Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Laurie Anderson has traversed pop culture and the avant-garde across several decades. At 77, the intrepid multimedia artist and Grammy-winning musician remains a restless visionary as she continues to explore US history and memory in her works. Anderson’s latest album is inspired by the final flight of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, whose achievements included being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. In May 1937 Earhart departed from California to circumnavigate the Earth; a couple of months later, her plane disappeared forever somewhere over the Pacific ocean.Amelia has existed in previous incarnations, including a Carnegie Hall performance in 2000, which Anderson has described as a “cacophony”. This album version refines the project, incorporating newer compositions with sleekly expressive orchestration from the Czech ensemble Filharmonie Brno (conducted by Dennis Russell Davies). Her dedication to this subject reflects her affinity with Earhart as a fearless trailblazer and gender-equality campaigner. The theme of flight — around the planet, or away from it — has also recurred throughout her work, from her groundbreaking 1982 debut Big Science to her stint as artist-in-residence at Nasa in the early 2000s.The 22 tracks here are mostly fleeting yet evocative vignettes that merge real-life details (lyrics are adapted from Earhart’s pilot’s log and telegrams to her husband) with imagined travelogues. Anderson narrates Earhart’s fateful last journey from her perspective, taking off with a blend of hope and unease on the opening track, “To Circle the World”. As always, her voice has a mesmerising quality, with its curious, crisp intonations and wondrous observations. Her tone feels weirdly soothing even amid unsettling surrounds: the taut, spiralling strings of “The Letter”; the delirious patter of “Road to Mandalay”; the abrasive buzz of the plane motor.Surprisingly lovely melodies emerge from the surreal haze; the graceful rumba rhythm of “India and on Down to Australia” is a highlight, enriched by guest vocals from singer-songwriter Anohni. On “This Modern World”, we hear an archive clip of Earhart’s own voice, taken from her 1935 radio speech, “A Woman’s Place In Science” (“The lives of women have been more affected by its new horizons than those of any other group”).Amelia’s fate may be sealed, but Earhart’s spirit lingers in Anderson’s vision.★★★★☆‘Amelia’ is released by Nonesuch
