HSU Percussion Ensemble, World Percussion Group, and African Drumming Ensemble
“Presenting contemporary music for Percussion Ensemble, the complex traditional drumming of West Africa, and the exciting rhythms of the Conga Oriental of Cuba.” The HSU Percussion Ensemble will feature an exciting & diverse program of material presenting the listener with contemporary and experimental compositions, as well as traditional drumming styles from Africa and Cuba. This evening’s performance will feature driving rhythms, precise rhythmic interplay and complex & unusual percussive soundscapes. The featured work on the program is the “First Construction in Metal” of John Cage written in 1939. This engaging work, written in the years before the United States entered into WWII, is a brash, creative, and vital example of the American avante-guard style pioneered by Cage in the twentieth century. The work calls for over 58 instruments constructed of metal, including gongs, anvils, cymbals, bells, and thunder sheets. In addition, a grand piano is used played by a traditional pianist but with live sound alteration and manipulation by a percussionist who performs on the interior of the piano strings. Many consider this piece to be Cage’s finest early work, and this is an excellent opportunity to both hear and experience this classic piece, as well as another large ‘Percussion Orchestra’ piece for 17 percussionists composed by Wendy Mae Chambers and entitled, “The Night of the Shooting Stars.” “The Night of the Shooting Stars” is a massive piece that will fill the entire stage with percussion instruments of every kind – including, vibraphones, glockenspiels, chimes, croatales, gongs, drums, cymbals, bells, whistles, and assorted sound effects. The piece is stunning in every way, and will guide the listener into a fascinating and unusual sound world rarely experienced live. The second half of the show will feature the World Percussion Group performing a suite of traditional Mandeng Drumming of West African, and that will be followed by an inspiring arrangement of Afro-Cuban folkloric music presented to the Humboldt audience in its classic form using all traditional instruments. For this show, the World Percussion Group will be presenting an exciting arrangement of Conga Oriental, the Carnival music of eastern Cuba complete with Brass and Vocals. This is a show that will delight both the ears and the eyes, and it is guaranteed to have something for everyone! Please join us at 8pm on Sunday, April 8th in Fulkerson Recital Hall in the Department of Music at Humboldt State University.
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