[powerpress]
Mira’s text begins tonight’s Kaddish. Her intentionally “no frills” reading felt soothing to me, and it occurred to me that one purpose of a bereavement ritual is to comfort us—to soothe us—so I decided to try to play Kogan’s “Kaddish” in a soothing style.
I was surprised to find it difficult to play “Kaddish” that way. I’ve been feeling it as a dramatic, emotional piece for so long, it was hard to reimagine it as something that could be soothing.