What an honor to accompany Harry Smith's work in this most significant festival! And what good fortune - double happiness! - that this concert was so expertly captured and edited by Eryk Kozlowski and Kasia Palicka - Kozlowska.
It is certainly a high point in my life to have performed with my friends Tatsu Aoki and Chad Taylor in the Animator Festival, celebrating the long lasting contributions of art form to our global humanity.
The music in this recording was collectively spontaneously composed in-the-moment - improvised - that evening. And in so many ways it was the environment of the gathering that week in Poznan that provided the inspirational impetus for our creative adventure.
Tatsu, an accomplished film maker, served on the Festival jury, was treated to the breadth and depth of the entries to this first animation festival in Poznan.
In a rare moment of rest during the festival, the tireless Director (and this CD's producer) Wojciech Juszczak shared with me the story of the historic role of animation artists in Poland's democratic culture - providing the motivation for perhaps the culminating piece of the evening, The Animator Suite.
Great thanks to Wojciech and ESTRADA POZNANSKA for this opportunity to share in the celebration, to perform our music, and to enjoy the tremendous hospitality of the audience that evening. It was a joyous moment.
In Unity In Sound
Francis Wong
San Francisco, USA
6/16/09