The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 18, 2002, Page 7, Image 7
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, September 18, 2002 7
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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
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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
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