Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, February 29, 197 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, February 29, 1972 Irish gather at the Ark . . images The Golden Ring; a gathering of friends By DIANE LEVICK Sunday night's Irish benefit concert at the Ark spanned an amazing array of moods and subjects, and attracted an un- usually ,unified crowd. One minute a ,merry tune about brewing and drinking po- teen. The next minute a bitter bong- cursing' the Orangemen, Northern Iieland's aristocratic Protestant organization. Songs -related Ireland's long, bloody struggle against England while ,thets told of illicit romances. Al Purcell, an Irishman from Detroit, played' rousing Uilleann ~pipes to an audience that bore little resemblance to the Ark's usual patrons. Some of the usual folk enthusiasts were present, but a large number of listeners proudly revealed their Irish ac- cents. Many local Irish citizens and students paid their $1.50 at the Ark to support Ann = Arbor's Irish Relief Fund. The benefit even drew a few Irish from De- troit. More older adults showed up than usual - some with young children - to show soli- darity with their cause. These Irish by birth - or by spirit - were entranced by Irish folksinger Treasa O'Dris- Czechs brighten Hill By DONALD SOSIN. Whenever Prague musicians come to town, it seems, every- ofeha' good time. The Prague QuIartet =gave- an extremely en- joyable performance earlier in the year; in sHill Aud. Sunday night the Prague Symphony Or- chestra, under Jindrich Rohan, proved to be a warm stirring group who had as much fun as the audience did. The" program, sponsored by the University Musical Society, began with a work by Peter Eben, a modern Czech, entitled ."Vec Clamantis." Scored for three trumpets and orchestra, the work is: reminiscent of Bar- tok and Hindemith, although nunwerous -.coloristic effects add .an original touch. Apparently .well-crafted, the work neverthe- less seemed like a Xerox of other aronal-sounding material, and the repititious us'e of sequences in the trumpets gave the piece a hackneyed sound sometimes. For Smetana's Czech Song, the orchestra was joined by the Festival 'Chorus of the Univer- 'sity Choral Union. The four short movemnets are based on a poem of Jan Marek, and con- vey the patriotic feeling of the text in a powerful, yet simple, way. The last movement reached a- height of emotion that both orchestra and chorus were most successful in bringing out. Ther audience was warm in its re- sponse and after Choral Union -Director Donald Bryant took several bows, the last movement was repeated. Later in the pro- gram Rohan spoke of his de- light in working with the chorus,. saying it had been a rare exper- ience for him and the orchestra to perform a nationalistic. song so far from their homeland, and to hear the Czech words so clearly pronounced by the choir. He thanked the audience, too, for making the evening some- thing the musicians will never forget. This impromptu speech came after an encore -Dvorak's Sla- vonic Dance No. 9. Rohan then led the group in No. 10, and after warning the audience that he only had one more encore prepared, and not to expect any more, No. 15. These were rous-' ingly presented and contained some of the finest playing of the evening. Rohan spared nothing in communicating ideas to his ensemble, with sharp looks and broad gestures forming the basis for smooth, refined perform- ances. The sound of the orches- tra was first-rate, for the most part, although the low brass sometimes cut through too sharply. Before the Slavonic Dances, we heard Dvorak's Symphony No. 5 in F, a neglected work that might as well stay that way; it is too long, the ideas are worked out in the most obvious ways. Only the third movement showed any real imagination, the rest sounded stale next to the tasty dances. coil whose delicate soprano voice suited her songs so well. She sang a capella with eyes closed, hands folded. Her haunting love songs included poetry by Yeats set to music. Barry O'Neill, a local Irish- American ballad singer, per- formed a capella a series of mainly non-political tunes. A few' of his Irish dance tunes, played on concertina, elicited foot-tapping from the audience. Tom Maclntyre, an Irish poet now living in Ann Arbor, treat- ed the Ark to loose translations of 17th and 18th century Gaelic poems. His anecdotes to them concerning "maverick priests" andl the. Irish passion for the " (adrink) were amusing. In contrast, his own poem en- titled "January, 1972" evoked the madness of the recent Bloody Sunday incident in Northern Ireland. Irish folksinger Owen McBride was joined by much of the audi- ence in singing eulogies to hero- Ic Irish rebels like Wolfe Tone. "Four Green Fields" and "The Patriot Game" seemed to have the popularity of national an- thems. Practically all of the audience understood why such songs were being sung. They knew Irish history and enthusiastically ex- pressed their nationalist pride. Shouts in Gaelic could be heard above applause for songs of re- bellion - seemingly shouts of solidarity. Those at the Ark who didn't understand the Irish fighting spirit listened to the song lyrics and learned what Ireland's his- tory is all about. No rhetoric-- filled political speeches were necessary at this benefit. It was even more than a history lesson. It was a joyful sharing of Irish culture. The performances Sunday night were anything but pol- ished. But that is irrelevant. What was meaningful were the expressions of hope and con- structive pride which came across in everything from the Irish tales of the supernatural to the clapping, stomping rendi- tion of "Rising of the Moon." HIGH IRISHMAN The tallest Irishman alive is Jim Cully of Tipperary. He towers above lesser mortals at 7'6". 1U By ABBY MILLER As a musical act the Golden Ring's performance isn't quite together. But it's not really a performance. It's a gathering of friends, in front of a larger group of the musical commu- nity, for an evening of song. The Golden Ring is perhaps best, described as a biannual musical party. A conglomeration of peo- ple, varying in size, get together each year at the Fox Hollow Folk Festival and at the Ark. And a couple of times during the past several years they've gathered to record. Nine people sang on the first album; 26 were on the second two, volume set, Itive Days Singing (Folk Le- gacy) - husbands, wives, chil- dren, friends. Friday night at the Ark brought together members of that loose confederation of friends who enjoy sharing music. George and Jerry Armstrong and their daughter Jenny, Ed Trickett, Sandy and Caroline Paton, Ruth Meyer and our own Barry O'Neill assembled from Chicago, Ann Arbor and Con- necticut. Diversity in song and instru- mentation characterized Friday night at the Ark. A Scottish bal- lad, the hammered dulcimer and fiddle together playing a tradi- tional fiddle tune, a Bahaman hymn, a children's song and white country gospel songs were among those shared. Besides hammered dulcimer and fiddle, mountain dulcimer, guitars, a bagpipe practice chanter and concertina joined in the music making. You could never tell what would happen next. Half a dozen versions of "The Two Sis- ters" might be swapped or a totally new genre jumped into. The informal setting allowed musical and personal interaction and a spontaneity seldom seen on stage. The friendilness drew in the audience and they be- came part of what was going on. There were fine musicians and fine voices. There was a diver- sity of music - something for every taste. But it wasn't the kind of evening ghat can be judged critically. I can simply say that the Golden Ring pro- vided a pleasant musical get to- gether. BIGGEST ANT The largest ant is the Amazon- ian great black ant (Dinopnera gigantia) which can measure up to 1.3 inches in length. SAVE $200 on any new TOYOTA with FACTORY AIR pre-season SALE or SAVE $100. on any Automatic Transmission GOOD THRU FEBRUARY Toyota-Ann Arbor, 907 N. Main 663-8567 OPEN MON. & TUES. TILL 9:00 ALL DAY SATURDAY -Daily-Terry McCarthy MI musical notes ORIGINALITY IS Guitarist and lutenist Julian Bream has canceled his sched- uled appearance at the Power Center Wednesday because of illness. The University Musical Society said it hopes the concert can be rescheduled sometime t h i s spring. Roger Powell, electronics de- signer of, and performer on the Arp synthesizer will be in Room 2038 at the School of Music this afternoon to present a program written for the synthesizer. He has had years of experience with this equipment and is currently recording an album of all syn- thesizer jazz-rock compositions. He will bring adidtional elec- tronic instrumentation to demon- strate external 'source input and will be available for questions arising out of the use of such equipment. AVAILABLE! STUDENT MADE... p " pottery " glasswork " candles * photography " seragraphs " sculpture HAROLD MAUDE Color by Tchnicolo A Poramount'Pkttwe .""" I GP jM CAMPUS , .. letters: TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi SUPPORT YOUR STUDENT GALLERY Follow the Daily and Univ. Record for special events: Demonstrations and workshops To. the Art's Editor: Thursday, Feb. 24, marked the publication of a review of "Fun- ny Girl" which is the most re- cent of .a long line of mediocre revieft in The Daily. you' can imagine a critic without tact, taste, or profes- sionalism, then you might be able to.reconcile Carol Dunitz in the role. Frankly I can't. Her criticism of Comstance Meng in the role of Fanny Brice was far too severe. In the first place, a professional critic would never criticize an amateur so severely. And second, the per- formance did not necessarily justify Ms. Dunitz's comments in any case. The role was well act- ed and her voice did have much of the bawdy and vigorous qua- lity that was required. The biggest disappointment in the review was that there was no mention that the orchestra even. showed up to play. They did a fine job and should get the recognition they deserve. "Funny Girl" is a musical after all, and it happens that the or- chestra is very important for a successful production of this play. Offsetting these problems were some very perceptive comments on the timing, choreography, and other aspects of the musi- cal. I feel that "Funny Girl" was a vigorous and exciting and deserved more than a "fair" rat- ing. This review was very typical of the super-critical, and often pseudo-intellectual quality of the reviews appearing in The Daily, and I would call for more judgement on the part of these writers. Also, I would like to apologize for writing what, was perhaps an overcritical comnent on the efforts of an amateur critic. -Bryant Pierce SHOP WEDNESDAY 9:30 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M GILD Festival of the Films of Ernst Lubitsch TONIGHT ONLY THE LADY. DANCES Transcendental meditation is a natural spontaneous technique which allows each individual to expand his mind and improve his life-INTRODUCTORY LECTURE MARCH 1-8 P.M. UGLI-Multipurpose Room for further info, call 761-8255 moving pitures" to hold your star photos. ..a rotating double carousel to display twelve 3'/X3'pictures that get your top billing. Heavyweighted base holds it stationary on table, desk or shelf. 6%" diameer, 8 " high. It's on award-winning idea for gift-giving, too. $10. I T7he 9a) toa tck4 - . - DIAL 665-6290 For the Student Body: LEVI'S Corduroy Bells Dir. The Ernst Lubitsch, 1934 "Lubitsch T o u c h" applied to a musical. Music of L e h a r with Maurice Chevalier, Jea- nette MacDonald, a n d Edward Everett Horton. ARCHITECTURE AUDITORIUM Jacob os LIBERTY AT MAYNARD "All Have "Applauded and Acclaimed Off-Broad- way's First International Musical Hit!" Eastern Michigan University PEASE AUDITORIUM-MARCH 7, 1972 I 7 and 9 p.m. 75c 8:30 p.m. DUSTIN H-FFMAN m SAM PECKINPAH S UTrFIAM ,SHOWS ATF 1-3-5-7-9:05 P.M. General Admission $3.00 presented by the Office of Student Life CHECKMATE State Street at Liberty --w r ANN ARBOR TENANTS UNION presents THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME YES ! We will be open Spring Half THE MARTHA COOK BUILDING A Residence for Graduate and Undergraduate Women ENJOY: A single room * Private tennis courts and a garden s Lon Chaney, 1923. Classic rete that vaulted Chaney "the man of a thousand faces" to fame. Pre-dates "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA." The original "HUNCHBACK." '. i