Berkshires Fairy

During a residency at the Kripalu Center in Lenox, near Stockbridge, I kept hearing the same story: if you walk the trails long enough, you may hear a singing voice echoing through the trees, as if the woods were carrying a secret.

And indeed, so it is. The first time it happens, you slow your steps, stop and you listen. You don't want to scare away the fairies living in the forest. The voice doesn't sit on top of the forest; it belongs to it. It melts into the wind in the leaves, the birds singing, the water flowing...

Meet Corinne, such a gentle soul. She works at Kripalu, and when she needs a break to reconnect, she goes for a barefoot walk in the forest. She listens first, then answers. A few notes, then a song. Not really a performance but a conversation with the place.

I'm very grateful to Corinne for trusting me with her voice, and for letting me try to capture it in such a natural setting. It wasn't an easy recording. In the forest, a microphone is an unusual visitor. And I felt a bit out of place at first. Like strangers. Almost as if the forest itself was watching, wondering: "Who is this person with his microphones, interfering with my usual quiet moments with Corinne."

So I waited, and let the woods settle around us. Little by little, the strangeness faded. And in the end, we did it. I'm genuinely happy with these recordings — because what you hear here is not just "woods ambience" or "a vocal performance." It's the sound of an improbable moment. The forest kept all others.

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