Milwaukee Record is proud to present Public Domain. The video series features Milwaukee musicians setting up at Colectivo’s Prospect Avenue cafe to adapt some of the world’s best-known songs in ways they’ve never been heard before. Watch the entire series here.
In this installment, Stomata applied a new take to “Alouetté.” The rendition is new to them too, as the jazz trio had never attempted to play the French-Canadian children’s standard before this session. The deceivingly morbid song about plucking feathers from a bothersome lark was a popular one among American soldiers stationed in France during World War I. Though originally published in 1879, a version of the song is said to have been a favorite of French fur traders as early as the 1500s. As many times as this transcendent French-Canadian treasure has been performed and adapted through the centuries, it’s safe to say nobody has ever heard “Alouetté” sound quite like this.
The video was shot, recorded, and edited by Cheston Van Huss of Effigy Media. Travis Whitty produced the opening sequence. Public Domain is sponsored by Colectivo Coffee Roasters, Wilson Center Guitar Festival, and Transfer Pizzeria Café.