Time that was Never Given

“Fauxstalgia” is loosely defined as a longing for a time you never experienced, or that never really existed. In some of our earlier iterations of this concert we were working with an idea of “a time you’ve never known.”

The artists of Fauxstalgia shared the moments, feelings and even places they long for but have never experienced- some are political, some metaphorical.

Cris Derksen

Cris Derksen, cellist and composer:

“Fauxstalgic for time that was never given,”

Darren Creech, pianist:

Darren Creech

“I think about Fauxstalgia as relating to one’s complicated relationship to the past. There’s a sense of longing for being back in a situation or reliving an emotion that happened in times past, but this impossibility of experiencing it in the same way. I have changed, the space has changed, so it’s a complex, empty emotion. For me particularly, I grew up in West Africa as a child beside the ocean, but returning to that space isn’t entirely possible for a number of reasons, so there’s a strange sense of separation across space and time.

[I’ll get into some of this a bit more at the show!]”

Tieya Kasahara

Teiya Kasahara, soprano:

“I’m fauxstalgic for feeling like all of me is safe/validated/okay/accepted within a western (euro-centric) music context. Most of the time (since as far back as I can remember), I have consciously and unconsciously denied large parts of who I am. I’ve had to check them at the door to be allowed in this special “club”, so to speak. It became so common that I didn’t even realize I was doing it unconsciously for so many years and denying my complete self.

I’m fauxstalgic for a time where I could and my fellow audience or artists, creators and performers could walk into a space and experience music on a grand level that doesn’t feel like they have to check parts of their identity at the door.”

What are you fauxstalgic for?

Fauxstalgia is May 8, at the Drake Underground. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.