Celebrating songs of Leelanau: Seth Bernard’s instrumental ode to the Manitou Islands
From staff reports
Our story series celebrating songs inspired by Leelanau County and the Sleeping Bear Dunes continues with Seth Bernard’s “Manitou,” an instrumental that he wrote in June 2019 during a residency sponsored by the Old Art Building in Leland. (Click here to listen to “Manitou” on Spotify.)
“I wrote this simple piece on acoustic guitar looking out over the islands near Van’s Beach around sundown,” said Bernard. “It’s a little magic carpet ride to that peaceful, serene, early summer Leelanau sunset vibe.
“We filmed some of The Lost Treasure of Sawtooth Island (a film by Rich Brauer that starred Bernard with Ernest Borgnine) up on the islands back in 99! Those sacred old growth cedars in the valley of the giants have been invoked for musical inspiration by my collaborator Glenn Brown many times as well.”
Bernard returns to the Old Art Building on April 24 at 7 pm for an Earth Week-themed concert. A son of Missaukee County, where the final Earthwork Harvest Gathering was held last September on his father Bob’s working farm, Seth Bernard has journeyed from a potent young Interlochen Center for the Arts idealist to iconic troubadour of the Great Lakes region. His mission is rooted in the woods and water, the soil and soul of northern Michigan.
Previous installments in our Songs of Leelanau series featured Blake Elliott’s “Small Town” and Louann Lechler’s “I’m Proud to Say I Live in Leelanau County.”
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