PULSE EDITOR: MONICA HANDE
Okinawan music encounters Western styles
■ A steel guitar and a 700
year-old sanshin make for an
interesting performance at
the WOW Hail
By Josh Ryneal
Oregon Daily Emerald
Bob Brozman, a self-described
“world blues’’ musician and collab
orator with world-music artists
around the globe, is bringing his
blend of steel guitar and Hawaiian
influences to the WOW Hall
tonight as part of his collaboration
project with renowned Okinawan
guitarist Takashi Hirayasu.
Their new release, “Jin Jin/Fire
fly,” showcases the pair’s virtuoso
talents and combines Brozman’s
steel and Hawaiian guitar with Hi
rayasu’s sanshin, a 700-year-old
Japanese stringed instrument. The
album's vocals are based on Oki
nawan nursery rhymes, but Broz
man and Hirayasu liven things up
with guitar arrangements that in
clude everything from ballads to
rollicking ska-influenced rhythms.
The pair met for the first time just
hours before recording the album
and went directly to a small Oki
nawan island to record in a one
room house. That minimalist ap
proach shines on “Jin Jin/Firefly,”
and listeners can hear how well the
pair meshes.
Brozman, who has put out 25 al
bums during the course of his ca
reer, said he tries to meet the artists
“not 50 percent of the way, but
three-fourths of the way” when he
plays with them.
“Takashi is no different,” he said.
“When we first started playing, I
watched his facial muscles, his
pupils, his hands, the way he holds
his instrument, all to get a feel for
the style of music I’m collaborating
over.”
Brozman describes his latest ef
fort as “Okinawan music meets
Western styles,” but added that all
music is blues of one kind or anoth
er.
“I use my instrument as a tool of
expression of that,” he said.
Brozman plays a number of dif
ferent types of guitar on the album,
including steel guitars from his
own collection, which is consid
ered one of the country’s largest. He
uses the instrument to play percus
sion as well as to complement Hi
rayasu’s sanshin, and even man
ages to coax a harmonica sound in
one song on the album.
The sanshin is not an instrument
that may be immediately familiar to
American listeners, but Hirayasu
plays it like a regular guitar for a
sound that is something entirely
different. Brozman said the sanshin
is “like a banjo without frets.”
“We're inventing a whole new
style of music,” he said.
Brozman has collaborated with
world music stars from more than
a dozen different countries, in
cluding West Africa, India and
Guinea.
“I like to focus on cultures that
have been colonized,” he said. “I’m
trying to form a worldwide family
of musicians.”
Hirayasu, who has collaborated
with artists such as guitar legend
Ry Cooder, said that working with
Brozman was effortless.
“It was so easy,” he said. “He has
open ears; I have open ears; it was
so easy.”
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Courtesy Photo
Takashi Hirayasu and Bob Brozman (left to right) will treat their audience to an East-meets-West fusion of styles at the WOW Hall.
The pair has another project due
out in the summer of 2000, which
will continue the musical experi
mentation of “Jin Jin/Firefly.”
“My work with Takashi covers
the whole range of human emo
tion,” Brozman said. “We just play
music, not a style or genre.”
Bob Fenessy, publicist for the
WOW Hall, said Brozman has
played there a few times and is
known for his humor and the in
ventiveness of his live shows.
“He definitely has an audience
here. It’s a neat thing; he never does
the same show twice,” he said. “He
can play with anybody and it
sounds great.”
Tickets are available at the WOW
Hall box office and the EMU ticket
office. Prices are $12 in advance
and $14 at the door. Doors open at
8 p.m., and the show begins at 8:30
p.m.
These choirs sing without words
■Tonight’s concert will bring
unsung instruments into the
spotlight at Beall Hall
By Monica Hande
Oregon Daily Emerald
Tenor and bass will fill Beall Con
cert Hall tonight at the University
Tuba Choir’s annual Octubafest.
The Tuba Choir will team up with
the Oregon Tuba Ensemble, a Lane
County-based Oregon Tuba Associ
ation ensemble, to present a concert
featuring tubas and euphoniums.
The tubas provide bass, said Jeff
Turav, Oregon Tuba Ensemble di
rector, and the euphoniums, or bari
tones, are in the tenor range. It is an
equivalent to a men’s choir, he said.
The Tuba Choir has invited the
/ooooonrm
Oregon Tuba Ensemble to contribute
to Octubafest, partly as thanks to the
Oregon Tuba Association’s financial
contributions to low-brass educa
tion at the University and the schol
arships it offers to tuba and euphoni
um players. The two ensembles will
perform some pieces individually
and others together under the direc
tion of Richard Frazier.
Tonight’s repertoire will highlight
a few solos and duets. The Oregon
Tuba Ensemble is prepared to per
form a John Phillips Sousa march,
“Washington Post,” and a few other
pieces arranged by members of the
ensemble.
Turay said the Oregon Tuba En
semble, which is composed of about
10 musicians, occasionally per
forms at the University. The Tuba
Choir is made up of University mu
sicians as well as a few community
members, including a couple ol
high school students. Each year, the
ensemble prepares for two annual
events: Octubafest and The Return
of the Mighty Tubas of Spring.
In the spring concert, “we get to
show off all the stuff we learned
throughout the year,” said Tim Bott,
a sophomore music composition
major.
Bott said the ensemble puts tubas
and baritones, the “forgotten-about
instruments,” in the spotlight for a
change.The concert will begin at 8
p.m. Turay expects tonight’s per
formance to last from 90 minutes to
two hours. Tickets cost $3 for stu
dents and $5 for the general public
and will be available at the door.
Calendar
Tuesday, October 24
International Film Festival: Sweden's
“My Life as a Dog” is part of a “Com
ing of Age” series of films shown in
their original languages with English
subtitles. 7 p.m.-9 p.m., 122 Pacific
Hali. Free.
Model United Nations: Weekly meet
ing offers students an opportunity to
learn about various cultures, current
international issues and how the
United Nations works. 5 p.m., Centu
ry Room D, EMU. Free.
Weaving New Beginnings Reception:
All members of the UO community
are invited to this fifth annual event
welcoming faculty, staff and students
of color. Doors open at 5:45 p.m.; the
6:45 p.m. program includes special
recognition for all attending faculty,
officers of administration and staff
having seven or more years of serv
ice. Ballroom, EMU. Free.
Presentation: Andy Kerr shows slides,
describes his desert “explorations”
and explains what can be done to
save the desert for future generations.
7:30 p.m., 100 Willamette Hall. Free.
Medieval Film Series: “The Lion in
Winter,” quasi-sequel to “Becket,"
portrays Christmas with the dysfunc
tional Plantagenet family. Katharine
Hepburn won Best Actress for her
portrayal of Eleanor of Aquitaine. 7
p.m., 180 PLC. Free.