by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
When organizations partner in the name of art, it’s Jacksonville that wins. Last year, the Cummer Family Foundation (not part of the museum) quietly teamed up with UNF to give us their chamber series. The program will be a regular part of UNF’s music calendar in the future.
“UNF was fortunate enough to create some kind of partnership with Cheryl Cummer from the Cummer Family. She helped us start this special series,” says Guy Yehuda, Artistic Director of the Chamber Series.
The first artist of this second season was clarinetist Eric Mandat. He’s a master of his instrument, using wild multiphonic techniques. He’s also a composer. His music is so forward thinking and technical that music aficionados are amazed, and audience members stay entertained because of his musical feats.
In the last performance of the series, on January 22nd, they featured the Moroccan band Layali El Andalus, headed by master musician Rachid Halihal, performing music in the spirit of Muslim and Judeo ancient traditions of Andalusia, as well as contemporary and classical music from Arabic, Moroccan, and Jewish cultures. Yehuda calls it a musical “collage of the golden age of Andalusia.”
The musicians hail from Morocco, Israel and the United States. Classically trained musician and Moroccan native, Halihal, sang and played the Oud- a fretless, pear-shaped stringed Arabic instrument generally thought to be the predecessor to the guitar. Other unique instruments in the mix include the Ney, a West Asian wind instrument, the dumbek, an ancient form of hand drum, and the Rig, a stringed instrument. Also performing was Daphna Mor on the nay/recorder; Bruno Bruzzese, violin; Uri Sharlin, accordion; Brahim Fribgane, dumbek; and David Buchbut on the rig.
The vocals and the instruments took the audience to another culture, another place and time.
Each performance in the series will aim to present a different type of musical experience within the classical genre. While they aim to capture some of the vibrancy and eclectic style of world music, they want the series to go beyond the boundaries of world music.
“[It] will be based on world music, but my idea was not to just create world music per se, because you can find a lot of festivals where you can find world music. What happens is they seclude themselves from Western music. What I would like to do is to show the full gamut of music.”
World music, Yehuda says, should include all great instrumental music. That means Mozart and Brahms just as much as a Peruvian pan flute artist or Middle Eastern music.
The recital hall they’re using is far more intimate than most of the cavernous theatres that separate the artists from their audience. In this venue, the music is right there, living close to the audience.
“We want to bring this music so that the students here, as well as the larger audience, really have this close contact with music out there. The idea is to really foster this eclectic culture, to get people to really open their ears to different things that they never really knew existed.”
It’s a young series, so they will start with just a couple of artists per season. Once they’ve built a little more awareness in the community, they’ll start to feature more artists.
All of the performances will be at the Recital Hall of the UNF campus. Check the event calendar in our newspaper as well as the website unf.edu/coas/music for the next performance. For more information about The Cummer Family Foundation Chamber Series, contact Guy Yehuda, artistic director, at (904) 620-3836 or g.yehuda@unf.edu.
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