There is a soul to traditional Irish Celtic music that is at once hard to pin down, yet instantly recognizable. It lies in the subtle embellishments that adorn the simple melodies, and in the equally meaningful open space between those notes. It is in the words that are sung, and in the words that seem to sing out in tunes played on the tin-whistle or thrummed on the bodhrán.
Few musicians in the world today channel that spirit more magically than Cathie Ryan. The former lead singer of Cherish the Ladies, Ryan has been called “one of the leading voices in Celtic music” by the Los Angeles Times, and Irish Female Vocalist of the Decade by Irish American News.
Those accolades are all the more impressive given that Ryan has never actually called Ireland her primary home.
Yesterday, I posted up about tonight’s concert by the UM Percussion Ensemble, which features some traditional Senegalese music performed by the local students along with guest percussionist Idrissa Gueye.
After the post went live, I realized that the style 0f music might ring so unfamiliar to our American ears that…well, honestly, it might look like the guys playing it didn’t know what they were doing.
So I thought I would follow up today with some Youtube examples of sabar drumming and traditional dancing, straight from the streets of Senegal. [Read More...]
Now, read it out loud again; but replace each syllable with the sound, “tak.”
What you are left with is the rhythm of speech. It is a rhythm that differs from language to language, sentence to sentence. Though we Americans rarely think about it, rhythm is an essential aspect of the soul of our communicative style. Great speakers are not just great thinkers; they are also great rhythmatists, who create musical arcs through words.
In the west African country of Senegal, awareness of the rhythms of speech isn’t simply heightened; it is central to the artistic and spiritual identity of the culture. There, people known as the Gewel serve as cultural historians and praise singers who preserve important cultural stories and beliefs through their art.
Yet their art is wordless. They are drummers. [Read More...]
Last week, David Boone had a dream. He was standing on the ground, looking at the sky, wishing he could fly. He leapt into the air, but predictably came back down again.
“Then I realized that the very notion of jumping is an up-and-down movement,” recalls Boone. “I’ve already limited my parameters to something I’m familiar with, when what I’m trying to do is unfamiliar to my experience.”
“So I thought, I don’t need to jump; I need to lift. I did that, and I started floating. And then just I flew away.”
It’s a telling fantasy in the world of David Boone, a poetic and prolific Missoula songwriter who has spent the better part of his adult life questioning – sometimes at his own peril – the assumptions that govern our lives in modern society.
Fern Glass Boyd minces no words when talking of the talent in the hands of guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas.
“He’s the most exciting classical guitarist of his generation,” said Boyd, a UM professor of cello and the artistic director of the String Orchestra of the Rockies.
Consider Villagas’ resume. By the end of this year, the young Spaniard will have logged appearances with the New York Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Moscow Philharmonic, as well as solo appearances at Carnegie Hall, the LincolnCenter, and the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Winner of the gold medal at the 2006 Parkening International Guitar Competition as well as the 2007 Andres Segovia Award, the 31-year old Villagas is already running out of accomplishments to notch on the neck of his guitar.
“The fact that he’s gracing our stage here in Missoula is really a remarkable thing,” said Boyd.
Indeed, it’s hard to find superlatives that overstate Villagas’ talent. Check out this video of him performing Albéniz’s virtuosic “Asturias”:[Read More...]
Like the Shakespearean drama that inspired it, Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet version of “Romeo and Juliet” is a marathon course paved in potholes for performers. Clocking at two and a half hours in its full form, the score is packed with finger-numbingly fast passages, angular contrasts, gargantuan climaxes, and peculiar rhythms. It is music that regularly trips up the best orchestras in the world.
So the idea that the Missoula Symphony Orchestra – a small-budget band made up mostly of amateur community players – would even attempt to play a condensed 45 minutes worth of the ballet’s highlights might seem a recipe for “straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps,” to borrow the Bard’s own words.
But as the star-crossed lovers remind us in Shakespeare’s drama, love has a way of transcending expectations.
Just got this note from the booking manager at the Top Hat.
The Top Hat will be re-opening Tuesday February 24th at 5pm. Tuesday will still have the bluegrass pickin circle ( open to all) from 6 to 9pm and then Pinegrass will hit the stage at 9pm. Wednesday will still be Wasted [...]
Someone apparently has a lot of time on their hands. That, and a cheap organ. This video of conductor Valery Gergiev in rehearsal is….Well, it’s kind of weird. And awesome.
You’d think that someone would have sent out a memo at this point. Yet another public space has been evacuated — this time part of a major airport — after someone spotted a sticker, affixed to a bicycle, adorned with the name of the band, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb.
Okay, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. But jeez, how can people in the security industry not know about the band already? This is at least the third time an incident such as this has happened, according to the Wikipedia page about the band. And every time it happens, there’s a little AP wire story about it. Apparently people don’t read their newspapers very carefully (newsflash, eh?)….
Anyway, every time something like this happens, it reminds me of an incident that ocurred in my old college town of Bloomington, Indiana.
Well, it was a long day, and fruitful. I’m home now, kinda bummed that we didn’t manage to score the artworks that we (my wife and I) bid on. Oh well, that’s life at an auction. Bidding was fierce at times; though only one piece sold for over $400, it was clear enough that people were turned on by the works in the show.
Anyway, to complete the circle, I thought I’d post up pictures of the completed works. Click through to see… [Read More...]
Consider Villagas’ resume. By the end of this year, the young Spaniard will have logged appearances with the New York Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Moscow Philharmonic, as well as solo appearances at Carnegie Hall, the
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