An Odyssey Brought to Life

Something magical about human beings is that they are constantly finding new ways to create and share their art, and I believe that despite its occasional failings, social media has not only connected strangers through their joint desire to invent but has also provided a platform for smaller artists to stand upon and to reach a larger audience. Two years ago, I discovered Jorge Rivera-Herrans’ concept album, EPIC, in a passing reel on Instagram; I found an entire world of artists and listeners connected on a purely digital platform. I was immediately struck by EPIC’s complex musicality and storytelling, which thus led to a multi-year journey as viewers like myself got to watch Jorge create and produce this musical on Instagram and TikTok. 

A retelling of the Odyssey, EPIC is broken up into nine sequential sagas, each including three to five songs, and each one focuses on a different obstacle in Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca, beginning with the end of the Trojan War. Greek mythology retellings are incredibly popular at the moment, which makes it important to note that in order for a retelling to be truly great, it requires the artist to build upon the original in a unique way, which Jorge certainly does with his purposeful edits to the storyline and masterful musical choices. In his version, Odysseus not only wants to make it home to his wife and son, but he specifically wants to make it home as the person he was when he had left, leaving him with an internal conflict he battles all the way to Ithaca. This particular take on Odysseus’ character really drew me in because it led me to view Odysseus in a light I had never seen him in before. Within Jorge’s retelling, I found something deeply compelling about Odysseus’ desire to remain the person he wants to be despite the challenges he faces that drive him to change into someone he’s ashamed of, someone he doesn’t even recognize.

Jorge released a new saga every few months, and with every new release, the artists involved in creating this world only grew. By the end of the ninth saga, Jorge had united a diverse cast of voice actors and singers hailing from all across the country who had auditioned for roles through social media. Furthermore, he invited digital artists to create musical videos and animatics for the project, and so EPIC fell into the careful hands of a myriad of creators, all contributing their own inspiration to the musical. Jorge truly brought the Odyssey to life beyond anything Homer could have ever dreamt through the extensive collaboration of artists who touched this story.

Another unique aspect of this project is that viewers are not stuck passively listening to these songs through the sound coming through their headphones and devices; they also get to engage directly with the creators. In the stream of comments accumulating beneath each new post, followers leave not only their praise but also their questions, which Jorge will answer in additional videos about his artistic choices.

Music can immerse the soul in a story beyond the capabilities of the written word, and to be able to learn how a creator chose their instruments, manipulated sound, and cleverly created double meanings within their lyrics is a gift that allows the audience to see exactly how this story came to life through song. Jorge put so much thought behind every aspect of the music, and his instrumental pieces arguably speak louder and more powerfully than the lyrics: the disappointed goodbye in the flat unresolved ending note, the layered character motifs, and the characters singing without their prescribed instruments.  The familiar chord progression, indicates a desire for open arms. Sustained notes as opposed to riffs, reflect Athena’s relationship to Telemachus and Odysseus. The use of triplets, represent ruthlessness in violence and in love. The upward and downward spiral of Penelope’s and Odysseus’ music meeting each other in a crescendo of their reunion. The Odyssey finds its persistent longing and crashing waves of tension artistically woven through every instrument, chord, and note.

In these videos, Jorge explains how he assigned specific instruments to each character and how he carried musical motifs throughout the work to subtly imply a secondary meaning in his songs. So after listening to these explanations, a listener will hear the acoustic-sounding, nylon string guitar, which represents a young, unchanged Odysseus, contrasted with his electric guitar conversion. They’ll hear Penelope’s viola, Polites’ mallet, and Athena’s piano, and they’ll hear their musical motifs twirling within Odysseus’ own pain and longing. They’ll hear Eurylochus use Odysseus’ words to justify his failures and the voices of the sailors fade into absentia. They’ll hear Telemachus match and build upon his father’s unique riffs as he turns Odysseus’ riffs from the first saga into his own melody in the seventh saga. Jorge layers motif after motif on top of each other in a complex kaleidoscope of sound to compose this story, and his explanation of his musical choices allow his followers to see how he built each song brick by brick.

Social media is the platform that allows Jorge to so cleverly and artistically make Homer’s Odyssey accessible and engaging for his hundreds of thousands of followers, and he has expanded this project into an Odyssey of his own as he pulled listeners and other artists alike into his musical process.

February 2025