Caballito Negro Northwest Tour – “Songlines”

Caballito Negro will be touring its geo-poetic program, “Songlines”, with performances, workshops and masterclasses, in Oregon and Washington.

MetaphysicsOfNotation2
From Mark Applebaum’s “The Metaphysics of Notation”

Songlines

William KraftEncounters XVI
Howard HershBraided River Nights
David P JonesMusic For South Africa
Ivan TrevinoThis Is Like Jazz!
Mark ApplebaumThe Metaphysics of Notation
Tessa Brinckman & Terry LongshoreThat Which Colors The Soul

Braided River Nights by Howard Hersh, is a sensual, romantic entwinement of alto flute with marimba, with fleeting American tunes including Robert Lowry’s famous hymn, “Shall We Gather at the River.” William Kraft’s Encounters XVI marries the cool sexiness of LA studio jazz with the impressionistic colors of Debussy and Ravel. Written for flute with marimba, vibraphone and percussion, it was premiered by Caballito Negro in 2012 and recorded for the world-renowned composer in 2014. Described as “music of hope”, David P. Jones’ Music For South Africa was inspired by the struggle against apartheid. Three movements in the work – Amandla, Ububele and Hamba Kahle, draw from traditional South African vocal and instrumental music, and the sounds of Johannesburg night-club jazz. Composer, sound-sculpture inventor and Stanford professor, Mark Applebaum, refuses to be fenced in, proving it with The Metaphysics of Notation. The wildly elaborate, pictographic score (projected for the audience during its performance), which has absolutely no written or verbal instructions, is interpreted by Caballito Negro on this tour with baroque flute, piccolo and electronic percussion. This Is Like Jazz! by Ivan Trevino (commissioned by Caballito Negro and five other duos) is a groove-heavy piece that mirrors Turkmen music’s rhythmic and metric complexity. Featuring percussive contrabass flute (think bass “riffs”, lyricism and amplification) in conversation with marimba and spoken word, Trevino creates a musical narrative of his time in Turkmenistan. Tessa Brinckman and Terry Longshore have also recently composed That Which Colors The Soul, for flute, tabla, bottles and electronics. Drawing on their collective experience in Hindustani music, the duo melds those traditions with Western inflections, in a restless search for a contemporary language for flute and tabla.

Here are the venues and dates thus far:

W, 2/17, 11am – Monmouth, OR: Western Oregon University Music Dept. – workshop

W, 2/17, 7.30pm – Monmouth, OR: Western Oregon University, Smith Recital Hall – performance

Th, 2/18, 2pm – Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Music Dept., Benton 303 – workshop

Fr, 2/19, 12pm – Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University, Memorial Union – performance

Sa, 2/20, 8pm – Portland, OR: Cafe Artichoke – performance

Tu, 2/23, 7pm – Port Angeles, WA: Peninsula College, Maier Performance Hall – performance

Th, 2/25, 2pm – Portland, OR: Portland State University Music Department – masterclass/workshop

Fr, 2/26 – Lincoln City, OR: Oceanlake Elementary School – performance/workshop

Sa, 2/27, 7pm – Lincoln City, OR: Lincoln City Cultural Center – performance

Su, 2/28, 4pm – Roseburg, OR: Umpqua Symphony Concert Association, 1st Presbyterian Church – performance

M, 2/29 – Roseburg, OR: Roseburg High School – workshop