043 Marika Hughes
This is Play It Like It's Music, I'm Trevor. Thanks for listening.
On Wednesday, June 10 of 2020 music is not content, it's connection.
To play the cello requires a smattering of cleverness and precision on the part of the player. The finger mechanics are complex, the alchemy of the bow is mystifying. On top of it all, gigs require an incredible fitness of nerves and preparation beyond that of many much more renumerative professions.
However, mere cleverness and precision do not a complete musician make.
Many cellists hit all the marks on their instrument but fail to make an artistic impact, and I feel for them because just playing the cello decently takes a huge amount of effort. Why pile on things like visual aesthetics or political awareness, or god forbid writing, verbal and administrative skills?
Singing? Songwriting? Bandleading? Gimme a break.
Fortunately, today we have as our guest a musician who brings it on every one of those levels.
Marika Hughes is a native New Yorker, a cellist, singer, a storyteller on The Moth. She grew up in a musical family – Marika’s grandfather was the great cellist Emanuel Feuermann, and her parents owned a jazz club, Burgundy, on the Upper West Side. As children, she and her younger brother were both regulars on Sesame Street. She went to Barnard College and the Juilliard School, graduating with BAs in political science and cello performance, respectively.
Marika has worked with Whitney Houston, Lou Reed, Anthony Braxton, David Byrne, Adele, Henry Threadgill, D’Angelo, Idina Menzel, Nels Cline, Somi and Taylor Mac, among many others. She was a founding member of the Bay Area-based bands 2 Foot Yard and Red Pocket. She is a master teacher and director for Young Arts and a teaching-artist at Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project. Before COVID she was holding down the cello chair at the Broadway show, Hadestown, and we hope they'll pick it back up.
Marika puts out a vibe that just won't quit, leading her bands Bottom Heavy and The New String Quartet and as the co-founder and co-director of Looking Glass Arts, an artist residency and youth education program in upstate New York.
We get into it: her legendary granddad, growing up and finding her own way in the Bay area, her initial band experiences. We're kindred spirits and I know you're going to love this conversation with Marika. Check it out:
Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Marika Hughes.
music selections:
Chapter 4 - Marika Hughes & Bottom Heavy, New York Nostalgia 2016, ASCAP Hopscotch Dreams *written by Marika
snippet: Borrowed Arms - 2 Foot Yard (Borrowed Arms 2008, Yard Work ASCAP) *written by 2 Foot Yard
For Nico - Marika Hughes (The Simplest Thing, 2010, Hopscotch Dreams ASCAP) *written by Marika.Band: Kyle Sanna gtr, Todd Sickafoose bass, Matthias Kunstli drums, Shahzad Ismaily gtr
Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Marika Hughes for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her music at Marika Hughes dot com and follow her on all the socials @marikahughes.
If you like this show, please tell a friend:
Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.
We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.
But you gotta keep playing.
We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.
As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.
You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage.
Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.
Big love to your ears.
Trevor
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Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on Spotify
Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.
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