'You took your journals and burnt them. You erased the record of your stories and with them went things you'll never get back. When a song spoke directly to you. When she looked at you on the bus. Remember when everything mattered?'

The Songs that Saved your Life offers a new synthesis of dramatic theatre, live music and oral history. This work, described by a recent audience member as 'Jazz Drama' fuses these elements and also contrasts iconic grunge and new wave tunes with the thrilling power of improvised jazz. Combined with theatrical elements and text, this offers a spellbinding narrative for the audience. The collection of seminal tunes is gathered from artists including The Smiths, Nirvana, The Violent Femmes, and David Lynch's soundtracks.

This piece reflects the shared experience of teenage angst, longing and passion through music that is still potent today. Kimba's performance reflects memories of youthful frustration in a way that's honest, rebellious and raw, funny and ironic, but also tender and reflective.

Joining Kimba to explore these iconic tunes and new settings are some of Australia's most celebrated improvising musicians (Julien Wilson, sax; Niko Schauble, drums; Ryan Griffith, guitar, Tamara Murphy, bass).

Venue Format
Theatre, Hall, Black Box Venue, Outdoor
Technical Rating
C, The production can be modified to suit most venues
Touring Party
6
Considerations

There is some occasional coarse language and adult themes.

Rising jazz Chanteuse Kimba Griffith is lauded for her gift of drawing out the intricacies of a song’s deeper story; she has worked with her longtime collaborator and muse Ryan Griffith for the past 19 years across various platforms, but the pair are known best for their jazz projects Kimba and Ryan and the Kimba Griffith Septet. They are fixtures on the Melbourne Jazz scene and also internationally.

Over the past 18 months Kimba has expanded her creative focus to theatrical renderings of curated songs and original works along specific themes. In 2016 she has presented a number of these works including 'Amicus Mortis: Songs of Love and Loss' (as part of Dying to Know Day), Conversations in Blue (a cabaret piece based on the evolution of west-coast jazz in the 50's) and her most popular piece 'The Songs That Saved Your Life', which links to a blog-based project 'This is Who I was Then' (www.teenagejournals.com)

The Songs project has enjoyed two sell-out iterations in 2016 (The Melbourne Recital Centre, Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues) and this polished and multi-faceted piece continues to unfold and develop with each performance.

Company Website
kimbagriffith.com

Unique Selling Point

This work appeals broadly to anyone who has ever been young, pent-up and on the brink. It also speaks to young people who are experiencing these liminal states right now; even if the musical motifs are not immediately familiar, the deeper themes are universal, and very often the songs are iconic to almost everyone. The piece is accompanied by a side project 'This is who I was Then' (www.teenagejournals.com) a blog-based space that encourages collaboration between audience and performer through shared diary entries, uploaded cover versions of songs, and 'mix-tape' style lists of songs for inclusion in the performed piece.

Marketing Materials

As well as the website/blog mentioned above we also have an EP of the music currently in post production, along with a ten-minute and three-minute highlights video. The blog is constantly evolving and new performances, diary snippets and ephemera are constantly being added.

There are also optional workshops 'Journal Writing and Personal Narrative' (lead by Kimba) and 'My Songs, Your Songs, Our Songs' (lead by Ryan) available to the community at reasonable rates.

Community Engagement

Understand: Our experience of being improvising jazz musicians has shown us that there's a chasm between popular culture and more 'highbrow' art forms. We have a desire to find ways to connect the general public to improvised music in a way that's accessible and engaging.

Connect: Putting iconic songs through the 'jazz filter' has become popular recently, and we are taking this a step further by pairing this music with improvised sounds and theatre.

Build: Kimba uses her own teenage journals and stories to honestly share what her lived experience has been, and to make an offer to prospective audiences to directly connect with her, and to share their own stories anonymously or otherwise. Kimba then builds these stories into her work via the blog and the theatrical text.

Share: Offering audience members and the public the opportunity to record their own versions of 'the songs that saved their life' and including those on the blog is a precious and meaningful way to share in the power of the music that moved us. In the future Kimba hopes to offer journal-writing workshops alongside the piece.

Reflect: Even in the early iterations, people have been enthusiastic about sharing with us!