In my infinite experience and wisdom in all of my 18 years of life, this type of diversity has been missing from my musical background. My whole life I have been surrounded with VERY western music, and not really realizing there was anything else out there, I didn't know what I was missing! While I was being born there was Mozart playing and Bach was played throughout the house while I was growing up - this was all I knew. Sure, growing up in choirs I sang the occasional song in Spanish or during the Holiday season we were given a Hebrew song to sing, but I wasn't very cultured in my musical tastes.
It wasn't until February 2008 when Dawn Upshaw came to Duke University's Page Auditorium, conveniently located a hop, skip and a jump away from my house. Not only did Dawn Upshaw sing a song cycle by the Jewish born, Argentinean composer, Osvaldo Golijov but the Orquesta Los Pelegrinos and the Eighth Blackbird ensemble performed Golijov’s masterpiece “Ayre”. I had never heard any music like this before, at first it didn’t even seem like music to me! The Eighth Blackbird ensemble played “Meanwhile”, which is incidental music to imaginary puppet plays; which I did not enjoy because my mind wasn’t open to this new type of music. The song cycle sung by Ms. Upshaw was my wakeup call. She sang into a cordless microphone, which I am not accustomed to seeing done in the world of classical music. This piece also calls for every type of –ophone imaginable, even a hyper-accordion ( which I didn’t realize was a real instrument before this evening). Golijov’s music was like nothing I had ever seen before, he blended to many different cultures in this one song cycle, which is reflective of his own background, a true melting pot. I don’t think there is a way to justly define this genre of music, this fusion of Spanish, Christian, Arabic, and Mediterranean influences. The musicians used the instruments in ways I had never even dreamed of, the piano was played from within, the flute was almost sung into, and once a trio of musicians came out with blindfolds on. This truly was a musical awakening of sorts for me.
That's really neat. The blindfolded musicians must have caused a laugh. Do you still listen to mostly classical music or have your musical tastes changed because of this concert? I once was at a concert where one of the performers used her guitar as a drum for several of the pieces. It freaked me out a little bit because I was afraid the guitar would get hurt, but it really added to the texture of the piece as a different sounding drum than the hand drums she had played before. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteI feel for you! This is really a crash course in appreciating things that I have never heard before. It is really hard to appreciate what I don't understand and hard to understand something I don't like so I have a cycle I need to break out of. In a way, isn't it fascinating how other people use instruments and voices in ways we never think of simply because we have spent our entire lives hearing and understanding their usage a certain way.
ReplyDeleteThe concert sounds quite fantastic as it dwelves beyond the normal musical realm. Artists expecially composers are always exploring to incorporate new ideas where they deviate from techniques either by using odd instruments to using traditional instruments in a new way. It automatically makes one sit on the tip of their seat when the pianists reaches inside of the piano or cringe when chains are wrapped around a violin. I would love to be able to play a piece where one hums into the flute. I have heard pieces of all examples and will wonder what composers will incorporate next as they study world music and blend different cultural techniques into one song.
ReplyDeleteDawn Upshaw is so amazing. I have this recording of her singing as the soprano soloist in Henryk Gorecki's Symphony #3, which are Polish symphonies based around the theme of the trials mothers and children go through in a time of war. Each movement is rather long, but it's really worth it to listen to them! She is obviously sining in Polish, but I think it's great that Dawn Upshaw really puts herself out there in terms of learning other cultures' music! :)
ReplyDeleteIf you want to hear some more of their music I have one of Niyaz's CD's and two of Azam Ali's (the lead singer in Niyaz) if you want to borrow them. I actually found Azam Ali because I was looking from music by Hildegard... isn't that funny? Have a great afternoon!
ReplyDeleteI am sure that concert was probably one of the most amazing experieces! You really need to hear Anna Netrebko's new CD because she songs and arias from several countries, and in ten different languages (which is so crazy to me!), my favorites are her version of "Songs My Mother Taught Me" which she sings in the composer's native language, Czech, and "La rosa y el sauce," a relatively recently written piece by an Argentine composer. It's really interesting to hear her sing songs that are so different from the traditional arias by Mozart or Puccini.
ReplyDeleteGood post, Taylor. And it's perfectly ok to grow up with Bach! I'm glad you seem to openning up to different types of music, though. Yes, "Ayre" is amazing.
ReplyDeleteMore paragraph breaks, and a bit more proofreading, perhaps?