SUN NOVEMBER 17 2013
Rokia Traoré CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS AT UBC
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“I am singing about all my relatives and friends living in the countryside in Mali and in Africa.
These women are simply amazing, because when I feel tired I imagine them in their life of every day. They never show that they are tired. They are like iron women: all the time working, but working and smiling and taking care of everything with nothing to support them. The amazing thing, is that when I go back to my parents’ village ... all these people telling me that they are impressed by me, it really makes me cry because they cannot imagine how beautiful they are in the middle of this very difficult life. And I wanted to sing that for them, and to say thank you for being my source of inspiration. ” - Rokia Traoré in interview with NPR music, on her inspiration for Beautiful Africa 2
Rokia Traoré Pre-concert Film Screening: 5:30pm - Royal Bank Cinema Living Memory: Six Sketches of Mali Today US, 2003. Directed by Susan Vogel. Details on page 8 Concert: 7:00pm - Chan Shun Concert Hall Rokia Traoré, vocals and guitar Ruth Goller, bass guitar
Bintou Soumbounou, backing vocals Dave De Rose, drums
Fatim Kouyaté, backing vocals Giovanni Ferrario, guitar
Mamah Diabaté, n’goni (Malian lute) Set list will be announced from the stage There will be one 20-minute intermission Please remember to turn off your cell phones, and note that photography and/or recording of any kind is not permitted. Thank you!
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Rokia Traoré “It’s clear that it’s inspired by rock music,” says Mali’s international star Rokia Traoré of her new album, Beautiful Africa. “But I didn’t want to make rock and roll in the Western tradition...I wanted something that’s rock and roll but still Malian and still me.” The past year has been quite an extraordinarily productive period for Traoré. One of the most inventive female singer/songwriters in Africa today, she is remarkable not just for the range of her powerful and emotional voice but also for the sheer variety of her work. She has written three wildly different new sets of music: the acoustic Damou (Dream), the often bluesy Donguili (Sing), and the rock-influenced Donke (Dance), in which she set out to show “three different aspects of Malian culture and my own personality.” Produced by the UK’s prestigious Barbican, all three were performed at different London venues in one week last summer—a feat she repeated at this year’s Sydney Festival in Australia. She has toured Britain on the Africa Express train, stopping off around the country for concerts that included collaborations with Damon Albarn as well as Paul McCartney and John Paul Jones, who joined her backing band for the London finale. Now comes Beautiful Africa, an album of the powerful new songs first heard in her Donke project, reminding listeners it was rock music that first inspired Traoré’s remarkable career. “I really like rock,” she said, “and it was because of rock that I wanted to play music.” When she was growing up, an older brother used to play her Dire Straits and Pink Floyd. “It wasn’t all I listened to—I discovered jazz and blues with my dad, and Malian and other African music, and French chanson, but it was rock music that made me want to learn guitar.” There are three guitarists on the album, including Traoré herself, but though the record is constructed around rock riffs and sturdy bass work, it still has a distinctively West African feel, thanks to rousing performances from Mamah Diabaté on the n’goni, the ancient, harsh-edged African lute. It’s an instrument that Traoré has used in compositions throughout her career, and she argues, “You can put it with everything. I’ve used n’goni in classical music projects, and it goes with blues, or jazz, or rock and roll. It’s a great instrument!”
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Traoré’s changes of musical direction usually start with “a sound that I imagine...a sound inside my head.” She didn’t want to imitate what other people had done “because I need to do what I imagine—that’s the reason I’m making music.” The songs are in the West African language of Bambara, as well as French and occasional bursts of English, and the often personal lyrics are concerned with Traoré’s thoughts on her own life, and on her tragically battered homeland. Mali is a country that has become known around the world for its extraordinary musicians and was once a great tourist destination, famous for the desert cities and for the Niger River, as well as the celebrated Festival in The Desert. But over the past year it has slipped into political chaos, with the President overthrown in a military coup in the capital, and rebel groups taking over large sections of the north of the country. The rebels then splintered into different factions, with those initially fighting for independence in the north usurped by extremist Islamist groups, some linked to al-Qaeda, and who went on to ban music in the areas they controlled. Military forces from France, Mali, and other African nations have fought to repel these advances. Traoré’s breakthrough came when she was hailed as the ‘African Discovery’ of 1997 by Radio France Internationale after playing at the Angouleme Festival in France, and since then she has continued to experiment and explore new ideas. In 2003, her album Bowmboï included a collaboration with Kronos Quartet and was awarded a prestigious BBC Radio 3 World Music Award. Her 2009 album Tchamantché reflected her new fascination with the Gretsch electric guitar, and won a Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent of a Grammy, as well as a Songlines Artist of the Year Award for Traoré. She has twice collaborated with the maverick director Peter Sellars, who in 2006 invited her to write and perform a work for his New Crowned Hope project, celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birthday. Traoré replied by imagining Mozart as a griot* in the time of the 13th-century African ruler Soundiata Keita, whose empire was centred in what is now Mali. She also recently collaborated with Nobel Prize–winning novelist Toni Morrison and Sellars on the theatre piece Desdemona, bringing an African dimension to the story of Shakespeare’s tragic heroine. The piece premiered in Vienna in the summer of 2011 and received its New York premiere at Lincoln Center that fall; its UK premiere was at the Barbican in London in the summer of 2012. The Guardian called it “a remarkable, challenging and bravely original new work.” Traoré is also the founder of the Foundation Passerelle in Bamako, the Malian capital, to help her fellow Malians prepare for careers in music and sustain the growth of Mali’s rich musical culture. Traoré was awarded the inaugural Roskilde Festival World Music Award in 2009 for her work with the foundation. Rokia Traoré is indeed a remarkable artist, and it is difficult to think of anyone else who can switch from ancient Malian culture to acting and then to African rock and roll. - Robin Denselow 5
Davide de Rose – Drums
Davide was born and raised in a house full of music in Rome, Italy. After establishing a relationship with piano and voice in his early years, Davide turned to drumming. The drums have since become a love that has carried him through 20 years of passionate music development, offering him the chance to work on an international scale with many prestigious artists. Davide has also performed, recorded, mixed and engineered five of his own records. He is a core member of both Electric Jalaba and Flying Ibex.
Giovanni Ferrario – Guitar
Giovanni has learned how to do it all. He is a composer, producer and musician, and has contributed to the creation and production of some 50 albums in Italy and abroad. His career began in the 1980s with the founding of his band Views. Since then, Giovanni has performed and toured with a variety of musicians across Europe. He has written musical scores for theatre and film, most recently Carlo Virzi’s film I più grandi di tutti (The Greatest of All) in 2012.
Mamah Diabaté – N’goni
Mamah Diabaté comes from a griot* family in the region of Ségou (Mali). In 1998 he auditioned for Rokia Traoré and was chosen to perform with her when he was only 20 years old. Mamah Diabaté learned to play the n’goni, the Malian lute, as a child taught by his father. With the exception of Mouneïssa, he has performed on all the albums and tours of Rokia Traoré. Mamah Diabaté also accompanies great singers (griots*) in Bamako, Mali, when not on tour abroad. *The griot or bard, is a repository of oral tradition in African culture. The figure of the griot can be found throughout West Africa and is the traditional heart of cultural ceremonies and rituals. The role of griots is multidimensional: they function as historians, poets, storytellers, praise singers and/or musicians. In the performance of their roles they also entertain, flatter, and expand the heart of the listener.
JAN 30-FEB 1/ 2014
Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver choreography Rudi van Dantzig music Sergei Prokofiev
Tickets from $29! Ticketmaster.ca 1.855.985.ARTS (2787)
plus applicable tax & fees
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MEDIA SPONSORS:
“Romeo and Juliet leaves you longing for a few more pages of music and another lovers' pas de deux.” - The Winnipeg Sun
Amanda Green, Liang Xing (Guest Artist) PHOTO: Rejean Brandt Photography
Romeo +Juliet
Bintou Soumbounou – Backing Vocals
Bintou Soumbounou is a young Malian singer and an active member of the professional music community in Bamako, Mali. She is the daughter of Hamet Soumbounou, a notable Garanké respected among the major griots* of Mali. In 2008, she was selected to participate in the television show African Star where she met Bonkana Maiga, a Malian songwriter and producer. She has since sung with different artists, including Bonkana and Rokia Traoré.
Fatim Kouyaté – Backing Vocals
Fatim is the daughter of a griot* and so has been surrounded by traditional Malian music all her life. But growing up in Bamako, Mali, exposed Fatim to different kinds of music as well. In 2009, Fatim along with Bintou Soumbounou and 88 other young musicians auditioned for the Fondation Passerelle, an organization founded by Rokia Traoré, and was selected (with Bintou) to be a part of the foundation’s young professional musicians program.
Ruth Goller - Bass
Ruth (originally from Bressanone, Italy) is based in London and plays electric and double bass. After studying music in the UK she now performs regularly with leading UK bands. Outside the UK, Ruth worked with renowned serbian pianist and composer Bojan Z, Iranian Sufi-master and musician Davood Azad, Somali singer AarManta and lately Rokia Traoré. Ruth is very active in the London music scene and her musical interests are vast, ranging from improvised music, jazz, punk, hip-hop, reggae, electronic music, traditional Balkan music, to Brazilian and African music.
Photo by Jay Blakesberg
Christmas with the Bach Choir
Heartwarming classics to herald the festive season
DEC 01 2013 at 2pm I ORPHEUM THEATRE MUSIC DIRECTORS: LESLIE DALA AND MARISA GAETANNE FEATURING: All levels of the Vancouver Bach Choir Family I Touch of Brass
Tickets & Info:
vancouverbachchoir.com or 604 696 4290 7
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ILLUSTRATION + DESIGN: COPILOT DESIGN
Organist Ellen Ay-Laung Wang with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Exploring the role of the arts and artists in society - chancentre.com/connects
Photo Courtesy of Icarus Films
Pre-concert Film Screening: 5:30pm, Royal Bank Cinema Living Memory: Six Sketches of Mali Today US, 2003. Directed by Susan Vogel. 53 minutes. This acclaimed documentary film, constructed in six sketches, offers a mosaic of perspectives on the rich culture of Mali and reveals the power and vitality of its ancient history. The landlocked desert nation is one of the world’s poorest countries and yet incredibly culturally vibrant, with Malian artists prominent in African contemporary arts. The six sketches are: Ritual Arts, Culture on Display, Style, Architecture, Contemporary Artists, and Music.
About the Chan Centre Connects Series The Chan Centre Connects series features panel discussions, talks, film screenings and master classes, programmed by Artistic Presenting Manager Christine Offer in conjunction with the Chan Centre’s concert season. The purpose of this series is to engage the community in global issues and intercultural experiences through the lens of the arts. Through Chan Centre Connects, we ask what broader impact do the arts and artists have on the shared human experience?
Upcoming: Danse Lhasa Danse, January 18 – Pre-show talk with creator, choreographer and artistic director Pierre-Paul Savoie, moderated by CBC Radio-Canada’s Yolaine Mottet.
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SamulNori, March 15 – Several Chan Centre Connects events will be programmed in association with SamulNori including: a film screening of Intangible Asset Number 82 at The Cinematheque, drumming workshops with members SamulNori, and a number of talks. Visit chancentre.com/connects for full details in the new year!
School of Music Fanfares The fanfare performed in the lobby prior to this concert (6:30pm + 6:45pm) entitled Fanfare for Rokia, was commissioned by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts from UBC School of Music composition student Lucas Oickle. It is one of a number of newly commissioned fanfares that will be performed throughout the Chan Centre Presents concert season, as part of an ongoing partnership with the UBC School of Music. Fanfare for Rokia This fanfare, though short, was a challenge to write—I wanted to find a way to respectfully reference Ms. Traoré’s Malian culture while at the same time creating something that was wholly my own and reflective of my personal background. I decided to use original transformations of a Malian rhythm from the Bamana people (Traoré is of Bambara/ Bamana ethnicity) and apply it to extended brass techniques and contemporary harmonic structures. Most often called didadi or, if in Kolokani (Traoré’s hometown), jagewara, this lively rhythm is often used in festivals, harvests, and to welcome important visitors or official delegations—all of which I felt made it an appropriate choice for this fanfare welcoming Ms. Traoré. – Lucas Oickle, composer Nick Hall, trumpet Logan Bennett, trumpet Holly Bryan, horn Julia Broome-Robinson, trombone Justin Chiang, bass trombone
presents D IRE C T E D BY:
John
WRIGHT
S TA R RIN G :
Anthony F.
INGRAM
Luisa
Robert
Cherise
Duncan
JOJIC MOLONEY CLARKE FRASER
A heart-bruising comedy of strained relations and entangled lives
DEC 23 2013 to JAN 18 2014 THE CULTCH : BOX OFFICE 604 251 1363
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Rokia Traoré
or thecultch.com I info: blackbirdtheatre.ca PRESENTED WITH:
MEDIA SPONSOR:
R and J Stern
Family Foundation
ILLUSTRATION: LYDIA AVSEC I COPILOT DESIGN
ANTON CHEKHOV’S
Upcoming Events at the Chan Centre Full details at chancentre.com
NOVEMBER 2013 Sat Nov 23 at 8pm: Impressions - UBC Bands Presented by the UBC School of Music, FREE
Sat Nov 30 at 8pm: Handel’s Messiah - University Singers, UBC Choral Union, UBC Symphony Orchestra Presented by the UBC School of Music
DECEMBER 2013 Sun Dec 1 at 2:30pm: SOLD OUT - Christmas at the Chan
Presented by Trinity Western University in partnership with the Chan Centre
Fri Dec 6 at 8pm: Buika - Flamenco Soul
Presented by Caravan World Rhythms and Julio Montero in partnership with the Chan Centre
Dec 20 + 21 at 8pm: The Four Seasons
Presented by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Sun Dec 22 at 3pm: The Bach Cantata Project: Festive Cantatas for Christmas Presented by Early Music Vancouver in partnership with the Chan Centre
JANUARY 2014 Sat Jan 18 at 8pm: Danse Lhasa Danse
Presented by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts and the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
Jan 23 – Feb 8: The Seagull Presented by Theatre at UBC
Danse Lhasa Danse Rokia Traoré 10
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC Joyce Hinton Cameron McGill Jazel Argente Carl Armstrong Wendy Atkinson Brad Danyluk Kara Gibbs Beng Khoo Flora Lew Glenda Makela Trevor Mangion Claire Mohun Christine Offer George Pereira Andrew Riter Nadia Roberts Owen Schellenberger Lyndsey Townsend
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Members of Cupe 2950 Front of House, Stage, and Ticketing Staff Michael Behrmann Tessa Cernik Manila Subedi
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Dal Grauer Memorial Lectures
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A Sound Experience. DANSE LHASA DANSE
WYNTON MARSALIS
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