Category: Music

REVIEW: Folk Fest Night One

Angela Lin Leave a comment

Folk music is a broad spectrum, and there is no better showcase of that fact than The Ark’s Folk Fest. Folk is a process, an evolutionary music that is about the future as much as the past, all in the present moment. With Willy Porter emceeing the event again, he made the night go seamlessly as he shared wonderful stories and songs before introducing the next act.

 

Photographs by Morgan Hale

Elliott BROOD kicked off the 43rd Annual Folk Fest with some very high energy. The Canadian group gave us the typical love song and bleak song, but their unique twist on it made the music refreshing nonetheless. Rainbow Girls followed, contrasting Elliott BROOD nicely. They gave me a postmodern jukebox vibe, as the three singers crowded around the microphone and sang their mesmerizing harmonies. Their extremely clever lyrics, especially in their “love” song, “Compassion to the nth Degree,” really captured the personality of the trio, proving that their music really tackles the pursuits of social justice. With a simple guitar, upright bass, or harmonica, Rainbow Girls really captured the human experience with their acoustic sound.

 

 

 

Cedric Burnside was the third act, and probably one of the performers that stood out the most to me. His unorthodox hill country blues music was very percussive and rhythmic, and his stellar guitar skills had a stunning repetition and upbeat tempo that made you sway and tap your toes. He was very modest in his stage presence and did what he came to Ann Arbor to do—play amazing music. The Lone Bellow wrapped up the first half with music that was inventive and full of imagination. The trio also had stunning harmonies and a rich sound, particularly in their encore, “Loretta,” a chilling and touching song about lead singer Zach William’s daughter.

After the intermission, Ingrid Michaelson came out. Her bubbly, lively personality resulted in her telling many stories and laughing during songs, especially when she forgot how her song “Miss America” began and she needed someone in the audience to Google the lyrics for her. Joined by Allie Moss onstage, with just a ukulele and a banjo, the usual upbeat pop take on her songs were toned down, to make it more appropriate for a folk fest. Nonetheless, she made the audience come alive through laughter and performed beautifully.

 

Calexico + Iron & Wine was the headliner, the final act of a long night. They knew they couldn’t compete with Ingrid’s jokes and personality, so they went about with their set. There were fascinating keyboard and upright bass solos, and the mix of sounds created a soulful and melancholic atmosphere that ended the night that was filled with fabulous folk music.

PREVIEW: Ann Arbor Folk Fest

hcobrien Leave a comment

This Friday, January 31st, The Ark is hosting its 43rd annual folk fest at Hill Auditorium. The concert lineup on Friday includes artists Elliott BROOD, Rainbow Girls, Cedric Burnside, The Lone Bellow, Ingrid Michaelson, and Calexico and Iron & Wine. On both Friday and Saturday, Hill will be filled with folk music from 6:30pm onward, showcasing up and coming talent as well as established artists in the folk scene. The concert is an annual fundraiser for the Ark, and is always a popular concert:)

For More Information Visit:

https://theark.org/folk-festival

Tickets can be purchased online, at the Michigan Union Ticket Office, and The Ark

REVIEW: Minnesota Orchestra

Joseph Patrick Raney Leave a comment

This last Saturday, the Minnesota Orchestra, led by Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, delivered a lovely and pulsed performance of some of Jean Sibelius’s most beloved works. This sprawling orchestra shone under the lights of the Hill and filled the auditorium with a melancholic music perfect for a January concert.

Making its UMS premiere was Sibelius’s 1990 work, “Snöfrid” (which translates to Snow Peace). A part of an unfinished opera by the late composer, Snöfrid is accompanied by a poem encompassing the love that Gunnar, a young warrior, has for a female spirit in the woods. This lovely piece was accompanied by the UMS Choral Union, and translated lyrics were provided for the audience members. This being said, the words and meanings of Snöfrid seemed to not fit the context when separated from its opera, and I would have preferred that we weren’t delivered the slightly disconcerting translation of Snöfrid’s poetic movements.

The true highlight of this concert was the performance of Sibelius’s “Concerto in d minor,” featuring the talented American-born Finnish violinist Elina Vähälä. Her presence was truly striking as she ventured onto center stage in her red performance dress, and to bear witness to her poised and polished playing was utterly captivating. It’s always a precious thing to see an artist truly tuned into their craft, as if the only one in the room.

Sibelius’s Symphony no. 5, played for the second half of the concert, led differently than the likes of his Concerto, and while the music seemingly had less predictable direction (melody-wise), there were swells of triumph and hone-ins of delicate moments.

This vein of music not only provides a lovely listening experience, but a lively visual demonstration of Osmo Vänskä’s unique European conducting style. The complexity of this music easily allows an audience member to find themselves being immersed into this crafted music. All things considered, this music of Sibelius has an unpredictable melodic direction, and often times I felt lost amidst the come-and-go musical ideas. However, as the work of Sibelius often cuts its own path, the sounds of Finnish musical heritage seemingly contrasts the more widely-known sound of Western classical music, such as the works of Mozart. This musical experience, ultimately, was an immersive and edifying time that deserves admiration and celebration.

PREVIEW: Minnesota Orchestra

Joseph Patrick Raney Leave a comment

On Saturday, January 25th at 8:00 PM, join the Minnesota Orchestra at the Hill Auditorium as it returns for its first UMS performance since its 1972 debut in an all-Sibelius program, including the stunning and rarely heard  Snöfrid accompanied by the UMS Choral Union.

US-born Finnish Violinist Elina Vähälä will be making her UMS debut with Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, which features stunning technique and uncommonly beautiful melodies. The music of a melancholic winter makes this program a perfect concert for the end of January!

REVIEW: 58 Greene Presents: Greenie Night Live

Emma Pinchak Leave a comment

 

While several other a cappella groups performed last weekend, 58 Greene was the only one that mattered.

EnCore performing.

Now I guess I might be a little biased given I know and would die for Teddi Reynolds, one of the members of the group, but by the audience’s hoots and hollers throught the night I think it can be said they were also objectively good. Paired with two fabulous dancing groups (EnCore and FunKtion), the performance was smooth and stylish and properly varied. The song selections were a bit conservative, tending towards the classic, softer side, but that was nice. Flashy, chorerography-heavy performance is clearly not their style. In most of their songs they stand in a group, moving rhythmically, but not dancing. Instead they prefer to let their lyrical power enthrall the crowd. Not exactly reminscent of Pitch Perfect, but that is an unreasonable expectation for groups of all styles.

My only real critique of the performance is the lack of understanding some of the members have about their vocal range. While Scott McMillan’s performance of “Slow Dancing in the Dark” was wonderfully sweet and rich in tone, he had trouble reaching some of the high notes. I would have loved to hear him perform the song with pitch adjustments to better fit his range, or another song entirely. A few others had this problem in some spots, particularly with the higher pitches. While it is great to showcase one’s range, it is more important to focus on emphasizing the tones that come naturally. I could not begin to estimate the number of men I’ve heard singing in a falsetto voice when they definitely should not.

I was supremely impressed with the variety of voices within the group, from Danny Kim’s soft, soft high tones to Sarah Kleppe’s perfect mixing with Desirae Nelson’s voice in their “No Peace” duet. Teddi Reynolds and Rikvah Levine both gave me the shivers with their soulful selections. There were voices deep and high, singing like the soft wind and like the crashing sea. 58 Greene must have an awfully harsh audition process, given how talented their members are. Despite this assumption, for a flash of a second at the end I had a vision of joining the group myself. Then I remembered my non-speaking role in the eighth grade production of Mulan (I was the cricket) and promptly forgot this dream.

If you are more talented than I in the vocal arts, do try your hand at auditioning for the group. They are having winter auditions for Bass and Tenor parts on January 10th, 6-10pm in room 1405 of East Quad. Break a leg!

REVIEW: Greenie Night Live

Joseph Patrick Raney 1 Comment

This last Saturday, 58 Greene’s diverse ensemble delivered Greenie Night Live, an amateur yet earnest a cappella performance with a unique set list that ranged from R&B to Alternative Indie. To start off the night, University of Michigan dance group Encore performed a dynamic set of choreographed dances to some tastefully layered tracks. Seeing as how this event was held in a lecture room of East Hall, having the space of a larger stage would have perhaps served the quality of this dance performance well.

The MC’s of this event tried to fill in the show’s gaps with repartee that most certainly had potential to be funny, yet often fell flat from a seeming unpreparedness or lack of chemistry.

I go to all my events with hopes of being blown away. All things considered, while 58 Greene has some great sound and even greater potential, the unfortunate acoustics of the lecture hall accompanied by a muddled sound-mixing often made the lead vocals feel rather lost amidst the remaining back-up members. Alongside this, a number of arrangements often felt rather imbalanced. I was really excited to learn that Joji’s Slow Dancing in the Dark was being performed, and while there was a commendable presence of supporting voices in the ensemble, the leading soloist’s  painful belting and flat delivery made it rather difficult to sit through.

On an extremely positive note, however, I found myself blown away by the smooth and sultry timbre of leading vocalist Teddi Reynolds in an arrangement of Jazmine Sullivan’s 2008 hit, Bust Your Windows. This was undoubtably the highpoint of the event as a whole, due not only to the killer vocalist, but also the well-synchronized supporting ensemble. This piece demonstrated the absolute potential that 58 Greene has when a strong vocalist is leading, which many of the other pieces lacked.

Ultimately, my conclusion is that a great number of the talented female ensemble members were often let down by a lackluster male foundation, often noticeable in the bass parts, and most certainly self-evident in the outperformance of the male soloists by the quality female soloists. I’m willing to reason that Greenie Night Live may simply have been an off-night for certain members of 58 Greene; however, since this was a ticketed event, I can only afford so much generosity in my evaluation of this amateur ensemble’s quality. Considering the strengths and the definite potential of 58 Greene, raising the expected standard for greater vocal talent and proficiency in leading vocalists could really carry this ensemble far.