FEATURE
Around Philadelphia, the World Beckons
by Anastasia Tsioulcas
Musicians and dancers from all over the world have found a home in Philadelphia, and it’s no wonder—the city has welcomed a diverse array of new arrivals ever since its founding.
Page 14: Gypsy jazz guitarist Kruno Spisic Page 15: Klezmer drummer Elaine Hoffman Watts, photo by James Wasserman Klezmer trumpeter Susan Hoffman Watts, photo by James Wasserman
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According to research published by the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies at the Historical Society of Philadelphia and the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, the city has experienced a decline in immigration in the 20th century and into the 21st; it’s a pattern unlike other major American cities, which have seen continued immigrant growth. Nonetheless, many vibrant ethnic communities have made the Philadelphia area their new home, including Central Europeans in the period immediately following World War II, Cubans, Greeks, Vietnamese, Filipinos, and Koreans. Today, the communities in Philadelphia with the largest number of foreign-born members are from Vietnam, Ukraine, China, India, and Jamaica, while groups from other nations such as Mexico are becoming larger and having an ever-increasing presence in the city. All these groups, and so many more, have contributed their own traditions, talents, and experiences to the area’s cultural mosaic. Together, along with practitioners of entirely
homegrown musical forms such as bluegrass and country (not to mention such singularly America-rooted genres like jazz and blues), musicians from these ethnic communities are piecing together a wonderfully diverse and fantastically rich musical scene of their own that at once pays homage to their respective ethnic heritages and asserts a uniquely American identity. (A word about words: what to call this genre is a matter highly contested and heartily argued over in industry and academic circles. For one thing, it encompasses hundreds of disparate traditions, so even referring to it as a single entity is deeply troublesome. “Folk” music is problematic, in that many traditions from around the world that fall into this category are “high” or “art” music traditions analogous to Western classical music, such as the elaborate and rigorously structured customs of Indian classical music. The label “world music” defines it by what it is emphatically not rather than what it is—not Europeancentered classical music, and not the American- or UK-produced pop sung in English and targeted to appeal to a mass audience. “World music” also intimates that the musicians are living and working primarily abroad and not within this country, when in fact many musicians in this category either currently live in the West or—as is increasingly the case—were born in North America and are as American as anyone else. Similarly, dubbing this genre “international” music ignores the extraordinary contributions and activities of artists living and working in the United States. Using the term “traditional” music belies the dy-
namic innovations and contributions current artists are making today, and “ethnic” is imprecise, as everyone is in some way ethnic, even if they come from a cultural or racial majority population. Nevertheless, convenience dictates the use of a single term, however imprecise. This writer is using the term currently preferred within the music business: world music.) No matter how large or small each individual ethnic community is, however, they all contribute to the artistic panoply of the Philadelphia area. In fact, many of the most vibrant and committed contributors to the live arts and dance scene in Philadelphia are individual artists from around the globe, as well as small and specialized presenting organizations that focus on the artistic traditions of particular regions or even countries, ranging from the Philadelphia Chinese Opera Society to the Association de Musicos y Artistas Latino Americanos to the Kule Mele African American Dance Ensemble. One such artist is Kruno Spisic, a Canadian guitarist of Croatian descent who now calls Philadelphia home. Just 30 years old, his sophisticated music blends jazz manouche—the hot Gypsy jazz perfected by such legends as Django Reinhart—with the sounds of Balkan music with which he was surrounded growing up, even though he played rock and blues guitar as a teenager. “During college, a friend introduced me to manouche via a cassette of the Rosenberg Trio, one of the great Romani [Gypsy] groups,” Spisic explains. “I just couldn’t get enough of it. I think a lot of this style was sweet to my ears already, since I had grown up with Balkan music. But manouche just got under my skin.” The guitarist describes his style as Gypsy jazz with some Balkan flavor and even a little swing thrown into the mix. “Because my music crosses a lot of genres, we attract a really mixed audience,” he notes. “Swing lovers, Balkan music fans… a lot of people show up not knowing what to expect, but my hope is that they leave with smiles on their faces and tapping toes.” Certainly, audiences are taking note of his brilliant technique and dazzling style: performances this season include dates at Chicago’s Symphony Hall (playing alongside one of his idols, Angelo Debarre), New York’s famed Birdland jazz club, and—even further afield—a Gypsy guitar festival in New Caledonia (islands about 1500 miles east of Australia). Much nearer home: performances at the Kimmel Center and World Café Live. Svitanya, a group of female singers ranging in age from their early twenties into their mid-sixties, performs music from all over Eastern
Europe. The group’s current membership of nine includes a mother-daughter set. “That’s a point of special pride for us,” says Svitanya vocalist Mary Kalyna, “because so much of what we sing is women’s music, and we perform many songs that have traditionally been passed along from generation to generation, mother to daughter.” The ensemble, whose programs usually encompass a wide variety of diverse songs from across the region, sees its mission as multifold. “One of our main goals,” says Svitanya vocalist Mary Kalyna, “is to take this wonderful material to a wider audience. Artists have worked so hard, and often under great duress, to preserve these kinds of music and traditions in their native lands. We feel a great duty to help share it and honor their efforts and one way to do that is to make sure that we offer a context for each song before we perform it—maybe by giving a translation, or telling a story about it, or talking about the vocal style of that particular tradition. But other times, we perform for ethnic audiences at an ethnic venue; for example, we might sing mostly Ukrainian music for a Ukrainian audience at a Ukrainian church festival. And that can result in some really emotional moments—people come up to us, wiping tears from their eyes, and say they haven’t heard these songs since they were children. That is so gratifying.” Small presenters are also an important part of the Philly world music scene. One such organization is SRUTI, The India Music and Dance Society. (The word sruti, pronounced “shroo-tee,” literally means “what is heard.”) Founded 21 years ago by a group of Indian immigrants to the greater Delaware Valley area, SRUTI’s mission is to promote an appreciation and awareness of Indian classical music and dance. “When we began,” says Ramana Kanumalla, SRUTI’s president, “the organization was catering primarily to the Indian immigrant community in our area. Now, we are reaching out to a much wider audience base.” The group presents about 10 concerts per year, including two to three performances of Indian classical dance. While at least one event each season showcases north Indian classical (Hindustani) music, most performances
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Around Philadelphia,
Left: Spoken Hand Percussion Orchestra
the World Beckons
Right: Svitanya Eastern European women’s vocal ensemble
are geared to south Indian classical music, a style known as Carnatic music which is a style less known in the West than its Hindustani sister. (Indian classical artists best known to American audiences, such as sitarist Ravi Shankar, come from the Hindustani side of Indian classical music.) The primary reason for SRUTI’s southern emphasis is because the majority of its membership comes from various regions of southern India. “Coming from these home states,” Kanumalla confirms, “our members created a real demand for access to specifically Carnatic music.” SRUTI has been host to many of the most popular and prominent Indian artists of our time,
seeking out artists and art forms that fall through the cracks in terms of getting visibility from more mainstream organizations,” she observes. “One way of accomplishing that is to help artists and ensembles navigate grant opportunities, and another is creating broader visibility and appreciation for these artists and their forms through presentations and exhibitions.” Along with helping to sustain folk and ethnic traditions long established in Philadelphia, the Folklore Project is also assisting more recent arrivals to the area to nurture their own artistic traditions. “For example,” notes Shapiro-Phim, “within the past few years we have seen an influx of Mexican immigrants to our city, and we have assisted a group that specializes in pre-Aztec, indigenous music and dance form their own 501(c)(3).” The Folklore Project also helps connect artists to other members of
including the vocalist Yesudas, violinist L. Shankar, mandolin player U. Srinivas, sitarists Shujaat Khan and Anoushka Shankar, saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, and the Nrityagram dance ensemble, among many others. “We have also introduced a very popular new chamber concert series,” observes Kanumalla, “for younger and second-tier artists to present concerts in very cozy settings like private homes, small halls, and temples and churches.” Another organization that seeks to create deeper bonds between artists from around the world and audiences around the area is the Philadelphia Folklore Project, founded in 1987 by Director and Folklorist Debora Kodish. According to Toni Shapiro-Phim, the Folklore Project’s associate director, a primary goal is to identify outstanding artists and artistic traditions. Another important aspect of their work, says Shapiro-Phim, is to help give a boost in profile to such performers. “We are really
their ethnic communities. “Often,” says Shapiro-Phim, “immigrant musicians, dancers, and visual artists are isolated not just from their home countries, but also from each other. For example, the highest-caliber musicians would have played together in government-sponsored ensembles in their home nations. But once they emigrate to the United States or elsewhere, they lose those connections to their artistic peers. Part of what we do is to help them reestablish those bonds.” For example, for programming in a project called “African Song: New Context” last April, the Folklore Project brought together Liberian artists now living in cities and communities all over the United States to convene in Philadelphia for an emotional reunion. The Folklore Project strives to provide background material and resources so that audiences can better understand and appreciate the artists they support and their traditions; as she points out, the “African Song” series, which received funding from the Philadelphia Music Project and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, also included scholarly discussions of Liberian music and post-concert talks. Along with their live programming and exhibitions, another increasingly important facet of the Folklore Project is to create mini-
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documentaries of about three to five minutes in length for public television, a form which Shapiro-Phim calls “video postcards.” The first such documentary to be shown on WHYY showcased the work of klezmer musicians Elaine Hoffman Watts and her daughter Susan Hoffman Watts from Philadelphia Klezmer, who play traditional Eastern European Jewish music; Elaine was recently given the prestigious title of National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts. “We’re currently working on another such video postcard about Liberian singers,” notes Shapiro-Phim. Another of this season’s performances features the Flamenco del Encuentro, performing traditional Spanish flamenco, in a performance pairing them with the jazz-tap artists Germaine Ingram and Ensemble co-presented by The Painted Bride. In addition, there are exciting groups based around Philadelphia whose artistic mission is not strictly tied to one ethnic tradition. One such ensemble is the Spoken Hand Percussion Orchestra, who binds together four of the world’s most energetic and exciting drum traditions—Afro-Cuban bata (a sacred drumming which originated in Yoruban religious ritual), Brazilian samba (another cross-cultural hybrid, this time from the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, which probably has its roots in the Congo and Angola), the North Indian tabla, and the West African djembe. Other local ensembles seek to underscore the ties that transcend categories of culture, religion, and political boundary. One such ensemble is Atzilut, which brings together Jewish and Arab musicians to explore commonalities in their respective musical traditions as well as music from around the region. Another area group that explores cross-cultural ties is the Prophecy Music Project, led by Osubi Craig, who in performances and residencies explores music and its functions across the African Diaspora, from West Africa to the Caribbean to South America to the United States. In addition, many of the largest arts institutions in the Philadelphia area do present world music artists as part of their regular programming. The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is a leader in this area; their 2007-08 schedule ranges from Belize’s Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective (this year’s winners of the WOMEX Award, a prestigious world music industry prize) to the mesmerizing Whirling Dervishes of Istanbul to the regal and extraordinarily talented singer Angelique Kidjo from Benin. This season’s Kimmel Center offerings embrace some of the globe’s most popular and prestigious artists, including Senegal’s Grammywinner and pop legend, Youssou N’Dour and Ireland’s evergreen favorites The Chieftains. The Kimmel is also bringing to the fore less well known but highly accomplished and marvelous artists including the Afro-Peruvian singer now based in Mexico, Tania Libertad, as well as the Shoghaken troupe from Armenia. Over at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, an eclectic roster of world music artists are appearing at the Friday evening “Art After 5” programs this fall and winter, including Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda, new klezmer artists Klingon Klez, and the jazz saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa (who significantly incorporates aspects of south Indian classical music into his own work). Last season, the renowned Painted Bride Art Center launched the new “XL Series” with a grant from the Philadelphia Music Project. The series showcases large ensembles from across the globe, beginning with
a November program that featured Gamelan Cudamani, a 26-member dance and music ensemble from Bali performing an Odalan, the visually and musically dazzling Balinese temple festival ritual. World dance also figures prominently at the Painted Bride this season, including performances by the Courtyard Dancers, who combine the dance vocabulary of Indian kathak and other regional forms with everyday gestures to formulate sharp social commentary. What all this diverse and exciting activity demonstrates is that Philadelphia’s world music scene is vividly alive, deeply interesting to a wide audience—one that goes far beyond the relative
confines of individual ethnic groups—and very much part of the city’s own ethnic fabric. Undoubtedly, as Philadelphia’s profile continues to shift, the artists, groups, and organizations who work tirelessly to present the best musical and dance traditions from across that varied landscape will find even more exciting and innovative ways to bring those rich inheritances to a broad public. Anastasia Tsioulcas is a New York City-based writer and critic specializing in classical and world music. She has written for Billboard Magazine, Gramophone Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York, Travel & Leisure, Songlines in the UK; O, The Oprah Magazine, Jazz Times and Down Beat.
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