Fiddle Fest ... The firItotm jawk
Fiddlers Kevin Burke and
Johnny Cunningham perform
at the Ark. 8 p.m. $17.50
TUESDAY
michigandaily.com/arts NT FEBRUARY 19, 2002

Harlem boys to
celebrate song


'Sealab 2021' is a
refreshing dose of
off-kilter humor

By Christine Lasek
Daily Arts Writer
Tomorrow night, the Boys Choir of Harlem will
be dazzling an Ann Arbor audience with a show fea-
turing selections from its wide-ranging repertoire.

Founded by Dr. Wal-
ter J. Turnbull, the Boys
Choir of Harlem is cele-
brating its 32nd anniver-
sary this season. What
began as merely 20-
member church choir,
the Boys Choir of'
Harlem has grown into
an educational institu-
tion that includes a boys
choir, girls choir and the

BOYS CHOIR OF
HARLEM
At Hill Auditorium
Wednesday at 7 p.m.
$12-$30
University Musical Society

and jazz. Yet delighting its
audiences goes beyond
just the choir's phenome-
nal voices and the breadth
of their repertoire. The
choir, with its dazzling
choreography and con-
crete sense of showman-
ship, promises a program s
engaging both the senses
of sight and sound.
Armed with a dream of
giving inner-city boys
something meaningful to The boys are back in tow
strive for, Turnbull has built an innovative program
in the last 32 years. Addressing the social, educa-
tional and emotional needs of urban boys and girls,
the Boys Choir of Harlem transforms young peo-
ple's lives through music. Ninety-eight percent of
the participants in the program graduate high
school and many have gone on to hold prestigious
and community-oriented jobs, including the first
singing and dancing ringmaster of the Ringling
Bros. Circus, a conductor for the Brookland Sym-
phony, ministers, bankers and youth service lead-
ers.
Dr. Turnbull is a native of Greenville, Miss. and
an honors graduate of Tougaloo College. He has
also received his Masters and a Doctoral in Musical
Arts from the Manhattan School of Music. In addi-
tion to his role as Principle Conductor of the Boys

By Kiran Divela
Daily Arts Writer

Remember when "The Simpsons"
was funny? Back when Conan O'
Brien wrote for the show, there was

Choir Academy of Harlem, replete with a college
prepatory public school and a Summer Music Insti-
tute. The 35-40 boys selected to be in the perform-
ing choir range in age from 9 to 18 years. Each
member is chosen from the 250-member Concert
Choir based on academic performance and progress
at rehearsals, as well as vocal ability. The young
men and women that participate in this artistic and
educational institution are from all five boroughs of
New York, though primarily Manhattan.
The Boys Choir of Harlem's show tomorrow will
consist of an eclectic repertoire. Highlighting pieces
off its latest pop album, "BCH - Up in Harlem,"
the show will also include classical music, gospel

Coureyo MS
wn. The Boys Choir of Harlem, that is!
Choir of Harlem, Turnbull gives annual recitals,
master classes for artistic and educational organiza-
tions throughout the country and has held several
residencies in Canada and Europe. He is also the
recipient of many prestigious awards and has played
important roles in many operas, both on and off
Broadway.
The Boys Choir of Harlem averages 100 engage-
ments in over 24 states annually. Each year it makes
three or four national tours, and have also had four
Asian tours, including performances in Japan, Hong
Kong and Singapore. Nine European tours have
taken the choir to renowned venues, including Lon-
don's Cathedral of St. Paul, Paris' St. Germain-des-
Pres and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. This concert
at Hill Auditorium marks the Boys Choir of
Harlem's fourth performance in Ann Arbor.

never an episode with-
out the biting wit and
commentary that Conan
is so famous for. "The
Simpsons" had a con-
stant voice and irrever-
ence that was
comforting on all those
Sunday nights. When
Conan left the show for
late night fame, it

SEALAB:
Thursdaysa
days at 1C
Cartoon N

Prophetic Orchestra performs epic 'Elijah'

seemed like humor left with him.;
Nothing has ever really stepped up toj
fill its shoes until now. Cartoon Net-1
work's "Sealab 2021" fulfills the void7
left when "The Simpsons" became :
unbearable to watch.
"Sealab 2021" is essentially a+
remake of "Sealab 2020," an old car-+
toon featuring a group of sea experts;
living in a lab at the bottom of the sea.
These people had weekly adventures+
involving protecting sea life and the;
environment. Sounds pretty boring,1
doesn't it? Luckily, Williams
Street Productions (the u
same people who
brought us "Space
Ghost: Coast to
Coast") realizedK
this and adapted
the animation of ~
the old show to
their own wacky
comedic talent.,
Outside the obvi-
ous humor of the
old, corny anima-
tion, this showa
features ang
incredibly sar-
donic tone,,
one remini- Courte
scient of "The Uh, got any gum?

Simpsons" in its glory days. A couple
of the more down-to-earth topics cov-
ered have been whether or not one
should put his or her brain in a robot
body and the implications of a grown
man's attachment to an Easy Bake
Oven. Offbeat doesn't
even begin to describe
the show. More like
r~k completely off-kilter.
In one episode, aptly
2021 titled "Chickmate," the
and Sun- biological clock of the
0 p.m. sole female member of
Sealab goes off and she's
etwork suddenly desperate for a
baby. For half the episode
she's in a sort of half-crazed state, run-
ning around yelling "I've gotta have a
baby" then calming herself by pretend-
ing a dolphin is her child. Afterwards
she interviews the crew in order to find
someone suitable to father her baby. Of
course, her search is futile, with one
crew member saying he would be a
good father because he "wants sex."
Every episode is like this, with fre-
quent references to drugs and sex. In
short, it's incredibly amusing, especial-
ly for those people who have become
sick of the shiny faces and pre-
dictable jokes on all the sit-
coms. Oh yeah, and Erik
Estrada's voice is in it.
Not surprisingly,
given its content, and
since it's on Cartoon
Network, it doesn't air
during normal hours.
It's part of the Adult
Swim block of mature
cartoons that airs on Sun-
day and Thursday nights at
10 p.m. If you want to
see the older episodes
(which is highly recom-
mended), there are
websites with all of
sy of Cartoon Network them available for
download.

By Dina Maccabee
For the Daily
Diag diviners and State Street
prophets catch more ridicule than rev-

from the heroics of a peacemaker to
the torment of an outcast, is on lavish
musical display, personified in a
colossal vocal role. Mendelssohn is
occasionally sniffed at as a child

erence. But there are
moments when it seems
what humankind needs is
a good old fashioned
prophet, the, kind whose
communication with a
higher power is just the
ticket to solving prob-
lems down on earth.
Perhaps this is what

ELIJAH
At Hill Auditorium
Tonight at 8 p.m.
Free

prodigy who failed to
develop throughout his
career as a composer.
But his renown in con-
junction with lighter
fare, such as his inci-
dental music to "A
Midsummer Night's
dream," belies the lay-
ered emotional reso-

story, but from the sheer emotional
impact of the setting. In the oratorio,
the narrative is conveyed through
lyric and melody, rather than stage
action and scenery. In fact, sets would
not fit onto the narrow Hill Auditori-
um stage along with the massive cast
of performers.
It is not just the epic story of Elijah
that is larger than life. In fact, if you've
never seen a performance by a Univer-
sity School of Music ensemble, tonight
will be your best chance to see them all
try to bring down a single roof. It is a
rare opportunity in an intellectually
sprawling University environment for
colleagues to collaborate on such a
forceful project. The student perform-
ance is also not one listeners are likely
to experience outside of Ann Arbor. In
a news release, conductor Theo Morri-

son called Mendelssohn's Elijah
"something that is only attempted on
the college level by the largest and best
music schools," because of the scope
and difficulty of the work.
Tonight it is the singers and the
instrumentalists who get to celebrate
each other on stage, as the University
Symphony Orchestra, the University
Choir and the Chamber Choir create a
musical backdrop for student and fac-
ulty soloists. Soloists are to include
tenor Robert Bracey, baritone Daniel
Washington, Mezzo Soprano Freda
Herseth and soprano Carmen Pelton.

Felix Mendelssohn imagined when he
mustered all of his musical forces to.
conjure up the life of biblical prophet.
Elijah, in an oratorio to be performed
tonight at Hill Auditorium.
The struggle of the biblical prophet,
Quinones+
By Beatrice Marovich
Daily Arts Writer
During a recent interview on the
radio show "Latino USA", Mexico
City journalist Sam Quinones said that
it is time for Americans to "stop rely-
ing on
stereo-
t y p es"
when it SAM QUINONES
comes to At Shaman Drum
Mexico. Bookshop
His new
( a n d Tonight at 8 p.m.
first)
book, "True Tales from Another Mexi-
co" is about combating stereotypes and
presenting Americans with an entirely
new and altered view of our neighbor
to the South.
The books opens with a tale about
the slightly cheesy looking man who
graces the cover. He wears a cowboy
hat and the gold from his watch, ring
and gun is made glaringly obvious by
clever lighting. This is Chalino
Sanchez, the man who, according to
Quinones, reintroduced and modern-
ized the traditional Mexican corrido (a
ballad recounting the "exploits of
men", revolutionaries and bandits in
the Mexican badlands) to Latino youth
of Los Angeles. He was later mur-
dered, but by the time he died, he had
helped create a sort of cult following
for the corrido. "After Chalino" says
Quinones, "guys whose second lan-
guage was an English-accented Span-
ish could pump the tuba- and
accordion-based polkas out their car
stereos at maximum volume and pretty
girls would think they were cool."
His book is also closely related to
politics, particularly the effects that
Mexico has been feeling from the
recent election of Vicente Fox, the
first Mexican president elected since
1929. The PRI, the force that -an
Mexico for seven decades is on its
way out and Quinones says that he
sees Mexico as a population both
apprehensive and optimistic about the
changes. He also sees a more "self-

nance of this later work, written in the
middle of the 19th century.
. It requires some supernatural force
even to stage this long loved work,
which draws its power not from an
operatic reenactment of the biblical

.............

debunks stereotypes

also resolves that "much is considered
exotica only because it is ignored."
Quinones grew up in the United
States, in Claremont, Calif. - and
graduated from the University of Cali-
fornia at Berkeley. After working as a
reporter for several years, he then
moved to Mexico City in 1994 to work
for Insight Magazine, where he has
since remained. He became a freelance

writer in 1995 and has had stories pub-
lished in the Los Angeles Times, Balti-
more Sun and Ms. Magazine and was
the 1998 winner of the Alicia Patterson
Fellowship in print journalism.
Quinones will be reading from his
book this evening at Shaman Drum. It
should be an enlightening experience
for all of us who know relatively little
about Mexico's dynamic culture.

I

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