Souling

The carillon is an instrument of the street. For centuries, high in their towers carilloneurs have been playing the bells that could be heard by all residents of the city. It was this street music I was thinking about, while composing Souling for Joost van Balkom and Bosch Requiem 2015. What kind of music would have been sounding centuries ago, in the short days of November around All Saints’ Day and All Souls? Since the early Middle Ages it used to be customary to ring bells on the night of All Saints: those sounds were thought to bring joy to the poor souls in purgatory. Also linked to purgatory was the tradition of ‘souling’, in which the poor of the city walked the streets during All Souls. They would sing ‘souling songs’ for the souls of the dead, in exchange for ‘soul cakes’ — alms, specially baked for the occasion. Each piece of bread helped to buy the dead a bit of respite from the suffering of purgatory. The stretched out bass line in Souling might stem from that distant past, while you could hear the agile voice above it as a continuous litany.