8 - The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, January 27, 1994 The world emerges* Westerners discover world music By SONNY CALDERON The capacity crowd stood, dancing in the aisles and throwing money on the stage. The walls shook from the beating drums and the collective voices of musicians and fans. The house rocked. It was a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan concert. Khan is a Qawwali singer from Pakistan who has been enjoying vast@ successes in the West in the last few years. Khan's music, Qawwali, is part of a 700-year-old tradition of Sufi Moslems. Observed chiefly in Pakistan and Northern India, Sufism stresses asceticism, mysticism and strict adherence to Islamic law. Qawwali helps achieve these goals with inspirational, poetic, celebratory music and lyrics. Sung by a small group with a soloist (like Khan) and employing tabla drums (small, powerful skinned drums) and harmonia (portable keyboard instruments with bellows), Qawwali music brings its listeners to religious ecstasy and drives many to offer money to the perform- ers. Millions of Western listeners have recently been turned on to world music. In the last few years, world music tapes and compact discs have occupied more shelf space in music stores; more radio programming has been devoted to it on stations like WCBN and WEMU (both college stations); world music concerts have been scheduled more frequently and in larger venues. What is world music? This is a difficult question to answer: First, the label "world music" has been affixed to many types of music that otherwise have nothing in common. Second, the "world" aspect is from a Western - particularly American -point of view; most world music is part of or derives from non-Western cultures. Finally, world music is understood in contrast to Western art music. Western art music generally refers to European and American high art music, including all types of classical. Thanks to University Musical Society Executive Director Ken Fischer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan came to Ann Arbor last fall. Fischer has been trying to incorporate more world music events into the UMS program since he won his position five years ago. "I woke up one day and said, 'Here we are with the opportunity to present other cultures to our community, and we're not doing it,"' he said. Under Fischer's control, UMS has a schedule peppered by previously excluded artists. Included on UMS' roster this year, in addition to Khan, are such artists as Les Ballets Africains, the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble and Pilar Rioja. In fact, more than one quarter of UMS scheduled artists for this season are considered world musicians. Many Americans are getting their first taste of world music. In 1989, pop star Peter Gabriel released a soundtrack album to Martin Scorsese's film "The Last Temptation of Christ" entitled "Passion." The soundtrack included traditional folk music from Pakistan, Turkey, India, the Ivory Coast, Egypt, New Guinea, Morocco and other Near-East cultures. The album also included a Qawwali performance by Khan. Gabriel also started his own record label, Real World Records, to spotlight world musicians and package their music for Western consumers. Last summer, Gabriel toured the country with many world musicians giving listeners across the nation an opportunity to hear live world music. Lori Gum of the World Music Institute (WMI) gives credit to Paul Simon for his contribution to world music awareness. "Since the release of the 'Graceland' album, Paul Simon has consistently maintained a place for world sounds in American music," she said. Gum, who is Khan's tour manager, also said that the rise of world music's popularity can be seen simply as part of the loosening in the boundaries of art over the past few years. "We see it now in New York (WMI headquarters) where all the arts are being influenced by non- Western elements." Khan himself has said that music "has the power to unite all people." His music is not culture-specific: "Sufism teaches peace and love. If there's love in people, you can reach them." Khan sees the growing popularity of world music as an example of the emergence of one world culture. He said, "If people trust in the music, they can be brought together." According to Steve Bergman, owner of Schoolkid's Records, the demand for world music has increased steadily in the last two years among his customers. "World music is definitely a significant part of our sales," he said. Clearly, world music fans exist and are determined to get their music. Said University Professor of Music History and Musicology Judith Becker, "(World music, specifically Qawwali) has strong rhythms, a fairly simple structure and there is no need to understand the lyrics to enjoy it." The House Band will join Michelle Shocked, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones and others in the 17th Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival this Saturday at Hill. FOLK Continued from page 12 ville fair. Even if categorization was desired, it would be difficult to figure out just where in the world of country the Texas-based singer/songwriter should be pigeonholed. His unique, slightly-nasal croon seems tailor- made for country ballads, but when he uses it to sing "I try to build a house and then I tear the place apart /I freeze myself in fire and I burn myself in ice," it conjures a scene far removed from Nashville's frequently pitiful tales of adultery and barfights. In contrast to 1991's "After Awhile" (on which he wrote all but one song), Gilmore's latest, "Spin- ning Around the Sun," features only four tunes penned by the singer him- self. In addition, he offers songs by friends, an Elvis tune and a version of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." It seems that every musi- cian ever to step foot in a studio has recorded a version of that classic, but Gilmore still manages to find ground for his own unique interpretation as he treats it to his mournful, almost frightening, wail. Another artist finding room to move within Nashville is Tish Hinojosa, who has brought her Mexi- can-American heritage with her to the fringes of country. Few other artists dared record an album like her 1989 release, "Homeland," which featured bilingual calls for social change along- side honky-tonk romps. "My songwriting passion was lit by the fires of the '60s, by the Baezes and Dylans," she said. Little wonder that the mainstream all but ignored it upon its release, though it did manage to go triple platinum in South Korea. "I'm always seeing the cultural boundaries around me," she said. "If people trust in the music, they can be brought together." Comprised of Ged Foley on vo- cals, guitars and Northumbrian pipes; Chris Parkinson on melodeon, syn- thesizer and harmonica and John Skelton on flute, whistle, bombarde and bodhran, the House Band has played for everyone from the Ameri- can Historical Society in Virginia to an audience primed for Status Quo at a Swiss rock festival. Foley, a clich6- defying guitarist in the vein of Rich- ard Thompson, is known for covering everything from traditional English folk songs to slightly more modern works by the likes of Elvis Costello. Skelton, meanwhile, adds a distinc- tively Irish flavor to the brew while Parkinson can seemingly fit his melo- deon into any style of music. From Lansing comes the feisty harmonies of the trio Second Opin- ion. With sparse instrumentation (gen- erally just acoustic guitar and banjo), the three women offer an amusing batch of originals and covers of such folk legends as Tom Paxton and Charlie King. What makes their sound so unique is that they trade off lead and harmony duties within songs. The Deadbeat Society hail from Wolver- ine Country and while Ann Arbor is hardly the home of a bluegrass re- vival, the band's sound is as pure as it comes, spiced up by frequent collec- tive improvisation and the occasional cover by the likes of Billy Bragg. Though the styles seem almost too diverse to fit on a single bill, the artists represented at the 17th Ann Arbor Folk Festival share a handful of common traits: they actively defy easy categorization while maintain- ing a healthy respect for both the past and the future. The 17th Ann Arbor Folk Festival will take place Saturday at Hill Auditorium. Tickets are $22.50 and $19.50. 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