By Khia E. Hollyer '21, Hopkins Center Arts Amabassador Jose Gonzalez and his opening act, Bedouine, performed a great show at the Hop February 6. Both are alternative solo-guitarist-musicians; however, they command different sounds. Rich, sensual and dissonant notes characterize Bedouine’s music, composed of a dichotomy of light and strong guitar strokes and chords; and euphoric and cacophonic notes. Her persona is shy and awkward, yet charming. Abashed, humor-laced statements like, “They say I’m Joni Mitchell on Xanax,” and “Come at me, Dartmouth students,” tickle the audience. Her … [Read more...]
Visiting Artists
Musical rapture from two singer-songwriters
Music is a universal language. Attending the Jose Gonzalez show on February 6, I was struck by the universality of melody, harmony and percussion. I sat in a nearly full Spaulding. Students and locals sat mesmerized by sound. Bedouine, Azniv Korkeji, opened the night, her distinct voice accompanied by only a guitar. As the stage filled with fog and the audience listened attentively, Bedouine made an enormous space feel intimate, the poetic lyrics of her music complemented by her gentle manner of speaking and banter with the audience. Her album released in December of last year … [Read more...]
Fretboard wizard jams with the DSO on Vivaldi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiNEyI1PF6w What do musicians do with free time? Go to music stores, of course, and play everything in sight. Which is what mandolinist Carlo Aonzo did in November 2016 in Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville (see above), when the world-renowned mandolin "god" was passing through that city with his trio. If it be music, Aonzo can play it on his mandolin. He will demonstrate this at Dartmouth the week of February 5-10, where he will give a free public mini-concert on Tuesday, February 6, and perform on Friday, February 9, with the Dartmouth … [Read more...]
A Muslim Musical Tradition With A Home in The Heart of Texas
By Rik Abels '21, Arts Ambassador People take their seats and the lights are dimmed, on the evening of January 19, in the Hop's Spaulding Auditorium. A group of men in traditional South Asian dress walk onto the stage. A silence overtakes the auditorium. The leader of the group, a charismatic 33-year-old from the heart of Texas, invites the audience to join him on a “spiritual journey.” This is Riyaaz Qawwali. Qawwali is a form of devotional music founded in Sufism, which is often referred to as Islamic mysticism. Its roots trace back to the late 13th century, when it … [Read more...]
The visual opulence of Teatro Sur’s “Inutiles”
Photos courtesy of Teatro Sur, Santiago, Chile Spanish colonial rulers in South America reaped untold riches from the natural resources of this "New World" while imposing the suffocating Renaissance materialism of the Old World. Teatro Sur underscores this reality - and the wealth inequities that persist to today - in the stage design of its show Inútiles (Useless), which has its US premiere at the Hop on January 5 and 6. The show's Art Director, Jorge Zambrano, has worked with noted South American and European stage directors since the 1980s and more recently had branched out to film, … [Read more...]
Theater in Chile: Always an act of resistance
Those who have followed the pre-Jackie work of Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain know that political resistance has always been driven by words. In his 2012 film No, a young ad executive uses advertising pitches to motivate people to vote "no" on an assumed-to-be meaningless referendum and oust longtime dictator Augusto Pinochet. His Neruda (2016) is a portrait of a poet whose work had such an Orpheus-like influence on the Chilean people that the government needed to hunt him down. Chilean theater also has a powerful ability to influence the public in ways that Americans might find hard to … [Read more...]
Exit interviews: World Music Percussion Ensemble, October 25
The student and community musical group World Music Percussion Ensemble played in Spaulding Auditorium of the Hopkins Center for the Arts on Wednesday, October 25, with guest ensemble LADAMA. The groups collaborated to play a concert celebrating the cycle of the seasons. The performance was dynamic, high-energy and above all, fun. It was clear the audience was having a great time. I talked to a few audience members after the show who enthusiastically described their impressions. One of the students, a ‘20 majoring in biomedical engineering, described the show as upbeat and rich with … [Read more...]
Pink Martini surprises and empowers
By Nicole Sellew '21 [Editor's note: Nicole attended the Pink Martini October 17 performance in the Hop's Spaulding Audtiorium as a member of Arts Ambassadors, a club for first-year students who like attending Hop event.] I went into Pink Martini expecting an incredible show—and I was not disappointed. I did not know much about the band before attending the show, besides the fact that many of my friends missed getting tickets for the sold-out show (and were, subsequently, very disappointed). I was shocked when I started hearing Croatian songs, French songs, Cuban songs and even a … [Read more...]
Dragons, fools and fire-breathing tickets in “Cuentos”
On Sunday, October 15, in the Hop's Spaulding Auditorium, storyteller David Gonzalez and accompanying musicians combined language learning, Latin music and life lessons into a single show: Cuentos, meaning “stories.” Wilson “Chembo” Corniel, a Grammy-nominated percussionist, took to the stage to perform a solo on his congas. Willie Martinez, a renowned Latin jazz drummer, joined Corniel in a duet of drums. Daniel Kelly completed the trio on piano, and the three played an energetic opening song for the performance. Finally, Gonzalez made his entrance to the energetic rhythm. Beginning … [Read more...]
Collis Cabaret: A musical mashup, plus pie
By Sarah Hong '21, with photos by Rob Strong Creating music, in many ways, is about communication. Not only do musicians strive to communicate with the audience, musicians in an ensemble also communicate with each other using a secret language of cues to play together as a whole. But what happens when two very different ensembles spontaneously communicate with each other to merge two disparate genres? At Collis Cabaret on Thursday, October 12,the Del Sol Quartet and Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble attempted to do just that, creating an exciting and captivating night of music. [EDITOR'S NOTE: … [Read more...]
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