Philippine Butterfly

Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Austin Texas is well known for its music scene, but one of the most prestigious musical organizations is not going to be found in nightclub circuit or popular festivals such as the South By Southwest or Austin City Limits. One of the greatest musical organizations in the city is the Austin Symphony Orchestra . This is also one of its oldest cultural establishments and has been around throughout the development of Austin as the music capital of the world. It is getting ready to celebrate its one-hundredth season and this is a major event and the year will be full of special engagements and incredible performances.

Many of the guests in the Austin luxury hotels are interested in the various music venues of the city and are well acquainted with its status as one of the top cities in that industry. And a performance by the Austin Symphony Orchestra is representative of the great musical tradition of the city and demonstrates how it was one of the organizations that paved the way for its current status. In addition to the regular season there are various special events and performances that occur throughout the summer. This year will feature the Hartman Foundation Concerts in the Park and a special Children’s Day at the Park, among other events and performances.

What might be obvious at this point is that the orchestra was founded in 1911 and since that time has remained true to an intent to improve the quality of cultural orientation life for all persons regardless of age or gender. It has served Austin and Central Texas in this capacity as well as being a fundamental educational elements for the new generation of music appreciators and practitioners. The general concert season extends from September through May and the company performs at the new state of the art Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts . If you plan to visit Austin, well anytime, this year you will definitely want to experience one of the hundredth anniversary celebration performances.

With its rich urban life that builds on a long and complex history, Chicago is one of Illinois’ great meeting places of culture. There are plenty of new innovations here, in music, architecture, and art, and they all build upon the past. Some of the pasts are very local, connected to things that happened here in Illinois, and some are very global, drawing on the histories of the various ethnic communities that make up Chicago. It’s a dizzying thing to enter into a public space here, having just left the hotel to catch a new exhibition, and happen by some of the most sumptuous music that comes from long ago.

If the music has an accordion, violins and horns, and sounds alternately Romanian in origin, and alternately Jewish, then that just might be klezmer . Klezmer is an old musical form that can still be heard in the US, especially where there are Eastern European descendants who maintain strong connections to their roots. In many ways, it has become something of a new form in the so-called new world, having adapted new musical structures and songs into its mix. It’s something that can excite ethno-musicologists to no end, and it can also have a particularly marvelous affect on anyone else who happens to be in its proximity.

One of the best and most traditional bands in town is very probably Tum Balalaika , who take their name from an old klezmer classic. The band can vary between 5 and 15 members, and always carries a palpable aura of enchantment. This is old world stuff, and there’s nothing about it to suggest that it’s an act. They love playing the music, and the passion carries through to the crowds as well. They’ve followed in the traditional line for developing their sounds, taking the Romanian and Jewish elements, and combining with a sturdy influence from the Ukranian Gypsy forms. It might come from the 15th century, and at times it feels like being transported back into another time, but it makes beautiful noise in the air today.

Here I am in Columbia, Maryland and virtually stuck in my hotel room because of the weather – Snow and lots of it. I was here last year in June, when the weather was perfect and there was this great Jazz Fest , I mean it was great! Chaka Khan was there, Al Jarreau was there and tons of other fantastic performers. But, now, there’s really nothing to do. It seems as if Columbia shuts down for the winter.

I went to down to the lobby of one of the better columbia luxury hotels , and asked them where I could go, besides the movies. They told me to check out the Columbia Art Center, that the current exhibit is the annual Faculty and Students exhibition. They told me if I went tonight that I’d get a potluck dinner. But, for something to do today, they recommended that I should see the African Art Museum . I told them that I did visit the African Art Museum last year and that I really loved all of the exhibits, but not enough to go there again. I then brought up how I really enjoyed the Jazz Festival last summer and how it’s too bad there’s not something like that in the wintertime.

The concierge desk at the hotel recommended that if I like jazz, I should check out a club call the Silver Shadow Lounge. They told me the jazz is excellent there and that I’d have a great time meeting with the locals of Columbia and that the club is upscale for young professionals and an older crowd in need of getting their groove on. I’m not much into ‘clubbing’ it, but supposedly there will be an older crowd, so I’m thinking the jazz might be good.

I headed back up to my hotel room, again, with nothing to do during the day, and waited for night to fall so I can go see a Faculty and Student exhibition with a great potluck for my dinner, and then head on over to a nightclub in hopes of listening to some great jazz.

This is definitely the place to be for a truly global alternative culture.   The difficulties of being alternative in Singapore already add some complex layers to the performance of self here, and it’s even more interesting when you add the greater complications of fame to the mix.  It’s a very impressive place to come, however, and easy to get swept up in how much there is to do on any given day in this very cosmopolitan city-state.  There are always plenty of sights to enjoy, and while away the afternoon, excellent Restaurants that specialize in Chinese food, that will remind you of why people speak so highly about the importance of the place as a major world port, and then the evening’s entertainment is entirely up to you.

You can see lots of pop music, whether it’s a big concert with a superstar from here or other parts of Asia, or Europe, or Africa.  It all exists somewhere here, because the performers and their agents understand that Singapore is a place to go for exposure.  There are also plenty of other kinds of music, and it’s likely that Goth Punk might not be what you’d expect to hear, but you surely can.  La ‘Dies is the band that’s fairly surely cornered the market on this music in Singapore, and the result is a very dark force that’s extraordinarily compelling.

They’ve been playing here as well as making headway into overseas markets, particularly the usual suspects for Singapore bands, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.  They have a difficult sound, and as Chinese artists performing in a genre that’s not overwhelmingly Chinese, there are more difficulties for market categorization, but this also opens up more doors for fascinating complexity.  The sound is very honed, and simultaneously disturbing and romantic, making every goths dream realizable.  Worth checking out for sure.