Celebrate China: Chengdu Performing Arts Showcase

www.phoenixsistercities.org

This was strange performance:  11 different artists mixing classical instruments, magic, dance, and twangy-Chinese song.  Overall, this was a fun sampling of Chinese musical culture and an interesting evening.

I enjoyed the dancers the most and was highly impressed by the different styles and stories the women were able to portray.  A youth group from Chandler stole the show with their “Impression of the Wa Mountain” – a lively dance with hair and hands and acrobatics.  The Sichuan Opera Face Changing was also impressive; two men were able to almost instantaneously change their masks with a magical and exaggerated aesthetic. 

The singing was my least favorite, a highpitched, twangy Chinese sound without much appeal to my Westernized ears.  The woman were highly regarded and very talented – but they each performed at least one song too long.

I enjoyed the variety of the show while disliking the lack of flow or transitions.  This was a group of individual artists thrown together into one show seemingly at random.  But I enjoyed the exposure to this unique city.

Lakota Sioux Indian Dance Theatre: “Copata Upo! Come to the Center”

MIM:  An unforgettable event featuring some of the most highly acclaimed performer of the Sioux Nation.

Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas

www.alaisdairfraser.com  or  www.nataliehaas.com

MIM:  The musical partnership between Alasdair Fraser, long regarded as Scotland’s premier fiddle ambassador and the sizzlingly talented, young Californian cellist Natalie Haas may not seem an obvious one.  Natalie Haas, a graduate of Juilliard School of Music, was not even born when Fraser was winning national fiddle competitions on the other side of the Atlantic.  But this seemingly unlikely pairing is the fulfillment of a long-standing musical dream for Fraser, whose cutting-edge musical explorations took him full circle to find a cellist who could help him return the cello to its historical role at the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music.  Haas was just eleven when she first attended Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School in California, where she responded to Fraser’s challenge to find and release the cello’s rhythmic soul.

Four years later, when Haas was fifteen, they played their first gig together.  Fraser and Haas’s debut album, Fire and Grace, displays dazzling teamwork; driving, dancing rhythms,; and the duo’s shared passion for improvising on the melody and the groove of Scottish tunes.  The record won not only critical acclaim but also the coveted Scots Trad Music “Album of the Year” award, the Scottish equivalent of a Grammy.

Perhaps I’m purposely selecting Scottish / Irish fiddle music.  Perhaps it appeals to me.  Perhaps this gives me something to discuss with Nathan.  In any case, fiddle is amazingly entertaining and this duo put on a great show!

I had never heard of Alasdair Fraser before but apparently he’s well known.  My brother Nathan, the fiddler, even knew his tour schedule was taking him through Montana.  And he was amazing – his love for Scottish music was infectious, his technique was graceful and effortless.  However, I spent most of my time watching Natalie Haas.  I was really naive to the levels and sounds achievable on the cello.  She played harmonies, melodies, base rhythms.  She mimicked the fiddle, the drum, the bass guitar.  It was beautiful.

They did play a lot of Scottish dance-hall music and Alasdair did a great job explaining the regions and time periods of origin.  They even did a baroque period piece.  However, they also wound their tour through Spain, Canada, Ireland, and Scandinavia.   He even tried to teach our poor American crowd to dance in their last number!

So yes, I do see a lot of Scottish / Irish shows.  And as long as I continue to enjoy them, I’ll continue to sign up for them.

Son de Madera

MIM:  Son de Madera specializes in son jarocho, the vibrant improvisational music of Veracruz, Mexico, that features jarana and requinto “guitars”, call-and-response singing, and the rhythmic zapateado percussive dance style.  For 20-years, Son de Madera has preserved the traditions of son jarocho music while keeping it contemporary and relevant hundreds of years from its inception.

Son jarocho’s beginnings can be traced to the time of Spanish colonization.  Veracruz communities absorbed the hints of Arabic culture found in the conquistadors’ songs and dances, as well as musical influences from Africans enslaved in the coastal state during the 16th and 17th centuries.  Near the end of the 1800s, jarocho music was formally recognized as a defining part of Mexico’s cultural identity.

I especially enjoy shows that pair cultural aspects along with the music.  I definitely felt this evenings show delivered on both.  First the musical style was exactly as I expected – light and fun, heavily rhythmic and engrossing.  I was not surprised when the band played ‘La Bamba’ prior to the intermission.  This is Mexican music.

But where Son de Madera excelled over a restaurant mariachi band was in their performance.  The guitarists were exceptional and would accompany the instruments with boisterous voices and stomping feet.  The bass was completely new – a box that the musician ‘plucked’ while sitting on it.  I spent most of the evening watching the female dancer.  She stood on a wooden platform box and her dancing was an instrument in and of itself.  With her flowing skirts and beautiful scarves, she was an artist that transported us to a Mexican festival, full of colors and rhythm.

The audience was also fun.  Many were Mexican and appreciated that the band only spoke Spanish.  They clapped and yelled and brought the whole family, but there was surprisingly no dancing.

All-in-all, an enjoyable concert and something I’d enjoy seeing again.