flutteringfeather

Since the last time I went to the BAMcafe at the Brooklyn Academy of Music I had such a good time seeing M.A.K.U Soundsystem, I decided to go to another on of their free live music on Friday nights events. And not surprisingly at all I was not disappointed by this decision. This past Friday night Natalie Pires was performing. She is a fadista, a singer of fado, which a type of urban folk music unique to Portugal. She was at BAM advertising her debut album, Corre-me o fado nas vejas. Because of how obscure I assume fado is, I was surprised to see the large following that this female vocalist had, especially for her debut album. Natalie Pires, performed the music accompanied by a bass, a guitar, and a Spanish guitar. The music for the most part had a very jumping and up beat gait, that would have been very good for moving one’s feet to. Except that despite the gait the majority of the songs had a mournful note to them at least part of the song. The guitar and Spanish guitar would slow and stop to dramatize Natalie’s passionate belting. She would hold a note for what seemed longer then humanly possible, and then the guitars would pick up and create a clap-inducing rhythm as Natalie sings away. Apparently its very much a part of fado music, this melanchol-iness and the rhythm that the guitars always fall into is also something that is unique to Portuguese folk music. This I know because I used to live in a very Portuguese neighborhood and thus there were various Portuguese festivals every year that would showcase Portuguese folk dancing.  I even knew some of the children who were the dancers at these events. I think that it should be noted that despite the constant rebuttal by Portuguese friends and acquaintances there are many parallels between Portuguese music and music from Spain. Specifically the jumping and very danceable gait, not to mention the many similarities between the Portuguese language and the Spanish language, which means there are many similarities in the song of their singing.

I was a little disappointed that Natalie sang only in Portuguese, since I don’t speak Portuguese. When I had heard she was performing at BAM, I had hoped that because of my Spanish I would be able to understand at least a little bit of her singing. Sadly enough I overestimated myself, but I still enjoyed her music and her ridiculously good voice.

HERE’S A LINK TO A VIDEO CLIP OF HER.

Artist: Natalie Pires

Venue: BAMcafe, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Duration: 2 hours  December 2, 2011

Over the weekend I went to and event called Anachronism for the first time. It is a steampunk event that showcases artists, musicians and performers of darker variety. There is a lot of good music to be heard, good people to talk to, and art to look at. At these steampunk event most of the people in attendance dress up in a steampunk style, which consist pre-dominantly of Victorian era clothing with earthier tones and with interesting gadgets. On this such occasion I myself dressed up, but not in the steampunk fashion, because though it is a steampunk event it caters to those with interests in the macrabe, goth, industrial, victorian, rivetheads and the like. I dressed up as a magician, with a top hat, wand and all. But at this event as I mention I heard a great many musicians, but one that stood out in my mind was a Euro-American duo called Frenchy and the Punk (formerly known as The Gypsy Nomads).  This duo consists of a French-born Britain female lead vocalist and percussionist, Samantha Stephonson and American-born guitarist, Scott Helland. Together they are Frenchy and the Punk and they are a very non-traditional pair, at least they defy any single genre. They fall under the scope of cabaret, vaudeville, steampunk, folk, punk, and French roots. The lead vocalist sings in both French and English and she sings a cheeky, whimsical ballad to the guitarists raucous looping.  In summation together these two make some very danceable music that is entertaining to listen to and fun to hear. This I know from experience after seeing them perform and vigorously dancing the night away to their music. The beat in which they usually play is lends itself to nearly any dancing style. Whether you are too timid to dance and simply want to tap your foot, or want to swing your dancing partner or stomp your feet or just move your body, it is simple the right beat. Visually they the vocalist dresses in a cross between Victorian and gypsy fashion, while the guitarist dress also in the Victorian fashion, with a bit of a contemporary twist. To me this music means fun, to simply live life and dance the night away, because today will never happen again. Which means that the duo accomplished what they set out to do, since this is very similar to their mission statement. I wouldn’t say that this artwork relates to much of anything that we did in class.

Name of Artists: Samantha Stephonson and Scott Helland

Title of Work: Frenchy and the Punk

Date of Work: December 3, 11

Material/Medium: guitar, vocals, percussion

Duration/Running Time: 2 hours
Genre: cabaret, vaudeville, French, folk, punk

Venue or Location: Webster Hall

Accompaniment?: Henry Kramer, Margo Cruz, Jullian Melnick, Goby

At the pestering of one of my best friends, I went with her to a play that was being put on down in St. Marks place. As a play this artwork is included in the art form of theater. The play was called Brew of the Dead, so I knew that it would be somewhat entertaining because of the inclusion of zombies, which the name denotes, and as such I expected carnage. As I soon found out at the end of the play I was not to be disappointed. As of late there have been so many stories about zombie, popping up all over the place in a variety of different forms, from books to video games to movies. But never have I ever seen a play was based on this now very popular and iconic topic of zombies. It was playing in this small theater that would probably at maximum hold up to 50 people that was located in the basement of an apartment. When my friend and I first walked down the street it was located on we looked over it, since there was no large sign and it seemed to be average apartment building. When we did finally find, we were warmly welcomed by who I presume was the proprietor of this establishment. As we waited for the show to start, we were able to enjoy the musical accompaniment of many a metallic band, such as Rob Zombie (and very fittingly so).  The story is about a group of survivors, as they go from place to place, simply trying to get away from the zombies, for even the smallest amount of time. For the most part the characters in the play are supposed to fulfill various stereotypes, such as the prissy-high maintenance, the nerd, and the dumb but survival-focused-macho-man. This play’s story line was unique in that this group of survivors decided that the best plan of action was to make a musical event called Oktoberfest to attract a large group of hippies that could work at their compound, that they could live off of, with out fear of the zombie menace. But things go haywire, the zombies come and they die in a depressing whirl of drugs, alcohol, love and fear. I was surprised at the how well it was written, and the interactions between the different characters were very real, despite the use of the stereotypes. To me this artwork resonates a lot, since one of the characteristics of the play was the reference to many famous nerd culture icons (of which I am very familiar with). So in this way this artwork connected with me on a level that most other works do not. This artwork is probably the most irrelevant of my art encounters, in relation to the readings and experiences I’ve had in the Macaulay “Arts in the City” class.

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Accompaniment?: My very good friend Emily Goforth,

Today I went to the Macaulay Honors College SING event, and saw Hunter College’s musical. This art form falls under the category of theater since it was a musical. I had many friends participating in the production of this musical. I also had seen the musical in its development stages, where it was being written, and where it seemed that it would be a flop. So I had a great deal of sentimental attachment to seeing this play, and seeing it through to what it would become. Luckily and somewhat surprisingly it all came out very well in the end, better then I ever could have fathomed. The theme of the musical was New York City and it started out with Oliver Houser, singing an introduction song, which welcomed the audience to the city.  The city is full of hipsters, businessmen and foreigners and they all joined Oliver in song, and in welcoming us to the big apple. Oliver in this play is somewhat the unstated narrator that is at times seems to be playing the part of director. At the end of the song a group of tourists come on to the stage, they show how little they know the city and their excitement to be there, and they are off (and off stage). The succeeding scenes show how all of the above stated tourists are dragged off by one of the stereotypes that I mentioned, hipster, businessman, and foreigner. The musical is supposed to be a comedy, so thus it is hilarious from start to finish, through the use of excessively strong language, many unexpected twists and heavy irony. I’m sure that this play would appeals to many sorts of people because of its diverse use of humor that suits many different senses of humor. I found that the songs were quite well written, which is surprising for the amount of time allotted for the actual writing of the musical. Though in the same stroke it isn’t very surprising since I know these people who wrote it, and I also know that they are very musically talented. To me this artwork put the city under a critical lens and poked fun at it. This artwork literally encompassed the city and embodied the essence (or the perceived essence) of the city. This artwork doesn’t relate to anything that we have done in out class. But it is what the class is all about, since it is art in the city, and what more it is about the city.

Name of Artist: Shekeima Dockery, Prahelika Gadtaula, Gabriela Geselowitz, Hunter Gross, Tome Hart, Christine Hirt, Oliver Houser, Linda Huang, Henry Kramer, Michael Lanci, Genevieve Mcnamara, Cynthia Perez, Shanika Powell, Jason Sloan, Ashley van der Grinten

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Date of Work: November 17, 2011

Materials/Medium: stage, musical, singing, acting, visual props, and background

Duration/Running Time: 30 min

Genre: Musical Comedy

Venue: Macaulay Honors College Building West 67^th street New York, NY

People (where there any with you?): Chrisitna McEachern, Macaulay Honors Scholar

This work of art was a play and as such falls under the category of art form know as theater. The set that they use in the play is very simple, and switches between two setting, the backyard of the couples house, and inside their house. Threw the use of these very bright lights and some palm trees they give the entire play the feeling that it takes place in a desolate desert, and it does. The play in its most reduced form was a story about the relationship between a soldier and his wife. How they struggle to stay together, as time and the army, change them and pull them apart. But the play really spices the storytelling up by expressing half of the play thru the dreams of Gabriela, the army-wife. Her dreams mirror her actual struggles in the relationship she has with Benito, her husband. They did so thru two characters Cat, her house cat, and Coyote. In her dream these animals could talk (they could even talk outside of her dreams), and their animalism only accentuated the married couples struggles with each other, the push and pull that they have on each other. Not to mention the magical realism, that is prevalent in many Hispanic works, makes the story very unique and adds extra layers of meaning. The magic realism is usually expressed through the moon, who in this play is a mysterious man who plays the fiddle. He represents the life that Gabriela could live without her husband and the life she used to live without him. Throughout the play Gabriela converses and is given advice to by the Moon, and almost seduced by him. The only way that we can accept this, is by simply going along with the story, as is necessary when watching, or reading anything with magical realism. I personally very much enjoyed the incorporation of the Latino-American culture, such as the Spanglish and the ideas about men. It is a very realistic depiction of people who actually are Latino in the United States. To me this artwork has significance because of the emphasis that it puts on the importance of dreams. I personally have always put a lot of importance in my dreams. I feel that they can give me insight on my subconscious thoughts, much in the same way as Gabriela’s dreams in the play give to the audience.  This play somewhat relates to the play that we saw with the class Freud’s Last Session.  That is since Freud, like I am, was a firm believer that dreams could be analyzed to reveal the subconscious of an individual.

Written by: Jose Rivera

Title: References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot

Date of Work: The play was written in 2000

Materials/Medium: Play, visual and oral performance

Duration: The play was performed at Hunter College from November 3-4, 2011

Genre:Venue/Location: Hunter College at the Frederick Lowe Theatre

I saw this play with an other macaulay scholar, Christina McEachern

A friend of mine invited me to go to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see this band, MAKU Soundsystem, and I was immediately intrigued because they are an New York based Colombian band, comprised of mainly Colombian immigrants. This intrigued me for reasons having to do with heritage, since I happen to be half Colombian. But they were beyond my expectations. At their set the entire band would stand on stage, which is large at seven members, very reminiscent of other Colombian folk bands, or even mariachi bands. It made me very nostalgic of the time I’ve spent in Colombia with family. But the band was also very unlike what I remember of Colombia. They’re sound is very modern and ‘edgy’, they make a lot of use out of their synthesizer to make a very psychedelic sound. But in the same stroke they’re sound is very characteristically Colombian, what with their extensive use of guitar and gaitas, which is a bagpipe-like instrument often used in Colombian music. Also though I cannot verbally express why, like most of other Colombian music, MAKU’s music is incredibly danceable. Its the type of music that you can feel with your entire body, and possess your body to move and sway.During the musical performance, MAKU had a projector going on that showed a video of Colombia. It showed streets in small town, the every present mountains, and people. The film was filmed at setting that could be most closely described as the ‘glow’ feature on a mac computer, which lent the video a very surreal aspect, as if you were in a dream. The sky appeared overly bright and the streets had a very vivid feel to them. In general I was nearly convinced that I had be some how teleported to Colombia. Which was probably the intention of the band, since they are all Colombian immigrants, who are probably simple homesick for their country. To me this music is a way to get in touch with my heritage with out having to leave the country, and it is a way in which I can be enveloped in emotion and simply live and dance.

If this art relates to anything we have done or read in class it would be the Walt Whitman poems. Walt Whitman is famous for celebrating the common man and everyday life. MAKU Soundsystem expresses this very same sentiment, not so much thru the words of their music but in their sound. There is something very human about their music, partially because it is so spontaneous, very much like jazz, and partially because the entire band acts as the chorus, giving a very community feeling in their sound. And their music is always a celebration, it is so lively and fun, that is possess the body of most listeners.

INFO

Members: Lilian Conde (vocals), Juan Ospina A.K.A Prodigio Arribetiao (vocals, bass), Camilo Rodriguez (guitar, gaitas), Robert Stinger (trombone), Lety El Naggar (clarinet), Pipe Quiroz (synthesizer), Andres Jimenez (drums)

Musical Group: MAKU Soundsystem

Formed: 2009-2010 to ongoing

Date of Performance: October 21, 2011

Materials/Medium: On top of simply the abovce stated instruments and sound, the group used a projector to display recordings of different places to go along with the music. For the most part as I could tell it was all footage of various places in Colombia.

Duration: 1½ hour

Genre: Music- Folk, Punk, Funk, Rock, Roots, Jazz

Location: Brooklyn Academy of Music

People?: I was with six other people, two Macaulay honors college students, Christina McCechern and Shanika Powell, one Thomas hunter scholar student, Margo, and a friend of a friend and his parents.

I was unable to get any pictures of this performance but this is their website. http://www.myspace.com/makusoundsystem

This is a good example of what I saw at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDNDRa3_oJM&feature=related