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Chamber Singers spread songs through South Dakota
The Track and Field team saw nine first place finishes in fourday span
USD’s Chamber Singers traveled on tour throughout South Dakota and Iowa during spring break.
Coyotes traveled to Texas to compete in three different meets. Highlighted by a school record being broken.
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ASIAN NIGHT HOSTED FOR THE FIRST TIME AT USD
Andreea Munteanu| The Volante
AASA hosted a celebration of Asian culture for students and Vermillion community. The event had several performances, including a ddance group and musical covers. Andreea Munteanu
Andreea.Munteanu@coyotes.usd.edu
Asian Night was hosted for the first time in the MUC Ballroom on March 27. The event had an attendance of over 50 people, which consisted of students, faculty and members of the community. Pooja Modawel, the president of the Asian American Student Association (AASA), identified the gap in the events hosted at USD and the groups of students which are targeted. “Honestly, we have seen the Asian American population on campus has been growing so much in recent years, and we have something such as African Night to celebrate African cultures. I think that it was important for us to bring to light that there is a lot of
Asian representation here on campus,” Modawel said. Asian Night is seen as a very important event by AASA, especially with the level of hate felt by the Asian community. The students need to know they are represented and the community needs to see there is more to Asia than they are ever made aware of, Modawel said. “After being in the works for three years, we decided that 2022 was the year Asian Night must happen. We started planning the same as we would when we plan our other events and decided on performances and food orders,” Modawel said. Emily Chov, the vice president of AASA, was involved in ensuring that Asian Night would run accordingly
and believes it to be an important event for the Asian community as well as various other cultures that make up USD’s student population. Asian Night encountered some difficulties, just like any other event that students get the chance to enjoy on campus, Chov said. “I want to say that the budget and the representation gave us some difficulty in preparing for the event because even though there is a growing AsianAmerican community happening, it’s still hard to find the people as there is not really a way for people to come together and to reach out to them,” Chov said. The event consisted of various performances, from a fashion show that presented all countries that comprise Asia to solos and duets of well-known
songs. The food was originally supposed to be cooked by Modawel and Chov, but Royal Palace and Shahi Palace were chosen because of time constraints, Modawel said. Grady Harrington, a freshman media and journalism major, enjoyed what the event had to offer along with his friends. “I liked the food, and mostly the performances, especially the fashion show. The end performance was really good. It was something different. It is always nice to see different cultures from around the world while enjoying a good meal with your friends,” Harrington said. Asian Night is expected to receive a lot of positive feedback and with that, it is hoped to become a tradition,
Modawel said. “We hope to be able to do this every year, and we think that it could become one of our big events after Diwali and Lunar Asian New Year,” Modawel said. Individuals who wish to get involved with AASA can also do so through attending the monthly events and following the Instagram page, Modawel said. “Our main idea is to have events every month, and that way we’re known even more to the community, so more people show up each time. This was also one of the ways in which we recruited more people into the executive board of the club. People usually email or talk to us about events and join our club,” Modawel said.
Bel Canto Duo performs at National Music Museum Maddi Kallsen
Maddilynn.Kallsen@coyotes.usd.edu
The Bel Canto Duo, consisting of artists Darci Gamerl and David Downing, performed classical and modern original pieces at the National Music Museum March 26. The duo is based in Omaha and was created in 2016. “We’re both performers and composers. I play oboe and English horn, and David plays cello and he uses a looping station. He layers different parts to make it sound like a number of different voices are happening at the same time. It’s really cool,” Gamerl said. The Bel Canto Duo has performed and composed together for over five years, Gamerl said “We met in 2016 and we’ve pretty much started making music together ever since. We aren’t just partners in life, we are also partners in music so it just kind of happened simultaneously, but I think the pandemic and how everything shut down really accelerated that for us in terms of developing the duo,” Gamerl said. “We just did some more writing and developed things a lot more than we would have otherwise.” Michael Suing, the interim director of the National Music Museum, said this group was chosen to introduce the community to new sounds and
different kinds of music. A duo consisting of cello and oboe isn’t very common. “I wanted to give our audience the opportunity to hear the duo. I mean, I personally had never heard it. To have that as part of the concerts that we’re offering is an access point to the work that we do in the history of musical instruments to hear different kinds of sounds and different kinds of music,” Suing said. Along with classical and contemporary music, the duo also focuses on singing bowls, featured in several pieces they perform. “We also focus on healing music and we use singing bowls. We have several that we’ll use in the performance. They have pretty amazing properties to help people to destress and relax. But also they literally help you restructure on a cellular level,” Gamerl said. “They’re pretty amazing to listen to and then also just to play. You can feel the vibrations coming off of the bowls.” Music engages many parts of the brain and is very important to have in life, Gamerl said. “When somebody is listening to music or playing music, it engages many different areas and parts of your brain,” Gamerl said. “With the bowls, that happens to your body, too, because the sound is washing
over you on a neurological level.” Downing said the duo is inspired by nature and other forms of art, including all kinds of music. “The duo has been inspired by other music you know, the great music that came before us and world music,” Downing said. The natural rhythm of the world is something the duo draws on for inspiration, Gamerl said. “I think we’re inspired a lot by nature and kind of the natural rhythm and sound benefits that we get from nature,” Gamerl said. “I mean, you see it all the time after going for a walk or something like that, how you feel refreshed and like you’re reconnected with things, yourself included, and we try and express that in our music and how we are. I think that’s a big part of it.” The Bel Canto Duo will be composing music for an interdisciplinary exhibit in Omaha, Nebraska, at Gallery 1516. The exhibit runs from April 29 to June 26. “It’s an interdisciplinary exhibit that has a film running that features the different rivers of Nebraska and they also show you the Milky Way from the sand hills and some really beautiful things and there’s going to be dance as part of it, I believe, and then the the music that we’re recording and writing for that,” Gamerl said.
Submitted | The Volante
Darci Gamerl and David Downing performed at the National Music Museum. The duo’s music is inspired by nature and healing with music.