Tribute to the unknown musician

But we’re back to The Origin of The World.

I found out that Dave Shepherd had died because I saw a video on Instagram of Nigel Eaton (an accordion player who was once a member of Blowzabella) playing the Rose of Raby. It is also a mazurka, relatively simple, also in G minor. There was a surprising element in Nigel Eaton’s performance at that moment: he was crying and couldn’t contain the expression of deep sadness. They were friends, of course, and there are not many ways to feel their absence, even though there are a plethora of possibilities to express it.

Nigel Eaton seems like another name unknown to everyone, but, with his accordion, he has already caused screams from large audiences that filled stadiums at shows by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. For those who don’t know, this duo gave body and soul to Led Zeppelin. Nigel Eaton played, in his youth, with Led Zeppelin, yes. I have to repeat it for myself to believe it. And it worked.

In short, a musician who had played to stadiums filled with the big name Led Zeppelin was crying over the death of his friend. Paying homage to a musician must be done with music, preferably the one he composed or performed. Therefore, it’s a good thing that Dave Shepherd was a composer and we can pay homage to him, whether by playing what he wrote, dancing to what he played or simply listening to him.

Motivated by Nigel Eaton, even though I wasn’t close to Dave Shepherd at all – I just deeply admired him – I spent two whole days learning to play the mazurka The Origin of The World. I’m not a violinist, which means this music presents some challenges for the alto recorder’s tessitura. But I learned every embellishment, every slight variation that Dave Shepherd imposed when he played The Origin of The World.

At a certain point, after hours of playing the music, imbuing it with what I thought was coming out of Dave Shepherd’s violin but translated to my flute, I felt it wasn’t a tribute but a ritual, a kind of death and resurrection that the alchemists preached. It is the immortality of musicians.