Of all the impressive and varied music I wrapped my ears around in the past week, probably the most memorable moment arrived in the form of a pleasant and very public surprise. The setting: “Plaza Palooza,” the long-awaited grand opening of the 106-year-old Central Library’s new plaza and revamped interior. A block party was in order, with a hefty slice of the citizenry joining in the celebratory fizz and buzz, moving between a bounty of booths, lip-smacking foodstuffs (from Mony’s and Elubia’s Kitchen), and historical displays, along with a schedule of music, dance, and speechifying.
Suddenly, as part of the slot given over to Santa Barbara’s cherished presenter CAMA, there came the purifying and galvanizing sound of Bach for unaccompanied violin, beautifully played by the gifted, young, and locally based violinist Sofia Malvinni. Time stood still and business-as-usual was blissfully disrupted, transformed by this rare encounter of Bach and the general public. More, please.
When Mali Met the Campbell
On the eve of hallows eve last week, Campbell Hall was thoroughly and predictably awash in good vibes. Such is the upshot of musical and emotional spirits whenever Habib Koité strikes up his band. Malian music royalty Koité, now 66, alighted the “world music” scene three decades ago with his infectious rippling guitar style and warming, griot-grounded vocal powers. He was one of the figures who helped train musical focus on the foundational values of West African music.
And with his current all-star group — with masterful balafon player (and builder) Aly Keїta, kora player Lamine Cissokho, and percussionist Mama Kone — Koité affably commandeered a Campbell Hall show, celebrating MandéSila, the way of the Mandingo empire and West African culture. From an admittedly more ethnocentric perspective, the show reminded us once again — in bubbling real time — that West African music, far from being an exotic or esoteric slice of musicology, is a root source of American Gospel, blues, R&B, and many strands of pop music. Among the critical points of distinction are the elasticity of musical structures (theirs are not tidy, formulaic songs) and the hypnotic pulsations of a deep rhythmic undertow.
In other words, Koité’s Malian good vibe machine was well-oiled and ready for action, as expected.
Harvesting a Celtic and Folky Orchestral Sound
As it leans towards the milestone ten-year-old mark next season, the ambitious Folk Orchestra of Santa Barbara has established its agenda, built up a hungry audience, and has a willingness to explore new twists and themes as it ventures future-ward. Founder, arranger, situationist, multi-instrumentalist, and fine singer Adam Phillips cooked up a tasty smorgasbord for last weekend’s “Fall Harvest” program, including doses of his fascination for things Celtic and folklorically Spanish with a touch of lounge-suitable crooning on his slow, low-brew “Autumn Leaves” and a Neil Young’s masterpiece “Harvest Moon.”
Other highlights of the program, which I caught in the friendly environs of Trinity Episcopal Church (after Friday and Saturday stops at St. Mark’s in the Valley and the Presidio Chapel), included a gorgeous accordion solo by Brian Mann on “Remember Me,” from the magical film Coco. (Mann, a go-to accordionist in various musical and show biz dimensions, played on the Coco score as well as on Encanto, and will appear at the special Arlington Encanto Sing-Along show on Thursday, November 14).
In the “small group” category, fine violinist/fiddler Devyn Quarles and guitarist Josh Jenkins got cooking in a Celtic fashion, and cellist Jacqueline Greenshields took on a challenging solo arrangement of “Down by the Salley Gardens,” mixing melody in shifting registers with double stops and other gymnastically twining schemes. In a second set highlight, guest vocalist Kathleen Sieck stepped up to radiantly ennoble the tune with the hardest-to-pronounce title (unless you’re hip to Gaelic), “Bothan Àirigh am Bràigh Raithneach.” For those of us who are out of the know, the English title is “A Sheiling on the Braes of Rannoch.”
You learn things at FOSB shows, in addition to benefiting from the warm wash of musical goodness, whatever the source or language.
TO-DOINGS:
Next up in the always intriguing chamber music series in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Mary Craig Auditorium is the rightly acclaimed Cuarteto Latinoamericano, on Sunday afternoon, November 10, at 2 p.m. Known for its adventurous instincts in programming, the quartet is presenting a “Tribute to the Americas,” with music of Brazilian great Héitor Villa-Lobos, George Gershwin, Argentine titan Astor Piazzolla, Samuel Barber’s famed “Adagio for Strings” and Dvorak’s “American” Quartet.
Eminent American violinist Itzhak Perlman pays one of his periodic visits to Santa Barbara, in a UCSB Arts & Lectures concert at the Granada tonight (November 7), with a special aggregation of celebrated classical icons. He will be joined by two pianists, Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and the historic Juilliard String Quartet (whose most seasoned player now, for the record, is former Santa Barbaran Ronald Copes). Leclair, Mozart, and Chausson populate the program.
We’ve been fortunate to catch the great American singer-songwriter-downhome-brainiac John Hiatt many times in town, going back to a show at the old Oscar’s nightclub, in cahoots with Lyle Lovett and elsewhere. But hearing Hiatt in the intimate embrace of the Lobero Theatre, where he plays on Tuesday, November 12, counts as something special, and something to mark calendars for. The Hoosier turned Los Angeleno turned Nashviller (the hip quarter) leaned into the country side for 2001’s fetching album Leftover Feelings, with dobro legend Jerry Douglas on hand to swap riffs and have a kindly musical chat.
In other Lobero news, Opera Santa Barbara kicks off its compact but action-packed 2004-05 season on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, on the turf of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (see story here). For a hearty blast of Baroque music, proceed to the next CAMA concert, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra’s program Venetian Splendor: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Gondola Songs, on Tuesday, November 12 (see story here).
