A Night With Roger Waters

Roger unviels his opera Ca Ira in New York 25 July 2005

Rogers newest creation Ca Ira has been 16 years in the making but now that it is ready for release, Roger had a coming out event with thanks to his label Sony and Sony Classical. The hall was on the upper east side of Manhattan and seated 400. The lights went down as the auditorium was filled and everyone became completely silent as the sound effects of dogs and birds came over the speakers. The sound of the music started and since I was at the Bridgehampton performance last year I quickly recognized it as the Overture, which has a memorable beat to it that evokes marching armies going off to war.

The lights came up and host of the lecture, David Silver came out to give a brief synopsis of what we were about to experience. David was soft spoken but obviously a bit excited about the honor bestowed on him. (after the lecture he admitted to me that he and Roger were arguing all day about all sorts of topics and that he had the time of this life spending time going head to head with Roger) David did a very good job of asking questions and allowing Roger to answer as much or as little as he wished. He introduced Roger who came out to a standing ovation and he seemed very pleased and humbled by the enthusiasm. David started by thanking and congratulating Roger for the historic performance a few weeks ago at Hyde Park for Live 8 and again the crowd burst into applause.

Roger seemed a bit nervous as he sat in his leather padded chair that you would envision Sherlock Holmes sitting in and when Roger crossed his legs it was hard not to notice the pink socks he had on. It made me think that for such a serious gentleman he still exhibits that childhood innocence that he speaks of as being one of his sources of inspiration. The pink socks rocked! But now onto the opera.

Roger spoke about how he got involved with the opera when he was approached by Etienne Roda-Gil who had written the libretto, and Etiennes wife Nadine who illustrated images of the story based on the French Revolution. At first Etienne had asked Roger if he would be able to adapt some of Roger's previous music and to meld it to his ideas in his libretto. Roger wasn't into that idea at all but he was interested in the concept of the piece so he decided to take on the challenge to write music for the opera. He said that he was always attracted to the power and magnificence of a live symphony orchestra. Within a few weeks he had come up with a tape of music that could be considered a demo, which he presented to Etienne Roda-Gil and Nadine.

There was a wonderful film shown of Roger working on the opera throughout the years and I'm assuming this will be part of the documentary that Adrian Mabel has been said to have worked on and will be releasing- The Making of Ca Ira. The film showed Roger and the orchestra throughout the years. It also showed behind the scenes of the singers exhibiting how amazing their gifted voices are.

Roger was asked why opera is not widely accepted. He answered that its viewed as being mostly for the upper class and traditionally its a very overblown large and long production. Also because its usually in another language so its hard to relate to the storylines. It doesn't reach out to the masses because the masses assume that opera is only for rich people from some other place and it doesnt relate to their lives. I'm assuming Roger is hoping that his opera will appeal to the masses or get them to open their musical horizons.

He brought up that they opera will be available in both French and English. At first he was strongly adamant that he didn't want to do the English version but then over time the idea seemed to grow on him and he figured that it would be ok for the English version to be created as well.

While each piece of the opera was played over the speakers there were wonderful video montages showing images of famous artworks as well as the original illustrations that inspired the piece, drawn by Etienne's wife Nadine.

Roger quietly spoke about his thoughts of what each piece was about, he is very soft spoken to begin with but apparently his microphone wasn't fastened properly so it was a bit rough to hear him at times. The first piece we were introduced to, Honest Bird, Simple Bird, set the pace for delving further into the concept. Roger said that he mostly thought the opera is about change, we each have within us the potential for change and that we need to be empathetic to others, in order to have others be empathetic in return. Roger had to admit that even though he didn't use his past music from his Floyd/ solo days, he did use that experience and those concepts to guide him, mostly from working on The Wall.

Roger referred to how the Wall has influenced him on creating this piece, not only because of the concepts of war, loss, alienation and the need for empathy but also because when he started the project he always had it in his mind that this would be a live production. He talked about how the idea for The Wall grew out of a drawing, that he still has, that showed a stage with a wall across it. Then the concept and the music grew from that visual idea. Interestingly Ca Ira grew out of Ettienes's wife's visuals and the idea that these characters would become a live performance at some point.

Interestingly it was noted that the song My Dear Cousin Bourbon of Spain is derived from one of Roger's solo songs Moment of Clarity 5:11 am,( a personal favorite tune) from The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking album. Roger said that many people don't notice the melody at first but it is vaguely familiar to a trained Roger Waters fans ear.

He spoke a great deal about the history of the story and often referred to current parallels in the concept. He also said that he REFUSES (and he really said it with emotion), that he refuses to allow himself to become cynical to the fact that things can change. He spoke about how things really haven't changed much since war in the 1700s - its still about loss of loved ones, loss of innocence and also the loss of empathy, but he thinks that there is hope to make things change, hence the concept that Ca Ira encompasses. ( there is hope)

Roger spoke about how there are people all throughout Africa that live on less then a dollar a day and until the world had true empathy to make that change, then it was clear to see that war, destruction, illness and senseless death would continue. But Ca Ira attempts to put a spotlight on the fact that one person can make a change and that change can snowball into a revolution. Each persons actions and empathy could go very far to make things better for the future. Roger continually referred to the American Declaration of Independence, and then in true Roger sarcasm he said that it is a wonderful concept and would be even better if people upheld it and its truest meanings. He said at the start that he would try not to get too political but since Ca Ira is rooted in history and parallels current world history it was hard for Roger not to refer to the Tube bombings or to famine in Africa because its clear to any of his fans that his art is propelled by the tragedies of the world, then and now.

Musically speaking, he explained about wanting to have an African influence since part of the story has to deal with the slave trade and the impact of the exports of colonies during that time- (one chorus referring to Silver, Sugar and Indigo). He wanted to have drummers from Senegal and other African musical influences but then it occurred to him that it might be best to stay true to the medium and to use the orchestra to give that feel that he was looking for, without straying from being a pure opera.

After the lecture part was over Roger left the stage to another standing ovation and some of the fans were a bit disappointed because they didn't get to ask their questions they had prepared to ask him. Apparently the production ran over time but after about 10 minutes and the hall had mostly cleared out, Roger came back and sat at the edge of the stage for a brief meet and greet. I asked Roger if he minded taking photos now and he said he didn't mind. I took a few photos with some of the fans there and then I asked him to sign my Live 8 ticket, which he signed with a great deal of expression. I asked him if there were any planned performances of the opera and he said that November 17th he would be debuting it in Rome. I got to tell him that I took my Mom and my aunt (who ARE opera fans) to Bridgehampton last summer and I was going to try to arrange to take them on a trip to Italy for the debut.

Unfortunately since 1989 both Etienne Roda-Gil and his wife Nadine have passed away but its clear that Roger has been dedicated to his friends inspirations and to completing their visions. With the long awaited completion of Ca Ira, Roger has masterminded a piece of art that the original creators would be proud to be associated with.

As we left the auditorium we were presented with a CD of the excerpts that were heard that night. The parts of Ca Ira that were played were, the Overture, Honest Bird Simple Bird, I Want To Be King, To Freeze In The Dead Of Night, So To The Streets In The Pouring Rain, My Dear Cousin Bourbon Of Spain, To The Windward Isles, The Last Night On Earth, Liberty.

More photos can be viewed at- http://bleedingheartartist.fotopic.net/c629678.html

With many thanks to Kristen Piec & Roger Waters