|
Crossing Cultures
Breathing new life into ancient
instruments
By Brian Mackey
A trio of musicians played for a
small but appreciative audience in the UIS Studio Theater last
Saturday. Flutists Mark Holland and Peter Phippen and
percussionist N. Scott Robinson performed on dozens of
instruments indigenous to five continents.
The concert began with the
musicians creeping in from the back of the darkened theater to
the sound of Robinson’s berimbau. This Brazilian instrument
consists of a single metal string stretched across a log bow.
The performer holds the bow in his left hand and taps the string
with a stick. Pressing the string with a stone, also held in
the left hand, changes the berimbau’s pitch.
The musicians moved into the
center of the room, surrounded on three sides by the audience.
Their instruments were spread across a large Oriental rug, and
many were used for only one song (it seemed Holland had many
more flutes than he used in the entire concert, but I cannot say
for sure).
In the second number, Holland
played a flute crafted from the horn of a bison. Most
instruments were not that unusual, but almost all of them were
non-Western.
For one number, Phippen played a
Hopi flute given to him by someone named Coyote Old Man, a
replica based on a design dating back to 1200 A.D. Phippen also
made frequent use of a pre-World War II Japanese shakuhachi.
Holland used mostly Native
American flutes. They are usually are tuned to a single
pentatonic key, able to produce two octaves of five notes each
(Western instruments are usually based on 12-pitch octaves).
After the concert, Holland said he was drawn to these
instruments in part because he wanted to flout the perception
that they are musically limited.
While Holland and Phippen’s
flutes were usually quiet and mellow, Robinson played with
rhythmic intensity throughout the concert.
After the berimbau, Robinson
turned to his bodhrán, a modified version of the traditional
Irish drum. Holding it vertically on his lap (picture a bass
drum in a marching band), he produced a remarkable array of
sounds ranging staccato taps, bass thuds, and long, resonant
moans.
This was to be a recurring
theme, as Robinson repeatedly tapped, slapped, pounded, stroked
and kicked more timbres than seemed possible from a single
instrument.
Seated upon a
Peruvian cajon, a wooden box with metal snares lining one of its
inside walls, Robinson was a one-man drum machine. He used his
empty right hand and held a wire brush in his left hand,
occasionally altering the pitch of the instrument by sliding his
right heel onto the surface of the box. All this while keeping
up a steady beat with a rattle attached to his left foot.
You might expect to hear that
depth of sound from someone playing a drum set; Robinson was
using a wooden box.
While the trio played aboriginal
instruments, their music was definitely non-native. Most of the
concert would fit neatly into the “New Age” bin at a music store
(Holland has recorded several CDs with his band Autumn’s Child,
with titles like “Four Winds” and “Soundcolors” that fit
predictably into the genre.)
Holland says he actually avoids
authentic Native American music, saying that many traditional
songs “are not to be used outside of the ceremonies they were
intended for.”
It should be noted that the
audio engineer did well, providing clean, clear reinforcement of
the instruments’ delicate sounds. There was a great deal of
reverb added to the flutes, perhaps a bit much from time to
time. This kind of concert, however, is often difficult to mic
well; the stagehand toiling anonymously behind the audio console
deserves credit.
The highlight of the concert
came near the end with a “free” piece of music. The lights
dimmed, bathing the performers in a pool of deep blue light.
With shakers, animal calls,
whistles, drums, and vocalizations, the performers improvised
off of each other’s loose rhythms and shifting melodies. The
trio had called for audience participation, but with the
exception of a persistent young man in the second row, the
invitation was declined.
The concert was arranged and
underwritten by the Central Illinois Native American Flute
Circle and its director Terry Travis, the UIS World Percussion
Ensemble, and UIS Professor Sharon Graf.
An “Invisible Man” in the Auditorium
Well's work comes to life at Sangamon Auditorium
on Sunday
By Gabrielle
Wiegand
H.G.Wells, famous for his science
fiction writings in the late 19th and early 20th
century, published “The Invisible Man” in 1897. Over one
hundred years later, the Aquila Theater Company will bring his
work to life onstage at Sangamon Auditorium.
Wells’ works have been adapted
for performance a great deal over the years. Orson Welles’
radio broadcast of his “The War of the Worlds” was alarmingly
realistic, which made many Americans panic when it was
broadcasted. “The Shape of Things to Come” which predicted
World War II, “The Time Machine,” “The Island of Dr. Moreau,”
and “The Invisible Man” have all been adapted for the big
screen.
“The Invisible Man” is set in
Victorian England and tells of a young English scientist named
Griffin, who is obsessed with the ideal of being invisible.
Griffin is determined to make himself invisible. Unfortunately,
problems accompany his invisibility and Griffin becomes further
separated from society.
“The Invisible Man” film
adaptation was released in 1933 starring Claude Rains, as
Griffin, and Gloria Stuart, who went on to be the elderly Rose
in “Titanic.”
According to the Aguila Theater
Company website, “The Invisible Man” asks us “to consider what
it means to be human and how fragile modern society can be.”
Wells “examines the very nature of existence and questions the
achievements of scientific discovery in a beautifully written
and ultimately tragic scientific adventure story that has
enthralled generations of readers.”
The Aquila Theater Company was
founded in 1991 by Peter Meineck, the producing artistic
director, and has toured throughout Europe, the United States,
and Canada. The website says Aquila offers “fresh and inventive
productions of classical drama without unnecessary textual
compromise.”
“The Invisible Man” will be at
Sangamon Auditorium Sunday, October 31 at 7p.m. Tickets range
from $25 to $42. For more information or to purchase tickets,
contact the Sangamon Auditorium Box Office at 217.206.6160 or
www.sangamonauditorium.org.
Guard your vegetables and keep
the garlic handy:
Vampire bunny coming to Sangamon Auditorium
By Gabrielle
Wiegand
Once
upon a time there was a family called the Monroes who had very
unusual pets. Chester, the cat, can read. The dog, Harold,
writes mystery novels. And their new pet bunny, Bunnicula, is a
vampire. Bunnicula sleeps all day, causing Chester to get
suspicious. Then the Monroes find all their vegetables have
been drained of all juice. Chester and Harold make it their
mission to expose Bunnicula for what their fellow household pet
really is.
 Sound
like a new upcoming horror film? Not quite. The tales of
Bunnicula have been captured in a series of children’s books
that have been musically adapted to the stage.
Friday, Oct. 22 there will be a performance of “Bunnicula” at 10
a.m. for Springfield area grade school students. Not in grades
two through five? Do not worry; there will be a performance for
the general public at 7 p.m.
In
1979, James Howe, along with wife Deborah, wrote the first
Bunnicula book entitled “Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery.”
The book has won several children’s literature awards such as
the Iowa Children’s Choice Award and the Nebraska Golden Sower
Award. It was adapted into a comedic musical play by Jon Klein
with music by Chris Jeffries and lyrics by Klein.
This tale of a vampire bunny was first produced by the Seattle
Children’s Theater and will now be performed at the Sangamon
Auditorium by the Omaha Theater Company for Young People as part
of their nine month national tour.
According to their website, the Omaha Theater Company’s mission
is “to enrich the lives of young people and their families
through live theater and dance, and arts education.” The
Company produces a variety of shows for children. Their
2004-2005 season will include “Pinocchio,” “Brave Irene,”
“Seussical the Musical,” “The Berenstain Bears On Stage,” among
other favorites.
“Bunnicula” will be at Sangamon Auditorium Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.
Tickets range from $12 to $15 for adults and $8 to $11 for
children. It is recommended for children ages five and older.
For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the
Sangamon Auditorium Box Office at 217.206.6160 or
www.sangamonauditorium.org
Introspection on Indochina
‘The Fog of War’ looks
retrospectively behind the curtain of war
By Brian
Mackey
As
Linda Grabel found out, getting a politician to admit mistakes
is a difficult proposition. Introspection is anathema in
today’s macho political culture, tantamount to weakness.
President Bush’s reelection campaign has been based in part on
the idea that he is resolute, but critics have blamed that same
trait for an unwillingness to consider the possibility that some
aspect of the invasion of Iraq — to say nothing of the invasion
itself — may have been a mistake.
In
the early 1960s, CBS News asked Robert McNamara, Secretary of
Defense to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, “What about the
contention that your attitude is sometimes arrogant, that you
never admit you were wrong. Have you ever been wrong, sir?”
“Oh, yes indeed…I’m not going to tell you when I’ve been
wrong…but on countless occasions,” McNamara replied.
This exchange, replayed in “The Fog of War,” exposes history’s
penchant for repetition and tantalizes us with other parallels
between then and now.
Director Errol Morris (“The Thin Blue Line”) based the film on
25 hours of interviews with McNamara, who has been at or near
the center of some of the most pivotal, destructive events of
the 20th century.
In
World War II, he was a statistical control officer for a unit of
the Army Air Corps under the command of General Curtis LeMay.
McNamara evaluated the bombing missions and found ways to make
them more efficient, that is, more lethal.
On
March 10, 1945, the unit bombed Tokyo, a wooden city, and
“burned to death” 100,000 people. McNamara says that had
America lost World War II, he and LeMay probably would have been
prosecuted as war criminals.
As
Secretary of Defense, McNamara lived through the 13 days of the
Cuban Missile Crisis and later presided over America’s doomed
expedition in Vietnam. By 1967, when McNamara resigned (or was
fired, depending on whom you ask), 25,000 Americans had been
killed.
But McNamara’s life was not all death and destruction. He was
also the first non-Ford family President of the Ford Motor
Company. The film includes an interesting story on the research
that led to the introduction of seatbelts and padded dashboards,
an innovation where McNamara and Ford were first in their
industry.
With “The Fog of War,” Morris won the Academy Award for best
documentary this year, and deservedly so. He is among the most
artful filmmakers working today.
Most other recent documentaries, while informative and
entertaining in their own right, are not nearly as well
produced. The ubiquitous “Fahrenheit 9/11” pales in comparison,
both as a mode of conveying information and especially as a work
of art.
Through rarely seen archival footage and McNamara’s first-person
commentary, Morris weaves an examination of a life that is also
an exploration of modern war. The interviews are among the most
striking aspects of the film. You get the feeling that McNamara
is looking through the camera, directly at you.
Morris uses a device he calls the Interrotron, essentially a
modified TelePrompTer that puts his face in front of the
camera’s lens. Interviewees make eye contact with him and the
audience. Morris called this “first person cinema” in the
film’s press kit and it does feel more intimate than any other
interview I have ever seen.
Make no mistake -- “The Fog of War” is not about the Bush
administration. In an appearance on Charlie Rose’s public
television show last year, McNamara refused to criticize the
current administration or the war in Iraq, just as he refused to
criticize Johnson and Nixon in the 1960s. It is tempting,
however, to draw conclusions about current events from
McNamara’s statements.
“We are the strongest nation in the world today. I do not
believe we should ever apply that economic, political, or
military power unilaterally.” He adds, “If we can’t persuade
nations with comparable values of the merit of our cause, we’d
better reexamine our reasoning.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “All history becomes subjective; in
other words, there is properly no history; only biography.”
Errol Morris has created a unique, insightful film that asks the
audience, in McNamara’s own words, “to think more about
killing.”
“The Fog of War” will be shown this Friday at 7:00 p.m. in
Brookens Auditorium. The screening is sponsored by the Division
of Student Affairs through the Independent & Foreign Film
Series; admission is free. Running time: 107 minutes. The film
is rated PG-13 for images and thematic issues of war and
destruction. |
