Program Note

The title zero circle is taken from a Rumi poem of the same name:

Be helpless, dumbfounded,
Unable to say yes or no.
Then a stretcher will come from grace
    To gather us up.

We are too dull-eyed to see that beauty
If we say we can, we’re lying.
If we say No, we don’t see it,
That No will behead us
And shut tight our window onto spirit.

So let us rather not be sure of anything,
Besides ourselves, and only that, so
Miraculous beings come running to help.
Crazed, lying in a zero circle, mute,
We shall be saying finally,
With tremendous eloquence, Lead us.
When we have totally surrendered to that beauty,
We shall be a mighty kindness.

This poem speaks to me as a moving call for humility. Whether read religiously or not, the idea of being helpless and uncertain is not commonly a part of western culture. If we each showed a bit of humility in our daily lives, though, we might see some fantastic changes in the way our world operates. I wanted to capture that humility and the radiance it can have for others with Zero Circle, which is comprised of a few simple loops recorded by one performer who then performs some accompanying melodies.

zero circle was commissioned by and is dedicated to Danielle Vantuinen.