I WAS LOOKING AT THE CEILING AND THEN I SAW THE SKY
The dynamic collaboration of the enfant terrible Peter Sellars. minimalist composer John Adams and radical black poet and essayist June Jordan has produced a funked-up West Side Story for the 90s (minus the Sharks and Jets). L-O-V-E is the big theme. Los Angeles a backdrop. Seven characters fall in and out of love and try to hold their lives together against the odds. Political and social issues are dealt with mostly through the characters of a young black man and his Hispanic girlfriend. both of them victims of a racist system that offers deportation orjail as the ultimate destination. Sellars has pulled off his attempt to create a musical of the vernacular using Jordan's 'street‘ poetry and a musical score that layers gospel. jazz funk and a splash of rock ‘n‘ roll over a minimal synthesized sound. The casting is inspired. the voices send shivers to all the right places. LA’s finest graffiti artists have also created some great backdrops with attitude. The earthquake and race riots are there. though only just. But who cares? Love. in the end. conquers all. (Lila Rawlings)
I lWas looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw The Sky (Festival). Royal Lyceum. 225 5756. until l9 Aug. 7.30pm. £8-£30.
FOLK SONGS OF NORTH EAST SCOTLAND
A great treasury of traditional song is opening to the world as new parts
V East early this century by
5756. i3 Aug—2 Sept.
5)
FESTIVAL
of the priceless Greig- Duncan collection are regularly published. Three-and-a-half thousand songs were garnered from the villages. bothies and farm-touns of the North
Gavin Greig and the Reverend James Duncan.
and the fruits of their colossal labour are being i edited and published in a series of volumes by the l Mercat Press. coinciding t with a new Greentrax CD. : and an International Festival series of talks and 3 concerts by some of Scotland‘s very best ' traditional singers. I In the main I unaccompanied. and with a separate theme each night. the topics include Love Songs. Ballads. Traveller's Songs. Military and Women's 1 songs. the interaction between Print and Song and the Folksong Revival. with singers and characters as diverse as Dick Gaughan. Hamish Henderson. Jane Turrif. Heather Heywood. Adam MacNaughton. Shiela Stewart. Jock Duncan. Ann Neilson. Emily Lyle. Willie MacPhee and Alison MacMorland. to name only a fraction. (Norman Chalmers)
l Folk Songs oi North
East Scotland (Festival) Festival Theatre. 225
llptn (7pm 25 Aug; 5pm 26 Aug) £10 (standing 5 .
ONE VOIOE ENSEMBLE
The Edinburgh-based One Voice Ensemble made its performance debut last year at this venue. when they were scheduled to play American composer ' Michael Torke's The Yellow Pages. an exciting. bustling piece built on a
bass line derived from
Chaka Khan. They subsequently changed the programme. but will make
good the omission this
time round.
Torke's vibrant composition will be the centrepiece of their programme. alonside Nigel Osborne‘s Trio: Sarajevo and three works by members of the group. Ot'nette Clennon. Geraint Wiggins. and Jeremy Cull (their eponymous debut CD. which crosses over from classical intojazz and even rock. is made up entirely of such pieces.
That programme seems to fulfill their aim. according to co-founder Jeremy Cull. of ‘trying to create a distinct identity for the group. We want to provide a platform for our own music. and for other composers in Scotland. as
well as for music which is
not usually heard here.‘ (Kenny Mathieson)
I One Voice Ensemble (Fringe) Queen's Hall (Venue 72) 668 2019. 23 Aug. 7.30pm. £7. £5.
Michael Torke
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Emmanuel Nunes
; Yes, there is an argument that the Edinburgh Festival should be bringing
- us the big names at the international
music world - the Kirov Opera, Claudio
; Abbado, Yo-Yo Ma and his Bach cello
. suites all appear this year and tall
well into this category, but an equally important part of the Festival's ralson d’etre is surely to introduce the new and unfamiliar, and in the music of
- Portugese composer Emmanuel IIunes
(pronounced noo-nahys) we really are talking about the untried and untested in British concert programmes.
It is surprising that although his work,
has been performed at many European
iestivals, it has not yet been heard in
l the UK. Putting the record straight are 7 the Festival’s two IIunes concerts,
both taking place in fairly unusual Festival venues, namely St Bernard’s
‘ Church in Stockbridge and the
McEwan Ilall ot Edinburgh University. Born in lisbon in 1941, Runes moved to France in his twenties to study with Pierre Boulez and Henri Posseur, i betore a second move to Cologne tor ; further composition study with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Throughout his : career as a composer he has been greatly encouraged by the Calouste
“it v
x , w 2 F Culbenkian Foundation, which also supports the Edinburgh concerts, and whose role in encouraging cultural relations between Britain and Portugal is unique.
The Edinburgh concerts reveal two aspects ot Runes. Firstly, Ensemble Contrechamps give the opportunity to hear some at his chamber music and, later the same evening, his somewhat bigger Duodllbet is pertormed by the BBC 880. Conceived specially tor the Coliseo in lisbon, where the young Runes saw everything from gymnastics and circus to classical music concerts, this is a huge, monumental work which will utilise the galleried levels ot the McEwan Hall and requires not only two conductors but a giant clock to hold it all together. (Carol Main)
Ensemble Contrechamps (Festival) St
Bernard’s Church, 225 5756, 19 Aug,
5pm, £10. auodllbet (Festival) McEwan Ildl, £5 5756, 19 Aug, 10.30pm, £12.
"THE PUB. WITH THE CLUB T HANG! "
your entertainment menu.- SUN - WED.....The beSt in live music.
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Happy Hour 7.30pm - 8.30pm. All pints (except Gunnness & cider) E I .20; peach schnapps. vodka. brandy
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Becks and Coors £I.20 a bottle.
24 - 26 FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH OI3I 220 I226
The List 18-24 Aug 1995 73