Over the Easter lockdown holiday, composer, Nic Paton, re-released Valley of the Shadow – Rites of Loss, an online album which talks into the grief, loss, anxiety and a heightened spiritual response to these extraordinary times.
Paton now based in Cape Town studied at UKZN music department and is grandson of esteemed author Alan Paton.
Paton has created a nine-track album – an eclectic, interdisciplinary suite for a string quartet, choir and vocals, with a companion video. The music reflects his intrinsically personal journey into understanding the many guises of loss which has become centre stage as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Valley Of The Shadow – Rites Of Loss is a neo-classical suite dealing with the grieving process, which seems to coming into our lives in a big way (here is my take on the relevance of grief, right now). I have a very strong feeling that its time is really now, April 2020, when most of the world’s population is staring the unknown in the face. I have decided to re-release the work, hoping that the music touches people in this space of loss we are all in, and to donate all sales on Bandcamp for the rest of April to two charities, Speccio dei Tempi – Mirror of the times in Italy and Home Of Compassion Ministries in my hometown, Cape Town, South Africa,” said Paton.
The video can be viewed: “While I Thought (Mentre Pensavo)”
Valley of the Shadow – Rites of Loss is available on independent artist download site Bandcamp as well as Spotify and Apple Music.
Website: nicpaton.com/valleyoftheshadow
FB: valleyoftheshadowmusic / nicpatoncomposition
Music To Comfort And Calm
