Bryan Medwed Homage to an original thinker

Musician, Farmer and Energy Pioneer

Here we are, in a powerful, beautiful and mysterious place.

We want to live and love, to eat and work, to observe and speak,

to strive and rest, to generate and then to die.

Evolving through it, forward as evolution can only go, moving

from the curse of our self awareness to greater blessings therein.

It is the maturity to which reckless youth may grow in time.

At this moment, in this microcosm, an evolutionary step may

be taken.Bryan Medwed Greenprint, 2000

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Bryan grew up in Detroit, Michigan, in the U.S., in the 1960s . Perhaps he reacted against his urban upbringing, or maybe his involve-ment in a Jewish youth movement (Habonim

-Zionist) that celebrated Israels agricultural spirit pushed him to embrace farming. At age 16, he was part of a summer program on Kibbutz Yotvata, where he came to know Israels southern desert and the kibbutz vision firsthand.During his college years, Medwed studied

music and grew interested in composition. Bryan trained in composition at Oberlin Conservatory but soon grew disillusioned and restless. He left Ohio to sort things out, write music and wander, first in Central America, then the Canadian Yukon and Europe, and finally Israel.Upon returning to the states in 1981,

Bryan enrolled at Evergreen State college. He immersed himself in the study and practice of organic farming and sustainable living.

16 year- old Bryan at kibbuz Yotvata

At Evergreen, Bryan learned farming techniques and pondered his place in the political economy of agriculture. But Medwed wanted to live the vision, not just learn or talk about it. Kibbutz life offered the most invit-ing avenue for becoming a farmer. In 1984, he suspended his studies two quarters shy of completing his degree and with his wife Ilene joined Kibbutz Grofit, a settlement in the Arava with both Israeli and American-born members.As he learned the ropes at Grofit, working

in the mango orchard, Bryan was drawn to Samar, a smaller community down the road. Samar members described their way of life as

communal anarchy. Unique among Israels 250-odd kibbutzim, Samar had minimal rulesno hierarchy or work committees, and no set personal or family budget. In 1987, Bryan and Ilene relocated to Samar, where they raised their daughters Paz, Shani and Stav.

Paz, Ilene, Shani, Bryan and Stav

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On June 10, 2002, Bryan was returning home after delivering a lecture on his solar collector design at Sde Boker. As he drove on the desolate highway, he apparently was stricken at the wheel, and his car crashed into an oncoming truck. Bryan was the first of Samars members to

die. The community buried him on the rocky plain behind the kibbutz, creating a grave-yard by laying out a simple stone boundary according to Jewish tradition.His grave sits on a small hill with a sweep-

ing view of the Arava, his community and the date orchard he helped nurture. Kibbutzniks continue to leave all manner of things on the grave: flowers, dried palm fronds and date bunches, poems, models of wind generators, origami, toy cars. Two small acacia trees grow nearby. Years from now, they will shade the gravesite from the desert sun.

Bryan's grave

Since its founding in 1976, Samar has adapted and thrived, combining the pioneer-ing spirit of the kibbutz movement with an open-ended democratic approach to inten-tional community. Samar is the countrys largest exporter of organic dates. It is one of a handful of kibbutzim strung out along the Arava, a vast, barren desert valley stretch-ing 100 miles from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea along the Jordanian border. The harsh climate and isolation pose challenges, but since its founding in 1976, Samar has adapted and thrived, combining the pioneer-ing spirit of the kibbutz movement with an open-ended democratic approach to inten-tional community.Bryan completed his degree in ecolog-

ical design with faculty member Michael Beug and produced GreenPrint: An Ecological Retrofitting of a Kibbutz. He received his B.A. in December 2000.

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I was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1957. I recall expressing myself quietly at the piano before I knew fully how to speak. One year at Chanuka my father gave me record-ings of Stravinskys Firebird and Brahms

4th, igniting my love affair with serious music.

In 1975 I attended Oakland Universty. During my one year there, I studied theory, piano, bassoon, viola, sang in the chorus and took composition lessons. I wrote

Apollo and Dionysus for brass quintet and Everexpanding for woodwind quartet. In 1976 I entered the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio majoring in composition. Works from this time include Molto Kliene Pieces: for piano, Operatic Etude for actor/dancers and tape, Milk Toss Dead Lack Bolt: - musique concrete, Incidental Music: for computer and analogue synthesizer, and

At the Beach for dancers, clarinet and tape recorders.

Following a crisis of conscience, (of the sort common to twenty year olds) I suspended my studies, and began to travel, write songs, and perform them, folk style, on the dulci-mer. I have written over 600 songs and in later years they include reggae, rock, and progressive idioms.

I entered The Evergreen State College in 1981 to study Agriculture. During that time I wrote a woodwind quintet, The Radish Harvest an electronic composition realized on the Buchla system, A chronol-ogy of Touches poem and tape, and

Phonojournalism 6, Aug, 1945 musique concrete in remembrance of Hiroshima.

In 1984 my wife and I moved to a kibbutz in the southern Arava.

I made a conscious decision then to devote energy to agricul-ture, building my community and learning the language and culture of my new home, before music. Despite this, and my isolation from the musical community, I have written several works here; the most significant being the Symphony in Three Movements. Other works include music to a play Momo, a book of duets for flute and dulcimer, and many songs.

I am married to Ilene Moskowitz. We live on Kibbutz Samar with our three daughters. Some people find it odd that I am a farmer/composer but I cant imagine it any other way.

A Few Musical/Biographical Notes

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Every summer an annual music festival is held in the Arava in his honor, where a mixture of friends, neighbors, and musicians from up north gather to play both his songs and other music in a similar vein. The song Turn Away, performed here by Gal and Gabrielle Dahan, is one of Bryans earli-

est and most hauntingly lyrical songs.

Bryan Medwed was a composer, classically trained at the Oberlin conservatory, who left his formal classical musical studies, and began to write and play music for the dulcimer folk songs, protest songs, love songs, rock and reggae. Though Bryan spent much of his time concentrating on farming and ecology, he never

gave up his musical efforts and over the years he composed many songs, classical and electronic music pieces, and one symphony, which was played by the Ber Sheva Sinfonietta in 2003 and in 2010 in a youth project of Eilat Music Center and Ldinghausen Germany Youth Orchester (first movement).

To date, three compilation discs have been made of recordings that Bryan left behind, and a number of songs have been recorded by others.

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A Few Words from the ComposerThe name Symplony in three movements refers not only to the number of musical

chapters in this work, but also to the idea of three movements or schools of thought which influence the music.

The first movement shows a post-romantic influence. Here, the beauty of melody and harmony are deepened by increasing modulation, chromaticism and disonance. Rhythm and orchestration often work more toward exclamation and effect, less as support of a Iogical development of ideas. The chromatic main theme is contrasted with a lyrical second theme as post-romantic music is usually more romantic than post.The second movement is phenomenological/minimal. It is in traditional ABA form.

The first section is based on a reiterated Bb. All other eleven notes are de-emphasized and given equal weight such that no strong harmony is implied...The third movement is rooted in what could be called Integrationism. A theme with

variations, it draws on radically diverse sources placing them in new and interactive contexts. The fine musical elements of these styles are incorperated and cross-fertil-ized; their taboos arent. Thus, the disonant language of the serial purist can be used to express humor and joy, can mingle with lyrical beauty. The elegant back-rhythms of Jamaican dance music need not be wed to static I, IV, V harmony.Ideological purity tends to strip music of the joy, humor and beauty which people naturally seek in music. Although high]y structured, this symphony is written with the ears first; it is intended more as a listening experience that as an intellectual construc-tion. In this I ultimatly embrace the third movement or philosophy. The progression is from the increasingly somber Post-romantic idioms, through the narrow emotional confines of Minimalism, to an lntegration of diverse elements and influences. Oh yes , and joy.

Bryan Medwed

Bryan was especially proud of his composition, Symphony in three movements written on the kibbutz:

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Beer Sheva Sinfonietta 2003

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Symphony in three movements

Bryan Medwed was a pioneer and ground-breaking entrepreneur in the field of renewable energy. He was one of the first to see the inherent potential in the Southern Arava region for production of electricity from renewable energy sources. Medweds years of work in the fields under the hot desert sun brought him to the reali-zation of the huge potential of natural energy sources, and particularly the power of the sun. He began to study the subject of renewable energy, and contacted Dr. David Faiman, a professor at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, who was working with students on renewable energy at Sde Boker. Bryan began to work at Sde Boker as a techni-cian and researcher in the National Solar Energy Center. While there he co-authored a number of articles and gave several lectures at the international conferences held there.

Entrepreneur of renewable energy

Solar Panel in Samar

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Elephant grass

In 1993 Medwed established the Sunergy project, which proposed a 200 kW solar field that would help supply electricity for Kibbutz Samar, as well as generating income from the sale of excess energy to the regional grid. He built a 5kW prototype field for the

project, which is still in use at Samar. Bryan also developed and registered a patent for a unique solar receptor, which he called the

Light Fence.Medwed also convinced Amnon Green-

berg director of the Southern Arava Research and Development Institute (R&D Ardom), to support his experiments in growing elephant grass for biomass. This project developed over the years into exper-iments on upright tamarix, which have been very successful.

Lecture about solar energySolar inverter housed by homemade geodesic structure

Over time, Medwed also became interested in wind power. As part of that interest, he measured and evaluated the wind potential of the Southern Arava region and attended a course on windmill management in Holland. The project included months of reading, correspondence, meetings and discussions with environmental decision makers.

M any who knew Bryan called him the solar man, because he would show up wherever there was a renewable

energy project-contributing, helping out, and

generally taking an interest.

Bryan checking a wind meter

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An important part of Medweds vision was his desire for peace.

He was involved in solar planning for the EcoPeace organization (now called

Friends of the Earth Middle East), dedicated to working for peace through shared ecological and environmental activ-ities. In addition, the hardships of Bedouin communities in the Negev were of particular interest to Bryan. He believed that those areas had great potential for utilization of renew-able energy, since many Bedouin villages are not connected to electricity at all, despite the fact that the electric wires often pass through the villages themselves. He worked on a number of renewable

energy projects in Bedouin villages, including creating a combined solar/wind system for a family with a diabetic child. The childs insulin had to be refrigerated, but the village was not hooked up to the electricity grid. Bryan arranged to provide a refrigerator with a solar panel and generator for the family.

Wadi Na'am Clinic

He also worked in cooperation with the Arava Institute,teaching students from

Jordan, East Jerusalem and all parts of Israel, who came to benefit from his experience. Medwed, together with the group Bustan LShalom, worked to establish a solar clinic, built ecologically with mud, in Wadi Naam, an undeclared Bedouin village not hooked up to the electricity grid. Bryans Sunergy project was the beginning of an idea that was then considered unrealisticthat renewable energy could become one of the agricul-tural products of kibbutzim in the South-ern Arava, along with dates and peppers and mangoes. That dream is slowly coming true. Bryan Medweds vision of a Sun Valley is being realized today in hundreds of large and small projects, both industrial and communi-ty-based, technological and educational.

Medwed shepherded his dream toward reality, when no one else had dared to dream at all.

Working on the Wadi Na'am Clinic

Bryan by the fire...

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Said, recipient of the refrigerator

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Bryan Medwed Homage to an original thinker