Songwriting can be a challenge. So when San Francisco musician Karl Digerness found himself battling writer’s block he started reading the texts from plays written by William Shakespeare for some lyrical inspiration.
Karl reached out to collaborator and friend Minna Choi of Magik*Magik Orchestra and along with his Shakespearean cover band, The Frail Ophelias, they created a project that combined modern rock and folk music with scenes from the Shakespeare tragedy Macbeth. For this edition of Bay Area beats, Karl and Minna stopped by KALW to discuss just how Macbeth’s themes from four hundred years ago are still relevant today.
"I hope it's possible that you'd hear the song and not know immediately that it's Shakespeare. I wanted to honor the text for sure, it feels almost sacred."
You can catch Minna Choi along with Karl Digerness and The Frail Ophelias at their Macbeth album release show. It’s happening this Thursday night at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco.
