The
presents
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 5 at 8pm
Kronos Quartet Homayun Sakhi Trio with Special Guest
CHAN CENTRE AT UBC
A GA K HAN TRUST FOR CULTURE Music Initiative
PROGRAMME
KRONOS QUARTET with Special Guest HOMAYUN SAKHI TRIO Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 8:00pm
KRONOS QUARTET David Harrington, violin John Sherba, violin Hank Dutt, viola Jeffrey Zeigler, cello
HOMAYUN SAKHI TRIO Homayun Sakhi, rubâb Salar Nader, tabla Abbos Kosimov, doyra
Kronos Quartet Aheym (Homeward) *
Bryce Dessner (b. 1976)
Raga Mishra Bhairavi: Alap +
Ram Narayan (b. 1927) (arr. Kronos, transc. Ljova)
Tashweesh *
Ramallah Underground (arr. Jacob Garchik)
Smyrneiko Minore +
Traditional (arr. Jacob Garchik)
La Sidounak Sayyada (I’ll Prevent the Hunters from Hunting You)
Omar Souleyman (arr. Jacob Garchik)
Death to Kosmische *
Nicole Lizée (b. 1973)
INTERMISSION Homayun Sakhi Trio Program to be announced from the stage Kronos Quartet and Homayun Sakhi Trio Rangin Kaman (The Rainbow) *
Homayun Sakhi (b. 1976) (arr. Stephen Prutsman)
This concert is presented in collaboration with the Aga Khan Music Initiative, a program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. * Written for Kronos / + Arranged for Kronos “This concert is being recorded for The Signal, hosted by Laurie Brown, heard Mon-Sat at 10 PM on CBC Radio 2.” 2
PROGRAMME NOTES Bryce Dessner (b. 1976) Aheym (2009) Bryce Dessner is a composer/guitarist/curator based in New York, best known as the guitarist for the rock band The National. He has received acclaim as a composer and guitarist for the improvising quartet Clogs. He is the recipient of commissions from Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary (Vienna) to create a spatial sound work for the Morning Line, an outdoor sound pavilion by Matthew Ritchie, and from BAM’s Next Wave Festival for The Long Count, an eveninglength work with his brother Aaron Dessner. Dessner is the creator and artistic director of the Music Now Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the co-founder of the Brassland record label. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Music. About Aheym, Dessner writes: “David Harrington asked me to write a piece for Kronos Quartet for a performance in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I live just two blocks from the park and spend many mornings running around it. The park for me symbolizes much of what I love about New York, especially the stunning diversity of Brooklyn with its myriad cultures and communities. My father’s family, Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia, also lived near the park for many years in the 1940s and ’50s before moving to Queens. In discussing the new piece, David proposed to perform the work in Brooklyn, and then to retrace the journey of my grandparents and perform it in Lodz, Poland, a city where my great-grandparents lived and through which my grandmother passed on her voyage to America. ‘Aheym’ means ‘homeward’ in Yiddish, and this piece is written as musical evocation of the idea of flight and passage. As little boys, my brother and I used to spend hours with my grandmother, asking her about the details of how she came to America. She could only give us a smattering of details, but they all found their way into our collective imagination, eventually becoming a part of our own cultural identity and connection to the past. In her poem “Di rayze aheym,” the American-Yiddish poet Irena Klepfisz, a professor at Barnard in New York and one of the few child survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto, writes: “Among strangers is her home. Here right here she must live. Her memories will become monuments.” “Aheym is dedicated to my grandmother, Sarah Dessner.” Aheym was written for the Kronos Quartet.
Ram Narayan (b. 1927) Raga Mishra Bhairavi: Alap Arranged by Kronos Quartet, transcribed by Ljova Ram Narayan (b. 1927) is a revered master of the sarangi, the bowed string instrument from northern India renowned for its vocal expressiveness. Over the course of his long career, Narayan has been the person most responsible for bringing this ancient chordophone into the foreground of classical Hindustani 3
PROGRAMME NOTES music. Born in Udaipur, Rajasthan, Narayan moved to Delhi in 1947 to work as a staff player at All India Radio. Like most sarangi players of the era, he played as a vocal accompanist only; however, he soon realized the potential of the sarangi as a solo instrument and pushed to bring his performances into the spotlight—a practice that was unheard of at the time. In the early 1950s his ragas were some of the first to be recorded on LPs produced in India, and Narayan became widely acknowledged as a soloist. Many innovations made by Narayan to bowing and fingering techniques on the sarangi have now become standard. Narayan is known for his vivid interpretations of traditional Indian ragas. This arrangement is based on the alap from a 1989 performance of Raga Mishra Bhairavi by Narayan. Ljova (Lev Zhurbin) is a composer, arranger and violist. Born in Moscow, he now works out of New York City. Ljova’s arrangements have been performed by the Kronos Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, Lara St. John, and many others. He has composed more than 70 works, including compositions for orchestras, chamber ensembles, jazz and Latin bands, as well as over a dozen scores for film and theatre projects. Recent commissions include orchestral works for the Staten Island Symphony, the Wild Ginger Philharmonic and the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble, as well as a chamber music commission from the American Composers Forum. The Kronos Quartet’s arrangement of Raga Mishra Bhairavi by Ram Narayan was commissioned for Kronos by Deborah and Creig Hoyt in memory of Raymond Frase. Kronos’ recording is available on Floodplain, released on Nonesuch Records.
Ramallah Underground Tashweesh (2008) Arranged by Jacob Garchik (b. 1976) Ramallah Underground (RU) is a musical collective, based in Ramallah, Palestine, attempting to rejuvenate Arabic culture through their music. RU was founded by artists Boikutt, Stormtrap, and Aswatt. They produce music ranging from hip hop to trip hop to down tempo. The members started off as producers; Boikutt and Stormtrap later picked up the mic and began to MC in Arabic, which added a political layer to the music. Their work comes out of a deep sense of their local culture and imposing presence of Palestine in their lives. The members of RU, as producers and as MCs, have collaborated and performed with artists across the globe, from Lebanon, United Kingdom, Switzerland, United States, France, The Netherlands, and other countries. RU has also performed live shows in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Vienna, London, Cairo, Lausanne, Brussels, Amsterdam and Washington, DC. In recent live performances, RU has incorporated a visual set, created by Palestinian visual artist Ruanne. RU’s express hope is to give a voice to Palestinians and Arabs, bringing an alternative voice from the Arab world. 4
PROGRAMME NOTES About Tashweesh, David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet writes: “I first heard Ramallah Underground on MySpace. Their sound was distinctive, and they seemed very interesting as a group. They were open to the world of music. I began an email correspondence with them, and found that one member lived in Palestine, another in Vienna and the third in Dubai. I sent them a bunch of Kronos CDs and in exchange they sent me a lot of their music. After I had spent a lot of time with their work, I felt it would be great if they would write for Kronos. Tashweesh is the result.” Trombonist and composer Jacob Garchik, born in San Francisco, has lived in New York since 1994. Since 2006 Jacob has contributed arrangements and transcriptions for the Kronos Quartet of music from all over the world. An active freelance trombonist, he plays with groups including the Lee Konitz New Nonet, the Ohad Talmor/Steve Swallow Sextet, Slavic Soul Party, the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, and the Four Bags. He has also worked with composers George Lewis, Joe Maneri, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Coleman and James Tenney, choreographers Yoshiko Chuma and Anita Cheng, and the Theatre of a Two-headed Calf. His second, independently released CD, Romance, was hailed by Ben Ratliff in the New York Times as “odd and excellent...taut with paradox... slow and beautiful art songs.” He has recorded for Piranha, Omnitone, Fresh Sound New Talent, NCM East, Tzadik, New World, and Palmetto. Garchik also plays accordion, bass trombone, tuba, computer, and piano. Ramallah Underground’s Tashweesh, arranged by Jacob Garchik, was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by the Columbia Foundation and the David Harrington Research and Development Fund. Kronos’ recording is available on Floodplain, released on Nonesuch Records.
Traditional (as sung by Marika Papagika) Smyrneiko Minore Arranged by Jacob Garchik (b. 1976) This arrangement of Smyrneiko Minore is inspired by a 1918 recording by Greek singer Marika Papagika (1890–1943). Of the many immigrant groups arriving in America, the Greek community was one of the more persistent and enduring. The breeding ground of Greek-American music was often the “cafés Amans,” atmospheric gathering places filled with cultural reassurance, Greek newspapers, home-cooked food, strong coffee and, always, music. One of the most popular was a New York-based operation run by the husband and wife team of Kostas and Marika Papagika. Papagika was born on the island of Kos. Arriving in New York in 1915, she and her husband later owned and operated their own club.She became a noted exponent of the Smyrnaic Greek style of the rebetiko tragoudi, the garrulous music that had first emerged in Smyrna. 5
PROGRAMME NOTES music that had first emerged in Smyrna. Papagika was one of the first recording artists to commit rembetika to wax in the new world. Papagika’s first four-song session for Victor took place in New York in 1918 including the celebrated Smyrneiko Minore. Copied from program note by Paul Vernon, adapted from the article “Seeking Marika,” which appeared in the world music magazine fRoots. Reprinted with permission. Jacob Garchik’s arrangement of Smyrneiko Minore was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by the David Harrington Research and Development Fund. Omar Souleyman (b. 1966) La Sidounak Sayyada Arranged by Jacob Garchik (b. 1976) Omar Souleyman is a Syrian musical legend. Since 1994, he and his musicians have been a staple of folk-pop throughout Syria issuing more than 500 studio and live-recorded albums which are easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city. He was born in rural Northeastern Syria, and the myriad musical traditions of the region are evident in his music. Classical Arabic mawal-style vocalization gives way to high-octane Syrian Dabke (the regional folkloric dance and party music), Iraqi Choubi and a host of Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish styles, among others. This amalgamation is truly the sound of Syria. His popularity has risen steadily and the group tirelessly performs concerts throughout Syria and has accepted invitations to perform abroad in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Lebanon. Jacob Garchik’s arrangement of La Sidounak Sayyada was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by the David Harrington Research and Development Fund. Nicole Lizée (b. 1973) Death to Kosmische (2010) Nicole Lizée is a composer, sound artist and keyboardist based in Montreal, Quebec. Her compositions range from works for large ensemble and solo turntablist featuring DJ techniques fully notated and integrated into a concert music setting, to other unorthodox instrument combinations that include the Atari 2600 video game console, Simon and Merlin handheld games, and karaoke tapes. Lizée has received commissions from artists and ensembles such as l’Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, CBC, So Percussion, and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society. In 2010 she was awarded a fellowship from the prestigious Civitella Ranieri Foundation based in New York City and Italy. She has twice been named a finalist for the Jules-Léger Prize, most recently in 2007 for This Will Not Be Televised, scored for chamber ensemble and turntables, and recommended among the Top Ten at the 2008 International Rostrum of Composers. In 2002 she was awarded the Canada Council for the Arts Robert Fleming Prize, and in 2004 she was nominated for an Opus Prize. 6
PROGRAMME NOTES About Death to Kosmische, Lizée writes: “Death to Kosmische is a work that reflects my fascination with the notion of musical hauntology and the residual perception of music, as well as my love/ hate relationship with the idea of genres. The musical elements of the piece could be construed as the faded and twisted remnants of the Kosmische style of electronic music. To do this, I have incorporated two archaic pieces of music technology (the Stylophone and the Omnichord) and have presented them through the gauze of echoes and reverberation, as well as through imitations of this technology as played by the strings. I think of the work as both a distillation and an expansion of one or several memories of music that are irrevocably altered by the impermanence of the mind. Only ghosts remain.” Nicole Lizée’s Death to Kosmische was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by Margaret Dorfman and the Ralph I. Dorfman Family Fund. Homayun Sakhi (b. 1976) Rangin Kaman (Rainbow) (2008) Homayun Sakhi is the outstanding Afghan rubâb player of his generation, a brilliant virtuoso endowed with a charismatic musical presence and personality. Born in Kabul into one of Afghanistan’s leading musical families, Sakhi is the heir to a musical lineage that began in the 1860s, when the ruler of Kabul, Amir Sher Ali Khan, brought a number of classically trained musicians from India to perform at his court. Over the next hundred years, Indian musicians thrived in Kabul, and the city became a provincial center for the performance of North Indian classical music. In performing North Indian music from an Afghan perspective, Sakhi reunites raga with one of its original sources, the cultivated musical traditions of the Iranian world. From the age of ten, Sakhi studied rubâb with his father, Ghulam Sakhi, in the traditional form of apprenticeship known as ustâd-shâgird (Persian: “masterapprentice”). Ghulam Sakhi was a disciple and, later, brother-in-law, of Ustâd Mohammad Omar, the much-revered Afghan rubâb master who helped shape what many Afghans identify as their “national” music, and became the first Afghan musician to teach in the United States when he arrived at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1974. Homayun Sakhi’s study of the rubâb was interrupted in 1992, when his entire family moved to the Pakistani city of Peshawar, a place of refuge for many Afghans from the political chaos and violence that enveloped their country in the years following the Soviet invasion of 1979. In 2001, Sakhi emigrated to Fremont, California, which, together with nearby Hayward and Union City, claims the largest concentration of Afghans in the United States. About Rangin Kaman, Sakhi writes:
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PROGRAMME NOTES “I call this piece Rangin Kaman, which means ‘rainbow’ in Farsi/Dari (Persian). I was inspired to write it to express and evoke the colors, beauty, diversity, and sheer wonder of this natural phenomenon. Throughout history and in modern times, we have seen the rainbow reflected in a variety of vastly different cultures and philosophies, as well as in many beautiful eye-pleasing pieces of art. “The rainbow’s beauty, variety, and ethereal textures are represented in Rangin Kaman by a combination of different rhythmic and musical styles from distinctive regions of my native Afghanistan—the north, east, west and south—as well as with a blending-in of elements of Western music. Afghanistan is a combination of different ethnicities, dialogues, faces, landscapes, and cultures; this piece weaves a musical tapestry to reflect that, and brings to light my feelings for the nation of my birth.” Homayun Sakhi's Rangin Kaman, arranged by Stephen Prutsman, was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet and Homayoun Sakhi by the Aga Khan Music Initiative, a program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and the Columbia Foundation. Additional commission funds were provided by The James Irvine Foundation, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the LEF Foundation. KRONOS QUARTET For more than 30 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet—David Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola), and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello)—has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, the Grammy-winning Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world’s most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning more than 750 new works and arrangements for string quartet. In 2011, Kronos became the only recipients of both the Polar Music Prize and the Avery Fisher Prize, two of the most prestigious awards given to musicians. Since 1973, Kronos has built a compellingly eclectic repertoire for string quartet, performing and recording works by 20th-century masters (Bartók, Shostakovich, Webern), contemporary composers (Aleksandra Vrebalov, John Adams, Alfred Schnittke), jazz legends (Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk), and artists from even farther afield (rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, Azeri vocalist Alim Qasimov, interdisciplinary composer/performer Meredith Monk). Integral to Kronos’ work is a series of long-running, in-depth collaborations with many of the world’s foremost composers. Kronos has worked extensively with composers such as “Father of Minimalism” Terry Riley, whose work with Kronos includes Salome Dances for Peace, the multimedia production Sun Rings, and 2005’s The Cusp of Magic; Philip Glass, recording his string quartets and scores to films like Mishima and Dracula; Azerbaijan’s Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, featured on the 2005 release Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh; Steve Reich, 8
KRONOS QUARTET whose Kronos-recorded Different Trains earned the composer a Grammy; Argentina’s Osvaldo Golijov, whose work with Kronos includes both compositions and extensive arrangements for albums like Kronos Caravan and Nuevo; and many more. In addition to composers, Kronos counts numerous artists from around the world among its regular collaborators, including Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man; the legendary Bollywood “playback singer” Asha Bhosle; Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba; the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks; and the renowned American soprano Dawn Upshaw. Kronos has performed live with the likes of icons Allen Ginsberg, Zakir Hussain, Modern Jazz Quartet, Noam Chomsky, Rokia Traoré, Tom Waits, Howard Zinn, Betty Carter, and David Bowie, and has appeared on recordings by such diverse talents as Nine Inch Nails, Amon Tobin, Dan Zanes, DJ Spooky, Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, Joan Armatrading, and Don Walser. A non-profit organization, the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association is committed to mentoring emerging musicians and composers, and to creating, performing, and recording new works. The quartet spends five months of each year on tour, appearing in concert halls, clubs, and festivals around the world including BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican in London, WOMAD, UCLA’s Royce Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Shanghai Concert Hall, and the Sydney Opera House. Kronos is equally prolific and wide-ranging on recordings. The ensemble’s expansive discography on Nonesuch Records includes collections such as Pieces of Africa (1992), a showcase of African-born composers, which simultaneously topped Billboard’s Classical and World Music lists; 1998’s ten-disc anthology, Kronos Quartet: 25 Years; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- and Latin Grammy-nominated celebration of Mexican culture; the 2003 Grammy-winner, Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite; and Floodplain (2009), spotlighting music from regions of the world riven by conflict. For the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association: Janet Cowperthwaite, Managing Director Laird Rodet, Associate Director Sidney Chen, Artistic Administrator Scott Fraser, Sound Designer Christina Johnson, Communications Manager Derek Lance, Intern Nikolás McConnie-Saad, Office Manager Hannah Neff, Production Associate Laurence Neff, Production Director Lucinda Toy, Business Operations Manager Contact: Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association P. O. Box 225340, San Francisco, CA 94122-5340 USA www.kronosquartet.org www.facebook.com/kronosquartet www.myspace.com/kronosquartet Twitter: @kronosquartet #kronos The Kronos Quartet records for Nonesuch Records. Canadian Representation: Henry Kolenko, Kolenko Productions 9
SALAR NADER Salar Nader, of Afghan origin, was in born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1981, and raised in the United States. At the age of seven, Nader attended his first tabla class in Berkeley, California, which was taught by Ustad Zakir Hussain, who has remained Nader’s Guru. (In the “Guru Shsiya” tradition there is “Ustad,” Guru/ Master, and “Shagird,” student; the student dedicates his or her life to the Guru not only for music, but guidance and spiritual and moral support in life.) His television appearances have included “Nowrooz” festival TV, Nima TV and Jaam-e-Jaam TV; one memorable appearance was with the noted Afghan vocalist Ustad Mawaash, when Nader was only 11 years old. Nader participated in the Monterey Music Festival with sarangi master Ustad Sultan Khan and Rob Wasserman. He is featured on the album Space Island (Atlantic Records), on which he played with Sultan Khan Saheb and Rob Wasserman. Nader discovered a passion for accompanying Kathak Dance while accompanying Pandit Chitresh Das’s classes and principal dancers in the Cchandam Dance Company. In 2005, he was invited to accompany Pandit-ji at MIT. Currently, Nader collaborates with the legendary Asian underground DJ Cheb-i-Sabbah, as well as the Fareed Haque Group. He also performs with the Rumi Ensemble and Afghan Orchestra, led by Ustad Mawaash. ABBOS KOSIMOV Abbos Kosimov was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, into a musical family. As a youth, his older brother, Umar Kosimov, introduced him to the honored Uzbek doyra artist Tuychi Inogomov, at whose school Abbos Kosimov then studied. He also attended the school of the Brothers Islamov. He graduated from the College of Culture and Music, where he studied with Mamurjon Vahabov, and from the Tashkent State Institute of Culture. In 1991, he won the second prize in the Competition of Percussion Instruments of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. In 1994, Kosimov established his own doyra school, which currently has more than 100 students. From 1994 to 1998 he also taught at the Tashkent State Institute of Culture. In 1998, he established the “ABBOS” group, which features Uzbek instruments and is popular both in Uzbekistan and abroad. In 2001, in honor of the 10th anniversary of Uzbekistan’s independence, Kosimov was awarded with a medal for Honored Artists of Uzbekistan. After moving to the US in 2005, Kosimov has performed with Randy Gloss’s percussion group Hand’s OnSemble, participating with his group of doyra players at PASIC 2006 in Austin. He has recorded with Stevie Wonder and performs internationally with Zakir Hussain. Currently Kosimov is working on numerous projects to perform and introduce Uzbek traditional music to the general public. He recently created the first instructional DVD on the doyra available in the West.
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AGA KHAN MUSIC INITIATIVE The Aga Khan Music Initiative (AKMI) was launched in 2000 by His Highness the Aga Khan to support talented musicians and music educators who are striving to preserve, transmit, and further develop their musical heritage in contemporary forms. The Music Initiative began its work in Central Asia, and later expanded to include musicians and artistic communities from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. AKMI's activities focus on innovative approaches to music education, documentation of key musical styles and repertoires, and commissioning new works, often through intercultural collaborations. The Music Initiative is a programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The Trust promotes the cultural mission of its parent organization, the Aga Khan Development Network, which focuses on the physical, social, cultural, and economic revitalization of communities in the Muslim world. Aga Khan Music Initiative Staff Fairouz R. Nishanova, Director Theodore Levin, Senior Project Consultant For more information: www.akdn.org/Music