The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, March 31, 19889
9 S vW4K-K-
Celebrating music
through family ties
By KAREN ZIMMER
sranwmer
it's all in the family, or close to
it anyway.
On April 8 and 9, a family of five
will play international folk on 13
instruments and sing tales of the
new world in 12 languages at the
ArtsCenter.
The Small Family Orchestra
consists of founder Elise Witt,
Elise's sister Mary Witt, Mary's
husband Rick Ruggies, Rick's life
long friend Steve Harris and
Steve's neighbor and friend Beth
Heidelberg.
"Our getting together was a
kind of organic process," Elise Witt
says. The family started playing
for fun and gradually became a
professional group. They've stuck
together for eight years - even
though they've often been packed
together in a small van on their
tours.
"Traveling in a van brings out
the worst and the best in people."
Witt says. "We have been able to
work out our differences because
we're family. You're with your
family, whether you like it or not,
so you'd better make it work. Mind
you, l like it."
But the group's unity is not only
due to family , ties, its members
also share in their musical versa
tility and their views on today's
world
Quite a few of their songs deal
with contemporary issues. "Music
in most cultures was traditionally
used to express celebration or
sorrow or things happening in a
community," Witt says. Negro
spirituals are a good example, she
says, because they were all about
slavery, escape, or religion, and
carried significant social meaning
at the time of their creation.
Witt says music is a gentle way
to talk about social problems. "But
we dont want to hit people over
the head with issues," Witt says.
"A lot of our music is just fun."
The band plays upbeat tunes,
like swing and jazz, which Witt
considers a middle ground for
people who crave music for enter
tainment only.
"Here (in the U.S.) it's really
funny: people separate music from
other things in life," Witt says. "I
see things as being linked. Music
is my life." And like life, it is varied.
in its music, the Small Family
Orchestra gathers eclectic ele
ments from around the world.
This international orientation is
largely a result of Elise Witt's own
background: born in Switzerland
of German parents, Elise later
moved to the States. She speaks
perfect German, English and
French (which she studied at UNO
and sings in many more languages.
Lately, the band has focused on
new Southern folk music and
Nueva Cancion from Latin America,
a result of a recent trip to Nica
ragua. Nueva Cancion is based on
traditional musical patterns, but
deals with contemporary issues.
New Southern folk deals with the
1 ""' J. Wi.
The Small Family Orchestra will perform at ArtsCenter April 8 and 9
with the Southern scene, and
everything that personally affects
people, from love to food.
One song, "The Cackling Hen
Cafe," is about the importance of
nourishment in Southern life.
Another, "Cities of Gold," is about
leaving the mountains to move to
the city. It sounds like Appalachian
Gospel singing. Witt has to hum
the tune to recall one of the song's
poetic lines: "You can lose your
very soul living in the cities of
gold."
"Many people have told us that
they were very moved by our
music, because it expressed things
which they could personally relate
to," Witt says.
But if people like the band's
performances, it is also largely
because the musicians are excep
tionally talented. Every member
of the orchestra sings, and plays
about three instruments. Their
versatility allows them to exper
iment with musical themes in a
way that other groups don't.
One of the innovative pieces in
the band's repertoire is a clarinet
fiddle duet. Also new is the use of
French horn, clarinet, flute and
violin in folk songs. The orchestra
even uses French horn to under
score swing and jazz themes, in
string band songs, French horn and
flute smoothen the percussive
effect of plucked and picked string
instruments, forming a kind of
blanket over the usually harsher
tones.
Musical diversity is enhanced by
original choices of vocal harmo
nies, which range from Andrews
Sisters trios to a cappella
ensembles.
But what really adds the finish
ing touch to the Small Family's
music is the electricity of the
musicians' enthusiasm. "We really
have a good time when we play,"
Witt says.
. As you may have guessed, the
only way to get a real feel for the
whole is to go to a performance.
"The performance is the real fun
experience," Witt says.
General College
When pressed to explain the
change in her personality, an
unkempt Meg lies to Paige about
her depression. Confident that
she's cheered her roommate up,
Paige leaves to meet Kirk who
asked to wait downstairs.
During an appointment with her
gynecologist. Mary-Catherine
expresses concern about heredi
tary pregnancy complications,
explaining that her mother had
two miscarriages before she and
her twin were born.
After Anne and Courtney hold
an early morning snort session,
Jason is all too aware of Courtney's
unusual vigor.
When Mary-Catherine stops by
Sarah's hospital room, she is
astounded to find her best friend
is blind. She is quickly relieved to
find Sarah is coping because she
and Joseph have reconciled.
Brendan surprises Billy with the
news of the wedding by asking
him to be his best man.
After Meg finds herself unable
to defend herself against a group
of guys' insensitive comments, she
returns to her room only to replay
the events before the rape in her
head.
When Anne visits Tessa's to try
to get a "loaner" gram of coke.
Trevor tells her that her toot is
going to cost her. As she leaves
he smiles, confident she'll be back.
Tune in next week for more
physics theory on STVs General
College on Carolina Cable 11 at 11
p.m. Monday through Thursday.
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