Jun 13 2008
Threads of a Tonal Dream Tapestry
We are proud to present an evening of spectacular music.
Ain Soph Aur presents:
Threads of a Tonal Dream Tapestry
The Microtonal Compositions of Lou Harrison
Performed by John Schneider
Khmer Classical Music
Performed by Master Ho Chan’s
Pin Peat Ensemble
Intercontinental Improvisation
Performed by Ain Soph Aur
& Friends
Saturday July 5th, at 8 PM
$8
Koos Art Center
530 E Broadway
Long Beach, CA
90802
John Schneider is an internationally recognized guitarist, composer, author and broadcaster whose weekly television and radio programs have brought the sound of the guitar into millions of homes. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics & Music from the University of Wales, music degrees from the University of California and the Royal College of Music [London], and is past President of the Guitar Foundation of America. A specialist in contemporary music, Schneider’s The Contemporary Guitar (University of California Press) has become the standard text in the field.
Schneider has performed in Europe, Japan, Vietnam & throughout North America, and been featured by New Music America, New York’s American Festival of Microtonal Music, Denver’s Microstock, California’s Mozart Festival, the DaCamera Society, Grammy Award Winning Southwest Chamber Music, New American Music Festival, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and The Outsider, BBC’s documentary film on Harry Partch. John Schneider made his Disney Hall debut with his chamber group Partch premiering Harry Partch’s complete Bitter Music, and has returned every year since.
He is the founding artistic director of MicroFest, an annual festival of microtonal music [www.MicroFest.org], and his radio show Global Village can be heard weekly on Pacifica Radio’s KPFK at 90.7-fm in Los Angeles & worldwide at www.kpfk.org. His recording of Lou Harrison’s guitar music por Gitaro was released this March on Mode Records.
[Download a 7MB tif photo of John Schneider]
Master Ho Chan plays every instrument of the Pin Peat ensemble, a form of percussive Cambodian classical music that features xylophones, gong, cymbals and oboes. He began study at age 16 with his grandfather. In 1975, under the Khmer Rouge regime, Chan was forced into slave labor camps; he fled to Thailand in 1979 where he joined a pin peat ensemble headed by master musician Yinn Ponn. In 1986, he resettled in the U.S. and moved to California in 2000, where he joined the Arts of Apsara Ensemble, led by master dancer and singer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro. He has received awards from the California Arts Council, the Public Corporation for the Arts, and the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.
The Pin Peat orchestra or musical ensemble performs the ceremonial music of the former courts and temples of Cambodia. The orchestra consists of approximately nine or ten instruments, mainly wind and percussion (including several varieties of xylophone and drums), and accompanies court dances, masked plays, shadow plays, and religious ceremonies.
Pinpeat is one of the most ancient Cambodian musical ensembles and is closely associated with the Angkor period. In fact, its history is carved into the walls of Angkor Wat in the shapes of the instruments held by celestial dancers, such as the gong called kong and the small cymbals called chhing, both of which have been essential to the pinpeat ensemble for centuries.
Master Ho teaches traditional Cambodian music on Saturdays from 11 AM to 3 PM at the Cambodian Association of America, which is located at 2390 Pacific Avenue, Long Beach,CA 90806. The Association’s phone number is 562 988-1863.
Listen to a tune called Trak from the CD titled “home rong”. [All parts played by Master Ho.]
[Download a 4MB jpg photo of Master Ho]
What is microtonal music? When looking at a modern piano, we notice that the keyboard is grouped into black and white keys. Some white keys have black keys between them, but a few don’t. The pattern of black and white keys repeats, with 12 keys making up the repeating pattern. An octave interval is the distance between two identical notes, eg A to A, or C to C. This 12 note division of the octave has significant scientific and esthetic underpinnings, but it is just one of many systems currently in use. In Arabic music, for example, there are 24 tones per octave. Some modern composers created instruments to play invented tonal systems. For example, Harry Partch created a complete orchestra designed to play a 43 tone scale.
Ain Soph Aur (Hebrew for “The Limitless Light”) is an improvisational performance duo that embraces the fluidity of the moment, and where a blend of acoustic, electric, and electronic instruments are layered into gently evolving soundscapes. Each performance is a discovery, with bowed psaltery, cumbus, lap steel guitar, gopichand, melodica, and electric bass making occasional appearances. Collaborators Sander Roscoe Wolff and Karloff form the central core of the group, but each performance finds opportunities for developing new musical connections.
Karloff is a founding member of the Hop Frog Kollective which created the Dung Mummy Experimental Music Festival, now in its 5th year. He is also co-founder of URCK Records, which supports the distribution of music by cutting edge performers, including Sikhara, Catastrophic Mermaids on Parade, Refrigerator Mothers, and released the controversial CD compilation, Post-Asiatic: Lost War Dream Music.
Sander has been involved in music for most of his life. He’s studied audio engineering, worked in both studio and live settings as an engineer and producer, worked as a music journalist, and has been in several local rock bands. He is Executive Director and co-founder of LongBeachCulture.org, a free arts portal, and is the Culture Agent columnist for LBPost.com.
Joining Ain Soph Aur is 15 year old phenom Nial Morgan (aka Deer Tear), and Jeremy Morelock, who is also a co-founder of the Hop Frog Kollectiv and URCK Records.
Hear John Schneider’s Global Village radio broadcast from July 3rd, 2008, which opens with music from Master Ho and, in the last 15 minutes, features more music by the performers.
Koos Art Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in the Long Beach, California. In the nineties, Koos played an instrumental role in developing a youth oriented creative community in Orange County leading to the formation of the Santa Ana Artist Village and a flourishing music scene. Today, Koos exhibits, educates and builds community in Long Beach by serving as a conduit for creative expression through the visual and performing arts, and providing a professional space for emerging and established artists. A music venue, educational art center and gallery, Koos recognizes the personal and cultural importance of all types of art. From exhibitions by nationally-known artists to shows by community youth, the center is making the arts accessible to all. Located in Long Beach since 2003, Koos plays an increasingly important role in the area by being a place where the community can experience free art instruction, independent music, and cutting edge visual art exhibitions.
