dakota suite | emanuele errante
the north green down
In August 2009, Johanna and I took what we didn’t know then would be our last holiday with our sister-in-law, Hannah. We knew that Hannah had cancer and that it was most likely going to take her from us and that moment was something we could feel draw ever closer.
We all went to a place loved by our family for many years, Southwold in Suffolk. It was clear that Hannah was in pain.
We were walking back from the ocean, for Southwold lies on the sea, through a part of Southwold called ‘the north green’. I was overwhelmed by what I could feel being taken from us, every step we took represented a small death. I knew then that I would miss her.
During that walk with Hannah through the north green I felt there the beginnings of the music you hear on this record as the main ‘north green down’ theme and knew I had to keep going with this tribute to her. I sent the basic piano and guitar pieces I had recorded at home to Emanuele. I had previously bought his records and felt in him a sympathetic soul who would feel the weight of this music and make it more fitting for the purpose I had in mind, namely a suite of hymnal pieces for Hannah.
Hannah was a beautiful, selfless and nurturing woman.
This record is for her.
