The theme of this year’s NIU School of Music World Music Series is “Encountering a Global Sounding World.” The festival consists of a number of recitals, concerts and a Songkran (New Year) celebration.
World Music Festival Concert Series
Monday, April 8, 7 p.m., Music Building, Recital Hall
Traveler, Graduate Recital-Chih-I Hsiao
In this recital, graduate student, world music and Chinese music performer Chih-I Hsiao will present a collection of original works fusing various musical styles of the world. Utilizing critical theorist Homi Bhabha’s Hybridity and Third Space theory, Chih-I attempts to create a music style that transcends conventional geographical and historical limits. Instruments and musical elements of various cultures featured in this concert include the Chinese erhu, Indian tabla, Thai ranat ek, jazz guitar, Korean janggu, sousaphone, and steel pan.
A short film is included as part of this recital to showcase how these pieces were put together from scratch and how musicians in this journey negotiate and brainstorm over and over to perfect musical messages they seek to convey.
Wednesday, April 10, 7 p.m., Music Building, Recital Hall
Music of East Asia
This concert features the Chinese Music Ensemble and Korean Drumming Ensemble, both very active at NIU. In these two ensembles, members learn to play traditional styles of music using authentic instruments from both cultures. Two special guest performers will make their appearance in this concert. Dr. Hong-Da Chin from Western Illinois University, who specializes in Chinese wind instruments, will perform a contemporary concerto composed for Chinese bamboo flute, the dizi. A Japanese koto performer, Yoko will be joined by Nan Yamprai on the shamisen for a duet. A short show-and-tell will be provided at the concert for the audience to learn more about the cultural meanings of the music and the instruments heard and seen in the concert.
Thursday, April 11, 7 p.m., Music Building, Recital Hall
Thai Music Concert
To celebrate Southeast Asian New Year in April (or Songkran specifically in Thailand), the Thai music concert is a joint cultural event sponsored by the School of Music, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and Department of World Languages and Cultures (Thai language). A cultural excursion event to celebrate Songkran, the New Year tradition of many mainland Southeast Asian countries, will be held in the Concert Hall lobby area for audience to explore Thai language, visual arts, crafts, and food before the concert. In the concert, traditional central Thai court music, folk music of the Northeastern region, Thai jazz music, and more will be featured and performed by students from the Music of Southeast Asia class and the Thai music ensemble and a guest jazz group from Thailand.
Friday, April 12, 7 p.m., Music Building, Recital Hall
Sounds of Fusion Concert
This world music fusion concert provides a platform for students and faculty to create and perform new music that is “crossing borders” in nature and bears no fixed label that adheres to the western music canon. Idioms of various world music cultures adopted to create innovative musical sounds include Brazilian percussion, Afro-Cuban percussion, and African drumming. Creative ideas and their cultural connections will be provided by performers and composers in the concert.
Saturday, April 13, 3 p.m., Music Building, Boutell Memorial Concert Hall
Annual World Music Concert
To conclude this year’s World Music Festival, in the world music concert we feature primarily our student ensembles, the ones that are regularly offered as elective courses open to NIU students of all majors. These groups include the Gamelan, Chinese Music, Korean Drumming, Thai Music, and the Middle Eastern Music Ensembles. We are also very proud to feature NIU’s own Concert Choir to perform several works by composer Saunder Choi, who will be present at the concert as an artist-in-resident. He will speak to the audience about the Southeast Asian and Chinese cultural elements integrated in his works. A special presentation on Zimbabwean mbira duet presented by NIU’s own Greg Beyer and Geof Bradfield is another highlight of this concert. At the end, there will be a jam session involving volunteer musicians right on the spot to collectively create a unique and surprising sounding piece to conclude the concert.
