“The beat drops like a cliff/over looking my heart,” said poet, actor, teacher and writer Saul Williams. Live from Kaufman Music Center’s Ecstatic Music Festival, Williams collaborated with New York City’s Mivos Quartet and German composer Thomas Kessler to spit alchemy over orchestration. Their collaboration is intense. At moments they clash and scatter, but Williams and Mivos are rhythmically in-sink. The changing pitch of the strings, from high to low summon a roller coaster of emotions. The whole performance works like a snake charmer for the ears.
Mivos Quartet is violinists Olivia De Prato and Joshua Modney, violist Victor Lowrie, and cellist Mariel Roberts. They released their self titled debut album last year. After the audio is a great scene from Williams’ acting debut in the independent film Slam (1998).
