Wednesday, February 25, 2004
What a night!
My friend Hiroshi took me to The Sumida Triphony Hall
to see The Jan Garbarek Group.
The MC, Peter Hohensee, came out and delivered in his most elegant voice,
the message:
“Welcome, thank you for coming out tonight, and now
The Jan Garbarek Group”
And out they came,
Jan Garbarek- soprano, tenor sax
Ranier Bruninghaus- piano, synthesizer
Eberhard Weber- bass
Marilyn Mazur- percussion, drums
True to form, there was a minimalist air about it-
There were no excesses; no blathering on about each song-
In fact, there was no speaking at all.
Just music...
The set was decorated with a white tent pulled and stretched,
each lighting change bringing about a subtle new element to the constantly changing puzzle...
At one time, it resembled the Northern lights.
The set list:
Trollsyn (J.Garbarek)
Conversation (L.Shankar)
Goin’ Home (J.Garbarek)
Malinye (Don Cherry)
New Bein’ (J.Garbarek)
Last Stage (E. Weber)
Brother Wind March (J.Garbarek)
Hu Hai (J.Garbarek)
Molde Canticle (J.Garbarek)
Voy Cantande (J.Garbarek)
Mission (J.Garbarek)
This was my first time to see The Group.
The previous performance I saw was Jan with the Hilliard Ensemble- a four part vocal group.
Together they performed Gregorian Chants, and original pieces of a classical nature- using the acoustics of Opera City,
Tokyo, it was completely accapella.
Last night's performance was a whole 'notha smoke!
Each musician was individually splendid,
and collectively, magical.
Listening, I felt as if in a dream, or a storm, or a tribal dance,
or some whirlwinded escapade...
I was proud to be part of the listening experience.
And imagine my happiness to meet
Jan, Ranier, Eberhard & Marilyn after the show...
I got a few words with each of the members,
and the very dashing MC,
and signatures for my new CD .
Beauty!
Till next time... ‘Mela
7:01 PM
|
|
Photo: Michio Yves Ueda
