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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 2004)
BY BRETT CAMPBELL E Muzeki plays Cozmic Pizza Friday, July 30. Eastern Sounds Local venues host music from India, Indonesia, the Balkans and more. G lobalization has its disadvantages, but one upside is how it’s made it possible for Westerners to study and perform the music of Asia and other lands. Take, for example, E Muzeki, playing Greek, gypsy, flamenco, Celtic and other music and hails from the exotic land of … Texas. Employing bouzouki, fiddle, guitars, penny- whistle and more, E Muzeki engagingly crosses musical boundaries. They’re playing at Cozmic Pizza on Friday, July 30. — the violin masters the Mysore brothers, with dummer Poovaluv Srinivasan (who’s ap- peared with Bela Fleck, Yehudi Menuhin and other great Western musicians). They’ll be performing music in the South Indian classical tradition, which emphasizes virtuosic improv- isation and rhythmic intricacy. And on Friday, July 30, the school hosts some local Indian music players, Jaya Lakshmi on harmonium and vocals, Deva Priyo on sarod and gypsy guitar, and sharanam on tamboura. For fans of T h er e’ s n o th i ng l i ke h ea r in g wo r l d m us ic p l ay e d b y p e r fo r m er s bo r n t o t h e t ra d i ti on . ©2004 Pabst Brewing Company THE ANXIETIES Old school punk rock is the name of the game when The Anxieties take the stage. This Eugene four-piece band takes its influences from the first wave of British punk and the heyday of the California punk scene. Keep one eye open for a 3-song vinyl single slated to be out before summer's end. If you're into songs about neurosis and dysfunction in relationships and society then make plans to catch The Anxieties this Saturday night. Check out Eugene Weekly’s clubs page for show information. 22 JULY 22, 2004 Eugene also boasts a number of groups who study and perform music of ancient cul- tures, and two of the most prominent are play- ing at Café Paradiso this month. On Thursday, July 22, Gamelan Sari Pandhawa performs classical and contemporary music of Java on bronze instruments hand-crafted in Indonesia. Although most of the instruments in the game- lan (orchestra) consist of gongs and other per- cussion, most of the music is gentle, flowing, and melodic. The group also uses fiddle, bam- boo flute, voices, and more to weave a tapestry of interlocking melodies, often used to accom- pany dance and shadow puppetry. On July 30, Paradiso brings the local Middle Eastern band Americanistan, featuring Mediterranean music played on zither, harmonium, flute, bagpipes, harp and drums. And on July 31, the club hosts local gypsy swingers the Café Ramblers, whose repertoire ranges from the Grappelli/ Renhardt hot jazz of 1930s Paris to Western swing, blues and even tangos. It’s great to hear Americans mastering music of other cultures, but there’s nothing like hearing world music played by perform- ers born to the tradition. For the past few years, Rhythm & Bliss productions has been bring- ing intimate concerts by fine musicians from India at the Far Horizons School at 2490 Hilyard, a space that permits relaxed concen- tration on some of the most meditative and so- phisticated music on earth. On Sunday, August 1, the school hosts a father and son team of sitar masters, Shivnath and Deobrat Mishra, from Varanasi, an ancient center of traditional music and Hindu culture. Accompanied by tabla and tamboura, they’ll perform evocative classical North Indian ragas. The Mishras have won many awards, including the Indian equivalent of a Grammy, and are setting up a music academy to teach children of all castes and incomes. On Thursday, August 12, Far Horizons will host another quite different though similarly acclaimed Indian family duo this ceaselessly melodic, deeply emotional music (and for newbies), Far Horizons sounds like a sympathetic venue — you can sit in chairs or on the floor — bring a pillow or blan- ket — not so separated from the musicians as in a typical American concert setting. It’s also great to hear some homegrown music, and Sam Bond’s Garage is probably the best place in town to find it. On Friday, July 23, the club hosts one of this town’s finest- ever singer/songwriters, Mare Wakefield, back for the summer from music school in Boston. On July 24th, Sam Bond’s holds its anniversary show with Ty Connor, Cabinessence, Manishevitz, Los Mex Pistoles, and more. And on July 31, it hosts one of the best bands in Oregon, the Sugar Beets. I’m still basking in the glow of some ex- cellent classical music concerts at the Oregon Bach Festival, especially some excellent new music from up and coming young composers at the biennial Composers Symposium. All were well crafted and worth hearing, but I was especially struck by three pieces by women composers. Eugene resident Rebecca Oswald’s “L’anniversaire” (inspired by a Chagall painting) moved easily from lively to wistful, while Carol Barnett’s string quartet were energized by the Yiddish waltzes and Hasidic songs. Most distinctive was Seung-Ah Oh’s daringly simplistic “Two Moons” for amplified violin and cello, an arrestingly aus- tere setting of two old Korean songs. A couple of otherwise impressive pieces based on com- poser-in-residence George Crumb’s own music couldn’t help but sound more conven- tional than their models, but I was so enam- ored by the humor and wit of Greg Bartholomew’s “String Trio” that in that case, I didn’t mind. Altogether, this was the strongest slate of music in any of the Composers Symposia I’ve attended; I just wish it could occupy a better time slot — and ew happen every year.
