Sara Serpa
Encounters and Collisions
(Biophilia Records)
Including LPs with collaborating artists, Encounters and Collisions is Lisbon native Sara Serpa’s 12th release. Since moving to New York in 2008, she’s become a jazz vocalist of some renown. Over time she’s shared more-and-more of her life experiences, but in this release her history is the primary focus. References from recent releases that considered the historical legacy of Portuguese colonialism in Africa (‘Recognition’), and the possibilities of a borderless world (‘Intimate Strangers’) appear, but Encounters and Collisions is All About Serpa – and the course of her life as an immigrant. Nine songs take us from Serpa as musically-gifted-overseas-student to Serpa as immigrant-strong in a new land. In song (and in her illustrated booklet), she takes us from her initial fears about using English effectively (Language) to the experience of culture shock (Things Must Move Quickly); from life-giving processes (Labor & A Mother’s Heart) to the suddenness of life’s ending (The Phone Call). It’s quite a journey, and told with care and clarity.It comes out on Biophilia, a label namechecking Edward O. Wilson’s biophilia hypothesis: i.e. that we urge to affiliate with other forms of life. It’s an urge apparent in all the songs. Serpa urges to assimilate (as an immigrant), to grow, but also to maintain her roots. An urge which relies on many forces beyond our control, but in song she shows it is partly controllable. Her songs have tension, but they are always under control. She succeeds; she controls the maelstrom. Her careful enunciation is important here. It brings calmness after her collisions; it hides (and heals) the divisions that open up.
Biophilia is also, of course, the title of a 2012 Bjork LP, and while Serpa is no Bjork, both use Voice-As-Instrument. Jazz Times has called Serpa “a master of wordless landscapes”, and she is, but there is little uncontrolled (or unexpected) Bjork-like experimentation here. And this is appropriate for the subject matter. Serpa fashioned out, fighting and winning, success on her own terms. I enjoy her restraint. There are similarities though: Bjork’s English is sprinkled with Icelandic phonetic varieties, and Serpa also retains traces of her own mother tongue – while remaining unmistakably a New Yorker.
It's a voice that is welcome in my own personal echo chamber, one which could be said to extend from Vega to Vega. A Vega on one pole, and a Vega on the other - a Land of Suzanne, and a Land of Alan (both coincidentally New Yorkers) – which symbolise The Clean and The Unclean (both of which we need). The Order and The Chaos. Sara Serpa springs up in the Land of Suzanne. I may well hang out more in the Land of Alan, but when Suzanne speaks, I perk my ears up. She has deep meaning. I know I must stabilise, cleanse, and impose order. She speaks sense. And Sara is coming from my Land of Suzanne.
But Sara Serpa has her own territory. She may well sometimes feel too clean, but there are times when it could be a perfect medicine. Language is perfect for the many students wishing to study abroad, or for immigrant aspirants, or for those needing a Gateway Drug into Jazz. Her enunciation maintained my interest to listen to the more interesting tracks that follow, one’s in which Angelica Sanchez’s piano and Ingrid Laubrock’s sax provide space for Serpa to tell us her story. She could scream dismay at hearing “immigrants don’t belong”, but instead (with Erik Friedlander’s cello), she uses pointillist sound – to capture the banality, grandiloquence, and solemnity of dealing with administration to get a Visa.Between Two Worlds was the song that grabbed me, one that explores the realisation that you are an immigrant, and that your roots are “vanishing like a fog”. It’s a feeling millions understand. Our global age might move from high levels of immigration, but this sentiment is well understood now in both Global North and South. We may be a plane ride away from watering those roots, but those roots do wither. How strong were the roots anyway? Do you have property that allows you to move freely? Do you have financial backing? I appreciate the control Serpa imposes on this song. You can hear Bjork’s echoes here, too, -distantly. There are no surprises in the music, but the message is delivered well.
These songs show Serpa is an Immigrant Strong. Her talent and sedulous work are much appreciated. Her story will differ from ours, and her contention that “belonging is an illusion” is certainly up for debate. It certainly is from a state perspective, but I welcome the question. Jazz afficionados may find her work refreshing and appreciate her illustrations in the Encounters and Collisions booklet. But it’s unlikely to greatly appeal outside Already-Established Echo Chambers. Yet the penultimate, Music Makes Me What I Am struck me as a potential mainstream song (in reworked form). Overall, Encounters and Collisions shows that Sara Serpa continues to widen her range and her artistic terrain.
Essential information
Hear Sara Serpa on Bandcamp here
