Make a Joyful Noise
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Dream Time
For The New Millennium-Dominic Gaudious and Ian Heseford, Master Musicians
The first notes flood the air. Dissonant chords lift off the strings
of a twelve string guitar. Deep and powerful, vibrating at a frequency
so low and so elemental that it is a physical experience, a didjeridu provides
the foundation upon which the music is born.
Dominic Gaudious and Ian Hesford are playing their music.
The twelve string guitar and the didjeridu together create a sound
that is so unusual that it defies classification. Yet from the first note
the music feels familiar, as if somehow we should remember... Remember.
The music of the didjeridu, an Australian Aboriginal instrument played for thousands of generations, is a reflection of the ancient culture from which it sprung. The didjeridu is an essential tool in the spiritual life of Australian Aborigines.
The didjeridu sang the songs that explained the natural world and the spiritual world. Its' resonance told of the early time, the time before history.
The time of making. The dream time.
The dream time. The creation. The beginning.
As Dominic and Ian begin to weave their powerful, almost mystical music,
what was ancient becomes avant-garde. It is almost like their music, their
new translation, becomes a dream time for the new millennium.
Dominic writes the music and plays twelve and six string guitar. Sometimes his muse whispers delicately to his heart. Sometimes the voice roars like thunder.
Music critics have said of Dominic's compositions and playing:
"The pure musicianship and intensity of the song writing will keep you
happily enthralled."
-Music Morsels Magazine
"The guitar has never sounded so good! Flawless talent streams by in emotional surges...hear things on the guitar you never before thought were possible." -Songwriters Monthly Magazine
What Dominic writes and plays, Ian- his didjeridu opening long forgotten portals- helps empower and enlighten.
It is a blessing for the Pear Blossom Festival to have these two master musicians sharing their art with us.
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The Balalaika Orchestra
Of Washington
Recently someone fortunate enough to hear the Balalaika Orchestra of Washington described the experience as “I think they played on my heart strings.”
The balalaika is a Russian instrument similar to a mandolin. The most recognizable balalaika is shaped with a triangular base with a long thin neck. Another, less known balalaika, has a potato back shape and is called a domra.
Balalaikas come in a variety of sizes from very small instruments which play notes in the upper registers, to huge triangular balalaikas which are played with the musician standing and holding it like a bass violin.
It is said that the sweet melancholy voice of the balalaika is really the sound of the Russian soul, telling all the old sad stories, of loving hearts and heroism.
The Balalaika family of instrument includes, from the highest-pitched
to the lowest, the prima balalaika, sekunda balalaika, alto balalaika,
bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika. All have three-sided bodies, spruce
or fir tops and backs made of from three to nine wooden sections, and all
have three strings . The prima balalaika is
played with the fingers, the sekunda and alto either with the
fingers or a pick depending on the music being played, and the bass and
contrabass (which are equipped with extension legs which rest on the floor)
are played
with leather picks.
The Domra family of instruments includes, from the highest-pitched to
the lowest, the prima domra, alto domra, tenor domra and bass domra.
All have round or oval faces and rounded backs made of from five to nine
sections. Each of these is available in either a three-stringed or four-stringed
version. The three-stringed domra
family is tuned in fourths, and the four-stringed family in fifths
(similar to the violin family) with the exception of the four-stringed
bass, which is tuned in fourths. All of the domras are played with
picks.
The Balalaika Orchestra is a part of the Washington Balalaika Society. The Washington Balalaika Society was founded in 1988 by a group of musicians interested in studying and performing the music of Russia, Ukraine and eastern Europe on traditional Russian folk instruments - the balalaika, domra, bayan and related folk wind and percussion. The initial membership of eight has grown tomore than fifty, and the WBS Orchestra now numbers over 40 musicians at all levels from beginner to professional.
The Orchestra has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Constitution Hall, and the Smithsonian Institution.
It is truly an honor to welcome the Balalaika Orchestra of Washington to the 1999 Pear Blossom Festival.
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Melaku
Gelaw - Instrument Maker And Folk Musician
The music first came to Melaku Gelew when he was just a boy about the age of 6.Melaku lived in Wolo, a village deep in the heartland of Ethiopia. Even as a child Melaku had to help his family survive.
Everyone had to work.
Melaku was a shepherd.
Each day he cared for his heard of goats. Out in the rolling hills he would watch. It was a solitary and silent job. It was a lonely job.
Into the silent mind of the child Melaku came the sounds of the goats, the hill animals, the birds, and the whispering wind. Melaku listened carefully all day long. It seemed to him that if he listened just right, if he let his mind open to the sounds around him, there seemed to be a rhythm to it all. Rather like the rhythms he heard in the music played in his village.
From a village musician he begged a Washint- a folk flute fashioned from bamboo.
Each day he would take it with his herd to the countryside. He tried to imitate the sounds he heard, the sounds in the hills and the sounds of the music. It was very hard. It was hard to even make a noise come out of that flute.
Lips had to be just so, fingers pressed hard but not too hard, breath blown over and through the mouth opening with just the right amount of power.
But Melaku was determined. Every day he played. The squeaks matured into notes, the notes became round and full and rich. The rhythm gave the notes wings and there, away from everyone, his music became a reflection, a translation, of the external and internal journey Melaku was beginning.
Over the years
Melaku’s jobs changed, but always his heart and his focus remained on the
music. He learned to play the Kira, a stringed instrument similar to a
lyre, and the Mesenko, a single stringed instrument bowed with a horsehair
bow.
In a few years he became fascinated with how all the instruments were made. Slowly he learned how to cut the flute holes, carefully tuning the bamboo so that the notes were on pitch and pure. He learned how to carve the wood and stretch the goatskin for the Kira and the Mesenko. He found in that work too there was a rhythm. Everything so connected.
Finally about the age of twenty Melaku played his music full time. He moved to Addis Ababa, the capitol of Ethiopia. There he played the traditional music he had learned as a boy. Songs that told of life on the land, and songs that told the story of the spirit- especially the music that grew from the Song of Solomon.
Over the next years Melaku traveled nearly around the world playing and sharing and learning. Now his music has influences from Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Africa, and Korea.
The shepherd boy’s music is now music of the world.
In 1996 Melaku Gelaw came to the United states. With members of his family and other Ethiopian musicians he brings his music and his spirit to the American Community.
Along With his daughter Melesezh, who translates her father’s words and dances the traditional dances of Ethiopia, Melaku will share his music with us throughout the Pear Blossom Festival weekend.
Melaku will also be available at the Sena tent to demonstrate and sell his hand made instruments.
It is an honor to have Melaku and Melesezh as an integral part of the Pear Blossom Festival.
Students
of the Onoe tradition- The Washington DC Kikuyuki - Kai is one of several regional groups
of performing artists within the Continental United States sponsored by
Onoe Ryu Dance Enterprises to study and perform Japanese classical dance
in the Onoe tradition. Under the direction of Professor Onoe Kikuyuki,
each dancer's graceful movement and powerful imagery are choreographed
in stage productions designed to evoke emotions and truths that lie at
the heart of all cultures.
Wearing a range of costumes from elaborate to simple kimonos, the faces and hands are powdered brilliant white for classical dances, or highlighted with simple make-up for traditional folk and popular selections. The dances are usually scenes or a series of sketches depicting a character in conflict or blissful harmony; and showcase movements that are highly stylized, earthbound and close to the body.
The Once style of Japanese classical dance is characterized by a unique blend of sophisticated turns, elegant posture, and total body control acquired through years of study and commitment to excellence. Consequently, the Kikuyuki Dancers are noted for their extensive repertoire, original costumes, precision ensembles, dramatic duets, and exquisite solo presentations. They travel widely including past performances at cultural events sponsored by the following public and private organizations and activities: DC Cherry Blossom Festival, National Institute of Health, Department of Defense,First Night Winchester VA Heritage Dance Association, Library of Congress, Gailaudet Univ, Univ of Maryland, Univ Washington, National Cathedral, Japan America Society, and the Japan Commerce Association.
- Most recently the Kikuyuki Dancers performed at the Asakusa Kokaido
Theatre in Tokyo.
- Professor Onoe Kikuyuki, the group sensei, received her natori certification
from the Onoe School of Tokyo. In addition to teaching her many students,
she has assisted in the development of cultural exchange curricula at the
Virginia Governor's Language Academy, the Baltimore Children's Museum,
and the Washington DC Public Schools. She was commissioned to choreograph
the dance and character movement for the Kabuki play "Benton the Thief'"
produced by the Tower Hill School at the Delaware Theatre Company. Her
solo presentations include performances at the Virginia Mu- seum of Fine
Arts, the Residence of the Japanese Ambassador, and the Japan Information
and Culture Center.
Kuyuki Dancers
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The Kasbah Ensemble
Arabic Music Extrodinaire
- Out of the desert, out of the heart of Mohammed, an ancient music echoes
down the corridors of time. Drums drumming an articulate rhythm, fluid
and almost too rapid to
register, lead stringed instruments and human voices in song that suggests a call to prayer.
This music, so strange to western ears, yet somehow familiar too, is the heritage of the Kasbah Ensemble. The musicians, natives of Morocco, have taken the sounds and the rhythms of ancient Arabia and smoothed them through the cultural perspectives of the twenty-first century.
The Ensemble has performed in festivals throughout the United States, most notably the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival and the Memphis May Days. They have also played extensively in Europe and the Middle East.
In addition to playing their culture’s unique music the band, led by
its’ director Kader
(Kah-dear’), are committed to using their music to spread harmony and
peace through the sharing of the musical experience.
The Pear Blossom Festival is honored to have these wonderful musicians and ambassadors of peace performing for our community.<top>
Bagpipes, Bagpipes, Bagpipes
The Mary Washington College Eagle Pipe Band
- The strange and often melancholy voice of the bagpipe has played an
important part in the history of western civilization. So long have the
pipes lofted the notes of grieving, dirges vibrating deep in our hearts,
so long have the pipes piped the heady messages of spring, tempting our
feet to dancin’ and our hearts to lovin’, that even those opening sounds
of the bag filling, the music’s preamble, sound familiar.
The thirty member Mary Washington College Eagle Pipe Band bring us the music of the pipes and its’ long, long history.
The Groups director, Ray Scott reminds us that the bagpipe is a reed instrument.
“The bag is like a third lung,” he says. “The Scottish pipes consist of five pipes attached to a bag. You blow into one pipe, and the noise comes out of the other four.”
Bagpipes are most often associated with Scotland. But the history of bagpipes, which stretches back to Roman times (first century BC) , record bagpipe variations in such diverse places as Greece, Russia, Spain, as well as Western Asia and North Africa.
The Mary Washington College Eagle Pipe Band was formed in January of 1997. They have performed in festivals in Williamsburg, Richmond, Leesburg, and Fredericksburg Virginia. Playing a wide variety of bagpipe music, they are a welcome addition to this years Pear Blossom Festival. <top>
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Presents the 11th Annual
in Historic Bowling Green,Caroline Co., Va.
Mischelle Messenger, Assistant Director, Sena Foundation
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Sena Foundation..."Sharing the Seasons"™since
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