18.
“This is the first foray into a full immer-
sion for a deaf person as it relates to the
whole picture at a concert,” Bacow says. “It’s
the only way a deaf person can understand
what is going on, as far as lyrics. Evelyn reads
lips. Mandy was excited to participate in this
because Evelyn is one of the greatest musi-
cians in the world, who happens to be deaf.
It puts a spotlight on diversity and inclusion
by adding sign language to this concert.”
Bacow (cousin of Harvard’s new presi-
dent, Lawrence Bacow), 61, runs 54 Studio
in Ferndale, where Eminem recorded and
where Forbes visited more than a dozen
years ago years ago with the hope of meeting
the rapper. He had memorized Eminem’s sig-
nature hit, “Lose Yourself,” and performed it
for the artist, who was impressed.
Bacow was familiar with the deaf commu-
nity because his brother-in-law is deaf, but
he hadn’t been initiated into the ideological
perspectives on deaf communication. He
learned that closed captions are inadequate,
that many deaf people are taught “oralism,”
or how to speak, but that American Sign
Language (ASL) is the most complete way of
“talking” because it is a rich language capable
of conveying all that language conveys —
except sound.
With Forbes, Bacow saw the potential
for signed music to reach bigger audiences.
Early on, he helped Forbes record and post

PHOTO BY PHILIPP RATHMER

Sean Forbes, center,
and Jake Bass, left,
perform in Tel Aviv.

Dame Evelyn Glennie

PHOTO BY JESSICA MADSEN

s

music videos online, all of them translated
into sign language. The reception was amaz-
ing, leading Bacow to start DPAN.TV out of
the studio. News and other information was
eventually added to the mix, and today the
channel has more than 100,000 subscribers.
One of the viewers of the early videos
was Marlee Matlin, who loved what she saw
and contacted Forbes. Their collaboration
led to a music video called “Let’s Mambo.”
Coincidentally, Matlin and Forbes’ wife,
Joanne (director of OCC’s Sign Language
Studies program), went to the same high
school in Chicago. The Forbes have a 3-year-
old daughter and another child on the way.
Bass, who was hanging around the stu-
dio with his dad and creating his own
music when Forbes arrived on the scene,
started writing and recording with Forbes.
The pair went on tour to promote “Perfect
Imperfection,” stopping in Israel for two
weeks at the invitation of the U.S. State
Department. Forbes is not Jewish, but he
found the place enchanting. Bass found it
“electric.”
“I felt connected to a place I’d never been. I
felt so comfortable. We performed at an out-
side festival that was off the Mediterranean.
To the right of me was the sea; to the left
was sand and buildings in Tel Aviv. It was a
spiritual experience,” says Bass, 28, who runs
Bassment Sounds 2.0. He and his wife (and
baby) are members of Temple Shir Shalom.
The concert is a first for him, along
with Forbes. Bass has been composing and
arranging for the 60-piece orchestra and
rhythm section, hiring vocalists and a DJ
who will be on hand for a “silent disco”
following the show. Participants will listen
to the same music through headphones, an
experience aimed at inviting hearing people
into the deaf world.
“I was passionate about this project and I
wanted to achieve this with Sean,” his “part-
ner in rhyme,” Bass says. “The whole point
of this is to show the world what you can do
and achieve no matter what. It’s on a major
level — we’re having the three most distinc-
tive deaf artists in the world.”
Adds Forbes, “I want people to experience
music the way I’ve always presented it —
performing it in American Sign Language,
with visual lyrics behind me, and of course,
loud and fun,” the rapper said. “And I also
get to do this in my hometown, with the
famed DSO, and on stage with legends and
dames.” ■

Sean Forbes

jn

December 6 • 2018

65

