Press Releases
Skirball Cultural Center
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PRESS RELEASE Media Contact: Dorothy Rand, Communications Associate (310) 440-4657, communications@skirball.org
Skirball Cultural Center presents its Sacred Traditions, Musical Blessings series THE YUVAL RON ENSEMBLE AND GUESTS on LOS ANGELES-The Skirball Cultural Center presents three concerts this fall as part of its new series Sacred Traditions, Musical Blessings. The series begins with a performance of Sufi music, dance, and poetry on Thursday, September 25, by Israeli composer Yuval Ron and special guest singers Najwa Gibran and Sukhawat Ali Khan, and dancer Dervish Aziz. Then on Thursday, October 2, Sikh singer Dya Singh performs devotional songs in Punjabi with his ensemble. Finally, on Thursday, October 23, classical Indian flutist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia takes the stage with his group, Magical Flutes, featuring flutists Rakesh Chaurasia and Rupak Kulkarni, and percussionists Pandit Subhankar Banerjee and Pandit Bhavani Shankar. Sacred Traditions, Musical Blessings is inspired by the ecumenical message of the exhibition A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People opening at the Skirball on September 12, 2008. These concerts are also part of Daniel Pearl World Music Days. The Yuval Ron Ensemble performance is also presented as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music 2008 and is dedicated to building bridges of harmony and reconciliation. Parking is free. For general Skirball information, the public may call (310) 440-4500 or visit www.skirball.org. THE YUVAL RON ENSEMBLE AND GUESTS Seeker of Truth: Sufi Music, Dance, and Poetry from Pakistan and Turkey Led by Israeli composer Yuval Ron and featuring his ensemble of outstanding Jewish, Christian, and Arab musicians, the Yuval Ron Ensemble presents a concert of music, poetry, and dance from the mystical Sufi tradition. The concert will feature the vocals of Palestinian singer Najwa Gibran and Sukhawat Ali Khan, a master qawwali (devotional Sufi) singer from Pakistan. Dervish Aziz will perform the trance-inducing whirling dance of the dervishes of the Mevlana Sufi order of Turkey. Under the direction of Yuval Ron, the ensemble will also include Yeghish Manukyan on woodwinds, Virginie Alumian on kanun (plucked zither), Jamie Papish and David Martinelli on percussion. Yuval Ron was born in Israel and is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He plays oud and saz (Middle Eastern lutes) and is a prolific composer. He has done field recordings in the Sinai desert with the Bedouins, which he used to create the record One Truth with Sufi master musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek. A recipient of multiple grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Composers Forum, and the California Council for the Humanities, Ron has worked with the Moscow Symphony, the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, and the New Hampshire Philharmonic. He has also worked in movies and television, composing the scores to the Oscar-winning musical short film West Bank Story, as well as Golda’s Balcony, Breaking the Maya Code, and Road to Victory. In 1999, he formed the Yuval Ron Ensemble in an endeavor to close national, racial, religious, and cultural divides by uniting music and dance traditions of Middle East peoples. Featuring Jewish and Arabic musicians as well as Christian Armenian artists, the group has released two recordings and performs regularly around the world. Najwa Gibran is one of the finest Palestinian female singers living today in the West. She is an expert of the Arabic traditional vocal technique called mawal (an improvisational passage) and of Lebanese and Bedouin folk songs. Growing up in Haifa in a Christian Arab family, Gibran began her musical training with her father who taught her Middle Eastern vocal techniques and maqamatt (traditional Middle Eastern musical scales system). She also studied piano at the Haifa Municipal Conservatory. After immigrating to Canada she continued her training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where she studied voice. She is the lead vocalist of Canada’s Arabesque Dance Company. Sukhawat Ali Khan comes from a long lineage of esteemed musicians stretching back to sixteenth-century India. More recently, in the 1960s and 1970s, Khan’s father and uncle were highly regarded qawwali singers who rivaled legendary Ravi Shankar in popularity. Khan received extensive musical training from his father and, by the age of ten, Khan had become a regular featured singer at a local radio station. In keeping with his family’s tradition of musical innovation, he performs five traditional styles of music: North Indian and Pakistani classical, Sufi devotional, Indian folk, geet (romantic, dance style), and ghazal (lyrical ballads). He is not only a great interpreter of these styles but also teaches them. Yeghish Manukian, an Armenian woodwind and reed virtuoso, has been a member of the Armenian Federal Dance Ensemble orchestra for three decades. He performs on four different instruments-duduk, zurna, shvi, and clarinet-and his repertoire includes Middle Eastern traditional music, ancient sacred melodies, and contemporary world music. Virginie Alumyan is a kanun player who was born and raised in Armenia. She has performed there and in the United States with numerous Armenian folk music and dance ensembles. She has performed with the Yuval Ron Ensemble since 2000 and can be heard on the album . Jamie Papish, a percussionist, performs frequently with the Yuval Ron Ensemble as well as with MESTO, the Stefani Valadez Ensemble, Extreme Klezmer Makeover, the Nashuva Band, and Suzanne Teng’s Mystic Journey. He recently performed at the Jerash Festival in Jordan with MESTO and at the Oud Festival in Jerusalem with the Yuval Ron Ensemble, and is slated to perform at the Fez Festival of Sacred Music in Morocco in June 2009. David Martinelli is a drummer, percussionist, and composer specializing in Near Eastern, improvised, and electronic music. He performs and records with the Yuval Ron Ensemble, Surrealestate, and MESTO. DYA SINGH
Dya Singh is a master musical interpreter of traditional Sikh songs and texts and blends this material with diverse influences from around the globe. Based in Australia, he is an acclaimed singer/musician of the Sikh mystical musical tradition, a form that originated in Punjab (a province on the border of India and Pakistan) and spread throughout the West with the recent diaspora of Sikhs worldwide. Using messages of truth, love, peace, and equality, Singh hopes to make Sikh music more accessible to a wider audience. His high-energy kirtan shabads (Sikh hymns), charismatic stage performance, superb voice, and blending of global sounds in his music make him a unique presence on the world music stage today. In Australia and overseas, Singh’s ensemble performs at interfaith events, music and folk festivals, community celebrations, and Sikh temples. The group tours internationally each year to prominent cultural events and to Sikh communities. Born in 1950 in Malaysia, Singh inherited his father’s love of Sikh spiritual music. Singh started singing at age five under the tutelage of his father, who was a highly renowned singer of Sikh kirtan shabads. By the age of fifteen, Singh was a regular singer on Radio Malaysia, singing popular Bollywood Hindi film songs, Punjabi folk songs, and kirtan shabads. He completed his education in Malaysia and then spent eleven years in the United Kingdom studying and working as an accountant. During this time he was exposed to ghazal (lyrical ballads), qawwali (devotional Sufi) and bhajan (devotional Hindu) singing. In 1981, Singh immigrated to Australia and within a very short time was in great demand to perform. He turned fully professional in 1995 and has since released eighteen albums. He has also toured in the U.S., England, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia as well as throughout Australia. His ensemble has appeared at major Australian arts, folk, and music festivals, and special events. Singh was voted “leading instrumentalist” at the South Australian Music Industry Awards for in 1993 and 1994, and “vocalist of the year” at the 2000 Australian World Music Association Awards. Singh still returns regularly to his native Malaysia to sing in Sikh temples and has taught youth choirs and master classes in Singapore. He is currently writing a book on the traditions and practices of Sikh music and the use of raags (scales) in this music. In his own words, he wants to “de-mystify Sikh mystical music.” The group performing at the Skirball will consist of Dya Singh on vocals and harmonium, Parvyn Singh on vocals, percussion and dance, Josh Bennet on violin and didjeridoo, Dheeraj Shrestha on tabla, and Andrew Clermont on guitar, didjeridoo, and violin. PANDIT HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA’S MAGICAL FLUTES Made from a piece of hollowed-out bamboo, the bansuri flute has just six finger holes. Skilled at both breathing and blowing techniques, Chaurasia can play an astounding range of four and a half octaves, significantly expanding the expressive possibilities of the bansuri. For example, his skills have enabled him to adapt the fast tempo of the jod and jhala (passages usually played on string instruments) to the flute.
Chaurasia adheres to the training known as Senia Gharana, but integrates other styles into his playing. For instance, when playing an alap (an opening non-rhythmic section of a song), Chaurasia follows the dhrupad style (a single melodic line with no harmonics). In his vocal compositions, Chaurasia uses the khayal style (a modern genre ofNorth Indian classical singing), while for his dhun (light instrumental) pieces, he incorporates thumri (romantic and devotional music from North India). Unlike many other great musicians of India, Chaurasia was not born into a family of musicians. His father was a noted wrestler who was keen that his son follow in his footsteps. Young Chaurasia began training as a wrestler but took to playing the bansuri instead and studied under Pandit Bholanath and Annapurna Shankar. Chauraisa has been awarded many honors, including: the Padma Vibhushan (the second-highest civilian award in India given by the President) in 2000; the Padma Bhushan (third-highest civilian award) in 1992; and an award from the Sangeet Natak Academy (India’s national performing arts academy) in 1983 in the “instrumental music” category. He performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo in 1998. He has also performed at Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Center, the Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theater, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. Furthermore, the mayor of San Francisco proclaimed July 25, 1998, as Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia day in San Francisco. In addition to performing solo, Chaurasia has collaborated with Western musicians such as the late Yehudi Menuhin, Jean Pierre Rampal, John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Ian Anderson, Egberto Gismonti, and many others. A prolific composer and recording artist, Chaurasia has produced several albums, over three hundred recordings, and a double album with santoor (dulcimer) master Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, entitled Love, Peace and Harmony.
Chaurasia hopes to establish gurukul schools-where students study a particular musical genre and reside in close proximity to their teacher-throughout the world, and to give equal access to his music and teaching to underprivileged, talented children. He has established the Brindavan Gurukul, an academy dedicated to the teaching and promotion of performing arts of the world (particularly music and dance), yoga, and meditation techniques. As an ambassador of peace, Chaurasia travels extensively throughout the world, focusing on children and youth. He also heads the world music department at the Rotterdam Music Conservatory in the Netherlands. The ensemble Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Magical Flutes consists of three bansuri players (in addition to Chaurasia himself) and two percussionists: Rakesh Chaurasia is the nephew and disciple of Hariprasad Chaurasia. Rakesh started playing flute at the age of five and has accompanied his uncle/guru on tours around the world since he was thirteen. A highly gifted artist, Rakesh has performed solo concerts and has collaborated with other artists as well. While his forte is classical music, Rakesh is equally at home with popular and folk music. Pandit Subhankar Banerjee, a tabla master, has received accolades from filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Pandit Ravi Shankar, and President Venkatarman. Banerjee is also a competent vocalist and a prolific recording artist. He has accompanied prominent musicians including Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit L. Subramanium, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, Pandit V.G. Jog, and Ustad Imrat Hussian Khan, among others. Pandit Bhawani Shankar Kathak is a talented pakhawaj (two-headed hand drum) and tabla player who has performed worldwide. He has won several awards such as the Pandit Jasraj Gaurav Puraskar (2002) and Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Academy Award (2003). He has accompanied many top performing artists of India such as Ravi Shankar, Pandit Jasraj, Birju Maharaj, Shivkumar Sharma, Amjad Ali Khan, and others. Visiting the Skirball The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (exit Skirball Ctr Dr off the 405). Exhibition hours: Tuesday-Friday 12:00-5:00 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; extended hours for all exhibitions except Noah’s Ark at the Skirball on Thursdays until 9:00 p.m; closed Mondays. Exhibition admission: $10 General; $7 Seniors, Full-Time Students, and Children over 12; $5 Children 2-12. All exhibitions are free to Skirball Members and Children under 2. The Skirball is also home to Zeidler’s Café, which serves innovative California cuisine in an elegant setting and Audrey’s Museum Store, which sells books, contemporary art, music and more. For general information, the public may call (310) 440-4500 or visit www.skirball.org. About the Skirball |
