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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, September 18, 2002 7 CONTACT US ' T™Y SAIDIT SWIFT: “An idle reason Story ideas? Questions? Comments? lessens the weight of the good E-mailusatgamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com ones you gave before.” theperformingarts This week, the USC School of Music will hold a three-day orphan film symposium, bring in world-renowned artists and present live performances to celebrate the new Center for Southern African-American Music. The Koger Center features world class concerts. PHOTO BY M.C. TAYLOR/ COURTESY OF KOGER CENTER WEB SITE BY JULIA SELLERS THE GAMECOCK Most students probably don’t really know exactly what goes on inside the School of Music. Maybe they think it’s just a place where music students have recitals for their parents and patrons of the arts. But the school offers more than just a major and a place for musicians to refine their skills; it also offers in triguing performances and programs. Over the next week, the School of Music will bring in world-renowned musi cians, launch a new center and hold a film symposium. On Sept. 25, the school will celebrate the opening of the Center for Southern African-American Music with a daylong symposium featuring five one-hour pre sentations of African American music in the South. The center’s mission is to make rare and neglect ed music available to stu dents and the public. Through musical perfor mances, the center hopes to broaden the public’s knowl edge of overlooked music such as spiritual, blues, rag time, jazz and protest songs developed from early slave traditions. “I believe the center will offer the students a diversi ty that was not at the uni versity before,” said Mon'ika Scott, a third-year Spanish student. “This is a good learning tool for African-Americans who do not know about cultures such as Gullah. The center will also give the students something to relate their culture to on campus.” The celebration will also include an evening concert at the Roger Center that will feature Renny Carr and the Tigers, the Gullah Singers, the Hallelujah Singers, and the Huspah Baptist Church Choir. Jonathan Green, who is known for his work on Gullah culture, will be the event’s host. The School of Music will also welcome renowned pi anist John Browning. Browning, who has trav eled the concert stage for al most 50 years, will perform Sept. 24 with the USC Symphony Orchestra. He will perform Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto Opus 38, Beethoven’s “Lenore” Overture and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 Opus 98. Tickets can be purchased for the concert, which will start at 7:30 p.m., at the Coliseum Box Office, or by calling (803) 251-2222. The third annual Orphan Film Symposium, from Sept. 26 to Sept. 28, will show films that have been abandoned by their owners. It will include independent documentaries, silent films and home movies. “The film symposium is a great idea because it makes me realize how mu sic in a film makes the movie more appealing, whether it is an orphan film or a blockbuster,” said Shana Till, a first-year elec tronic journalism student. The event will bring to gether cinema scholars and technology experts to dis cuss sound and music in or phan films. The three-day event will offer presenta tions, screenings and dis cussions of the orphan films. The symposium is free, but registration is required to attend. For more informa tion, contact Julie Hubbert at 777-3214 or visit the School of Music’s Web site at http://www.music.sc.edu. Students can get re duced-price tickets to most of the events, and some events are free. So pass by the school and check out what’s happen ing. “We encourage the Carolina community not to overlook the regular per formance offerings by the university bands, choirs, orchestras, jazz ensembles and chamber groups,” said Andrew Gowan, assistant dean and associate of un dergraduate studies at the School of Music. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockmixeditor @hotmail.com TOP 10 These were the most requested songs on USC’s student radio station from Sept. 9-15. 1. “INTERNET DATING SUPER STUDS” _____Vandals 2. “WE LOVE LIFE" Pulp 3. “LIVE FOR TODAY” Boy Sets Fire 4. “THE JOY OF SING-SING” Sing-Sing 5. “TOPDOG UNDERDOG SOUNTRACK” __Various Artists 6. “SONGS FOR THE DEAF Queens of the Stone Age 7. “SPLIT CD” Matt Skiba and Kevin Seconds 8. “AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME” Bleach 9. “YOUR LOVE MEANS EVERYTHING" •i Faultline io. “RIOT FOR ROMANCE” No Knife Groups helped cultivate rock, hip-hop CHARLES TOMLINSON THE GAMECOCK Kurt Cobain never wanted to be a rock star, but since his 1994 suicide, he has become a rock martyr paralleling Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon. In 1991, it might have seemed as if Cobain had every reason to be happy. On Sept. 24, Nirvana released its first major label album, “Nevermind,” which was No. 1 on the Billboard charts for two weeks and has now gone platinum 10 times over. The album opens up with the rock anthem of all ‘90s rock an thems, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Then comes the lush “In Bloom” and the darker “Come as You Are.” On such unforgettable songs as “On a Plain” and “Polly,” Cobain hacks out his signature guitar riffs, while singing in his immediately recognizable coarse smokers’ voice. “Breed” and “Territorial Pissings” are two of the most punky Nirvana tunes ever, and they allow Dave Grohl to demonstrate his machine-gun snare drum rolls. Krist Novoselic invents hum along bass lines on “Lithium” and “Lounge Act.” The same year Nirvana re leased “Nevermind,” Cobain told the British magazine Kerrang, “If I keep going for an other five years, I might burn myself out and not have much desire to play guitar anymore.” Cobain might have prophesied Nirvana’s fast-approaching end, but fans still reverently admire “Nevermind” 11 years after its initial release. BY JUSTIN BAJAN THE GAMECOCK 1991 was a monumental year for hip-hop. De la Soul and a Tribe Called Quest both re leased critically acclaimed al bums. Talented newcomers such as the Freestyle Fellowship, Del and Organized Konfusion all released their de buts, each one a classic in its own right. But Organized Konfusion’s self-titled release remains a building block for hip-hop’s bufgeoning underground, a counterculture that the group directly influenced. The duo fea tured lyrically agile rappers Prince Poetry and Pharoahe Monch, who also shared pro duction duties. The album is an ode to the peaceful sensibility of the time period, complete with upbeat rhythms and socially conscious lyrics. Songs such as “Fudge Pudge,” “Walk into the Sun” and “Who Stole my Last Piece of Chicken?” all reflect this care free aesthetic. But rather than stick solely to the contemporary style, OK also challenges its listeners with intelligent and futuristic songs. This contrast is evident on “Releasing Hypnotical Gases,” as Monch raps, “I’m descending in helicopters, in a village raid/Flesh will burn when ex posed to the poetical germ grenade.” Another intellectual track is “Prisoners of War,” a track that showcases the emcees’ staccato, multisyllabic rhymes: “the ren dition/of rap will enable me to attack/from dawn to dusk, for liberation/Driven/I will never give in/to interrogation.” Monch clearly asserts him self as a stronger rapper than Poetry, but both connect to form a lyrical dream team that went on to release two more creative albums. theYEAR /music 1991 Organized Konfusion Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com CD REVIEW New live album shares much “SO MUCH SHOUTING, SO MUCH LAUGHTER” Ani DiFranco ★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY ASHLEY VAUGHAN THE GAMECOCK Defining Ani DiFranco is a dif ficult task. She is many entities rolled into one. She is an artist, a poet, a musician, an entertainer, a storyteller, a risk-taker, a politi cal activist and a speaker of truths. Her latest release, "So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter," il lustrates her visionary approach to merging these multiple aspects of her personality where it counts - on stage. A compilation of live recordings from September 2000 to April 2002, the album chronicles pieces of DiFranco's concerts, which con sist of both musical and spoken performances. Defining DiFranco's music is also a difficult task. It is a con stantly changing experiment. A folk singer at heart, DiFranco started performing solo using only her guitar, conscious mind and commanding stage presence. Over the past two years, she has gone in a new direction, weaving funk and jazz into her intimately emotional songs with the assistance of a six-piece band. This is the DiFranco that appears on this album, and like her oth er live discs, this one shows the real, raw Ani. Her old songs, such _linn n_ii_3 nm _ il m il it ao u^uavuio auu xv; uic x ccui, are revamped into edgier, more unrefined versions of themselves. The addition of trumpets, key board, saxophone and drums give these songs new dimension and rhythm. Through it all, however, one thing remains the same: DiFranco is fearless. She uses her distinct voice to convey truths about the world with an extreme urgency. She calls for action, for wrongs to be righted and for, above all, a greater understanding. DiFranco does not shy away from controversy; she talks open ly, advocating feminism, non conformity and women's repro ductive rights while speaking out against propaganda, capitalism and the music industry. Out of the three previously unre leased songs on the album, "Self-ev ident" is the boldest. In it, DiFranco breaks down three of her views: "Number 1, George W. Bush is not president Number 2, America is not a true democracy. Number 3, the media is not fooling me." But this political song shows only one side of Ani DiFranco. Some of the album's anchors, such as "Shrug," deal with more personal, less politically moti vated topics, such as love and re lationships. Other songs, such as "TsJnt a Prpftv fiirl " cminri liVp confessions in which she's "final ly trying to come clean.” As a whole, "So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter" is simply an exhibit of DiFranco’s creativity and ingenuity. The album is divided into two subtitled parts: "Stray Cats" and "Girls Singing Night." But the two discs begin and end on related notes. The first song on the first CD, "Swan Dive,” is about getting your feet wet and setting off on your own path - in other words, taking risks. It par allels the beginning of DiFranco's journey as a musician. The last song of the album, "You Had Time," is about coming home. It ends the CD, bringing the listener full circle. Leave it to the storyteller to give you a com plete, happy ending. . Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.oom