Thursday
July20,2000
Volume 102, Issue 11
Emerald
Tarika drops tropical sounds at WOW Hall
By Tonya Alanez
Oregon Daily Emerald
Local guitar soloist Paul Prince will
kick-off an evening of international
sounds tonight at the WOW Hall. Tarika, a
quintet from Madagascar, headlines the
show.
Prince recalls recently tuning into
KLCC’s “Tropical Beat” — a Friday
evening program maturing world
music — while driving his
car. A song came on the air
with a compelling and
distinct sound which
tempted Prince to
call the station
and ask who it
was.
It was Tari
ka.
“It stood
out in the
set,”
Prince
said.
Specifi
cally the
arrange
ment, the
melodies
and “the
overall
high level
of interac
tion among
the musi
cians,”
Prince first en
countered Tarika
at the 1998 Seattle
area WOMAD Festival
where he was performing
with “the Lion of Zimbab
we” Thomas Mapfumo. He de
scribes Tarika s sound as “a '
unique blend of influences: African,
Polynesian, Filipino and more. It’s very
unique and bright. It has a lot of depth to
it.”
The band plays primarily original mu
sic written and arranged by lead singer
and songwriter Hanitra (interestingly pro
nounced Ansch) Rasoanaivo. She sings,
dances and plays percussion along with
her sister Noro. In addition to guitar and
bass, the group’s unique sound is support
ed by a variety of tra
and jejy voatavo (gour dulcimer).
“I write songs that are in my head,” Ra
soanaivo said. “It may depend on all dif
ferent inspirations, cir
c u m s t a n c e s
itei.:..... and sit
traditions, ceremonies, gender questions,
women’s roles, etc. I talk about quite a
lot.”
The band’s latest CD entitled “D,”
stands for dihy, which simply means
dance in the Malagasy language. An ap
propriate title considering this CD “is a
compilation of all different sorts of dance
music from Madaeascar.” where everv
one of the island’s 18 tribes has its
own unique style of dance.
Rasoanaivo objects to the
notion of Madagascar mu
sic and culture resulting
from outside influ
ences.
“Madagascar is
one country that
doesn’t have
outside influ
ences,” Ra
soanaivo said,
stating that
her island
home is
completely
cut off from
the rest of
the world.
And al
though the
first settlers,
some 2,000
years ago, were
from Southeast
Asia and Indone
sia, soon joined by
Arab traders, Indian
traders and African
slaves, she believes that
the culture has developed
more as a transformation
and an amalgamation.
“The word ‘influenre’ annnvs
Mala
easv instru
ments including the
marovany (box zither), valiha (bamboo
zither), kabosy (small Malagasy guitar)
hard I write about. There are mil
lions of messages in my music: everyday
life, people’s attitudes towards situations,
me,” she said. “To me, when you have
been influenced you had something and
somebody else’s thing has covered your
thing, i.e. person, identities, cultures, tra
ditions, etc. We all evolve, things develop.
“It’s almost like a parallel life, rather
than one is dead and the other lives, and
that is why I don’t like the word influ
Turn toTarika, page 10
‘Schoolhouse’ performance makes fun of learning
■The live revival of the animated lessons is a hit with the
youngsters at the Mad Duckling Theatre
By Rebecca Newell
Oregon Daily Emerald
Saturday morning cartoon
watching children of the 1970s
and 1980s are familiar with the
educational classic, “School
house Rock,” which would air be
tween cartoons. And now, Mad
Duckling Theatre is bringing the
tradition back to the current gen
eration of youngsters.
“Schoolhouse Rock Live” sets
the scene with a young teacher on
the morning of her first day of
school. Her imagination is per
sonified into five parts of her per
sonality — romantic,' goofy,
sweet, cool and mature — which
emerge to give her some pointers
to make it through the day.
“Schoolhouse Rock Live” is the
second of two interactive musical
comedies aimed at children and
families to be performed this
summer by the University’s Mad
Duckling Theatre. The show
opened Tuesday and will contin
ue through Saturday, and then
play again August 1-5. Shows
take place at the amphitheater
outside Robinson Theatre.
The performance is created in a
manner most appealing to chil
dren, complete with singing,
dancing and audience interac
tion. The play is not only fun to
watch, it’s fun to perform, actor
Lindy Anderson said.
“There is always something go
ing on — dancing, singing, a lot of
eye candy,” she said. Besides the
“eye candy,” the play teaches ba
sic elements of grammar and
arithmetic.
The catchy musical — based
on the “Schoolhouse Rock” ani
mated shorts broadcast on ABC
from 1973 to 1985 — was written
by the original cast members of
tbe Emmy Award-winning series.
"We wanted something high
energy. This has a great revival
Turn to Schoolhouse, page 10
Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
The cast of “Schoolhouse Rock” comes alive with a lesson on grammar, (from left to right) Sarah Tumquist, Giovanni Bliss, Jo
celyn Fultz, Amanda Dumler, Jon Sharpy, Lindy Anderson.