ARTS
The Michigan Daily
Wednesday, September 25, 1985
Page 5
Folk flourishes in exile
By Laura Bischoff
BEEN LISTENING to too much head-banging
heavy metal? Maybe you go for modern jazz
or some funk? Well, how about some Latin
American folk music to raise your political and
cultural conciousness?
If that's what you had in mind (or if it just soun-
ds interesting) the Office of Major Events, in
cooperation with the Latin American Culture
Project, has just the thing for you: a concert at the
Power Center with Inti-Illimani at 8 p.m. Thur-
sday.
Now, the average Joe College probably has
never heard of this group and probably couldn't
even pronounce the name unless he or she took the
Residential College course entitled La Nueva
Cancion. But anyone who knows anything about
Latin American folk music knows about Inti-
Illimani.
Inti-Illimani is a folk group from Chile that has
been living in exile in Italy since the bloody coup
that ousted the socialist government and
established a dictatorship in Chile in 1973.
Inti-Illimani, founded in 1966, is not just a
musical group, but a key part in a cultural
movement in Chile and all of Latin America called
the New Song Movement. The New Song
Movement protests the social injustices occurring
in Latin America and is a medium through which
the Latin American people are searching for their
own cultural identity.
The musical movement began in the early '60s
and still flourishes as Latin Americans continue to
express themselves through their own art, poems,
songs and struggle to control their own politics
and economic resources. The music advocates a
return to folklore and rejects the cultural in-
vasions or influences from other countries.
Inti-Illimani and other New Song groups play
the instruments of el pueblo (the people) in the
shanty towns and countryside villages. Their
music is rooted to the folk music traditions of
Chile.
Politically, Inti-Illimani and other groups cry
out for freedom in South and Central America.
Their songs advocate the gaining and regaining of
basic human rights and political freedom.
Because of their role in the Chilean political
struggle against the Pinochet dictatorship, the
group's music is banned in Chile.
They are prohibited from entering Chile too. A
few years ago, Inti-Illimani were on their way to
Peru for a concert and the plane stopped in Chile
but the government would not allow them to set
foot on Chilean soil. (They escaped the coup
because they were sent to Europe in 1973 by the
Allende socialist government as cultural am-
bassadors.) None of the seven group members;
have returned to Chile since the coup occurred.
Before 1973 the group interpreted the folklore of
the Andean region and performed other artists'
compositions. During their 13 years in exile they
have gained considerable popularity in Europe
and composed new original pieces. As a group
they now have more depth in new material to
compliment the older songs from the beginning of
the movement.
In the late '70s they put out their first bilingual
album titled Hacia la Libertad (Toward
Freedom). And in 1983 they recorded Sing to Me
the Dream with American folk artist Holly Near.
Songs on this album include "Samba Lando,"
which is about the freedom of blacks throughout
the world, and "Sing to Me the Dream," which is
about living in exile.
The message of the New Song Movement and In-
ti-Illimani is clear: political, economic, and
cultural freedom is vital to the people of all
nations.
Mime troupe fuses body, soul
Green On Red played to an excited, and in some cases paisley-eyed,
crowd at the Blind Pig.
Tuscon transplants
affirm rebel image
11,
By Hobey Echlin
RESH FROM the road, Green on
. Red' brought their musical
piece of Southwestern stagnance to
the Blind Pig Monday night. The Tuc-
son transplants, promoting their new
No Free Lunch EP, combined coun-
try, blues, '60s dirge, and lest we
forget, a whole lotta energy in a two-
hour set of revivalist potency and
talent.
Drawing heavily from their
critically acclaimed Gas Food
Lodging LP, Dan Stuart led the
Sacramento-based quartet with a fer-
vor and a harshed voice. A powerful
version of "That's What Dreams"
had Stuart leading an anthem of
displacement while guitarist Chuck
Prophet added the musical emphasis
with a wrenching solo.
Prophet proved to be the essential
compliment to Stuart's songwriting
through his many guitar exploits
during the show. Dan Stuart once
described him as "right out of a
spaghetti Western," and from his per-
formance, it's not hard to see why.
Joining Green on Red with nothing
but $60 and his guitar, he typified the
guitar-renegade image, a sort of Billy
the Kid with a Telecaster. A sort of
omnipresent soloist, Prophet offered
a running guitar commentary,
always doing something, from an
easy, drawn out churn during a
ballad, to the blistering sporadics of
the show-closing Stones' classic,
"Sympathy for the Devil." John Cale
and Jerry Garcia would've been
proud.
With Prophet leading the music,
keyboardist Christ Cavacas left his
dominant Manzarek-esque role, and
toned his keyboards into a calm in-
trinsity. His essential undercurrent
provided just the touch to answer
Stuart's love ballad vocals during
"This I Know."
Other show highlights include the
stomping autobiography "No Free
Lunch," inspired by Violent Femmes
bassist Brian Ritchie, as well as
Stuart's homage to Steve Wynn with a
rousing Dream Syndicate cover,
proving that too many cooks can only
make the dish better, though a little
spicier.
For the first encore, Stuart led the
band in his best Neil Young with a
variety of ballads, again emphasizing
Cavacas' subtle keyboard skill. .
But for the second encore, Stuart
acknowledged the energy of the
largely freak crowd and went into a
frenzied eclectic cover of "Sympathy
for the Devil," giving drummer Alex
MacNicol room to move, and
spotlighting the guitar mania of
Prophet.
By Alan Paul
t T LOOK UPON it as a molding of
the expressiveness of acting
and the complete body use of dancing,
with much more room for im-
provisation than either one alone,"
said Kristen VanderBerg of the art of
pantomime.
VanderBerg is a member of the
University Mime Troupe. She has
been in the troupe for two years and,
like many other members, had no
previous pantomime experience.
"I got involved by chance," Van-
derBerg recall. "I had done both
theatre and dance in high school and.
wanted to get back into the perfor-
ming arts. I heard about the auditions
so I gave it a try."
The troupe was formed five years
ago by former Artistic Director Perry
Perrault. The group performs several
times a year, working towards a
spring show. They also do street
mime at the summer art fair. The
troupe is a non-profit organization;
any money raised goes towards ren-
ting an auditorium for the spring
event.
Perrault is resigning this year to
pursue more individual work, but will
remain with the group as an advising
director and trainer, leaving the
directorial responsibilities to be
shared.
The troupe is holding auditions at
the Union, tonight and tomorrow
night.
"We are looking for people with
creativity and the ability to express it
through their bodies," explains mem-
ber Beverly Sayed. "A lot of people
are intimidated because they have no
experience. That's not necessary.
However, they need to be willing to
make a time committment to learning
the art of pantomime."
Sayed adds, "One thing I like about
the troupe is that it's a very suppor-
tive group. Unlike theatre, which can
be competitive, the people are very
'open to helping others learn the
technique."
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Jeff Lubovitch, a junior in the mance."
engineering school, joined the troupe This year, as the troupe becomes
last 'year after taking a UAC pan- collective, there will be more em-
tomime minicourse. This summer, phasis on people writing and directing
Lubovitch studied with legendary their own pieces.
French mime Marcel Marceau in a "Pantomime really encourages
two week workshop. people to develop their own
"It was an unbelievable, im- creativity," says Sayed, a School of
measurable experience," Lubovitch Education senior.
recalls. "He gave classes on VanderBerg agrees, and adds, "The
techniques and the basic feeling you troupe is a great chance to perform in
want to put into a pantomime perfor- an open forum, in front of different
WE GET IT FREE, 13uilg!
audiences."
"We are looking for dedicated,
creative people, who are willing to let
themselves go and improvise."
Sayed says that "pantomime is my
salvation...a wonderful break from
the academic world."
Auditions are not limited to studen-
ts; all interested community merr-
bers are urged to come to the Union
tonight or tomorrow night between
7:30 and 10:00 p.m.
Asian American Association
Records
The Wild Seeds - Life Is
Grand (Life in Soul City)
(Aznut Music)
Thankfully, the Wild Seeds are a
whole lot more earnest about their
endeavor than is Electric Peace. And
thankfully they don't sound, as their
name might suggest, like the Seeds-
ps-in-Sky-Saxon. All six tunes on this
EP amicably bounce around on the
turntable, refreshingly devoid of af-
fectations.
"She Said" (not the Beatles song)
chugs around with a great pop sen-
sibility, sounding like embryonic
dB's. "Freedom Train" is a country-
calypso-spiritual jolly enough to sam-
ba to. "Let's Walk" and the par-
ticularly outstanding "Come Out and
Play" both sound as if somebody left
the door to the go-go cage open -
these Seeds take '60s influences and
make them into a great song, not just
a great piece of recycling work.
"Pink Cadillac" is a tale of Texas
(intrigue in which, true to form, the
hero rides away into the sunset --
although in his Caddy rather than on
TIrigger. One hell of a leap from the
atTexas plain is "Life is Grand (Life in
true (they could start with better
recording), but it looks like they've
got the means to sprout some really
fun stuff in the future.
The address of Aznut Music is 406
West 55th Street, Austin, Texas 78705.
-Julie Jurrjens
The Office of Major Events
and WIOB Welcome
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