Music Videos
2012 Kathy Taylor –Dreams (Sueños) – a short video by Wilmer Chavarría of a song I wrote with the words of a poem by Pablo Neruda. (Poem LVIII by Pablo Neruda, El libro de las preguntas, music and translation by Kathy Taylor).
https://www.facebook.com/KathyTaylorMusic/videos/1672765336105519
2013 Babelegría – another video by Wilmer Chavarría of a song I wrote in 5 languages (German, Papiamentu, Portuguese, English, Spanish) performed with students at Earlham College and others from the Richmond community. (*See text and translation below)
https://www.facebook.com/KathyTaylorMusic/videos/1671950406187012
2013 Badger Creek – video of the title song from the “Badger Creek” album about our home in the Colorado mountains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEdEwHP7cpM
2013 House on The Hill – video of another song from the “Badger Creek” album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2J6UHbD5z0
2015 My Madushi and Me – video of a song from the “In the Inbetween” album – with and for my granddaughter Greta Garrettson-Taylor on her 7th birthday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpBnX__LMtE
2016 A Boy and a Girl and a Dream – video and song for my brother and sister-in-law on their 50th wedding anniversary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7MVWtzFUk
2018 Blue Wave – video of a song of hope and prayer for the future and the things that connect us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfeQFJZfMPA
2022 The Wookie – video and song for my granddog JJ and my daughter Anika.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=252kvbQPyto&t=17s
2023 Cuarentango – short film and song about the pandemic and the isolation of the early years. Originally in Spanish. A play on the Spanish “cuarentena” (quarantine) plus “tango.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcuMrmpedRU
2023 Cuarentango E – the same film with the vocal in English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyMOqxPBGyE
* Babelegría
This is a song about the joy of language in its great diversity. The original story of the tower of Babel is one where linguistic diversity was a punishment. The title of this song is a combination of “Babel” and “alegria” (joy), suggesting an alternative story. There are five languages represented here, each with its own melody, but together forming a harmony of celebration and joyful noise. The song begins in German, followed by Papiamentu (a Caribbean Creole language), Portuguese, English and Spanish, with each additional language melody layered over the others until you have all five singing together. The final solo in Spanish kind of explains the Babel story. So, you will hear all of the languages singing together where the words become sounds and blend as music, even if you don’t understand them.
- (German)
Das wissen wir schon, das wissen wir schon.
Wahrheit und Fröhlichkeit in einem anderen Ton.
Gemütlichkeit, Einigkeit in der Zeit
Herrlichkeit und Ewigkeit.
We already know, we already know
Truth and happiness in another tone.
Comfort and coziness, unity through time
Splendor and eternity.
2.(Papiamentu)
Nos ta lanta, hala rosea
balia, kanta, bati wea
kada lenga ku su mes melodia
pa buska berdat i alegria.
We get up, breathe
Dance and sing, stir our pots
Each language with its own melody
To look for truth and joy.
3.(Portuguese)
Acho que têm que ver
com um mito de esquecer.
Unidos estamos na diversidade,
agora vamos com felicidade.
I think it has to do with
A myth of forgetting
We are united in diversity
Now let’s go forth with joy.
4.(English)
I know, I know, it’s a symphony.
High low, here we go, just follow me.
A kaleidoscope that we hope will help us see
beauty in diversity linguistically.
5.(Spanish)
Hay una torre, según el mito corre.
Ambición que fracasó, ilusión que cayó.
Pero de la triste historia nace una gloria.
De la ruina sabiduría, genuina babelegría.
There is a tower, as the myth goes.
Ambition that failed, dream that fell.
But from the sad story, is born a glory,
From the ruins; wisdom, genuine babelgría