“A visit to Stoke Newington’s Arcola Theatre might seem a little out of the Ham ‘n’ High’s usual stomping ground, but not when the composer of the work is Crouch End based Jenni Roditi.

The Descent of Inanna is based on a story found inscribed on 4 000 year old Sumerian clay tablets, unearthed in Iraq in the 1940s. It deals with battles, sacred keys, a journey to the Netherworld, sexual love and fertility.

The performance is the curtain raiser for Hackney’s charmingly named Grimeborn Festival of contemporary music and opera (geddit?).  The evening’s performance , described as the “bare-bones version” and only 60  minutes long, is a fantastically powerful piece.

Jenni herself takes the role of the Tale Spinner (narrator) and free voice. It is very unusual in opera for a composer to also be a performer in their own work and demonstrates her incredible range of talents.

The stage is dark, no set, with musicians (piano, harmonium and percussion) to the left. The vocalists and dancer start in a row behind music stands and, as the narrative reveals, move across and around the stage, singing and posturing, articulating and illustrating this epic tale.

The music is mixed and draws on many traditions  – sometimes jazz predominates, then echoes of native American chants can be heard, then free-form primitivism and rhythms from the Middle East. Holding the whole thing together with bold arm waving is pianist/conductor Dominic Saunders who, with the rest of the musicians give a fine, earthy and committed performance of what is a complex and challenging piece.

Throughout the work there are flashes of Jenni’s dark, anarchic humour: to illustrate a sudden swarm of flies (don’t ask) she gets the singers to don large dark glasses and start buzzing.

The ensemble worked well together, producing passion, humour and drama. It would be a pity of all the hard work that has clearly gone into this production were not acknowledged by performances elsewhere.”

David Winskill, The Ham and High.

Acclaim for Inanna from the first version of the piece produced by Lontano

"Jenni Roditi... a huskily eloquent tale-spinner, a passionate narrator between some robustly written ensembles...a score characterised by a vigorous near minimalism"

Hilary Finch. (The Times)

"...echoes ranging from Sondheim and Reich to African and Middle Eastern rhythms and cantillations.. many place where the score matches the situation memorably - for example - Inanna's return to life (The Raw Song) or her radiant first entry with its cascading string scales. (Share my Joy)" Stephen Johnson (The Independent)

"Jenni Roditi's opera Inanna is a powerful piece of music theatre. It is healing in the sense that it is cathartic, exploring the depths of the female psyche through the story of the Sumerian Goddess of heaven who descends to the Netherworld 'because it is there'..The story line depicts woman as hero; she who has the strength to descend to the depths of emotional experience..Lontano the well known music group provide excellent support. The music is eclectic varying between minimalist textures, jazz and primitive elemental sounds. Lyn Gambles' moving libretto is set to vocal lines which one minute recall of Tippett and the next of Gershwin. This is an archetypal work that communicates with brilliant intensity to heart and guts." - Brian Lee, I to I magazine.

photo Franca Chretien