By KATE BASSETTHARBOR LIGHT NEWSPAPER
The beauty of northern Michigan is perhaps best documented by the creative minds of a community: artists, writers, musicians. The ones who paint or sing a place’s truths via stories, the ones who strengthen shared bonds born of land, water, seasons. It’s what makes Seth Bernard and May Erlewine Bernard an irresistible pair to lovers of the Great Lakes. The singer-songwriters embody what’s good in Michigan-- hope, talent, innovation, inspiration--with a sense of gratitude rooting them deeply in the heart of the state.
It was immense gratitude, and a growing culture of visionary energy in the region, that carried the couple far from Lake Michigan’s vast blue horizon to Ethiopia on a cultural exchange earlier this year. They traveled with Traverse City-based non-profit organization, On the Ground, during the Run Across Ethiopia, a 250-mile ultra-marathon route through fair trade coffee growing villages in the Yirgacheffe region, which raised money (more than $200,000) to build schools.
Part of the duo’s Ethiopian mission was to write and record an album inspired by the experience, with half its proceeds going to On the Ground’s work there.
The CD, New Flower, is being released on October 28, and Blissfest Radio is hosting Seth and May in Harbor Springs at the Performing Arts Center as a benefit concert for On the Ground on Sunday, October 30 at 6:30 p.m.
“Our dear friend Chris Treter (founder of Higher Grounds Trading, a coffee bar and roastery in Traverse City that uses 100-percent fair trade, organic coffee beans) came up with the idea and shared it with us a year and a half before it happened. We thought he was out of his mind to think that he could run 250 miles across Ethiopia in 12 days. Then the organization (On the Ground) formed behind it and the effort became so potent and heartfelt that we saw it was going to be a really good thing, and that our role in the pilgrimage was useful,” said Seth Bernard during a recent interview.
“Every pilgrimage is fulfilled with the sharing of a transmission that came from the journey. Playing the music for our community here in Michigan and sharing the stories and poetry that the pilgrimage inspired will seal the deal on this chapter,” Bernard said of their CD release tour.
Seth and May’s role with On the Ground was simple, and yet, profound. In an age where arts are often an afterthought, the musicians were asked to participate as a central force in the entire Run Across Ethiopia experience. They played for the runners-- 10 Americans (several from northern Michigan) and six Ethiopians-- as they came into each village. They also visited schools and played for (and with) the children, exchanged songs and styles with Ethiopian musicians, singing, dancing, and learning their way along the run route.
Each step of the way, a sense of global community and kinship grew.
“We were tremendously inspired by Ethio-jazz and traditional Ethiopian music. Their culture is ancient and the sense of place is rooted in the sounds,” Bernard said. “We resonated deeply with the musicians we met and collaborated with. Ethiopia is referred to as ‘the water tower of east Africa’ and is home to one of the two sources of the Nile, the Blue Nile. There is a ballad style referred to as ‘Tizita major,’ native to Ethiopia, and that form in particular resonated with my sense of water identity as a Michigander. ‘Tizita’ means ‘nostalgia’ as well.”
As musicians already dedicated to fostering art and a love of song in the next generation-- Seth and May often travel to schools around Michigan and host workshops and concerts-- Bernard said they were incredibly moved by their time with the students in Ethiopia.
“The connections were so heartfelt and in the moment, it is difficult to accurately describe them,” he noted. “The children were open and attentive, able to listen and understand us and share their thoughts and ideas. They were very intelligent and very talented. Learning to write and speak Amharic and English at four or five and singing and dancing and drumming like nobody’s business! We are so blessed to be able to work with children wherever we go, and children are beautiful beings across the globe.”
“Extreme poverty in Ethiopia brings forth a deep gratitude for the opportunity to go to school from the parents and the kids,” Bernard added.
It is this extreme poverty that first inspired the work of On the Ground. The organization is dedicated to supporting sustainable community development in farming regions across the world. In Ethiopia, where 60-percent of the country’s national Gross Domestic Product comes from coffee exports, many of the coffee farmers and their families live in dire poverty. According to On the Ground, in the Yirgacheffe region, little more than half of the children complete primary school. The adult literacy rate is just 36-percent, and life expectancy is 53 years.
“The people who grow some of the rarest and most valuable coffee in the world have next to nothing and it’s not fair,” Bernard said. “Coffee companies in the western world that pay fair trade prices, like Higher Grounds, are doing something to make that better. Non-profits and other NGOs like On the Ground are doing more by working directly with communities to meet their basic human needs-- water, health care, education-- and to restore respect and human dignity to our shared welfare in the trading of goods and services in a global market.”
During the benefit concert in Harbor Springs, Higher Grounds and On the Ground’s founder Chris Treter will talk briefly about the nonprofit’s work, and will show a short piece of the full length documentary about the Run Across Ethiopia, When We Run, which was produced by Michigan filmmaker James Weston Shaberg.
Along with Seth and May, band mates Michael Shimmin, Brennan Andes, and Joshua Davis, will play songs from the album. The culmination of their journey showcases not only Michigan talent and creativity, but also, proof of positive impact when ideas are turned into action.
“Creating environmentally sound, socially responsible businesses is the task of our time here in Michigan. We could be a global leader in fair trade, community supported agriculture and renewable energy in five years if we all keep up the good work we are doing,” Bernard said.
“Creating jobs and hope locally and globally, and having all people engage in a nourishing cultural experience, is not only possible but should be the responsibility of all entrepreneurs.”
The people living in rural areas in the third world have a “strong and real sense of community” Bernard noted, adding it is the same kind of closeness folks in the United States are craving.
A togetherness perhaps understood by those who love-- and honor-- the life force of northern Michigan.
For Bernard, the experience of spending time with those in extreme poverty only solidified this knowledge. Their return home was coupled with a fortified commitment to take nothing for granted, and to constantly remember to ask the big questions:
“What is prosperity? How can I be of use to this world? What makes us alive?”
Seth and May will be performing at the On the Ground benefit concert in Harbor Springs on Sunday, October 30, at 6:30 p.m. The Harbor Light Newspaper is also sponsoring the event. Tickets are currently on-sale on-line at blissfest.org, and are available for purchase in Harbor Springs at the Harbor Springs Chamber of Commerce and the Outfitter, and in Petoskey at the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Grain Train. Ticket prices are $15 for adults, $10 for students over 12, and $5 for children 12 and under.
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