My name is Maren Montalbano, and I am a professional singer in the Philadelphia area. I have sung in over a dozen commercial classical recordings, and over the past five years I have been a guest artist with Lyric Fest, Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Network for New Music, and Piffaro, the Renaissance Band.
"Tangle and gold, I weave ye.
Fast to the rocks, I weave ye."
These first lines from the Sea Tangle song cycle by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser captured my imagination and inspired me to create a program of music featuring little-known tales and myths: stories of powerful women performed by women.
I need your help to do just that.
Songs from the North
SEA TANGLE: SONGS FROM THE NORTH is an album of works for voice, violin, and harp. This is a completely self-produced album full of songs with ancient myths and folk tales from Alaska, New England, Scotland, and Iceland.
Joining me are violinist Rebecca Harris and harpist Christa Patton, as well as composers Melissa Dunphy and Emily Lau, whom I have commissioned to write new music for this album.
Why is this important?
As I was researching music for this project, I began finding folk tales about women, songs invoking goddesses, and even a poem about a bad-ass Viking warrior-maiden.
I realized that while there were plenty of songs and stories about princesses, there were very few stories that dealt with any other characterization. In SEA TANGLE, I sing about women who are righteous, jealous, joyous, love-sick, proud, and dangerous.
All the artists involved in this project, from the composers to the performers, are women. Who better to tell these diverse, little-known stories of women than women themselves?
What will your money do?
My goal is to raise $8,000 to record, market, and release this album. This is how that money breaks out:
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Artist fees: $1,200. This covers the time that my artists and I will be spending in the studio only; any rehearsal fees have already come out of my own pocket. This is the cost of working with high-quality, in-demand musicians.
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Recording costs: $3,700. I am very excited that we will be recording at the fantastic Buckeye Recording Studio in Philadelphia, which has worked with a diverse set of musicians, from jazz to classical to experimental. These guys are at the top of their game, so I am guaranteed a very high quality product. This money will go towards recording, mixing, and mastering, as well as graphic design for the CD insert and manufacturing fees.
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Marketing: $1,500. I don't have a label to do press releases for me, so I need some help getting the word out! The music market is so saturated these days that without some aggressive marketing, my project will be lost at sea (pun most definitely intended). Marketing activities include videos, photos, press releases, blog posts, and online advertising. In addition to using female musicians, my videographer, photographer, graphic artists, and marketing professionals are also all women.
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Nuts & Bolts: $1,600. This may not be the sexiest part of the project, but it's probably the most important...and often the part of the budget that many people forget about. I have to pay fees to Indiegogo (3%) as well as Fractured Atlas (7%) for handling these monetary transactions online. Then there's the cost of shipping, taxes, etc., etc. Like I said: boring, but important.
What YOU get out of helping me
Of course, the first thing you will get is a feeling of satisfaction at being a part of a unique, important, and interesting project!
Okay, okay...not enough of an incentive? How about this:
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Any amount you give (above the cost of your perks) will be tax-deductible, because I have teamed up with Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) non-profit which is acting as a fiscal sponsor for this project. Most crowdfunding campaigns out there do NOT have this feature, so I'm really happy I can create this win-win situation.
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Perks! Everyone loves perks. I've got your typical signed CD and credit in the liner notes...but everyone has that. In addition to the basics, there's some extra stuff that brings a little bit of me into your home. Check out the full list of perks as well as the giving levels in the sidebar to the right.
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If you ever thought or said that women didn't get a fair shake in the world, now's your chance to lend a hand. SEA TANGLE is designed not only to showcase talented women doing what they do best but also to inspire other women to create more music. We need more women taking the lead and increasing visibility for each other in order to create a stronger society.
Timeline
I've been working on this project for almost two years, and it's exciting to now be scheduling rehearsals and recording sessions.
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Recording will take place in September. The works by Dunphy and Lau are still being written, but we will have those by August, just in time to polish and record them.
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Performances will take place after we've recorded, either in November or December 2016. The plan is to coincide the first performance of SEA TANGLE with the release of the album!
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Looking beyond the release: If I raise more than my $8,000 goal, I can start planning multiple performances in different cities.
Other Ways You Can Help
Want to help but can't contribute monetarily right now? Consider these FREE ways to help:
- Make some noise! Tell your friends about this campaign on Facebook and Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc. Use the share buttons above. And then once you've shared the link, keep sharing it!
- Donate a performance venue. I'm still looking into places in Philadelphia (or elsewhere) to perform this program, and if you have a place to donate, please get in touch with me.
- Do you like to cook? I want my CD release party to be a family celebration for those who have helped, and nothing would make me happier than to serve tasty dishes cooked by you, my friends and fans.
Sea Tangle: Songs from the North is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Sea Tangle: Songs from the North must be made payable to Fractured Atlas only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.