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Some Moscow in Ann Arbor
By KATY THOMPSON
A long wait is about to end when
lhe Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
and violinist Gil Shaham make their
Ann Arbor debut at Hill Auditorium
this Friday night.
The concert features Stravinsky's
"Rite of Spring," whose discordant
sounds and brutal rhythms offended
some when this modern piece was
first performed. Shaham will be the
guest soloist in Tchaikovsky's Violin
Concerto.
"I love the Tchaikovsky. I've
played it for years," Shaham said,
"It's one of the greatest violin
concertos."
Shaham is a veteran of
performance - while studying at the
Julliard School of Music, he was called
upon to substitute for Itzak Perlman
on one day's notice and became an
overnight media sensation. He had
his first concert at Carnegie Hall at
the age of 20. His talent has been
universally praised, and he has played
with orchestras such as the New York
Philharmonic, The Cleveland and
Philadelphia Orchestras as well as the
Detroit Symphony. This year alone
he will perform 120 concerts. All in
all, he is refreshingly unaffected by
all the attention he has earned. "It's
nice to get a good review. It's very
flattering, I guess."
Now 23, Shaham is looking
forward to playing in front of his
peers. "I feel more at ease when I play
for people my own age. I see a real
classical music comeback. There are
lots of young people coming to
concerts. Music conservatories are
bursting at the seams with young
people. It's time for Generation X to
take back Tchaikovsky."
Shaham and the Moscow
Philharmonic have been on tour in
Florida since the beginning of this
month. "We've almost reached the
point of no rehearsal," he exclaimed.
"It's just so thrilling to play with
them. They know this stuff forwards,
backwards, they can play it in their
sleep."
The Moscow Philharmonic was
formed by Bolshoi Orchestra
conductor Samuel Samosud. It has
performed under many distinguished
guest conductors such as Igor
Stravinsky, Zubin Mehta and Igor
Markevich. It last toured the United
States in 1990.
The talent of conductor Vassily
Sinaisky has not gone unnoticed. In
1973, he became the only Soviet
conductor awarded the Gold Medal at
the Herbert von Karajan Competition
in Berlin.
Sinaisky has been associated with
the Moscow Philharmonic since early@
1992. His distinguished career
includes being Chief conductor of the
Latvian Symphony Orchestra in Riga,
as well as a frequent guest conductor
with the Hungarian State Orchestra.
THE MOSCOW PHILHARMONIC
ORCHESTRA with soloist GIL
SHAHAM will perform at 8p.m. on
Friday March 18 at Hill
Auditorium. Tickets range from
$16-$45, and are available at the
University Musical Society Box
Office. $9 student rush tickets are
available at the Union Ticket Office
and the North Campus Commons
today. Call 764-2538for more
information.
"Parinaya - A Legend of Love" will be performed tomorrow by the Dances of India Troupe at the Power Center.
Dance highlights love story
Buffalo braces for great year.
By ROBERT YOON
Take all the trappings of a traditional, Western ballet
- a beautiful princess, soothing music and heaps of love
- add plenty of grief and hardship, put it all in an Indian
setting, and you've got the Dances of India Troupe's
production of "Parinaya-A Legend of Love," an original
ballet directed and choreographed by Malini Srirama.
"This is actually more than a ballet - it's a dance-
drama, where each dancer portrays a character," said
Srirama, who also founded the Dances of India Troupe.
"We have aprince, aprincess ... it's really quite beautiful."
"Parinaya," which can be seen tomorrow night at the
Power Center, is based on an ancient Sanskrit legend and
should strike a familiar chord with college students, as it
chronicles the often stormy and turbulent path to romance
and true love.
The main character in this tale is Jasmine, an island
princess who meets and falls madly in love with a visiting
prince from the faraway mainland. The two decide to sail
back to the Prince's home and get married.
The story at this point teeters perilously close to a
happily-ever-after conclusion, but leave it to those crafty
Sanskrit storytellers to keep things interesting. While en
route to the mainland, the weather starts getting rough.
The tiny ship is tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless
crew, well, you get the idea...
The ship is destroyed in the storm, and everyone is
believed to be dead. The Prince, having the foresight to
take a separate ship, makes it back to the mainland
uninjured, save a broken heart.
The rest of the ballet focuses on Jasmine, the sole
survivor of the shipwreck, who, sans princely beau and
dressed in rags, has a difficult time convincing people
she's a princess. Jasmine and the Prince, now separated,
must endure hardships and grief before finally being
reunited.
"Throughout thousands of years of Indian history,
there are many legends which chronicle the stormy path of
romantic love," explained Srirama. "Nearly all follow the
cycle seen in 'Parinaya' of falling in love, separation, grief
and longing for the loved one, and finally the reuniting of
the lovers."
Many of the themes and plot devices in "Parinaya" are
reminiscent of those in a variety of modern and classic
Western works, such as "Robinson Crusoe," "ThePrincess
Bride" and Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
and "Twelfth Night."
"There are a lot of similarities between Indian and
Western folk tales," Srirama said, because the themes are
so universal. "(Indian dance) stomes have been the basis of
great works of literature and art, just as similar stories in
Western culture have inspired artists and authors for
centuries.,"
Despite these similarities to Western works, audiences
at the Power Center tomorrow night will agree that
"Parinaya" has a decidedly Indian feel, from the colorful
and exotic costumes, to the authentic Indian music to
which the performers dance. There is also a musical
interlude featuring an Indian vocalist,
"You really don't need to know anything about Indian
dance to enjoy the performance," said Srirama. "Anyone
who enjoys rhythm and music will enjoy this production.,"
The ballet relies on movement, facial expressions and
symbolic hand gestures as its main storytelling device, so
newcomers to Indian ballet will not be at a loss.
The word "parinaya" is a particularly apropos title, as
it signifies the Indian concept of a "special wedding," one
that takes place despite remarkable odds, sort of like the
Brady wedding. "It doesn't just signify pomp and glory.
It's a special wedding because of all the hardship that one
must endure beforehand," she said.
"Parinaya" is essentially a love-conquers-all story and
shows that true love can overcome the greatest ofobstacles,
even inclement weather.
PARINA YA - A~LEGEND OFLOVE-ville performed
at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 at the Power Center
General admission tickets are $8 ($5 students). Call
763-TKTS.
By TOM ERLEWINE
Michael Stipe once called them
his favorite band. BobMould's record
label released their first single. Critics
from all over the world praised their
debut album, "Fuzzy," as one of the
bestalbums of 1993. With their second
album just completed and a short tour
opening for Pearl Jam on the calendar,
1994 is shaping up to be a great year
for Grant Lee Buffalo.
Undoubtedly the key musician in
the band is Grant Lee Phillips, agifted
songwriter with a knack for sweeping
rock 'n' roll epics. Unfortunately,
Phillips' talent obscures the fact that
Paul Kimble is as equally responsible
for the group's musical success. Not
only is Kimble the band's bassist, but
he also is their producerand arranger;
he is the man responsible for the dark
R.E.M- meets-Bowie-and-John
Lennon vibe of "Fuzzy." Without
Kimble, Grant Lee Buffalo's
versatility would seem sloppy instead
of eclectic.
"We've gotten so many different
comparisons," admitted Kimble,
"which I think is good because people
can't put a finger on it and say, 'Oh,
it's just like this.' I think (our sound)
does have its own identity and I think
the new record is going to be even
more like that, it's definitely more
focused and more us, in a way"
Grant Lee Buffalo finished their
new album in the past month and it is
tenatively set for release in early
summer. The record has benefited
from the band' s extensive touring in
the past year, as well as a big creative
burst from Phillips. "We came off the
road from Europe and we took about
a week and a half off," recalled
Kimble, "and then we went into the
studio andjust banged it outand we've
got like 25 songs to choose from. I can
only narrow it down to about 16 songs
right now. We may end up putting
that many out just because we don't
want to leave them off. We're trying
to figure out what the focus of the
record is going to be, in terms of
putting it all together with the artwork
and what videos we want to make -
just trying to get a concise package
that we have control of.
"I think on this record there's
gonna be a side of us that has always
been there that didn't necessarily make
it onto that record as much. 'Fuzzy' is
a good blueprint and songs like 'Stars
and Stripes' - stuff that's more kind
of mid-tempo and more sort of surreal.
That's the direction that this album
has more of on it. There's more stuff
like that and less stuff like 'Jupiter
and Teardrop' and 'America Snoring.'
And the stuff that is more over-the-
top tonally still sounds like the same
band to me. It sounds more focused. I
think that if people like the first album,
they're really gonna like this record
because I think it's more of the same
and even better."
From the very beginning, Kimble
felt that he, Phillips and drummer
Joey Peters were meant to play
together. "It was funny," he
remembered, "because the first time I
went down to see their band play - I
called them through an ad in the paper
- and within the first two minutes of
seeing them, the first thing that entered
my mind was like, 'Wow, I should get
in this band so I can steal this guitar
player and drummer,' I could just tell
that those were the guys. When I
started playing with Grant, from that
point on my biggest influences were
Grant and Joey. Because Grant has
got such a unique sort of perspective
on things, I was really taken by that."
Many musicians have gotten
frustrated supporting a talented
songwriter, complaining that they
aren'table to fully express themselves,
but not Kimble. "What my talent is,"
he explained, "is producing and
engineering and arranging which I
get to fulfill in this band. A thing
that's always been really good about
this band is the working relationship
between everybody. Nobody wants
to do what the other person is good at.
Being in a band or being a musician,
I think the toughest thing that you can
come to grips with is what you're not
necessarily good at and learn what
your strengths are and concentrate on
those. That's the point that I came to
when I met Grant; it's like, 'Well,
fuck. I don't want to write songs.
Why bother? I'm not gonna write a
song like this.' But I get my jones
fulfilled through producing and
arranging and all that stuff which i
where my real talent lies."
While waiting for the release date
of their album, Grant Lee Buffalo is
hitting the road again. First, they will
do about six dates with Pearl Jam;
after that, they'll head over to France,
where "Fuzzy" wasjust released.
Although they've played some major
shows before (including festivals in
England and opening tours for Sugar
and Paul Westerberg in the U.S.),
they will be facing their largest
audiences ever on the Pearl Jam tour.
"When they called us originally, they
saw us play with Sugar in Seattle and
they asked us to do a tour last year but
we couldn't because we had already
committed to do the Westerberg tour,"
explained Kimble.
"It's a pretty nerve-racking thing,
especially since we haven't played,
now in like two or three months. It
should be pretty interesting," he
admitted. Although GrantLee Buffalo
is known for terrific live sets, their
music is not as dynamic or straight-
forward as Pearl Jam's. Consequently;
they might not go over well with
some mosh-brained fans of
"Evenflow" and "Jeremy," but
Kimble is not intimidated by the tour
at all. "We just have to do what we do
and people are either going to like it
or they're not gonna like it," he said.
"We've been pretty lucky. Playing
with Sugar and playing with
Westerberg you would think, 'Wow,
those audiences are really gonna be
weird for us.' But they ended up being
really good, people were really
receptive. And I think the same thing
with the Pearl Jam audiences. Even
See BUFFALO, Page 9
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SH ADOWLANDS (PG) - Fri: 4:50, 7:15, Sat, Sun: 2:10, 4:50, 7:15
Present this coupon with purchased ticket thru 4/10/94
.....-----...--.-...-.....-.....--..-
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