6The Daily Tar HeelTuesday, October 10, 1989
Jazz man from outer space puts on cosmic
- Sun Ra and his Arkestra delivered an
'occasionally riveting but extremely
humorous and entertaining double set
of "cosmo-equational" big band music
Sunday night at the Cat's Cradle.
Ra, who of course is from Saturn via
Alabama and Philadelphia, is here to
save the world by allowing the universe
to communicate its truths through his
music, and Sunday night's perform
ance was another in a series of enlight
ening services that has spanned some
30 years.
Ordinarily, the benevolent extrater
restrial wears a bent coat hanger on his
head for the purposes of receiving trans-
Soprano
The Ensemble Courant opened its
seventh concert season this weekend at
Hanes Art Center with an impressive
performance of chamber music by G.F.
Handel.
The members of the group, which is
UNC's professional music society for
performance on original instruments,
are Elaine Funaro, harpsichord; Penel
ope Jensen, soprano; Ruth Johnsen,
violin; Robbie Link, violone; Richard
Luby, violin; Rebecca Troxler, flute;
Brent Wissick, cello, viola da gamba;
and Ann Woodward, viola.
Joining them this weekend were
guest performers Sarah Davol, oboe;
and Claire Fontijn, flute; along with
violinists Joan Brickley, Edith Gettes
and Alexandra Eddy.
The group opened the program with
Handel's Concerto Grosso in D Major,
"The right choice was there when I
needed it. I made that choice, and now I'm
a physician. My alma mater may be just
right for you. It's your choice."
Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara
School of Medicine
Guadalajara, Mexico
The International Choice
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r
Matthew McCafferty
Concert
missions from outer space, but his orders
Sunday night were to "hold all calls"
during the show, and he sported a con
siderably more conservative ritual
headdress.
Looking and behaving like a cross
between a Tibetan monk and Redd
Foxx, Ra waddled at front and center
stage, sang and played keyboards. At
times he waved his arms ceremoni
Gretchen Davis
Concert
Op. 6, No. 5. The rhythmic character of
the first movement drew the audience's
attention immediately, and it was held
through the second movement charac
terized by almost perpetual motion. In
the third movement the style changed
from Baroque to Romantic, as the har
monies appealed to the audience's
emotions. The next movement reverted
to the original rhythmic idea, and the
fifth movement a charming, waltz
ing minuet ended the concerto.
The next group of pieces consisted
of "Susse Stille, sanfte Quelle," "In den
angenehmen Buschen" and "Flam-
"Doesn't
every
Pre-med
deserve
a choice?"
Tom Garcia, M.D. (UAG 75)
Cardiologist
Houston, Texas
highlight
rffit the
ruMMimini
The 9th Annual
Mmooty Career Fair
Tuesday, October 10
12:30-5:00 Great Hall
Sponsored by University Career Planning and Placement Services
Division of Student Affairs
ously in front of the group, but it was
hard to discern whether he was con
ducting the group, bestowing his bless
ings upon the audience or simply exor
cising the stage of its evil earthly spir
its. "I could have enjoyed myself on this
planet If the people had been alive."
These were Ra's words, but the audi
ence was not buying; Ra and his Ark
estra were obviously enjoying them
selves as they created their own genre
of African swing, complete with bril
liantly calculated, dissonant horn ar
rangements. At first listen, the music occasion
of fine chamber music performance
mende Rose," from Handel's set of
nine German arias and featured so
prano Penelope Jensen.
Jensen sang more than impressively.
Her tone facility with language and
melismas, projection, ornamentation,
articulation and expression were al
most faultless. In "Flammende Rose,"
there was a marvelous interplay be
tween flute and voice, with the melodic
lines crossing, mixing and duplicating
each other. Jensen manages to treat her
voice as though it were a Baroque in
strument, and she maintains an incred
ible consistency of tone no matter what
her dynamic level. It's pure joy to hear
her sing, and her voice is especially
well-suited to this genre.
After the three German arias, Jensen
explained that they "couldn't resist"
doing "everyone's favorite aria," which
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SEE LT. REED AT THE CAREER FAIR IN
THE STUDENT UNION ON OCTOBER 10-11
OR CALL 1-800-662-7419 FOR MORE
INFORMATION.
NAVY OFFICER tens
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LJ
o
ally recalled the high school marching
band messing around before the direc
tor showed up for rehearsal. Upon closer
inspection, however, it is revealed that
there is a mathematical method to the
apparent musical chaos.
The more intense, manic tunes were
reminiscent of some of Jaco Pastori
ous' latest works. Pastorious was ar
guably the greatest and most influential
bassist who ever lived, but he descended
into psychosis and manic depression
during his fatal bout with alcoholism
and drug abuse. His last compositions
and recordings have a disturbing, fren
zied quality that reflected his deterio
turned out to be "Meine Seele," from
the same set as the others. Vocally it is
a less challenging piece, but the the
matic material in the aria is the same as
in the opening movement of the Trio
Sonata in F, which was to follow. Be
sides making sense musically in the
context of the program, it was a definite
pleasure to hear even more of Jensen's
voice.
The Trio Sonata opened with an
intricate contrapuntal dialogue between
the two violins, communicated expertly
to the audience by Richard Luby and
Ruth Johnsen, with Elaine Funaro play
ing a continuo accompaniment on the
harpsichord. The middle movements
made very effective use of sudden,
dramatic pauses in the music, and kept
the audience's attention by the con
stantly changing tempo. The final
lorrow.
Navy.
-J
rating mental health.
The Arkestra, also driven by a radi
cal bassist (a very young musician who
was arguably the group's most consis
tent player) evoked similar sensations
at times, but never lost the band's sense
of humor.
Without their outrageous, infectious
sense of humor, it is unlikely that the
Arkestra could consistently maintain
the interest of most Western audiences.
This is very esoteric music: often atonal,
extremely free-form, and very com
plex rhythmically. The inclusion of
several (barely) recognizable "stan
dards," such as "Let's Go Fly a Kite,"
"Allegro" featured more elaborate
passagework and was a "satisfying end
ing to the first half of the program.
After the intermission the audience
was treated again to Jensen's singing,
in a nearly flawless performance of
Handel's cantata "Tra le Fiamme." Her
Italian is as outstanding as her German
is, yet none of her previously compli
mented vocal characteristics suffer from
her concentration on d'ction. Even on
her high notes she used almost no vowel
modification, and the purity of the lan
guage contributed significantly to the
success of her performance.
The final selection of the concert
was a Passacaille first written as part of
an opera, but not performed until Han-
Election
Beall said: "The bill is very ambiguous.
There's a serious discrepancy between
what the students will see on the ballot
and what the change will be."
A third referendum would change
all instances in which the Student
Constitution uses the words "he" and
"him" to "he or she" and "him or her."
The referendum will neutralize the
constitution, Beall said. "It's very
important, because when you only use
the word 'he,' you use subliminal sex
ism. It's not overt, but it has no place in
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concert
from Mary Poppins, and a divinely
perverted version of "When the Saints
Go Marching In" helped keep the Cradle
audience clapping and laughing.
Whenever you see a bassoon sharing
the same square yard of stage space
with a four-foot African doumbach,
you know you're in for an unusual
experience. When the group involved
is being led by a veteran jazz musician
who claims he's from outer space, the
situation can look even more promis
ing. Sun Ra's performance here on Earth
Sunday night was no letdown. Whether
it was enough to save the world, only
time will tell.
del included it in his one-act Opera
Ballet 'Terpsichore."
The phrasing and harmonies were
pleasant, and there were occasional
sections featuring groups of two or
three musicians (instead of the entire
instrumental ensemble of 12) which
were integrated and performed well,
but the only noticeably impressive
aspect of this piece was how well the
musicians all stayed together without a
conductor.
In comparison to the rest of the pro
gram, the Passacaille was considerably
less exciting, but nonetheless a satisfy
ing musical finish to an outstanding
overall performance.
from page 1
the Student Constitution."
Because the referendum affects the
constitution, it must be approved by a
vote of the student body.
"I'm optimistic," Beall said. "It's a
perfunctory thing, really, but it's still
important."
Congress seats are open in districts
16 and 18. No candidates are listed for
the District 1 6 election, and two candi
dates are running for the District 18
seat.
No one filed in time to run for the
vacant position in District 16, which is
south of Franklin Street and East of
Columbia Street, said David Smith,
Elections Board chairman.
Two students, sophomore Nick
Kontogeorgopoulos and junior Ginny
Hewitt, will compete to fill the vacant
seat in District 18.
Five polishes are open for today's
election. The Pit is an all-campus site.
The Campus Y, the Health Science
Library, Chase Dining Hall and the Sun
Dial are district voting sites. Students
may vote from1 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Laserset
resumes
LASER PRINTERS
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