Monday, August 28, 2023
A sound mind
Performance | santafenewmexican.com: On paper, Santa Fean Madi Sato’s expansive life history reads as a meditation on mourning, embracing Indigenous heritage, and survival.
Set to music, those powerful ingredients swirl into an other-wordly mashup of narration, pieces of familiar songs, and haunting chants aimed at evoking emotions mere words cannot.
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3 comments:
This production sounds absolutely incredible. I have a deep love for New Mexico and Santa Fe specifically. I have spent a fair amount of time there as my grandfather bought property there when he would herd cattle from Oklahoma to California when he was younger. It is such an intrinsically artistic place but does not have the population to become a theatrical powerhouse like Chicago, Houston, or New York. Despite all this, I think that Santa Fe has incredible potential for more theatre as is obviously displayed in this article. If I am able to return to the area any time soon in the future I will make it a priority to seek out this show. I love the idea of surrounding the void of those who are no longer with us with music and art and healing through those things. I also deeply understand her father wanting to raise his children in their indigenous heritage, even though it may be lonely for those that feel like outsiders it is done out of such deep love.
I had never heard of Madi Soto before this article and I wasn't expecting to connect with her story as much as I did. I have had a similar experience in regards to the death of a parent. Shortly after my father died, I connected with theatre as a form of escapism and expression for the grief that I held. It allowed me to connect with my innermost thoughts much like it did for Soto. Something I also appreciated about Soto’s story is her ability to take her grief and turn it into a passion for exploring her heritage, especially her fathers. Connecting with the earth and her heritage is a beautiful piece of not only art, but a kind of meditation. I love nature so looking at artists that explore the intersectionality of our roots through nature is something truly fascinating to me. I intend to look into her music and add songs to my meditation playlist.
This story caught me by surprise. I opened it because I am someone who has a deep love for meditation, and while I did enjoy the discussion about that, what I enjoyed even more was the connection made between healing and music. I think those of us that have worked in music or have exposure to it know how powerful music can be, especially when performed live. I enjoyed reading how in this story it had such a large impact on Sato’s life. While I fortunately cannot relate to the loss of a family member, I can relate to using music to heal. I reflect on some of the most difficult times in my life and I acknowledge that in those moments I always turned to music and to the performing arts for guidance and peace. I think that is one of the reasons I love the arts. It creates this massive capacity for love, healing, and empathy and I think this story lends itself to that incredibly well.
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