Around 100 years ago, Jamaican-American poet Claude McKay wrote this poem about a poet's hope for posterity. I was taken by a pair of lines in his poem where he prophesies that "Modern kings will throttle you to greet/the piping voice of artificial birds."

I composed a rich and strange musical setting for the poem: a piano trio playing simply augmented with an oboe, viola da gamba, and a hurdy-gurdy.

The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinaitons, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org

A second poem (now song) by Jamaican-American poet Claude McKay on winter, following up from our last example. The last time McKay embraced winter as reflecting his own moods, but in this one emmigrant McKay imagines a warm island respite.

The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinaitons, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org

Continuing in our celebration of the poetry of Claude McKay, here's a short, bittersweet song made from his poem "To Winter." As a Jamaican emmigrant who lived much of his American time in the northern U.S., McKay here outlines a complex set of feelings about this time of the year.

The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinaitons, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org

Continuing in our series this Black History Month focusing on the work of Jamaican-American poet Claude McKay. Here's a sonnet of his published The Liberator magazine in 1921, now performed with a new musical accompaniment.

Long-time followers of this Project may remember that I've proposed something I call "The Sandburg Test:" does any substantial collection of the a poet's work include at least one poem dealing with the world of work? McKay tests positive with poems like this one.

The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinaitons, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org

For Valentine's Day and Black History Month, here's Claude McKay's poem of desire "Flower of Love" from his 1922 collection Harlem Shadows after I turned it into an exuberant song.

The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinaitons, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org

The year for Black History Month I've doing series of song-settings of the poetry of Claude McKay, and today's piece has McKay expressing the hope that his poetry might survive the particulars of his life.

The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinaitons, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org

Starting off our Black History Month series this year featuring musical presentations of poems by Jamaican-American writer Claude McKay with this one about the immigrant experience, "The City's Love."

The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinaitons, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org

Here's a short poem by Robert Frost that I made into a song and sang this month. Like the bird song Frost hears in his poem, it's in a minor key.

The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinaitons, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org

It's been more than a week since I could begin to think of putting out more work on this Project. As I continue, this note is going to read like propaganda, but I'm not much for that, and as best as I can this is an attempt at a objective summary. Our home state of Minnesota is currently subject to a intentionally vindictive incursion by the secretive armed forces of our mad and illtempered ruler, who says this is retribution. To a significent degree, no one knows who is being taken out of their homes, cars, schools, workplaces, or their footsteps. The armed forces generally don't say, but the point is to make a great many feel they could be next, particularly if they object to this, since that's being a "violent agitator." These so called agitators are often standing on sidewalks and streetcorners in their own neighborhoods, on their own blocks, even on their own doorsteps, or they are at their own shopping sites, schools, or workplaces, armed with but cell phone cameras and whistles to call others similarly "armed" to protect them (somewhat) from the masked squads. Some step forward to try to get the names of those who are being detained (the secretive authorities do not release those names) and getting near enough to hear that risks their own detention. Their cameras minimize, but do not eliminate the vindictive street beat-downs and such that would otherwise occur.

These encounters are not prayer circles. Many observing this are angry and disgusted and they are shouting out shames and curses.

Today song is going to seem topical. It's not. It was written and performed in 2014 by the LYL Band, and the song's refrain is a statement made by 19th century American Abolitionist Wendell Phillips. Phillips was asked why he aways had to be so fiery in denouncing the enslavers and slave catchers of his time. Phillips response was much-loved by a former U S Senator from Minnesota, Paul Wellstone. Phillips replied: "Yes, I'm on fire, because I have mountains of ice to melt!"

So, not a topical song. For historical interest only.

The Parlando Project takes various words (usually literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org

This hiking poem by Vachel Lindsay seems appropriate for January as many look back and foreward at the beginning of the year, and in the Parlando manner I've made it into a song.

The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinaitons, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org