While scouring through the links posted on our blog, I found a concert that greatly appealed to me.  On the website for (Le) Poisson Rouge (a Greenwich Village space created with the desire to fuse popular and art culture; and where I have enjoyed many an indie rock show), I read about a collaboration with Midtown venue, “The Town Hall,” to present iconic indie band, “Yo La Tengo,” alongside an ensemble of improvising musicians.  The concert, entitled “And Then Yo La Tengo Turned Itself Inside Out” (a play on an album name) is part of a new series of shows at The Town Hall called “Improvisations.”  Their website describes the series as such: “Improv masters and adventurous performers from multiple disciplines – music, theater, spoken word and more – ply their craft in explorations of this unique artistic language.”

Arriving at the theater early on March 23^rd, I had some time to explore.  The walls were lined with framed programs going back nearly a century; and featuring performers/composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Phillip Glass.  What an honor for Yo La Tengo to be playing at such a historic venue.  That being said, the band has an impressive history of its own.  From establishing itself as one of the first indie rock bands over thirty years ago, to revolutionizing the genre with its seamless blending of avant-garde elements, the husband-wife duo’s experimental nature and quirky wit is reflected in how conceived their ironic name.  For those interested in the story, it may be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_La_Tengo#Formation_and_early_history.2C_1984.E2.80.9385

Since it would be impractical to discuss every song on the extensive set list, I would like to focus on a few highlights that showcase the diverse nature of the show.  Yo La Tengo’s set began with ten-minute long jam, “Let’s Be Still.” While the instrumentation and harmony varied between the studio and live version, the effect was the same.  Flute, saxophone, and trumpet were gradually layered on top of a rhythm section grounded by a piano chord progression and two drummers.  The focus was not the subdued vocals, but rather the timbre and atmosphere.  I found the slow development into a cacophony of sound evocative of the modernist movement in art music.  A look at the studio version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOnKWcL_vzA

An especially elegant blend of art and pop was showcased on two well-known Yo La Tengo tracks; the dreamlike love songs “On Our Way to Fall” and “Black Flowers.” In both, the performance sounded drastically different from the album versions.  “On Our Way to Fall” saw xylophone, harmonica, and saxophone creating the accompaniment to lead singer Ira Kaplan’s soft vocals.  The most exciting element of the song, however, was the ensemble’s trumpet player and clarinetist soloing during every break in the vocals.  And during the performance of “Black Flowers,” saxophone, trumpet, French horn, and trombone replaced the violins that provided the backbone for the album version.

The ensemble’s prominent role was evident on instrumental song, “Green Arrow.”  Like much of Yo La Tengo’s work, Green Arrow is a piece that prioritizes atmosphere/mood; which I interpret as drifting between melancholy and nostalgia.  While the ensemble respected the repetitive format of the original track, each instrumentalist added in his own flavor.  This flexibility led to a much fuller sound than the more minimalist studio version.  I couldn’t help but think of the pieces we do in class while observing the improvising performers watch and communicate with each other.  [Unfortunately, I was unable to add a video due to size restrictions, but an audio clip is attached below.]

In conclusion, Yo La Tengo’s performance at The Town Hall was not only a thoroughly enjoyable experience, but it perfect achieved (Le) Poisson Rouge’s mission statement: to collide art and popular culture and create something entirely new.

I went to see a live Japanese percussion concert yesterday and I was not disappointed. I went to LaGuardia Performing Arts Center with my mother after I found out about this free concert through Carnegie Hall. It turns out that this is the 4th time the Soh Daiko concert has been performed it has now become an annual spring concert.

The word “daiko” is the Japanese word for drums. Not only was I exposed to music and instruments I wasn’t aware of, but each piece that was played had a story and representation of the Japanese culture.

There is a piece called “Shishimai” (“Lion Dance”) is about a shy lion (in Japanese is called “shishimai“) who dances around in hopes of meeting new people and become friends. A man was dressed up in a costume and danced on stage and then off stage to the audience. There was a lot of families in this concert so unfortunately there were more screams from kids and laughters from adults. The performer had a mask that wasn’t a “lion” lion like we are use to see at a zoo, but more of a creature that is similar. He then would open and close the mouth of the mask, as if he were bitting something, which he did to a few audience members because being bitten by shishimai means good luck for the year. (No I didn’t get bit).

While shishimai was frolicking around there was music being played by two percussionist, one playing a brass bell and the other going back and forth between two taiko‘s (they looked like snare drums but more wooden and wool that it looks hand made). They played very soft to bring more attention to the lion performer than the music.

Another piece where the instruments are just background music to portray a character is in the piece called “Nimba“. This piece is based on the art of Edo Sato Kagura genre, what the announcer told us and it seems that this fisherman wasn’t ordinary. “Hyottoko” is the Japanese word for fisherman but specifically “country bumpkin”. Dressed in regular performance attire except for wearing a decorative mask, the performer throws “bait” at the “sea” which ended up being free candy to the audience. The fisherman’s theme music was different from the lion’s since it was more dancelike but a simple beat. Two percussionist, again one playing bells and the other playing two gaku-drums, where playing while the fisherman gave us a memorable scene.

One of my favorite pieces was the “Miyake Daiko” because out of all the performances, the beats and performance on just drums were very loud and overall amazing. There were 5 percussionist in total but only 3 instruments. Three people were playing “miya-daiko” or big drums and the other 2 were playing an odaiko, “big drum” but its literally twice the size of the miya and was played on both sides.

I’m so glad I was exposed to so much considering I knew little of Japanese culture and Japanese music. There was an intermission like period where the performers invited kids from the audience to come up on stage and got a brief lesson on the drums.

Here’s a picture of a set of drums that were the most used in the concert pieces. A lot of information was found on the program and also explained by an announcer.

On March 4^th I once again attended the 2017 Ecstatic Music Festival presented by the Kaufman Music Center. The concert featured Thums Up, a collaboration from modern jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, along with the pedal board effects of guitarist Rafiq Bhatia, drummer Kassa Overall, and rap lyrics by Himanshu Suri also known as “Heems.” The concert also featured the hypnotic vocals of Arooj Aftab, who uses classical Pakistani and North Indian vocal melodies combined with Sufi poetry. Aftab also freely incorporates various other instrumentalists into her sonic landscape such as musician Yusuke Yamamoto who played a bass amp-driven synthesizer, drummer Nathan Ellaman-Bell, and Argentinian pianist Leonardo Genovese.

The night’s performance began with Arooj Aftab’s blend of ethereal and international sounds. This is the second time I have witnessed a live performance of Aftab, whose music has the ability to accommodate the improvisation and participation of varies instruments. The first time I saw her was on August 11, 2016 at the David Rubenstein Auditorium at Lincoln Center. In that performance, her ensemble consisted of a saxophone, harp, cajon drumming, piano, and bass synthesizer effects. I remember being impressed by how easily jazz, classical, and ethnic elements fused together in her presentation. This performance just as well embraced varies genres and sonic textures. Her lyrics are sung in free time following the tradition of classical Pakistani and North Indian songs, and being such, they float above the modern pulsing and droning synthesizer effects of Yusuke Yamamoto. Together they create a modern hypnotic ambience from the timbre combination of an ethereal voice, which is soaked with a reverb effect on the microphone and the heavy low pulsing synth grooves coming out of a Hartke Bass amplifier.

In contrast to the more free form of Aftab, the drummer, Nathan Ellman-Bell, incorporated Latin rhythms with compound meters of 3/4 and 6/8. I suspect he did this in collaboration with Argentinian pianist Leonardo Genovese. Both drummer and pianist showed great chemistry with one another and frequently exchanged smiles as they grooved together. Genovese also displayed chromatic and dissonant sections in his playing, which did not feel over saturated as the tension dissolved easily in the ambience of Aftab and Yamamoto. In fact, the dissonance employed by Genovese served as a nice counterpoint to the mellow and hypnotic lyrics. The dissonance did not become overbearing, but actually enhanced the return to the ethereal realm of Aftab’s long and sustained vocals. This collaboration was a well-balanced allegiance between dissonance and fluid lyrical poetry.

The second performance of the night featured Hip Hop lyrics pertaining to the South Asian American experience and political commentary by Queens’s rapper Heems, along with rhythmic piano, beats and effects by Vijay Iyer. The guitar player Rafiq Bhatia offered different sustained drone and wash effects through an intricate pedal board, which he controlled by an expression/volume pedal. He replicated and created various guitar effects that were labeled as “shoegazing” within the early indie rock movement due to guitar players constantly staring at their effect pedals that they controlled with their feet. The drummer Kassa Overall also had an interesting drum kit as he included bongos and other smaller drums, which he would occasionally play with a padded percussion mallet. The overall sound of the ensemble incorporated Rap lyrics criticizing the over usage of combat drones, the appropriation of Hindu culture by the modern yoga culture, and the South Asian experience of growing up in Queens.

The concert ended with the Thumbs Up ensemble inviting Arooj Aftab to join them for the closing number. Once again Aftab provided a hypnotic ambience with her vocals while Heems delivered a higher energy rhythmic rap chorus. The guitar effects along with the piano effects and drumming also culminated in the climax of the night with much of the audience standing in applause.   It was nice to experience a concert with so many South Asian American artists. It stands as a testament to the rich diversity and affluent global culture within the arts of New York City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r-Jj1-GeAg

Tigue is a Brooklyn-based trio with a unique sound that combines contemporary classical music with art-rock.  Their most recent album, “Peaks” was described by New York Music Daily as an “imaginative, distinctive, hypnotic yet kinetic blend of indie classical, minimalism, post-rock, and drone music.” Their diverse performance at the Pregones Theatre on March 1^st put several of these styles on display.  The program for the night consisted of three pieces: An Index of Possibility, commissioned from composer Robert Honstein; New Work, commissioned from composer Jason Treuting; and Quilts, composed by Tigue’s own Keyboardist/Percussionist Matt Evans.

            An Index of Possibility could be classified as an experimental percussion piece.  For the entire piece, which lasted about half an hour, all three members played only percussion instruments.  The first “movement” of the piece began with percussionist Carson Moody slowly scraping the circumference of a flower pot with what looked like a screwdriver.  After about a minute, Percussionist Amy Garapic began playing a pattern of repeating tones on a xylophone, creating a sound reminiscent of church bells.  Evans sporadically added rapid rolls on a glockenspiel.  The second segment of the piece began with Garapic loudly striking a bass drum (and almost causing a few heart attacks in the audience).  It saw the group break into a fast, steady beat, with the xylophone and glockenspiel alternating between two notes, and the loud bass drum sounding periodically.  A third segment had the group return to some of the motives created in the first.  Garapic returned to the sound of church bells, with rhythmic augmentation resulting in single notes ringing out for five seconds at a time.  Shortly thereafter was an eruption of percussion sounds, created by more traditional instruments such as glockenspiel, bongos, wood blocks; and less traditional “instruments” such as a round saw blade and a bourbon bottle.  The instruments were set up in a semi-circle and one could see and hear the beat traverse across the semi-circle and back, each instrument given a few moments of prominence.  I found most interesting how the piece blended tonal and atonal elements.  There were quite a few moments when a melody could almost be made out before it retreated back into noise.

After the conclusion of the first piece, Tigue members paused to explain and set up for their next piece, New Work.  Because of Evans’ interest in mathematics, Tigue commissioned a piece based on the number patterns from Sudoku.  Without going into depth about how it worked, Tigue members began reciting a rhyme and then a stream of numbers.  They followed by intermittently sounding their instruments; Garapic playing a bass guitar, Moody on a drumset, and Evans on a miniature, or “toy” piano (according to him).  After observing Tigue alternate between recitation of numbers and playing sounds for several minutes, I could deduce that each number had a corresponding sound.  While not exactly pleasing to my ears, it was very interesting to see and hear (in person) a formula influenced by Schoenberg’s twelve-tone.  The end of the piece was quite unique; with each member stopping to “fix”/mess with their instruments and turning three amps on, creating [intentional] heavy, overbearing feedback on the sounds of their “work.”

Tigue’s third piece was my personal favorite. “Quilts” is a minimalistic rock-like piece with a danceable rhythm.  Evans told the audience that he composed the piece so that both Garapic and Moody could “rock out” on drum sets at the same time, while he played a keyboard with one hand and a shaker with the other.  Garapic played what looked like a traditional rock drum set while Moody played one with several bells and cups.  The piece was quite repetitive, with Evans alternating between four or five chords for the duration.  Likely a result of the minimalism, I noticed my brain filling in the piece with melodic lines that weren’t actually there.  I couldn’t help but feel that the mood created by the sustained organ and syncopated drums was very reminiscent of early 2000s post-punk such as The Strokes and Interpol.

In conclusion, Tigue put on a diverse and exciting performance that highlighted several different styles and kept the attendees engaged with experimental sounds and audience interaction.  In addition to creating an interesting brand of music that allowed audience members to draw parallels to indie rock, classical, and serialism, Tigue succeeded in creating a myriad of different sounds; making it nearly impossible for audience members to not be aurally pleased at some point in the performance.

http://tiguemusic.com/bio

Rose Kaufman

MSH 334

Collaborative Blog 1

March 6, 2017

Ladysmith Black Mambazo at Carolina Theatre in Durham, North Carolina

The nine Southern African Zulu members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo[i] quietly walked on stage and took their places behind their microphones. One microphone stood in front for the leading tenor and eight microphones stood behind. All members were clothed in matching blue and black dashikis and black trousers.

In their home language, Zulu, the bass, alto, and tenors sang a cappella in major diatonic harmony in the Southern African choral genre, Isicathamiya. I sat in first row of the second balcony and listened to their soft yet sonorous voices resonate throughout the auditorium. Following the first song, one of the tenors introduced the founder and songwriter of the group, Joseph Shabalala[ii]. He then introduced Shabalala’s youngest son, the youngest member of the group, Thamsanqa. He sang lead for their song, “Awu Wemadoda,” a song from a past album that was rerecorded for their newest album, Walking In The Footsteps Of Our Fathers.

In 1960, Joseph Shabalala formed a choir he named Ezimnyama[iii]. By 1965, Shabalala had developed the group into Ladysmith Black Mambazo, an established and competitive Isicathamiya[iv] and mbube group that included only family and friends of Shabalala. It was not until the late 1980s that they began to win Grammys and gained international recognition thanks to their work with Paul Simon on his 1986 album Graceland. In this performance at Carolina Theatre, LBM sang renditions of two songs from Graceland, “Diamonds On The Souls Of Her Shoes” and “Homeless,” which are featured on the new LBM album.

Joseph Shabalala and other members took turns giving short introductions to most songs, sharing the intended messages of each. Their messages were quite succinct when sung in English, including songs such as, “All Women Are Beautiful,” “Tough Times Never Late,” and “Long Walk To Freedom.” While introducing “Long Walk To Freedom,” the lead tenor expressed the song was a celebration of twenty-two years of democracy in South Africa after the end of the Apartheid[v] policy, a system of aggressive racial segregation and discrimination. The song is dedicated to Nelson Mandela and named after his 1994 autobiography. LBM and Mandela supported each other and their efforts to bring peace to South Africa. Mandela even asked LBM to accompany him at several of his ceremonies including his acceptance of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for human rights.

LBM incorporated light dancing in their performance including hand gesturing and footwork, which seemed to accompany the messages in their songs. They even involved some charming comedic acting to lighten-up the audience. To help the audience embrace their culture, they taught us a few Zulu phrases.

Most of LBM’s songs were in the key of F# with diatonic harmony in a two-octave range of major triads, and a chord progression of I – V – I or I – IV – V – I. The singers would often slur in an upward motion to the first tone of a melodic phrase. The choir sang without a conductor and while most of the songs were in common time with syncopated rhythms, there were also songs that were difficult to measure because they were so expressive. The singers would make great use of their vocals like tongue rolling and click consonants from Southern African languages. They also used the clicks for rhythmic purpose in some of their English language songs. In the midst of songs the members would call out to each other in Zulu, sing birdcalls and other animal sounds, rhythmic humming, and whistling. This expressive form of singing and rhythm could be compared to some of the music we have been studying in class.

LBM’s last song lasted approximately fifteen minutes and was mostly the repetition of one phrase as members took turns having fun with expression, poking fun at each other, dancing, and encouraging the audience to sing along. Many songs were repetitious, repeating the same phrase with little change in dynamics. However, the repeated phrases always had a steady and continuous flow with a rhythmic pulse and a message; a desire for equality, kindness, compassion, and peace.

[i] Ladysmith Black Mambazo

[ii] Joseph Shabalala

[iii] Ezimnyama

[iv] Isicathamiya

[v] Apartheid