Thursday, November 17, 1983mie Daily Tar Heel7
WEEKEND
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Coke adds life
AF AM celebrates its 1 5th anniversary this
By CLARICE BICKFORD
Staff Writer
The curriculum in African and Afro-American
Studies celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.
The curriculum was initiated in 1969 in response to
demands from black students to create a program of
study responding to the needs of blacks and other in
terested students.
Although the department started small, it has
undergone a recent surge of expansion. This semester
there are two-and-a-half times the number of students
than there were in the entire department population four
years ago, said Colin A. Palmer, Afro-American Studies
department chairman.
Palmer credits the departments survival to good
teachers and support from administrators. Even though
'Fanny and Alexander9
an exceptional blend
of the real and unreal
By STEVE CARR
Staff Writer
Until last summer, Ingmar Bergman
shared the title of greatest living film
director with Luis Bunuel, a subversive
Spaniard whose pet peeve was the mores
of the middle class. The two men could
not have been stranger bedfellows
Bunuel was wry, objective, mocking;
Bergman was painfully subjective, plung
ing the viewer into an emotional whirl
pool of ambiguities and conflicts.
Review
Even though the two are stylistically
different, their essential themes are quite
similar. Both deal with man's quest for
religion and God. Both are adept as
creating an allegory overflowing with
contemporary meaning and images. The
two also seem to find a sort of haven in
their childhood experience.
So perhaps Bergman's new film, Fanny
and Alexander, is not all that different
from what he has been doing for the past
30 or 40 years. Perhaps Bergman is not
even aware of the similarities between his
and Bunuel's work. But Fanny and Alex
ander comes across as being so light
hearted, almost satirical at points, that it
seems Bergman is making a tribute to
Bunuel a eulogy to a man whose death
this past summer went largely unnoticed.
The film centers around two children's
perception of their family at the turn of
the century. When their father, the head
of a repertory theatre company, dies
from overwork and exhaustion; their
mother marries a stern bishop.
(From left to right) Bruce Mashburn, Ben Marsh, Renee Lutz, and Ashlye Marshall pose near the Old Well for a Coca
Cola commercial being produced by the RTVMP department.
the average grades in AFAM are lower than comparable
i grades in History and Political Science, the quality of the
teachers attracts students, he said.
The curriculum also receives strong support from
Associate Dean Hayden Renwick of the College of Arts
and Sciences, and Assistant Dean Joyce Clayton of the
General College. They recommend that students take
AFAM courses, Palmer said. Significant support also
comes from Dean Samuel R. Williamson, Jr., of the
College of Arts and Sciences.
Palmer said the curriculum is for all students. The cur
riculum is like any other on campus, transcending race
and sex. The emphasis on blacks issues is the only
feature distinguishing it from other departments, he
said.
The anniversary celebration began in October. Special
lectures given thus far have been by Professor Robert
Up to this point, the movie is quintes
sential Bergman in its non-development.
The characters blossom in a sort of lazy,
picaresque manner. But something starts
to happen about midway through the
film. Layers of reality are peeled away.
The story starts to weave itself in the sort
of imaginative way a child would tell it.
The characters, the questions and the
conflicts are still present, but the question
of what is real and what is not is stretched
in such a way as Bunuel would have
done. To disclose anything else about the
plot would, spoil its refraction of reality.
As usual, Bergman elicits small
miracles from his performers. Pernilla
All win as Fanny and Bertil Guve as Alex
ander are especially good, Both children
have a tremendous ability to communi
cate a certain innocence and mystery that
comes with being young. They are,
however, only part of a grand ensemble
of superb actors, some relative new
comers and some Bergman stalwarts.
Fanny and Alexander is his last film:
There probably could not have been
another way to get the money needed to
finance the picture, because this has to be
one of Bergman's most sumptuous
movies. There is a- careful, almost ob
sessive attention to detail present,, from
the mouth-watering banquets right down
to the intricate lace designs on dresses.
And all this Stroheimesque extravagance
is captured by long-time Bergman
cameraman Sven Nykvist.. The contrast
between the rich, warm, almost cluttered
feel of Fanny and Alexander's grand
mother's house and the bleak, esoteric
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Emiiie Ekdahl (Ewa Froling) and Edvard Vergerus (Jan Malmsjo) face a
collapsing marriage in the film 'Fanny and Alexander.''
emptiness of the bishop's house is extra
ordinary. - , '
. Some of the images are very stunning
and very atypical Bergman. The bishop is
particularly despicable another
similarity to Bunuel and the punish
ment that befalls him is both extreme and
surreal. Alexander comes into contact
with God at a puppet shop. The masks
start to shake violently, but that image is
only a prank to be peeled away into
another, stranger level of reality.
But while Fanny and Alexander is
another Bergman triumph, it seems far
from his final statement. Instead, it seems
to point to a new period in Bergman's
DTHJeff Neuville
year
Hill (University of California at Los Angeles) on "The
Search for Marcus Garvey," Professor Ephrain Isaac
(Princeton) on "The Symbolism of Ethiopia in Afro
American Religious and Political Thought," Professor
Franklin Knight (Johns Hopkins University) on the
theme of the anniversary, "Africa and Afro-America:
the Legacies of a Link," and Professor Sylvia Jacobs
(North Carolina Central University) on "Afro-American
Missionaries in Africa During the 19th and 20th Cen
turies." Events commemorating the anniversary will continue
through April. Information about events is available at
the department of African and Afro-American Studies
in 401 Alumni Building.
Palmer said this year marks 15 years of achievement
and a way of looking toward promise in the future.
"career. While Bunuel mocked aesthetic
sensibilities by blurring reality, Bergman
finds that the blur can complement his
characters. Some of the events make no
sense unless they are put in the context of
a child's point of view.
Fanny and Alexander is a Bergman
treat. It retains an artistic sensitivity to
the material and characters, yet it is quite
shocking at times in its departure from
Bergman's earner films.
Whether or not Bergman has fully ab
sorbed Bunuel's perspective remains to be
seen. But he has embarked on a wonder
fully fantastic style that needs to go
beyond one film.
Glee Club 's concert
aimed toward students
By SHERYL THOMAS
Staff Writer
The UNC Women's Glee Club will pre
sent a special noon concert today in Per
son Recital Hall. The 44-voice choir, under
the direction of Michael Tamte-Horan,
will present a variety of musical Works.
"The program will consist of standard
musical literature for women's choir,"
Tamte-Horan said. Selections from the
Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary
periods will be included.
The concert is a divergence from the
regular Tuesday evening and Sunday after
noon concerts sponsored by the UNC
department of music. "We thought that
by giving a concert at noon, when students
are still on campus, we could draw a larger
.student audience," Tamte-Horan said.
The concert is aimed at reaching a general
student audience, although all faculty and
staff are welcome and encouraged to at
tend, he said.
Not only will the time slot of Thursday's
concert be different, but the content of the
concert also will be a bit different. The
tone of the concert promises to be lighter
than the evening concerts, in anticipation
of a largely student audience. "The con
cert includes something that everyone will
enjoy," Tamte-Horan said.
The concert will include .Michael
Haydn's Laudate pueri Dominum for tre
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Jasorvand the Nashville Scorchers mix rock, bluegrass, country
and soul to create a daring original American sound.
Jason & the Scorchers
mix music styles to get
American musical stew
By J. BONASIA
Staff Writer
"Don't you see? This whole land,
the whole South, is cursed, and all of
us who derive from it, whom it ever
suckled, white and black both, lie
under the curse . . . Don't you see?"
William Faulkner, "The Bear"
Jason Ringenberg, leader of Jason
and the Nashville Scorchers, sees it.
On Fervor, the Scorchers' second
mini-record, he expresses his unique
and complex vision of the Southland,
complete "with allusions to the CivU
War, the rich soil and Christianity.
Fervor is a disturbing, uplifting six
song follow-up to the Scorchers' 1982
debut LP, Reckless Country Soul.
Review
Defining the Scorchers' sound pre
sents a very real problem. Its recipe
calls for a kind of American musical
stew country, rock, bluegrass and
soul all stirred into a pot and
brought to an uncontrolable boil. The
Scorchers transcend such current
candy-coated rockabilly nostalgia acts
as the Stray Cats. Their lyrics are
thoughtful, and the tunes are per
formed with ... well, fervor.
The record opens with "Hot Nights
.in Georgia," a guitar rev-up with
R.E.M.'s. Michael Stipe accompany
ing Jason's whining, nasal vocals.
Jason presents a landscape where a
man's shattered hopes are inextricably
bound up in a much larger history:
"The. cotton burns as Sherman
marchs toward youDestroying every
drop of sweat you've knownMust
progress slaughter all who stand
among theirFruits that they've
grown?"
ble choir, strings and organ. Laudate pueri
Dominum is a sacred piece in Latin from
the Classical period.
The group also will perform a Contem
porary work titled Fragments from the
Mass, which Tamte-Horan described as "a
shortened Mass in English including the
five sections of the Mass proper."
The choir will close with "God's Bot
tles" from Randall Thompson's
Americana. " 'God's Bottles' is a fun and
different piece, whose text was taken from
a leaflet published by the Women's
Temperance Union at the turn of the cen
tury," Tamte-Horan said. The gist of the
text is that "God's bottles" are apples and
grapes, which contain sweet juices. The
lyric encourages listeners to sink their teeth
into God's bottles and drink his sweet
juice. But, says the rhyme, some men take
the juice and make alcohol out of it and
put it in glass bottles. "We" says the
Women's Temperance Union, "will drink
out of God's bottles."
In addition, the Women's Glee Club
will perform a German piece by Max
Reger from the Romantic period, and
another sacred piece that Tamte-Horan
termed light-hearted and cheerful.
If today's concert is a success, Tamte
Horan said, the music department may
schedule more noon concerts in order to
highlight and spotlight other student
groups in the department.
' it
ft
The next song, "Pray for Me Mama
(I'm a Gypsy Now)," is a tragic ballad
in the country music tradition. Warner
Hodges chips in some lovely, ringing
guitar licks while Jason relates the
pathetic tale of a man who returns to
the grave of the girlfriend he shot 10
years earlier.
It's been said that this , record
doesn't approach the romping intensi
ty of a Scorchers' concert, but that
would be hard to guess from the two
tracks sandwiched in the middle of
Fervor. "I Can't Help Myself" was
' written by Tim Krekel, leader of the
Sluggers. The Scorchers do a burning
rendition of it. Bass player Jeff John
son and drummer Perry Baggs provide
a relentless one-two rhythmic punch,
which carries over into "Help, There's
. a Fire," a rockabilly original which is
reminiscent of some old Johnny Bur
nette material.
"Harvest Moon" is a lilting, mid
tempo soul searcher. The band pro
vides a simple melodic backdrop
while Jason presents ambiguous
puzzles f love and redemption.
The record closes with "Both Sides
of the Line," a rock'n'roll song Jason
co-wrote with Stipe. Again we find
Jason grappling with questions of sin
and salvation, with Bagg's distant
drums propelling Warner's high
powered guitar lines at a breakneck
pace.
Released by a relatively obscure
band on a relatively obscure label,
Praxis, Fervor will probably go largely
unnoticed by most xadio programmers
and record buyers. Nevertheless,
Jason and the Nashville Scorchers is a
young American band with a true
sense of its own musical heritage and
roots. Let all the British fashion
groups put that in their pipes and
smoke it.