Witch Hunt - history told in music, sound, and story

The history of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials told through music and story-telling in a format recalling an old time radio drama with a modern experimental prog-rock twist. Witch Hunt borrows freely from original sources of information from the time of the trials such as letters, books, poems, transcriptions of the trials themselves, as well as melodies from the Puritan hymn books. The music is highly original art-rock ranging from soft ambient soundscapes to heavy power riffs with many other stops along the way. The narrator provides a story teller voice that weaves a historical thread throughout each episode. Witch Hunt is conceived, written, and produced by Brian O'Connell, who records and produces the show, playing a wide variety of instruments and voice parts. O'Connell is a well known bassist and composer in New England who has performed with: Arukah, Dead Man's Waltz, Uncle Sammy, Gordon Stone, Gary Backstrom, Dave Brunyak, Interminable, and many others. In 2012 Brian debuted his rock opera Over The Line, a Jungian journey through modern consciousness, for a successful series of performances in Boston. Brian O'Connell - voice, 6 and 12 string guitars, fretted and fretless bass, upright bass, touch guitar, sintir, keyboards, moog synth, percussion Mike Harmon - drums, cymbals, percussion Rachel Koppelman - accordion www.brianvoconnell.com

All Episodes

Witch Hunt - history told in music, sound, and story

Episode 1 - Tituba's Journey

September 29, 2020 • Season 1 • Episode 1

https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt

This is the story of an Arawak woman called Tituba: how she was kidnapped by the English from South America when she was just a young girl and enslaved. Growing up on a plantation in Barbados, she absorbed multiple cultural influences from her fellow enslaved Africans and her English mistress. Her inner world becomes a confluence of Arawak, West African, and English myths and magic. We follow her as she is taken by a frustrated and angry young Puritan man named Samuel Parris to a new life in Massachusetts. They arrive first in Boston and then move to Salem Village, a small frontier community infested with jealousy and rivalry, and haunted by fear and suspicion.

All music written by Brian O'Connell except "Old Oxford Tune (Psalm 4)" adapted from the Bay Psalm Book, 1698.

Episode 1 Parts:

Part I - Witch Hunt Theme
Part II - Oxford Tune
Part III - Captured and Enslaved
Part IV - The Cunning Tradition
Part V - Parris, Boston, and Salem
Part VI - Witch Hunt Theme (reprise)

Variation on the Oxford Tune
(Music adapted from The Bay Psalm Book, published in Boston in 1698)

Do you know of the coming storm?

The people gone astray

Their sins break free Satan from his chains

Stars fall, moon turns to blood

Fear, greed, and gossip rule the day

Old rivalries reborn

Blame cast upon thy neighbor’s home

The Beast is free to roam

Brian O'Connell - voice, bass guitar, fretless bass, touch guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, sintir, percussion

Mike Harmon - drums, cymbals, percussion

Recorded at Studio Vinniechops and Wachusett Recording

https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt

History Book Sources

"Tituba - Reluctant Witch of Salem - Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies"
by Elaine G. Breslaw, New York University Press, 1996

"The Devil's Dominion - Magic and Religion in Early New England"
by Richard Godbeer, Cambridge University Press, 1992

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