The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, November 9, 2007 - 5
Brazil's Dylan, in spirit if not in style
Caetano Veloso, UMS's
season climax, will
perform tonight at Hill
By LLOYD H. CARGO
Daily Arts Writer
} It would be difficult to understate the
magnitude of tonight's Caetano Veloso
concert at Hill Auditorium. Landing the
revolutionary Brazilian singer-song-
writer, poet, filmmaker and activist is
yet another major coup for UMS and the
highlight of a very impressive concert
schedule this fall.
This evening's performance is just one
of only a dozen shows on
a rare North American
tour for a living legend Caetano
on par internationally Veloso
with the likes of Bob
Marley, John Lennon Today at 8 p.m.
and the man he's most $10-$54
frequently compared to, At Hill Auditorium
Bob Dylan.
That comparison
isn't very accurate musically, but in terms
of depth and importance, it's right on.
Caetano Veloso was born in 1942, in Bra-
zil's Bahia region, but it wasn't until he
moved to Rio De Janeiro that he found
the playful pop style he and Gilberto Gil
shaped into a new musical movement,
Tropicalia. Though it was this Beatles-
meets-Bossa Nova sound that earned
him worldwide fame, Veloso's crossover
to a more progressive, political approach
wasn't heralded by all, as some resented
the decision (a la Dylan going electric). As
the political landscape of Brazil evolved
alongside Musica Popular Brasileira, the
government grew increasingly weary
of the influence of radical musicians as
revered as Veloso and Gil. It wasn't long
before their music was censored, they
were banned from live performances and,
after a defiant duo concert, both were
jailed and then exiled to England.
In London Veloso kept up his feverish
recording pace, substituting English for
his native Portugese. His popularity out-
side of Brazil grew exponentially with
this stellar run of accessible albums, most
notably1971's self-titled effort. By the time
he was allowed to return to Brazil, Veloso
had gone from one of the biggest stars in
MPB to center of Brazilian music and his
increasingly avant experimentations were
received with critical praise and consis-
tent sales. As his profile increased, Veloso
became even more respected as an ambas-
sador for Brazilian culture and character
than as a musician.
Veloso has continued to produce and
record constantly since his debut in 1967,
never coasting on his reputation. His lat-
est, Cd, is yet another gorgeously crafted,
cerebral pop record, but with an added
indie-rock twist provided by his son
Moreno. Veloso will be supported live by
the young trio he enlisted for the album,
allowing maximum flexibility to cherry-
pick gems from his rich and varied song-
book. And with no opener, the8 p.m. show
figures to be over just in time for the wise
to head down to The Blind Pig to catch
White Williams and Battles.
ARTS IN BRIEF
More
than just
math rock
By DEREK BARBER
DailyArts Writer
If the majority of pop culture has taught
us anything about man versus machine, it's
that Kubrick's HAL 9000 is an asshole and
Arnold Schwarzeneg-
ger's actingismore calcu-
lable than any impending
mechanical apocalypse. Tonight at
Fortunately, as will be 9:30 p.m.
clear tonight at The Blind At The Blind Pig
Pig, there can be much
more satisfying takes on $15, Agest18+
the war waged between
anthropoid and appara-
tus. Welcome to the world of Battles.
Make no mistake about its name. Within
New York City's indie-famous, post-every-
thing band, you'll find the gears of war,
guitars, beats and voice samples turning in
unison more often than against themselves.
In this regard, it's downright unfair to ster-
ilize such music with a label as arbitrary
as "math rock." Yet even if Battles bears
some resemblance to the genre, it doesn't
take Pythagoras to recognize a thumping,
human heartbeat thrown into its equation.
"We're not, you know, robots or any-
thing," guitarist and keyboardist Ian Wil-
liams said. Reconsidering, he said, "Well, I
am actually, but some of the other members
aren't."
Beneath Williams's humor is the hum-
Battles brings it hardon the second day of the Pitchfork Music Festival on July 1
ble compliance to Battles's notoriety as a
superhumanly tight live band. Of course,
it's easy to grasp the hype when consider-
ing its personnel - a veritable list of who's
who in the world of progressive rock: ex-
Helmet and ex-Tomahawk drummer John
Stanier, ex-Lynx guitarist Dave Konopka,
ex-Don Caballero guitarist Ian Williams
and Tyondai Braxton, son of avant-garde
jazz composer and saxophonist Anthony
Braxton.
The group's own four-year history is
nearly as impressive.
Followinga string of successful EPs with
2007's shimmering debut full-length Mir-
rored, Battles has created a visionary world
in which seasoned, in-the-pocket rhythms
close ranks with the technology of live
samples and guitar stomp boxes. But this is
only the beginning - the melodic artillery
bears the handprint of real humanity.
"(Early on), there were a lot of ideas of
what we didn't want to be versus what we
wanted to be," Williams said. "But that's
another story."
The Battles story, it seems, has every-
thing to do with Williams and Co.'s desire
to pursue a music that would stretch and
challenge the acclaim each member had
already achieved. Not limited to melodic
and rhythmic innovation, members also
conduct unique experiments in timbre and
unconventional musical techniques.
"In Don Cab, I used to tap the (guitar)
fretboard with my left hand and my right
hand," Williams said. "It sort of looked like
Eddie Van Halen or something, although
I don't think I played like that at all. But I
realized if I took my right hand and played
the keyboard (simultaneously) I could
get this real sloppy, organic guitar string
mixed with a hard, static, cold keyboard
note - like hot sauce on a bagel."
While free associations like "hot sauce on
a bagel" fail to capture the space oddity and
heart pumping machinery that is Battles,
the opportunity to experience their live
show on Friday promises to balance things
out - or at least get the gears turning and
the heads nodding.
AT HILL AUDITORIUM
As if there couldn't be
any more great music
this weekend
Yo-Yo Ma (cello) and Kathryn Stott
(piano)
$10-$100
At Hill Auditorium
The classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma will
return to Hill Auditorium tomorrow
night for his eighth University Musi-
cal Society performance. Ma started
his classical study of the cello when
he was just four years old and went on
to study music at The Juilliard School
and liberal arts at Harvard University.
Ma's ability to enthrall his audience
with a variety of ethnically explor-
ative musical styles is his most cel-
ebrated skill.
Known for the cultural diversity of
his music, Ma has immersed himself
in wide varieties of the art. From the
distinct styles of native Chinese music
to the sounds of Africa's Kalahari
bush people, Ma's goal is to explore
the imagination and transfer ideas
across cultures.
Since his last UMS performance in
early 2000, Ma garnered even more
prestige with his designation as Peace
Ambassador for the U.N. in 2006 by
Secretary General Kofi Annan. The
prolific artist has produced more than
75 albums in his lifetime, with over
15 Grammy Award winners among
them.
A product of his collaboration with
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
Ma's newest release is aptly named
New Impossibilities, a title themati-
cally relevant to his reputation as an
artist always looking for new ways to
evolve. Even now, 25 years after his
first UMS performance, Ma's search
for personal growth marks his music.
ERIC EATON
AT THE POWER CENTER
The opera written for
the college town
"La Boheme"
Today and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Sunday at 2 p.m.
$9 with student ID
At the Power Center
The Universiy's Opera Theatre will
present Puccini's masterpiece, "La
Boheme," tonight and tomorrow at 8
p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
The cast is composed of undergrad-
uate and graduate students from the
School of Music, Theatre and Dance as
well as children from the Ann Arbor
Youth Chorale and one near-celebrity
professor. Professor Emeritus George
Shirley will play the roles of Benoit
and Alcindoro more than 45 years
after debuting as Rodolfo, also in "La
Boheme," in Woodstock, New York.
The story, focusing on a group of
passionate young artists trying to live
life to the fullest, will be familiar to
anyone who's seen "Rent."
"These characters live and love
fiercely," director Kate Castaldo said.
"By setting the opera in contemporary
Paris, we pull in all the issues of today,
which contribute to the artist motto of
'there is no tomorrow."'
BEN VAN WAGONER
I
"The Visitor" goes up this weekend at the Walgreen Center on North Campus
Looking for the 'perfect revenge'
By BRENT PANTALEO
Daily Arts Writer
A woman is impregnated, exiled,
ends up at a brothel and loses her
baby. This is the important back-
story of Swiss
playwright Fried- The Visitor
rich Durrenmatt's
"The Visit," a Tonight
Basement Arts at 7 p.m.
production in and 11 p.m.
Studio One of Tomorrow
the Walgreen at 7 p.m.
Drama Center At the Walgreen
this weekend. Center Studio One
The production is
the brainchild of Free
School of Music,
Theater and Dance junior Adam
Moskal, who was inspired to direct
"The Visit" after he saw the play
put on in Pittsburgh, Penn.
The concise title may appear
innocent, but the themes of "The
Visit" are anything but. The audi-
ence will receive healthy doses of
greed corruption and revenge by
the play's end.
"It is definitely an intense tragi-
comedy," said School of Music,
Theater and Dance senior Aaron
Seeburger, who plays the heroine's
ex-love, Alfred Ill. "There are some
pretty extreme moments, but there
is a lot of humor as well."
The play opens in desolate Guel-
len, Germany, the same town that
previously exiled the heroine,
Claire Zachanassian. Guellen's
impoverished citizens are prepar-
ing a celebration for the return
of the now-wealthy Claire. She
accrued a large fortune through
several prosperous marriages.
But Claire's return is part of "her
perfect revenge," Moskal said, "one
she had been planning since the
day she left."
She seeks vengeance for what
Alfred Ill, the only love of her life,
did to her. When Alfred found
out he was the father of her child,
he hired two drunks to claim it
instead, effectively freeing him
of the responsibility. The town
shamed Claire for copulating with
such trash and exiled her in the
process. Claire returns to Guellen
to puta price on his head.
Needless to say, things get dicey.
She offers to pay the entire city $1
million once Alfred Ill is murdered.
The ragged townspeople initially
refuse the proposition and defend
Alfred, but then they begin to pur-
chase many lavish items on credit
- items they couldn't possibly
afford themselves. It's as if they're
confirming someone will commit
the murder, and the longer no one
steps up, the worse the situation.
For director Moskal, the empha-
sis is on the play's narrative quali-
ties.
"Too often, theater these days is
based upon spectacle," Moskalsaid.
"I wanted to use theater as a form
of storytelling to affect change."
Moskal referred to Durrenmatt's
original intention for "The Visit,"
which was to write a timeless play.
The focus of "The Visit" is simply
its message to the audience. As a
result, it can be performed in prac-
tically any time period. Moskal's
production, running on the stan-
dard $100 budget from Basement
Arts, honors this by placing the
focus on the themes and not the
set.
"The reality is, the themes stand
on their own," Moskal said. "They
are universal."
Though "The Visit" may not
be full of spectacle, it is certainly
accessible art and entertainment.
It allows the audience to actively
indulge in a portrayal of what hap-
pens when bad choices are made,
which can be a morally rewarding
experience.
ALL
PATAGONIA
Sale ends Saturday Nov. 10th