time keeps going faster), and pâro (the feeling that no matter what you do it will always be inadequate).

1. Kuebiko

A state of moral exhaustion inspired by acts of horror in the news, which forces you to revise your image of what can happen in this world

2. Chrysalism

An amniotic-like tranquility, similar to how one feels while wrapped in a blanket sitting inside on the couch while a storm rages outside.

3. Kenopsia

The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet

4. Liberosis

An ache to let things go; a desire to hold your life loosely and playfully

5. Paro

The feeling that no matter what you do it will always be inadequate

6. Occhiolism

The awareness of the limitations of your own perspective

7. One Step Forward Two Steps Back

The feeling that although progress is being made, it produces a reaction that is somehow greater than equal and opposite

8. The Village COVIDiots

An inversion of Eric Dolphy’s “Out To Lunch”

9. Gnossienne

A moment of awareness that someone you have known for years still has a private and mysterious inner life that will remain unknowable to you

10. Zenosyne

The sense that time keeps going faster

11. Gugulethu

A township outside of Cape Town, South Africa, its name is a contraction of igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for “our pride” (for Winston Mankunku Ngozi)

 

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David Borgo – tenor and soprano (4,8) saxophones, aerophone (9)

Tobin Chodos – piano and keyboard (9)

Mackenzie Leighton – acoustic and electric (9) bass

Mark Ferber – drum set

Peter Sprague – electric guitar (6,9,10)

King Britt – electronics (9)

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All music composed by David Borgo

©2021 David Borgo Music, ASCAP

Recorded by Peter Sprague, Spragueland Studio

Mixed and Mastered by Wayne Peet, Newzone Studio

Cover photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash

Titles from dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com

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