Wisconsin Union Theater series opens with Mahotella Queens

The Mahotella Queens, one of South Africa’s longest-running and most beloved musical groups, opens the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Performance Series on Saturday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m.

“The formidable trio, who are all past 60, sound as vital as any teenager when they sing, while their fancy footwork still possesses its amazing vitality,” says the San Francisco Chronicle about the Mahotella Queens, winners of the international WOMEX (World Music Expo) Award in 2000. “Their new band drops a bit of hip-hop and reggae into the mix, but it’s the trio’s vocal power and radiant charisma that you’ll remember.”

Their story begins in apartheid South Africa, where the Queens were heroes of the struggle for liberation. Together with Mahlathini, fondly nicknamed the Lion of Soweto for his proud bearing and growling voice, and legendary saxophonist/producer West Nkosi, they invented in the 1960s the style known as mbaqanga. It means “dumpling,” implying the homemade quality of this music’s origins, and it has become known around the world as the music that represents South Africa’s townships.

Mbaqanga traces its roots to the 1940s and ’50s, when workers from many ethnic groups would gather in drinking halls and play music on whatever instruments were on hand. It’s a mix of traditional and urban styles, combining gospel-pop with lively guitar trios and a rumbling, independent bass-line, over which the Queens voices fan out with enough strength to fortify even the weakest souls. It came to embody the spirit of oppressed people – the singers themselves were blacklisted, harassed and arrested a number of times – and now it celebrates the new South Africa, though the Queens do not shy away from tackling current problems, such as the increasing violence in their country or the struggle for women’s rights.

According to the WOMEX judges, the Mahotellas “represent the best in South African music: the finely honed art of passionate singing, the lattice work of funky rhythms and the breathtaking art of spectacular live performance.”

Says Billboard Magazine, “Wildly infectious and jubilant, and certainly one of the most endearing vibes in world music today.”

“An energy that makes the Spice Girls look like Covent Garden’s human statues,” says the British Evening Standard.

And the Washington Post adds, “Wearing outfits that prominently display the new South African flag, they whirl, crouch and bound about the stage, adding an unforgettable visual image to South Africa’s popular township sound.”

The show is sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Directorate with additional support from WORT, 89.9 FM. Tickets are $29 for the general public and $28 for Union members. Buy seven or more vouchers at $27 each. UW–Madison students: $14 or buy five or more vouchers for $10 each.

For more information, call the box office at (608) 262-2201.

ITALIAN BAND TO OPEN FOR MAHOTELLA QUEENS AT WISCONSIN UNION THEATER

Fiamma Fumana, a hot new Italian band deftly balancing folk, dance beats and a Celtic influence, will open for the Mahotella Queens in their Wisconsin Union Theater performance on Saturday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m.

Fiamma Fumana – Flame Fog or, as the band explains, the energy of the present mixed with the fog and mist of the River Po Valley’s landscape – hail from Emilia Romagna, a densely populated urban area in northern Italy. This region used to be known for its rice fields and the songs, in Emilian dialect, of the women who worked them. One such woman was the grandmother of Fiamma, the band’s lead singer, who now takes musical scraps from her family history and sets them to new beats. One of the band’s songs is Three Sisters, in a call-and-answer style popular among the workers. Another one is about bandits who rode through the Italian countryside, stealing from the rich. A third is Bella Ciao, the famous anthem of Italian anti-fascist fighters during World War II.

The band doesn’t strictly adhere to its northern Italian roots, adding Scottish and Irish instrumentation to the mix. As Rootsworld says, “One of the highlights, [the song] L.I.L.T., marries a delirious Celtic melody and violin to lyrics celebrating the diversity of Italian dialects…the musicians are keenly aware of globalization’s far-reaching effects: get the kids dancing to the songs of their elders, but this time at a global village rave.” Adds Green Man Review, “Fiamma Fumana …is an absolute treasure, a true diamond in the rough.”

The show is sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Directorate with additional support from WORT, 89.9 FM. Tickets are $29 for the general public, $28 for Union members, or buy seven or more vouchers at $27 each. UW–Madison students: $14 or buy five or more vouchers for $10 each. For more information, call the box office at (608) 262-2201.

ST. LAWRENCE STRING QUARTET OPENS WISCONSIN UNION THEATER SEASON

The Wisconsin Union Theater’s 2003-2004 Concert Series season opens with a bang on Friday, Oct, 3, at 8 p.m. when the brilliant St. Lawrence String Quartet, accompanied by clarinetist Todd Palmer, plays music by Haydn and Ravel as well as the 35-minute “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind” by Osvaldo Golijov – “the hottest new voice on the scene” according to the Los Angeles Times.

An Argentinean Jew of East European descent, Golijov took the music world by storm in 2000, when his “St. Mark Passion,” commissioned for the European Music festival to commemorate the 250th anniversary of J. S. Bach’s death, premiered. “Dreams and Prayers,” for Klezmer clarinet and string quartet, conjures the theories of the 13th Century rabbi who helped formulate Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalist concept that all events in the universe can be understood through the combination of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The work is based on prayers from the High Holy Days as well as a popular Klezmer tune, “passionately evoking worldly and ethereal realms,” says the Tucson Citizen.

Originally from Canada and now Ensemble in Residence at Stanford University, the St. Lawrence String Quartet is “Dazzling…beyond superlatives” (Salt lake Tribune), “transcendent musicians” (Le Mond) and “cream of the current string quartet crop (The Miami Herald).

Famed for their electrifying technique and new interpretations of established repertoire, the four musicians are also renowned for their dedication to the performance of new works. “The St. Lawrence is first and foremost, I think, about risk taking: about playing on the emotional edge, not to ‘get it right,’ but because the music has something to tell us that we cannot live without; something that could make you change your life,” says the Toronto Globe and Mail. Virtuoso Todd Palmer’s “Fingers [are] flying and his heart teetering up high on a wire” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) as his “multicolored clarinet matches the St. Lawrence Quartet’s expressive vibrancy note to note” (Baltimore Sun).

The show is sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Directorate with additional support from WERN, 88.7 FM. Tickets are $30 for the general public and $28 for Union members. Buy seven or more vouchers at $27 each. UW–Madison students: $14 or buy five or more vouchers for $10 each. A valid UW–Madison student ID is required for voucher exchange.

For more information, call (608) 262-2201 or visit www.union.wisc.edu/theater.

MULTIPHONIC SINGERS BRING THE MYSTICAL ARTS OF TIBET

Robed in magnificent costumes, playing traditional instruments and intoning three notes simultaneously, the monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery bring their sacred music and dance to the Wisconsin Union Theater on Friday, Oct. 10, at 8 p.m.

Known as “overtone singing,” the multiphonic tradition is accomplished by learning to control the muscles of the vocal cavity and reshaping it while singing to make it accord with the natural overtones of the voice. The body is thus transformed into an efficient overtone amplifier. The Tibetans are the only culture that cultivates this most extraordinary vocal ability and the Drepung monks, renowned for their unique skill, have the honor of leading the Monlam Chenmo, Tibet’s largest national sacred-music festival.

The performance comprises 10 pieces believed to generate energies conducive to world healing. They include chanting, music, and splendid dances and costumes. Endorsed by the Dalai Lama as a means of promoting world peace and healing, the monks have taken the world by storm in recent years, performing in many of the greatest venues in the United States. Their music was featured in two motion pictures, “Seven Years in Tibet” and “Kundun.”

The Drepung Monastery was established near Lhasa, Tibet, in 1416 and operated until the Chinese invasion in 1959 and the forced closure and destruction of monasteries. It was rebuilt in southern India and in 1991, following early Mystical Arts of Tibet tours, a branch was established in Atlanta, GA.

While in Madison, the monks will create a mandala sand painting at the Memorial Union. Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning cosmogram or “world in harmony.” To construct the mandala, millions of grains of painted sand are painstakingly laid into a wondrous painting. When finished, the mandala is destroyed to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists. The colored sands are swept up and poured into a nearby river or stream, where the waters carry the healing energies throughout the world. The mandala will be built on Tuesday, Oct. 7, from 1-7 p.m. and on Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 8-9, from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. On Friday, Oct. 10, the monks will work on the mandala from 10-11 a.m. and conduct the closing ceremony at noon.

The show is sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Directorate with additional support from WORT, 89.9 FM. Tickets are $29 for the general public, $28 for Union members, or seven or more vouchers at $27 each. UW–Madison students: $14 or buy five or more vouchers for $10 each. For more information, call the box office at (608) 262-2201.