Episode 28: And everything else just melts away: Ben Roberts and the music for Return the Key
Ben Roberts and the music for Return the Key
Return the Key: Jewish Questions for Everyone · Julie Carr, Ben Roberts
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Show Notes
Episode #28 brings a special New Year’s treat: music! We peek behind the scenes as I talk with musician Ben Roberts, who happens to be my son, about the music for Return the Key. Ben talks about his passion for Irish folk music, what goes on in an Irish session, and what he learned playing Bach for people on their porches during the pandemic. We get into the relationship between emotions and music and the mystery of melody as we listen to and discuss four of our favorite RTK pieces. What is the difference between “fixing” and “exploring”? What happens when we orient toward the good? And what does it mean to feel “at home” in a music from another culture far away? At the end of the hour, Ben performs a Ukrainian folk tune on his cello, with a nod to our Jewish Ukrainian ancestors.
Ben Roberts is a multi-instrumentalist and composer living in New York City. He has performed or recorded with Jon Battiste, MGK, Zoe Loyd, Esperanza Spalding, Flamenco dancer Tara Laraway and many others, and has led nearly every mainstay Irish session in New York and Boston. You can hear him on Tuesdays from 8-11 at Putnam’s Pub, 419 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn NY.
https://www.instagram.com/benroberts447/