The Falcon | Volume 83, Issue 5
African music festival impresses audience
By JENNER JOHNSON, News Writer, SEATTLE
“Different styles of music are like dialects; they have different inflections, different accents,” Rachel Barton Pine said in a back room of the First Free Methodist Church, Seattle, as soft cello music played. Pine said musicians face challenges when learning a new style of music because of this. Pine, a violinist who has performed as a soloist with esteemed orchestras worldwide, was among the performers at Monday’s African music festival.
“Anything new that you do with music is a challenge,” she said. “But I had the great privilege of playing African music for the first time when I was in Africa.” She said this experience helped her adapt to the style of African music.
The festival was organized by Sankusem, a New York-based nonprofit organization that promotes the spread of African music and fuses musical traditions across cultures and times into a hybrid style. The event featured musical experts playing traditional African songs adapted for European instruments, such as the violin, cello and piano. Sankusem’s website describes the style as “chamber music brewed in an African pot." “Sankusem encourages the use of traditional African music in classical compositions by composers of any race or ethnicity,” Pine said. “It encourages people to draw upon the richness of African music as an inspiration in classical compositions.” The musicians played pieces from a variety of genres, including one called “Bolga Sonata in Three Movements.”
Dr. George Francois, native of Ghana and co-founder of Sankusem and a, has a special connection to the sonata. The piece was in the style of music from Northern Ghana, where his great-grandfather was once king. “It has a very particular flavor that is very different from any other part of Ghana,” Dr. Francois said. “Perhaps one can imagine the landscape and the character and the history of those people.” Dr. Francois said he hoped other people would be able to make a connection to Northern Ghana and the people who live there through the music they played. Audience members at the festival said they were impressed with the performances. “It was amazing; they are such high-caliber musicians,” said Victor Odlivak, a member of the community who rode his bike to the church an hour early to assure that he would get a seat. Odlivak described his affection for a playful piece called “Hallelujah Games for Four Hands.” For this piece, Dr. Francois and Amy Rubin, a pianist, sat side by side at a piano and played together.
Rubin described the piece as a game. In response, Dr. Francois said, “This is a game, so I’m going to have fun.” Odlivak said he appreciated the interplay of the two musicians. “When Dr. Francois reached over and played over Amy’s hand and played some high notes, [it was] like he was teaching her,” he said. “I loved the constant interaction between them.”
Sally Singer, cellist and co-founder of Sankusem, gave insight on how the traditional songs are converted to pieces of chamber orchestra music.
“Most of these melodies are actually songs, and they go with a language. Ga is a tonal language, so that lends itself very easily to musical melody,” she said. Pine said she hoped that African music would receive more recognition. “I love playing all kinds of different music,” Pine said. “But in all types of classical music, we really haven’t yet explored much of what Africa has to offer.”
African music festival impresses audience
By JENNER JOHNSON, News Writer, SEATTLE
“Different styles of music are like dialects; they have different inflections, different accents,” Rachel Barton Pine said in a back room of the First Free Methodist Church, Seattle, as soft cello music played. Pine said musicians face challenges when learning a new style of music because of this. Pine, a violinist who has performed as a soloist with esteemed orchestras worldwide, was among the performers at Monday’s African music festival.
“Anything new that you do with music is a challenge,” she said. “But I had the great privilege of playing African music for the first time when I was in Africa.” She said this experience helped her adapt to the style of African music.
The festival was organized by Sankusem, a New York-based nonprofit organization that promotes the spread of African music and fuses musical traditions across cultures and times into a hybrid style. The event featured musical experts playing traditional African songs adapted for European instruments, such as the violin, cello and piano. Sankusem’s website describes the style as “chamber music brewed in an African pot." “Sankusem encourages the use of traditional African music in classical compositions by composers of any race or ethnicity,” Pine said. “It encourages people to draw upon the richness of African music as an inspiration in classical compositions.” The musicians played pieces from a variety of genres, including one called “Bolga Sonata in Three Movements.”
Dr. George Francois, native of Ghana and co-founder of Sankusem and a, has a special connection to the sonata. The piece was in the style of music from Northern Ghana, where his great-grandfather was once king. “It has a very particular flavor that is very different from any other part of Ghana,” Dr. Francois said. “Perhaps one can imagine the landscape and the character and the history of those people.” Dr. Francois said he hoped other people would be able to make a connection to Northern Ghana and the people who live there through the music they played. Audience members at the festival said they were impressed with the performances. “It was amazing; they are such high-caliber musicians,” said Victor Odlivak, a member of the community who rode his bike to the church an hour early to assure that he would get a seat. Odlivak described his affection for a playful piece called “Hallelujah Games for Four Hands.” For this piece, Dr. Francois and Amy Rubin, a pianist, sat side by side at a piano and played together.
Rubin described the piece as a game. In response, Dr. Francois said, “This is a game, so I’m going to have fun.” Odlivak said he appreciated the interplay of the two musicians. “When Dr. Francois reached over and played over Amy’s hand and played some high notes, [it was] like he was teaching her,” he said. “I loved the constant interaction between them.”
Sally Singer, cellist and co-founder of Sankusem, gave insight on how the traditional songs are converted to pieces of chamber orchestra music.
“Most of these melodies are actually songs, and they go with a language. Ga is a tonal language, so that lends itself very easily to musical melody,” she said. Pine said she hoped that African music would receive more recognition. “I love playing all kinds of different music,” Pine said. “But in all types of classical music, we really haven’t yet explored much of what Africa has to offer.”
Live performance reviews:
Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata
Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival, Sally Singer, cello and Oksana Ezhokina, piano
"I got a partial sample of their in-concert magic when Singer and Ezhokina paired up on the Rachmaninoff — not a composer I'm crazy about. But in their hands, the continual surge and ebb of the piece made an exacting architectural sense as well as an emotional sense. Ezhokina's supple sway on the keyboards dovetailed beautifully with Singer's protean precision on the cello.
The big Rachmaninoff cascades were there but so was an anchoring low Rachmaninoff rumble. At the crisp close of the second movement — a moto perpetuo affair, with the "moto" continually veering around tight bends — the audience audibly registered its pleasure with a sharp collective gasp."
-- Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times Arts Magazine
(Click here to see full review)
Elgar Cello Concerto, Pleven Philharmonic, Bulgaria
"...the sophisticated performance of British soloist, Sally Singer..... molded every single sound and musical image with refinement. It was a performance of the highest caliber, which left long-lasting memories in the conscience of every person from the audience".
-- Journal of Arts, Bulgaria
Elgar Cello Concerto, Danbury Symphony, Connecticut
Ms.Singer..."ripped her way through powerful passages with pathos aplenty in the adagio"
-- NewsTimesLIVE.co
"...the sophisticated performance of British soloist, Sally Singer..... molded every single sound and musical image with refinement. It was a performance of the highest caliber, which left long-lasting memories in the conscience of every person from the audience".
-- Journal of Arts, Bulgaria
Elgar Cello Concerto, Danbury Symphony, Connecticut
Ms.Singer..."ripped her way through powerful passages with pathos aplenty in the adagio"
-- NewsTimesLIVE.co