Monica “Spirit” McIntyre is a cellist, vocalist, lyricist, wellness advocate, sound healer, reiki practitioner, dancer and visual artist. McIntyre (who prefers the gender pronouns “spirit,” “they,” “them” or “theirs”) moved to Philadelphia to attend Drexel University in 1995.
Living in Philadelphia immersed them in a serious education of funk, soul, R&B, jazz and world music. In October 2003, McIntyre self-released their debut album, “Blusolaz” — a collection of original songs that fused blues, soul and jazz. “Bars of Gold,” McIntyre’s first single, was self-released in August 2005. In November 2010, they relocated to New Orleans and became immediately involved in its thriving local music scene. In September 2013, McIntyre self-released their sophomore album, “It Soon Come,” produced by John Chelew and featuring Marcia McIntyre (violin/vocals), Thea Bashful (vocals), Reggina Thompson (oboe) and Mike Jacobsen (percussion). In December 2014, they self-released their third full-length album, “Mourning to the Moonlight.”
McIntyre has been featured at numerous events and venues throughout the world, drawing such feedback as: “From the second Monica McIntyre’s bow hits the cello, it starts to sing. [They] pull and strum, building powerful chords and melodies in perhaps the most unorthodox manner seen in a cellist yet. [They] do this while singing lyrics so finely crafted they read like poems.”
If this makes you want to rush to New Orleans to catch a performance, hold onto your frequent-flyer miles. McIntyre is coming back to our town to perform this weekend at the Black Women’s Arts Festival. The uber-spectacular, queer-friendly extravaganza is happening at The Rotunda Oct. 24-25. For more information, check out www.BWAFphilly.org.
PGN: So why the cello?
MM: Well, my parents wanted my sister and I to learn classical instruments and it was actually all that was left available for my age group. At 7, all the violins were already taken up. So there it was.
PGN: You’re slight now; at 7, that thing was probably as big as you were.
MM: [Laughs] Yes, it was … for quite a while.
PGN: Tell me about the family. Just one sister?
MM: Yes, and she’s an amazing violinist and singer. She’s an amazing sister as well. She lives very close to my parents in Maryland. My mom is from Jamaica — the far-west section of the island — and my dad is from a small coal town in Pennsylvania. They’re both from small towns.
PGN: James Carville once said something like, “between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia lies the Deep South.”
MM: Ha. It really could be. There are many of these places in between where they may not get an influx of many new ideas or find themselves challenged by new people or things coming in.
PGN: I was forced to take flute lessons and I rebelled the entire time. Did you take to it right away?
MM: I feel like I did. Maybe not so much all the discipline needed, but it was pretty clear early on that I loved the instrument. I had orchestra and private lessons. My sister and I were involved so much in playing music with other kids at school and church so it wasn’t like I felt isolated practicing in a room alone. We were out and about, which helped a lot.
PGN: What were you like as a kid? Sporty, shy, precocious?
MM: Not shy; I was very outgoing, talkative and funny. I loved engaging with people. I got in trouble here and there for being too talkative. I was one of those kids who would get my report done early and then start talking and disrupting the class. It was really just, “Give me more work!” I liked being occupied.
PGN: What other things were you into other than music? Were you in any clubs at school?
MM: Not really, music was really our focus. We practiced a couple times a week and four hours on Saturday, in addition to the private lessons. And church … though I guess that wasn’t really something I was into, but more of a family thing. We did a lot of church outings and things. Church and music, that was basically it.
PGN: Were either of your parents musical?
MM: A little. My mom, if I’m not mistaken, played the organ when she was younger but I guess a lack of funding or something got her away from being able to do it. But now my sister is teaching her the violin, which is really neat. She’s been playing for about two years and has taken to it right off. She’s very musical. My dad is an amazing whistler.
PGN: And he worked at the Space Flight Center?
MM: Yes, I think his title was communicator, but I’m not sure what that meant. I just know that he’d bring us really cool stuff. Every time they’d do a launch, they had special stickers to commemorate it. My old cello case is covered with them.
PGN: So cool! So your dad had you looking towards the skies from the very beginning.
MM: I guess you could say that! Yes!
PGN: So speaking of stars, what do you think comes to people’s minds when they think “Monica McIntyre?”
MM: Someone who is a very emotional performer, very passionate on stage, very uninhibited. Being in New Orleans has helped me step into a different spiritual space. I feel more grounded, more deeply rooted in both my music and spirit with my ancestry and ancestors. New Orleans is a place where the spirits are still alive. It’s been a big influence on my music in the past five years. When I’m performing I feel like I’m going in more deeply. I access more of that and give even more of myself when performing. Lyrics, very strong visual lyrics that people can see and resonate with, can help them go “Hmmm.”
PGN: When did you move to Philadelphia?
MM: Right after high school — so, 1995 — and I stayed for about 15 years.
PGN: What was the music scene in Philly like when you got here?
MM: Interesting, because I actually came to Philly to study fashion design at Drexel, so I wasn’t really doing much with music. I guess my first musical — I want to say ramblings — were at Drexel but at the time their music program was kind of pitiful; it’s not anymore but at the time it was pretty weak. But I got an opportunity through a fellow student, Sarah Siahaan, to check out this group, “Psalters,” she was a part of. They were doing a lot of interesting music that was very different than my aesthetic or what I was used to hearing. They didn’t have any music you could read, so it was very improvisational, and at that time the thought of playing without written music terrified me. It was my first opportunity to do some non-classical music, music that required you to listen and memorize and figure things out on the fly. It also required me to solo and at first I was like, “How do you solo on cello? I don’t even know how to do that.” It was an extreme of what I was doing musically. The group performed a lot at festivals, clubs, etc., and it pushed me to open up more. They were very theatrical and visible and intense, everything I didn’t know how to do. It really opened me up and from there I just kept going.
PGN: So since those humble beginnings, you’ve worked with a number of other artists, including your sister. What’s it like working with her?
MM: She’s the person I’ve known the longest in this life, along with my parents. Since we were little, we’ve always played together doing classical duets or in quartets. Since early on, we’ve always also sung together; we have this little a-cappella quintet called Gospel, Inc. We’ve always still played together when I’ve gone home to Maryland. I started writing and performing as a solo artist back in 2003. When I was ready to record, it was a natural progression to have my sister come sing with me. She’s got really great ears for all the background harmonies and we have great chemistry together. I love when I get the opportunity to perform on the East Coast and we can perform together. It’s really special.
PGN: I love singing with someone when you’re in sync. Describe the feeling of a great musical harmony.
MM: It’s really exciting. In sync might mean something different for someone else, but I’ll describe what it means to me. My voice has a certain weight to it, a certain texture, so it doesn’t always … ah! How do I describe it? It doesn’t often play well with others. Or because of the way I shift and pitch, maybe others don’t know how to play with it? So when I find myself with someone like my sister, who has similar textures, anything that we do has a more blended quality, more togetherness. And volume-wise, when I’m in sync with someone, it’s comfortable to know I’m not going to overpower them. It’s amazing when you get that with someone and recently I’ve had it with a couple of artists. I just did a gig in New Orleans with Antoine Diel and Arséne Delay and they both have huge, soulful voices and they know how to use them — from big Aretha-type notes to quiet lullaby whispers. It was fun because I knew they would be able to meet me full voice and we could just go there. It’s exciting!
PGN: So tell me about some of the other things you do.
MM: Well, currently I’ve been making a lot of music with dancers, which I really enjoy. Before I left Philly, I was collaborating with a lot of dancers from Temple and, now that I’m in New Orleans, I’ve been inviting a lot of dancers from the community to work with me. It requires you to really be present and emotionally invested in their art and I just love it.
PGN: From reading about you, I understand that you don’t use gender pronouns.
MM: Well I do, I just use other gender pronouns, not the dominant ones. My first preference is “spirit” and when that doesn’t fit so well, “them” or “theirs.” For me, more and more I’m learning that I’m spirit more than anything else. So how that shows up on different days or at different moments changes. I might show up one day and feel more like my grandmother and be living more like her or on another day like my grandfather or maybe an unknown ancestor. So it feels more complete to say “spirit” than “her” or “she,” or “he” or “him.”
PGN: And how do you identify within the LGBT community?
MM: Mostly with queer and a friend introduced me to a new term that I like [unheard].
PGN: Charismatic?
MM: “Prismatic,” like a prism, on the spectrum, somewhere on the rainbow, one of Dorothy’s children.
PGN: [Laughs] I get it. Nice! I like that. So tell me about the Black Women’s Arts Festival.
MM: I’m really excited to be a part of it again, having been so involved many years ago. They have some great people participating in all different disciplines: dance, spoken word, comedy, fine arts, music. There will also be workshops and panels, food and film, vendors, even an open mic. I’m on the East Coast doing my Musical Medicine tour so I’m excited that I’ll have a chance to participate along with so many other talented artists.
PGN: What are the medicinal properties of music?
MM: It can change your mood, it can shift your energy, it can shift a whole room. Music can enlighten, it can give people physical relief or release, it can comfort or support. It can be heavy or move things with a feather.
PGN: My friend Nuala Cabral and her group Fostering Activism and Alternatives Now! work to make music less violent and misogynistic. I know I sure miss the days where music and lyrics were more uplifting; it seems that you are purposefully trying to create more positive music to put into the world.
MM: I really do try, yeah. I think there is a lot of good, uplifting music out there but it doesn’t get played mainstream. You have to look for it. I don’t understand people who are like, “I just listen to the beat, I don’t pay attention to the lyrics. I can’t do that. Music is very powerful. I have to be selective about what I listen to.
PGN: What was one of your strangest moments on stage?
MM: Well, this was odd. I performed once and when I was on stage my legs started shaking, then my whole body started shaking and I didn’t know what it was rooted to. It was really bizarre; my teeth were chattering and I wasn’t cold. I was shaking but I wasn’t nervous. I still don’t know what happened. I just had to play through it.
PGN: What was your favorite Halloween costume?
MM: Hmmm, I don’t remember any. That would be a question for my sister. She has a memory like an elephant.
PGN: You have so many talents: music, dance, reiki. What’s a talent you do not possess but would like to?
MM: I wish I could stop time. So I could be like, “Oh, it’s 7 p.m., but I really need two hours of rest. Let me stop time, take a nap and then start it again.” Oh, I really wish I could do that!
PGN: When I first got my DVR, which allows you to freeze live TV, I found myself trying to pause conversations in real life! Reaching for a phantom remote. It was frustrating when I couldn’t!
MM: That would be great! Pause right here and then take it back up later.
PGN: Three favorite sounds?
MM: Only three? This is challenging! The harmonica, the twangy sound of an old blues guitar and … only three? OK, the sound of my friend Michaela laughing. She has one of those infectious laughs that makes everyone else laugh. It’s insane.
PGN: What’s your zodiac sign and do you follow the traits?
MM: I’m a Leo and yes I do, even when I don’t want to.
PGN: What painting would you pick to reside in?
MM: My friend Soraya Jean-Louis McElroy is an incredible painter. She has a painting called “Big Bang” and it’s of a beautiful woman with big sunglasses on and there are gold and orange colors around her. It reminds me of Oshun, the orisha of honey and sweetness, and there’s something very regal about the painting. Powerful.
PGN: What kind of animal would you want to be?
MM: I really admire the ant. It can carry 10 times its body weight, which is like, Wow! They’re so small we don’t notice how impressive that is, but if it was a person carrying 10 times their body weight? Gracious!
PGN: Kind of like you at 7 carrying that big cello! Gracious indeed!
For more information about the Black Women’s Arts Festival, visit www.facebook.com/BWAFfanpage.
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