“On September 25 at Schoenberg Hall, the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the Confucius Institute hosted the opening concert of a United States tour by the Shanghai Jiaotong University Symphony Orchestra. Shanghai Jiaotong University is one of China’s great scientific research institutions, and its orchestra has a long and honored tradition in China and abroad. The hall was packed for this free concert, led by one of China’s most revered conductors, Cao Peng, and the program was a fascinating mix of classical symphonic showpieces and arrangements of Chinese traditional folk and classical music. The students in the orchestra – none of whom are music majors – played with great skill and energy (especially given that they had just arrived in the U.S. the day before and had spent most of their concert day touring Universal Studios!) The president of the university, a former violinist in the orchestra, spoke proudly to the audience before the concert, and it was my pleasure to present Maestro Cao Peng with a Certificate of Artistic Achievement from our school.

The president and others from the university expressed their strong interest in inviting UCLA Philharmonia to perform in Shanghai. Nothing would please me more!

Nolan says:

“In the first week of February, I traveled to the Canary Islands to perform in “La Pasion Segun San Marcos” by Osvaldo Golijov. I was one of four percussionists that performed in the piece, along with a string section (the “Knights”) from NYC, a massive rhythm section from various locales, a 50+ choir from Venezuela (Schola Cantorum de Caracas), and a number of soloists including Los Angeles-based soprano Jessica Rivera.

For anyone in HASOM who is not yet familiar with Golijov’s “La Pasion,” I highly recommend it. The LA Phil has announced that it will be bringing the piece to LA next year, so there will likely be a chance to see it soon enough. Seeing it live is essential to get the real significance of the piece. Like many Golijov works, it is semi-staged and dance is an essential part of the experience. I’ve included some photos of the incredibly impressive halls where we performed. The first, Auditorio Alfredo Kraus on the island of Gran Canaria, is located right on the shore. The large window behind the stage looks out over the Atlantic, providing a breathtaking backdrop for performances. The second performance was in the Auditorio de Tenerife (named after the island). In addition to its commanding architecture, the inside of the auditorium had some of the most well-integrated organ pipes I’ve ever seen.”.

Auditorio Alfredo Kraus (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)

Inside the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus

Inside the Auditorio de Tenerife [notice pipes on left]

Auditorio de Tenerife (Santa Cruz de Tenerife)

We are delighted to announce that HASOM has hired Cheri Quinto as Assistant to Professor Tim Rice, the Director of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Her office is in Room 2554, across from the Music and Ethnomusicology Department offices. Please drop in and introduce yourself when you have a chance.

Cheri’s duties will include not only helping the Director with scheduling and with School functions but also accounting and order processing for Ethnomusicology; facilities requests and purchasing; chair-assistant support for Music and Ethnomusicology; and special projects assigned by MSO Martha Rider.

Before taking this position Cheri was Assistant to the Director of the UCLA/Getty Master’s Program in Conservation. During her college days at Cal State Northridge (CSUN) she majored in music (piano, harpsichord, and voice with a special interest in electronic music).

ANNOUNCING
” FREE TO IMPROVISE: Exploring essential elements for improvisation”

This is a hands-on workshop by international jazz star Judy Niemack for all classical and jazz vocalists and instrumentalists, staff, faculty, and interested others. This class is geared to free up the creative flow in anyone who hopes to perform music requiring improvisation, including jazz and Baroque, Renaissance/Medieval, and contemporary classical.

On TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 1st from 6 pm – 9 pm in POPPER AUDITORIUM we will be hosting a workshop on improvisation by the internationally renowned jazz vocalist Judy Niemack. Classically trained in opera at New England Conservatory and Cleveland Institute of Music, Ms. Niemack learned jazz technique and improvisation from the great jazz saxophonist WARNE MARSH, who taught her to improvise from an instrumentalist’s point of view. Ms. Niemack has become an international jazz vocal star, and maintains a busy recording and live performance schedule on top of her teaching responsibilities as the Head of Jazz Voice at the Berlin Hochschüle für Musik and at conservatories in Belgium, Spain, Holland, Poland, Italy, Scandinavia, New York, New Jersey, California, and Canada. Everyone will actively participate in this class, plus selected vocalists and instrumentalists (both classical and jazz) will work individually with Judy.

SONY JAZZ recording artist Judy NIEMACK is a real jazz singer. Her delivery of lyrics is full of emotion and elegance, while in her scat singing she is a consummate musician, exploring the music like a virtuoso horn player. She comes out of the mainstream jazz tradition, while breaking new ground with original lyrics, arrangements and a modern approach to standards. Judy has a dual career as performer and vocal jazz educator. In addition to having her eighth CD as a leader released on Sony Jazz in 2003, her book & CD “Hear It & Sing It! – Exploring Modal Jazz”, was published by Second Floor Music and distributed by Hal Leonard in July 2004.

Performing

Judy NIEMACK was born in Pasadena, California and began singing publicly at the age of 7 in church. Throughout her school years, she sang in every kind of vocal ensemble: madrigals, chamber choir, musical theatre productions, folk groups, rock bands, and eventually a vocal jazz quartet. When she was 17, she decided that singing was her life, and began to study classical voice with a teacher of “bel canto”. At 18, she heard and met the great tenor saxophonist Warne MARSH, and became fascinated by jazz and improvisation. She attended Pasadena City College, studying classical voice, and jazz improvisation with alto saxophonist Gary FOSTER. Continuing her classical studies for the next six years, while singing in jazz clubs at night, she studied at New England Conservatory in Boston, attended the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Workshop, and, realizing that her true path lay in improvised music, returned to California to study vocal improvisation with Warne MARSH. Marsh taught her as he would teach a horn player. Her goal was to improvise as freely as a great jazz musician would, using all the vocal colors that her classical and jazz training had given her.

In 1977, Ms. NIEMACK moved to New York City to pursue her career as a jazz vocalist. Her first major performance was a week at the Village Vanguard with Warne MARSH in 1978. Her first recording, “By Heart”, was released that year on SEABREEZE Records.

Since then she has performed in most of the major clubs in N.Y.C., including The Blue Note, Sweet Basil, Fat Tuesday’s, The Village Gate, Visiones and The Rainbow Room. She has toured the U.S. A. in concerts and festivals with several major jazz orchestras, including those led by Larry ELGART and Peter DUCHIN with whom she performed at the WHITE HOUSE.. She has given concerts celebrating the songs of George GERSHWIN, Cole PORTER and Irving BERLIN.

Internationally, Ms. NIEMACK began by singing in ITALY at the PISA Jazz Festival in 1982 and has since appeared in AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, CANADA, CHILE, CHINA, DENMARK, ESTONIA, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, HOLLAND, ITALY, JAPAN, the PHILIPPINES, RUMANIA, SPAIN and POLAND.

Judy is currently performing in jazz clubs, concerts and festivals in Europe and the United States. She now lives in New York City and Berlin, heading the Pop/Jazz vocal department at the Hanns Eisler Music Conservatory as Germany’s first Professor of Vocal Jazz.

Some of the musicians she has performed with are: Toots THIELEMANS, David BYRNE, George BENSON, James MOODY, Lee KONITZ, Clark TERRY, Dave BRUBECK, Lew TABACKIN, Warne MARSH, Gary BARTZ, Kenny BARRON, Billy HIGGINS, Cedar WALTON, Ray DRUMMOND, Joey BARON, Fred HERSCH, Billy HART, Victor LEWIS, Kenny WERNER, Hein van de GEYN, Jim Mc NEELY, Joe LOVANO, Adam NUSSBAUM, Jeanfrançois PRINS, Kirk NUROCK, Michel HERR, Steve KUHN, Mark FELDMAN, Eddie GOMEZ, Harvie SWARTZ, Kirk LIGHTSEY and the New York VOICES.

Recent performances include: “JAZZKAAR” Festival (ESTONIA), “Jazz sous les Pommiers”, Avignon Jazz Festival, ALBI Jazz, Le Mans, Calvi Jazz Festival, Jazz A Cluny (FRANCE); Middleheim Jazz Festival, Concert with Toots Thielemans at the “Botanique” Brussels Jazz Rallye (BELGIUM); “Save Venice Ball” (ITALY); W.D.R. Big Band with Jim Mc NEELY, Hessicher Rundfunk Big Band, and RIAS Big Band (GERMANY); Tour in JAPAN with Ronnie MATHEWS, Albert “TOOTIE” HEATH, and Ray DRUMMOND; NEW YORK’s BLUE NOTE Jazz Club; STANFORD Jazz Festival (USA).

Lyrics

Ms. NIEMACK has written and recorded several of her own compositions (You’ve Taken Things too Far, Wondering, Ice White Blues, …), and has written original lyrics to many other musicians’ compositions, becoming an official lyricist for: Pat METHENY (It’s Just Talk), Thelonious MONK (Misterioso), Lee KONITZ (Round & Round & Round, Chick Came Around), Bill EVANS (Interplay), Clifford BROWN (Daahoud), Don GROLNICK (Talking To Myself), Mike STERN (Choices), Larry SCHNEIDER (Tomato Kiss), Kirk NUROCK (Rain, Silence of My Soul, Moving On, Love Finds A Way), Jeanfrançois PRINS (New York Stories, Love Will Grow), Steve SLAGLE (Tudo Muda, Just For Now), Richie BEIRACH (Leaving), Richie POWELL (Time).

Discography

as a leader:

“BY HEART” (feat. Warne MARSH, Eddie GOMEZ). SEABREEZE Rec. 1978
“BLUE BOP” (feat. Cedar WALTON, Curtis FULLER, Ray DRUMMOND, Joey BARON). FREELANCE Rec. 1988
“LONG AS YOU’RE LIVING” (feat. Joe LOVANO, Fred HERSCH, Billy HART). FREELANCE Rec. 1990
“HEART’S DESIRE” duet with Kenny BARRON. STASH Rec. 1991
“STRAIGHT UP” (feat. Toots THIELEMANS, Kenny WERNER, Adam NUSSBAUM, Mark FELDMAN, Jeanfrançois PRINS). FREELANCE Rec. 1993
“MINGUS, MONK AND MAL” duet with Mal WALDRON. FREELANCE Rec1994
“… NIGHT AND THE MUSIC …” (feat. Jeanfrançois PRINS, Kenny WERNER, Ray
DRUMMOND, Billy HART, Eric FRIEDLANDER). FREELANCE Rec 1996
“ABOUT TIME” (feat. Eddie GOMEZ, Jeanfrançois PRINS, Lee KONITZ, David FRIEDMAN, CAFE). SONY JAZZ 2003
TERRASSA BIG BAND Feat. JUDY NIEMACK “WHAT’S GOIN’ ON?”
“BLUE NIGHTS” (coming in April 07!) (feat. Jeanfrançois PRINS, Jim MCNEELY, Dennis IRWIN, Victor LEWIS, Gary BARTZ, Don SICKLER) BLUJAZZ RECORDS 2007

as a guest (selected discography):

“BEAUTY AND THE PRINCE” with Jeanfrançois PRINS (featuring Fred HERSCH, Hein van de GEYN, Bruno CASTELLUCCI). AMC 1993
“RHAPSODY” vol 1 and 2 with Lee KONITZ. PADDLE WHEEL 1993
“THE OTHER SIDE OF WALTER BOEYKENS” Distr. by SONY 1994

Education

Judy NIEMACK is very active in the world of jazz education, and has given master classes around the world in conjunction with her tours. In the U.S.A., she has given workshops and lessons at the New School for Jazz, (N.Y.C.) William PATTERSON University (N.J.), University of NewYork at Purchase (N.Y.), LONG ISLAND University and NewYork City College.

She also has taught in:
FINLAND : SIBELIUS Academy of Music
POLAND : Summer Vocal Jazz Camp
BELGIUM : DWORP Summer Jazz Workshop, Royal Conservatory ANTWERPEN
GERMANY : BERLIN Hochschule Der Kunste, Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, BUJAZZ-O Big Band Workshop, MUNICH PrinzregentenTheater, INZIGHOVEN Vocal Jazz .
HOLLAND : Conservatories in DEN HAAG, ROTTERDAM, HILVERSUM and ARNHEM.
DENMARK : COPENHAGEN Rhythmic Conservatory, AARHUS Jazz Program
ITALY : PISA Jazz Vocal Workshop
SPAIN: ESMUC Music Conservatory-BARCELONA, MUSIKENE Music Conservatory-SAN SEBASTIAN
From September 1993 until June 1995, she was on the Jazz Faculty at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, Belgium, and a Guest Professor at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, Holland.
From September 1994 until June 1996, she was Professor of Vocal Jazz at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium.
In Oct. 1995, she became the first Vocal Jazz Professor in Germany, leading the Vocal Dept. of the Jazz and Popular Dept. of the Hanns Eisler Music Conservatory in Berlin.
Every summer since 1990, she has been on the faculty of the Janice Borla Vocal Jazz Camp in CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
Sept. 2003-present: Professor of Vocal Jazz, Musikene Conservatory, San Sebastian, Spain.

Teaching Background:

1980: Began teaching privately in New York City
1980-82: Taught Vocal Jazz at NEW YORK SCHOOL OF JAZZ in Port Washington
1982-86: “Improvisation for Singers” clinics at NEW YORK CITY COLLEGE, NEW YORK NETWORK FOR LEARNING, and at JAZZ FESTIVAL OF PISA, Italy.
1984-87: “Adjunct Professsor, Vocal Jazz” at LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY, Brooklyn, New York, also teaching at WILLIAM PATTERSON UNIVERSITY, Wayne, New Jersey.
1989-92: Continued private teaching in N.Y.C., Gave workshops for singers in HOLLAND, GERMANY, BELGIUM, POLAND, FINLAND, and DENMARK.
1990- Present: Teacher every summer at JANICE BORLA VOCAL JAZZ CAMP, Naperville, Illinois, Workshops at THE NEW SCHOOL, N.Y.C., New York.
1991- Recorded “Jazz Singers’ Practice Tape” in New York City.
1992-1995: “Guest Professor, Voice” at the ROYAL CONSERVATORY OF THE HAGUE, Holland; “Vocal Jazz” and “Voice” teacher at the ROYAL CONSERVATORY OF ANTWERP, Belgium.
1994-1996: “Professor of Voice, Jazz” , ROYAL CONSERVATORY OF BRUSSELS, Belgium.
1994- Present: Jazz voice and vocal-group teacher for Peter Herbolzheimer’s BUJAZZ-O in Germany.
1995- Present: “Professor of Voice, Jazz” , Hanns EISLER Hochschule für Musik in BERLIN.
2003- Present: “Professor of Vocal Jazz”, MUSIKENE Conservatory, SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN.

Symphony Istanbul Tales is very personal to me. The themes that comprise the work were first composed during my days as a student at a European-Turkish style conservatory in my native city of Istanbul. I started my conservatory education when I was 11 years old. The conservatory was on the European side of Istanbul, so I used to go to Europe from the more suburban Asian side everyday. I would often take the ferry in the morning. If any of we conservatory students saw one of our friends getting on the ferry, we would whistle a short motif (a fast staccato of c-d-e-c-d-c) and this would attract the other’s attention immediately. Then we could ride the ferry together and have deep philosophical conversations (not really, probably we were just being silly).

I do not know how this whistling tradition started, but naturally, this motif was one of the musical gestures I used in the symphony.
I was very excited about the Sophia performance. One of the fairy tale heroes who hide in between the musical notes, the maestro Hakan Sensoy, was going to conduct the symphony. His musical and personal friendship since my childhood has been very important, and his conducting of the piece in that evening’s concert carried a special meaning and significance.

I arrived at the Bulgaria Hall with my cousin Tuncay from Germany, who came just for the concert.

The conductor already had several rehearsals and I was going to be present for the dress rehearsal and the concert. After listening to the first rehearsal, I noticed that something was missing in the performance. They were not playing the whistling motif! During the break I approached the conductor and asked him why they were not playing that particular motif. He informed me that my little motif had created quite a stir in the orchestra. Apparently it meant something very dirty in Bulgarian slang—they refused to tell us what that was—and everybody thought that it would have been a huge insult for the Bulgarian audience. The flute player who was supposed to play the motif solo several times during the first movement refused to play the part altogether, and consequently it was completely taken out from that night’s performance.
…
The absence of my little motif contributed to the success of the concert that night. A terrible insult for the Bulgarian public, which was the last thing I had in mind, was avoided. But the Sophia Philharmonic is actually considering the piece for a recording project and now I am thinking what to do with that dirty motif.

Symphony 1: Istanbul Tales

Each movement of the symphony tells its own tale of my time as a student at the Istanbul Conservatory. The symphony contains stylistic transformations within a complex rhythmic texture of many musical gestures and real quotes from my earlier student compositions.

Movements:

1. Tale in the Folk Song Without Words (Lento Moderato and Allegro Ben Ritmato)
2. Lost Tale in the Skopjian Poem (Adagio)
3. Giant’s Tale (Moderato)
4. Tale of the School Children (Allegro Vivace)

Here is the end of the first movement:

Biography:

A composer, performer, and scholar, Münir Beken received his PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Maryland. He studied composition with Cemal Resit Rey, Yalç?n Tura, and Stuart Smith, and participated in composition workshops with such luminaries as George Crumb, Lukas Foss, Philip Glass, Roger Reynolds, Steve Reich, and Charles Wuorinen. His compositions have been performed internationally with considerable recognition in some of the most significant concert halls in the world. The performance of his Triple Concerto featured the eminent violinist Shlomo Mintz. His symphonic poem Gallipoli was premiered in March 2005 and A Turk in Seattle featured Seattle Chamber Players in February 2006 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. The world premier of his Blue Monologue for solo violin was performed in June 2006 at Carnegie Hall. Some of his works have won awards in international competitions. His recent composition “I Am A Corpse” for violin and orchestra will be released with conductor Robert Ian Winstin and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra by ERMMedia. His compositional style redefines itself from work to work. His music is published by Amplitude Music in France, and he is a member of ASCAP.

He has given recitals in such venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. In 1994 he won the Individual Artist Award of Maryland State Arts Council and became the Executive Director of the Center for Turkish Music at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. American composers Melodie Linhart, Eric Flesher, and Christopher Shainin have written original compositions for Mr. Beken. He conducted the ITU Chamber Orchestra in Istanbul and Siena Chamber Orchestra in up-state New York.

Münir Beken is currently Assistant Professor of theory and composition in Ethnomusicology Department at University of California Los Angeles. His scholarly interests include the phenomenology of music, cognitive musicology, and melodic modal systems of the Middle East and Central Asia. He has written several articles for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and other scholarly publications.

—–

[Photos: #1-I used to pass by the Maiden Tower (look Hera and Leandros story) on my way to the conservatory (photo by Sally Hawkridge).
#2-Cousin Tuncay and me at the concert (photo by Tuncay Tükel and yes, he has very long arms). #3-Münir Beken (far left) with conductor Hakan Sensoy, orchestra administrator-conductor Angel Stankov, and violinist Cihat Ask?n in the Bulgaria Hall backstage after the Sophia Philharmonic concert (photo by “I have no idea.”)

What’s a Powwow?

American Indians have held ceremonial gatherings since ancient times, but intertribal powwows—in which members of several tribes convene to socialize and exchange cultural traditions—are a more recent practice.

“Everyone claims that their powwow was the first,” says Tara Browner, 43, associate professor of ethnomusicology and American Indian Studies at the University of California in Los Angeles and author of Heartbeat of the People: Music and Dance of the Northern Pow-wow.

Contemporary intertribal powwows began in the 1880s with the establishment of Indian reservations, but whether it was the Poncas in Oklahoma or the Winnebagos in Nebraska who first welcomed all tribes is debatable.

“The concept of powwows goes back before European contact, but they were strictly clannish,” Browner says. The word “powwow” is derived from the Algonquian word “pau wau,” meaning “he dreams” and is associated with medicine men and healing.

[...]“What’s important about powwows is the sense of community,” says Browner, who is Choctaw and a dancer. “You feel strong and proud of who you are, and there’s a comfort level there for just a weekend. All families have stories of sadness and displacement, and you’re with people who understand your background and how it shaped who you are.”

Finding a powwow isn’t a problem, Browner says.

“I tell my students that there’s a powwow within three hours’ driving distance of anyone in the United States.”

This year’s Gathering of Nations Powwow is scheduled April 28-30. For more information, log on to www.gatheringofnations.com, or to find a powwow near you, visit www.powwow-power.com.

Marti Attoun is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

Tara Browner is the author of Heartbeat of the People: Music and Dance of the Northern Pow-Wow (University of Illinois Press, 2002). She is currently completing the critical musical edition, ” Songs from ‘A New Circle of Voices’: The Sixteenth-Annual Pow-Wow at UCLA” with the help of Ben Harbert, a graduate student in the department. This edition is scheduled to be released soon in the series *Music in the United States of America* (MUSA), a project of the American Musicological Society. As a critical/scholarly edition of a musical event, recorded live during the process of fieldwork, this volume is unique in its combination of ethnomusicological field method combined with interpretive practices more common to historical musicology.

This musical tribute to ancient Egypt was originally composed in 1978 for the King Tutankhamun exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. It was inspired by the artistry of the ancient treasures and the religious symbolism of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which suggested titles of the compositions. Only traditional Near Eastern instruments were used in making this recording, like the nay, salamiyyah, buzuq, mijwiz, mizmar and others. ~ MusD, All Music Guide

Professor Racy is one of the world’s foremost experts on Arab music, credited with studying and documenting numerous musical traditions throughout the Arab world. An accomplished performer on a large variety of instruments, composer, and ethnomusicologist, he has inspired a generation of students and artists in this country and abroad.

Racy was born in Lebanon, where he performed regularly on television and in concerts, while presenting a weekly radio program on world music. Internationally known for his scholarly work, he has conducted field research and is credited with over 75 publications. Topics include the laments of Lebanon, Bedouin music, musical change and sound recording in early-20th century Cairo, improvisation, music of the Arab Gulf region, and folk instruments of the Near East.

At UCLA, Racy teaches seminars on the musical cultures of the Middle East and is the director of the Near East Music Ensemble. He has performed in major theaters, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and has composed and performed music for television, feature and documentary films. Included in his work is the ten-part series, The Arabs, shown on British television and on PBS in the U.S. His music has been released on cassettes and CDs including three Lyrichord albums: a) Ancient Egypt with original compositions, b) Taqâsîm containing improvisation duets with performer Simon Shaheen, and c) Mystical Legacies presenting selections from his L.A. Festival concert with percussionist Souhail Kaspar at the Getty Museum. Racy joined the Kronos Quartet to perform his original composition Zaman Suite in Los Angeles and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. He also performed on the nây, the buzuq, and the ‘ûd with the Sacramento Symphony in his composition, Music from the Arab World: A Sea of Memories, orchestrated by Arthur Barnes of Stanford University. In May 1998 he received a Special Honor at the 4th Festival of Arab World Culture, held at Town Hall, New York.

Selected Publications (1997-1998)

Racy, A. J. (1998). “Music of the Arabian Desert in the Accounts of Early Western Travelers” and “Musiqá al-Badiyah fi Sijillat al-Rahhalah al- Ghardiyyin” (translation by the author), al-Ma’thurat al-Sha’biyyah. Doha, Qatar: The GCC Arab Gulf States Folklore Center.

Racy, A. J. (1998). “Improvisation, Ecstasy, and Performance Dynamics in Arabic Music”, in In the Course of Performance. Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation. B. Nettl & M. Russell, editors. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (pp. 95-112.)

Racy, A. J. & Racy, B. T. (1998).”Arab Music and Dance”, in International Encyclopedia of Dance. E. Adrich, editor. New York: Oxford University Press.