Music

I assumed Gregory Porter was a jazz singer, but I didn’t really know what to expect.  I was a bit surprised to see him come out on the stage in a balaclava and hat (like in the photo).  Did he have a cold or something?  It turns out that it is some kind of trademark.

Even in a balaclava, he is an excellent baritone singer with superb control of his voice.  He had a solid backup band, except that I don’t really think he needed the Hammond organ. In spite of that, I didn’t really enjoy the concert.  The songs didn’t resonate, except Mona Lisa.  Maybe I just didn’t know them well enough?

Playbill

Gregory Porter website

Finally a Winter Carnival with good snow: ice sculptures on the Green, and a racing at Oak Hill!

This was primarily an a cappella concert starting and ending with the Dartmouth Aires.  The other featured singers were the Beelzebubs, visiting from Tufts.  In between, there were some interesting modern dance with Sugarplum and Sheba.

The stage seemed quite bare as we filed in.  It turned out that the first piece was Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for string orchestra.  There were no chairs because everyone stood for this (except the cellists).  The twist was that instead of a violin soloist, there was Carlo Aonzo, a mandolin soloist.  The idea was that Vivaldi played the violin, and because the mandolin is tuned the same way, it might have been played on the mandolin.  Mr. Aonzo had set himself a challenge to play this piece, and play it he did, very well.

For the encore, I believe they played the 3rd movement of Autumn, but as a mandolin orchestra.  So everyone put away their bows, and held their instrument like a mandolin.  Clearly they enjoyed the movement.

The second half was a Tchaikovsky symphony, but not one I knew.

Dartmouth Symphony playbill

Press release

Hop Backstage article

This was an unexpectedly lively concert, where clapping was an important component by the performers, but also by the audience on just about every piece.  They were dressed in orange and red, and all sat cross-legged on the stage.

Most of the musicians were singers. Sonny, the lead, also played a harmonium, like a table-top accordion.  It required regular pumping which he did with his hand.  And when he forgot (frequently), his neighbor would take over.  There was also a tabla drummer, and some kind of single string instrument.

But this was not the twangy discordant Arabic music that I had anticipated.  The songs were melodic, and quite lovely, often with rousing choruses.  They were a mix, from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Persia.  The songs are in a Sufi tradition, which as explained by Sonny, can be interpreted on 2 levels, as a love song about a person, or as a more mystical religious level.

Sonny is from Texas, and he joined in 2006.  Sid joined in 2009.  They don’t use their last names in the materials so you can’t tell their religious affiliation.

Too bad the concert was so short…

From the Hop before the concert:

It’s rare to hear live qawwali music in the Upper Valley, so I wanted to share more about this marvelous tradition and how you can best enjoy Friday’s concert.

Qawwali is the best-known form of Sufi devotional music. It originated in India and is part of a musical tradition that stretches back for more than 700 years. Originally performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout South Asia, it was little known beyond South Asia until the late 20th century. Although Pakistani singers brought qawwali to the United States in the mid-1970s, it was not until the late ’80s that the music gained a truly global audience, primarily through the work of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Sung in many languages, including Urdu, Punjabi, and sometimes Persian, qawwali is totally enchanting: a lively, devotional, poetic music with fantastic, rocking rhythm that you can clap along to. Some people are roused by the ecstatic singing, and dance in the aisles—which is totally acceptable!

What makes the group Riyaaz Qawwali so special is that its members represent Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Christian backgrounds. In fact, Riyaaz avoids listing its members’ last names, which would identify who is which religion. These musicians are drawn together by a powerful love of the incredible musical and literary legacy that is qawwali. While they retain the music’s devotional quality, they broaden its religious and cultural base by adding poetry of famous South Asian poets of multiple linguistic and religious backgrounds. You can read more about the ensemble and qawwali in our online playbill. [see below]

Playbill

www.riyaazqawwali.com

I didn’t know what to expect with this concert, as the tickets were purchased at random.  Just before the concert a colleague had warned that the music was very strange.  But it was a pleasant surprise.  The music was very beautiful.

The actual program was in a different order from the published version.  The show started with “a promise in the stillness”, the “Ser Aravote”.  The second half then had “Superstition”, “Partita for 8 Voices” and “Quizassa”.

Ser Aravote was particularly interesting jazz piece, as it was commissioned by the Hop, and had its world premiere with this performance.  The composer was also the pianist, Tigran Hamasyan.  It turns out that although the vocal part was all scored, the piano part was largely improvised.

The Partita was a longer and very strange piece, written by a member of the group.  It included weird sounds, phrases, notes, but was still interesting.

The last song Quizassa was fun because the Glee Club joined the group on the stage.

In the Q&A we learned that although there were 8 performers this evening, they have a roster of folks that they work with.  Their core work is done when they meet every year at Mass MOCA in North Adams.

roomfulofteeth.org

Playbill