"The Toba supereruption was a supervolcanic eruption that occurred about 75,000 years ago at the site of present-day Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of the Earth's largest known eruptions. The Toba catastrophe theory holds that this event caused a global volcanic winter of six to ten years and possibly a 1,000-year-long cooling episode.
The Toba eruption has been linked to a genetic bottleneck in human evolution about 70,000 years ago, which may have resulted from a severe reduction in the size of the total human population due to the effects of the eruption on the global climate. According to the genetic bottleneck theory, between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago, human populations sharply decreased to 3,000–10,000 surviving individuals. It is supported by some genetic evidence suggesting that today's humans are descended from a very small population of between 1,000 and 10,000 breeding pairs that existed about 70,000 years ago."
Basically, we almost didn't make it. This is a piece not only about the eruption but also about our journey onwards after.
credits
from Alone Again,
released April 26, 2020
Matt Riggen: upright bass
I saw the band that's on Bending Bridges live at the Newport Jazz Festival around 2013 and it was the only group there that made me cry. Mary is a fantastic writer and a major influence. Matt Riggen
I'm lucky enough to know Matt and his humility doesn't belie what a deep composer he is, especially on 'Festival'. He also plays tuba and upright on this one, which sets the bar for the rest of us. Matt Riggen
I contributed ~50% of the compositions/arrangements to this record and played in the trumpet section. I believe art can expedite justice by lighting a fire under its audience, and I've seen it here. Matt Riggen