Senegalese superstar, singer-songwriter and activist Youssou NDOUR brings his rousing music and message to the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College on Tuesday, October 23 in Spaulding Auditorium. For 30 years, NDOUR has been a beacon within African music, “a singer with a voice so extraordinary that the history of Africa seems locked inside it” (Rolling Stone). He and his band concoct a sublime mixture of compulsive rhythms, jangling guitars, traditional Senegalese sound, Cuban-influenced jazz and funk. His supple, golden tenor—named one of the world’s 50 great voices by NPR—not … [Read more...]
Habanero, habanera, what’s the difference?
Afro-Cuban jazz sensation Daymé Arocena, performing at the Hop Thursday, April 12, is the quintessential habanera - a female resident of Havana, which she sings about in "Me lleva la Habana (I come to Havana)": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1RksfBsu6w Habanera also refers to a 19th-century Cuban dance rhythm. Here's a classic habanera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jebIpYs2UUI The habanera infused early jazz - the first of many times American jazz would be saturated with Afro-Cuban musical elements - such as Scott Joplin's Solace … [Read more...]
A dazzling voice of young Cuba, April 12
Daymé Arocena, one of Cuba’s most dazzling singers to burst onto the international stage, makes her Hopkins Center for the Arts debut on Thursday, April 12, 7 pm, in Spaulding Auditorium. Her Hop appearance is part of a tour that takes her to cities throughout the US, including April 8 in Burlington, Vermont, and April 13 in Boston. While at Dartmouth, she also will take part in a free artist talk titled “Using Your Voice,” on Wednesday, April 11, at 5 pm, a conversation with Taylor Ho Bynum, director of the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvyTWRB4l4w From … [Read more...]
Cuban band plus visiting educators step up the salsa at free outdoor concert
Photos by Rob Strong It was an unbeatable combination: Septeto Santiaguero, playing classic Cuban dance music, and Mexican educators on the Dartmouth campus as participants in the Inter-American Partnership for Education (IAPE), an intensive workshop on English language instruction run by Dartmouth's Rassias Center. Fluent in salsa and other Latin dance styles, the young IAPE participants helped turn Septeto's July 26 free outdoor concert on the Dartmouth Green into an all-ages, all-dance-abilities party. Let's hope for the same perfect weather and great vibe on Wednesday, August 9, when … [Read more...]
From sheep to (Virginia) Woolf, from zydeco to Peter Pan: summer at the Hop begins June 29!
HANOVER, NH—Summer 2017 offers ample pickings at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, with five free performances on the Dartmouth Green, concerts by folk legend John Prine and rising star Rhiannon Giddens, and screen offerings include an edgy film series and a sneak preview by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. In addition is the Summer 2017 crop of new and developing theatrical works offered throughout the summer through the Dartmouth Department of Theater, including an August series involving the New York Theatre Workshop. Thursday, June 29, 4:30 & 7 pm, … [Read more...]
Barbary Coasters past and present praise ‘The Classroom of Don’
After 40 years at its helm, Don Glasgo will retire this spring as director of the Hop's Barbary Coast Jazz Band--but not before a fantastic final year that includes guest artist double-headers in the fall (October 22) and winter (February 10) shows. Former and current "Coasters" were eager to share their thoughts about the lasting impact Glasgo and the Coast experience has had on them. Here are a few: Vaughn Halyard '81, CEO and Executive Producer/Director, StoryLounge Film Music and Entertainment: "I was blessed to be at Dartmouth during what I call the Appleton/Glasgo Dynasty. Don … [Read more...]
Viral-worthy videos from the Coast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uWeRApWYR4 Clearly, these guys have fun. For a second year in a row, the seniors of the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, working with a student videographer, have come up with a fun, irreverent video to spread the word about their annual Senior Feature Concert—this year on Thursday, May 19, 7 pm, in Spaulding Auditorium. Catch the fun as departing Coast seniors Kimberly Hassel, Moises Silva and Kathyrn Waychoff get silly in a digital landscape from the group's March music exchange to Cuba! Kudos to videographer Max von Hippel '19. And in case you missed it, … [Read more...]
Drums on the move: Percussion Ensemble meets Amarna
On the warm spring evening of Tuesday, May 10, the big blue house at 23 East Wheelock Street was alive with the sound of drumming. The World Music Percussion Music Ensemble generously shared some of their rehearsal time with Amarna Undergraduate Society. Members of Amarna were treated to a sneak preview of the WMPE repertoire for the upcoming concert on May 25. at 7 pm. Members of the ensemble talked about the history of the music and broke it down into parts, so the students could understand the complex rhythms that interact to make the beautiful beats from Africa, the Caribbean and … [Read more...]
“I’ll always play”: The Coast’s Kathryn Waychoff
This is the third of three profiles of the graduating seniors who will be featured in the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble's spring concert on Thursday, May 19. The photo above, taken by Hannah O'Flynn '15 during the Coast's March music exchange trip to Cuba, shows Kathryn Waychoff '16, at front, with Coast director Don Glasgo and fellow Coast seniors Kimberly Hassel and Moises Silva. Kathyrn Waychoff '16, from Bethesda, MD, plays trumpet with the Coast. Double-majoring in Engineering Sciences and Physics, she plans to remain at Dartmouth a fifth year to complete a Bachelors of Engineering in … [Read more...]
“Developing my own sound and personality”: The Coast’s Moises Silva
This is the second of three profiles of the graduating seniors who will be featured in the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble's spring concert on Thursday, May 19. The photo above, by Hannah O'Flynn '15, shows Moises Silva '16 during the Coast's March music exchange trip to Cuba. Moises Silva '16, who plays drums in the Coast, is from Los Angeles, CA, and is pursuing a BA in Engineering Sciences and BE in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation, he goes on to a job as a vehicle engineer for Northrop Grumman. During his time at Dartmouth, he said, “I grew from a hobby drummer into a real … [Read more...]