Sassafrass

Sassafrass formed at Bryn Mawr college in fall of 1999 as a group of five friends performing primarily work composed by Ada, one of the group members. The group expanded over the next years as some members left and others joined, and we started dividing up into smaller groups to perform some of the songs. In 2001, Sassafrass recorded the CD entitled Solitary Dancer. After the initial founders graduated, more members joined, some of whom have remained active members ever since.

Some of the initial common ground among the members of Sassafrass was a sense of frustration with music groups whose music generally featured one soloist and possibly one backup singer, with many others singing repetitive parts to replicate background instruments. Anyone who has sung 'Ooh' behind the lyrics of a pop song for six minutes knows the frustration this can cause. Sassafrass's founders felt that, especially for a student group, the singing should be as much about learning and giving each singer a chance to mature and improve as a musician as about the sound. Sassafrass resolved to only perform songs where each singer's part is at some point the musical highlight and where every part is important throughout to the harmony, melody and lyrics. By ensuring that all parts are equally important to the structure of the music, Sassafrass songs are designed to make the singer a better musician and to teach techniques for blending, harmonizing and improvising, improving both the individual singer and the sound of the group.

Partly because of the scarcity of such music and partly because of our own interests, we resolved to perform primarily original pieces composed by group members. Sassafrass music includes love songs, usually with a twist; songs about attitudes toward life; improvisations; Renaissance madrigals; filk; and folk fantasy, songs which not only are based on fiction, but try to imagine and imitate the musical styles of fictional cultures. The music is usually folk in style with Renaissance elements.

Though we are no longer a student group, Sassafrass still focuses on designing songs that will help singers grow and improve, ourselves and others. For this reason we are always happy to have others perform our music, especially students. As our web site develops we will make sheet music available for purchase, as well as adding a Teaching section, with tutorials, practice exercises and other tools which have worked well for us in the past and which we are eager to share with others. Anyone interested in trying one of our songs or techniques is welcome to contact us any time for advice or help.

Sassafrass today consists of a group of friends, almost all Bryn Mawr alums, who live in different parts of the country but all enjoy sci-fi, fantasy and anime, especially conventions, which is what pulled us into the Filk community. Because we live far apart it is essentially impossible to get the whole group together, and the actual members present at any given convention performance is highly variable, but since most of the songs work well with three to four singers we can still perform the majority of our repertoire.

The current active members of Sassafrass are:
Lila Garrott
Matt Granoff
Beecher Greenman
Irina Greenman
Kara Hurvitz
Emily Lewis
Ada Palmer
Lauren Schiller
Julia Suggs
Ronnii Taylor
Ruth Wejksnora
Alexa Weingarden
Zara Yost

Representative Work for the 2012 Pegasus. Note- this is NOT a song nominated for the 2012 Pegasus Awards.

Ice and Fire

Copyright © by Ada Palmer- All rights Reserved
Used by Permission

Ice and Fire (background voices):
Ice and fire, ice and fire,
Ice and fire mixing with the
Ice and fire, ice and fire,
Ice and fire warring with the

Seeress:
I remember from the first day
How the nine worlds came to be
And they remember
Me.
And since you ask me for their
Story I will answer from the
First days to the last those
Worlds will see.

Snorri:
Lady, may I join you? I am
Snorri, son of Sturl, & I have
Spent my short life studying
Your tale.
The old gods and their enemies,
The Aesir and their fate:
I will preserve them as man's
Memory grows frail.

All:
And together we will sing into the distant ages
Wisdom older than Odin's runes.
And if we need we'll borrow mead from Bragi's hall
And weave our Eddas, and in them truth
Of the nine worlds come: first

There is Midgard, home to the dwarves and men;
There is Vanaheim, which the Vanir tend;
There is Asgard fair, where the chosen dwell;
While the rest are cast to the halls of Hel;
There is Jotenheim where the giants roam
And trolls make icy caves their home;
There is light Alfheim where the elves were sent;
And high Gimle, which has not come yet.
But in early days, when time was formed
And gods and beasts were not yet born
There were just two worlds,
And the first was made of

Seeress & Snorri
Ice: frozen Nifflheim, the northern world
And opposite stood Musfelheim
The southern world of flame.
And deep in Nifflheim lies
Hvergelmir, the spring, and from it
Dragons snakes and poison flow like rain.

All:
And they pour down, down, down, down, down into Ganungagap,
The ancient pit where swirl the chaos and the dark.
And sparks pour down, down, down, down, down into Ganungagap,
Where nothing is, but all things start.
And there they

Split Chorus 1:
Mix and churn and freeze and burn and
Mix and churn and freeze and burn and
Mix and churn and freeze and burn and
From that mix came
Ymir, monster, cold forefather,
Firstborn son of the swirling black,
Who stood so vast,
Though you sailed for a winter,
The fastest ship could never cross his back.
Snorri: And he was also known as Augelmir.
Seeress: Yes, thank you, Snorri.

All:
And the giant lived on the icy hills,
And screamed his hunger, as giants will.
But Ganungagap heard its firstborn's howl
And birthed for him an enormous cow.

Audhumla, the ice cow, whose milk flowed sweet and soft.
She lived on Nifflheim's frozen rim, and licked the salty frost.
The first thing in existence, that wasn't innately deadly.
Audhumla the primordial cow.

Seeress & Snorri:
And Ymir drank his fill and
Lay upon his snowy bed, and
Sleep was born when first his
Fierce eyes closed
And as he slept there grew a
Giant from his armpit stench,
And trolls crawled from the
Filth between his toes.

All:
And rats would envy how fast they bred:
So many sons, with many heads,
And ice-fair daughters with witch-black minds,
The many shapes of Jotunkind.

And Audhumla the ice cow, so many mouths to feed.
She labored hard at her salty work, to meet their growing need.
And from that frozen world softened by a mother's touch,
A new creation rose, from the

Seeress:
And I remember when Audhumla
Freed the first god from the ice,
creature shining, gold and
Strange.

Snorri: And his name was Bur.

Seeress: And for a wife he took a
Jotun daughter, fierce as she was
Fair, and with their sons began the
Change.

Snorri: Her name was Bestla.

All:
First Hoenir could let life move and speak
Second Lodur granted it inner heat
While the spirit that departs with death
Came from the third, god of wind and breath
Who was Odin, not Allfather yet.

Snorri: Excuse me, honored Seeress.
I thought his brothers were Ve and Vili.
Seeress: Maybe in your Edda, Snorri, but not mine.

Seeress:
And I remember when the
Brothers battled Ymir, & the
Icy mountains shattered as they
Clashed.
And for the fight, they fashioned
Bright spears out of...
Out of...

Snorri: Ice?
Fire: Dead trolls?
Ice: Cheese?
Seeress: ...cunning, and stood
Fast before the beast who fell at last.

All:
And blood poured down, down, down, down, down into Ganungagap,
The ancient pit where still the ice and fire spin!
And blood down, down, down, down, down into Ganungagap,
And overflowed its salty rim!

And the Jotuns drowned, and the giants drowned,
And the witches drowned, and the monsters drowned,
And the maidens drowned, and the children drowned,
And the mothers drowned, and the fathers, and
Audhumla the ice cow
Perished with the rest!

But one wise Jotun, his sons and wife
Still clung for their lives to the floating ice,
And in Nifflheim's depths made landfall safe,
And so survived the Jotun race

Snorri: And that place we call Jotunheim.
Seeress: Indeed.
Snorri: And his name was Bergelmir.

Seeress: And next the brothers, Hoenir...
Snorri: Ve
Seeress: Lodur
Snorri: Vili.
Seeress: Odin... or would you have another name for Odin too?
Snorri: Well since you ask, his names are:
Gaut, Gangleri, Herjan and Hjalmberi,
Thekk, Thud, Thridi, Ud, Sad, Har, Helblindi
Bileyg, Baleig, Herteit, Hnikar
Sanngetall and Svipall, Biflindi and Kjalar
Sidtskegg, Bolverk, Grimnir and Glapsevidt
Sidthodt, Hnikud, Fjolnir and Fjolsevidt
Allfod, Valfod, Atridt and Sigufodt
Farmatyr & Skilving, Hroptatyr & Jafunhar
Oski, Omi, Svidtrir and Svidtur
Harbardt, Gondlir, Kjalar and Vidtur
Thror & Vak & Ygg & Jalk & Thund & Grimm &
Hangagudt and Haptagudt and Farmagudt and Odin!

Seeress (while Snorri sings the list):
You've studied well, I grant you that.
A credit To your fragile race.
Mastery of names and kennings
Worthy of a Jotun.

Seeress: Bravely done.
Snorri: And those names mean...
Seeress: You wouldn't!

Seeress (while Snorri sings the list):
Shall we move on to graver things?
The day those brothers made this world?
From Ymir's corpse they formed the Earth
His bones the rocks, his flesh the dirt,
And from his blood the salty seas,
His brains the clouds, his hair the trees,
His skull the sky and from his brows
A fence to keep the Jotuns out.
And this new world made in the
Center they named Midgard.

Snorri (while she sings):
Gaut means "God of men," Gangleri "Wanderer,"
Herjan means "Raider,' Hjalmberi "Helm-wearer,"
Thek means "Welcome," Thudt "Thin," Thridi "3rd"
Har means "High," Helblindi "Hel-blind,"
Bileyg "One-eyed," Baleig "Fire-eyed,"
Herteit "War-lover," Hnikar "spear-thruster,"
Sanngetall "Right-guesser," Bolverk "Evil-doer,"
Glapsevidt "Maddener," Fjolnir "Concealer,"
Sidskegg "Long-beard," Harbard "Grey-beard,"
Grim means "Masked one," Svipall "Changing-one,"
Gondlir "Wand-bearer," Sidhodt "Hood-wearer,"
Grimnir "In Disguise," Fjolsevidt "Very Wise,"
Farmagudt and Farmatyr both mean "Cargo god,"
Haptagudt & Hroptatyr both mean "God of Gods"
Oski "Wish-granter," Jaufunhar "Just as High,"
Svidtur and Svidtrir both mean "Wise,"
Jalk means "Wakeful," Ygg means "Terrible,"
Hnikagudt means "Thrusting god," Haptagudt means "Hanged god,"
Alfodt "Allfather," Sigfodt "Battle-fahter,"
Valfodt "Father of the Slain"!

Ice & Fire: You left out Herfadr, Heriar, Havi & Offnir &
Svafnir, Fimbultyr, and Valfudt and Aldafodr.
Seeress: And Vegtam.
Snorri: That's just an alias.

Seeress, Ice & Fire: Now the cosmos was at last complete.
Snorri: But you skipped the most important part!
Seeress: I covered Jotunheim.
Snorri: I meant Asgard!

Seeress: You tell your story, human, I'll tell mine.

Seeress:
'Cause I was there before the
Gods who taught you speech were even
Born, and I'll outlast those young gods too.
And even Odin knows that
Danger lies in asking me too much,
And I shall teach the same to you.
For I know what fate your schemes will bring,
Twisting Iceland's council and Norway's king.
You will die, Sturlson, from a kinsman's plot
And a traitor's death earns a traitor's lot when
Axe time, sword time, coming closer,
Wind time, wolf time, sundown...

Snorri: Stop!

Snorri: Lady,
Mortal men have walked this world
And faced our icy fate, while you have
Spend this long age hiding in your grave.
And when the final trumpet calls
Though dead, I'll answer still, while I
Have read that you yourself are not so brave.
So don't push me, lady, or need we share another tale?
Your secret name, and your famous young?
And your infamous husband, who
Wouldn't heed his brother's lesson that
A wise man knows when to keep his tongue?
But I thank you for your tale.

Seeress: You know my story well.
Snorri: I had you as teacher and have
Kept your verses ever at my side.
And if as my ambitions flare
The Norns would have me fail, then I shall
Fall with you and Odin as my guides.

All:
And together we will sing into the distant ages
Wisdom older than Odin's runes.
And if we need we'll borrow mead from Bragi's hall
And weave our Eddas, and in them truth
As the nine worlds rise and fall.