Hi Caleb,

I think it’s really interesting how much you liked the baritone. Maybe it was because of where I was sitting but I thought he sounded quiet and not very strong, especially compared to Nadine. I do agree, though, that the performance was incredible and I think another collaboration between the Ann Arbor Symphony and UMS Choral Union would be spectacular!

Great, the one time we get main floor seats is the time when we don’t want them. But after having been on a tour of Hill Auditorium, I was really looking forward to hearing the “great acoustics” that the place is known for.

The performance was great, of course. Compared to other performances I’d been to, like the Mali music of Diawara Fatoumata and the avant garde of Kronos Quartet, this one was a lot more like what I expected. It was flowed really well and all of the instruments were in perfect harmony.

What surprised me most of all, though, was how minimal the piece was. The first thing I noticed (besides the lights in the audience being left on) was that the piece began with only half of the violins (at least, that’s what it looked like from my poor angle). It wasn’t until after the first break that everyone began to play together. Before that, the piece sounded less cheerful than usual. Violins have that higher pitched sound that I typically associate with calm.

Similarly, the two main singers didn’t sing until closer to midway/the end! Nadine spoke to a class I’m in and told us this would be the case, but it didn’t make much sense to me that their “stars” weren’t capitalized on a bit more. Also, it didn’t seem like they sang for a long period of time. Most of the time it was the chorus only, but I thought that was great because it gave the performance a really majestic sound, though I didn’t follow along with the lyrics.

Although some of the choices made in terms of who played/sang when was peculiar, it all came together really nicely and I think this was one of the better performances I’ve been to!

Hey Christina,

I agree with your comments about Rodriguez. A lot of his playing sounded really jumpy. He spaced out his notes and they were very brief. It didn’t flow the way I prefer and the way I’d imagine a piano prodigy would play.

I’m not sure I can relate to your comments about the Pedro Martinez Group, though. My definition of Hispanic might be improper, but I thought the performance sounded both authentic and smooth (especially compared to Rodriguez’s piano playing). Still, I didn’t like the performance much because I’m not a fan of the genre, haha.

As the audience chanted, “Otra! Otra! Otra!” I couldn’t help but think, Please, no más.

The encore performance was actually really great, but it didn’t compensate for everything before it. With the Alfredo Rodríguez Trio, I heard three talented individuals whose music never quite meshed for me. The entire time it sounded like conflicting sounds with no common beat to tap my foot to. The Pedro Martinez Group sounded like authentic Hispanic music and I enjoyed it for the first few pieces, but it’s a genre that I quickly grew tired of and them speaking in Spanish didn’t help.

What really amazed me, though, was how the Pedro Martinez Group reminded me A LOT of another UMS performer: Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba! It occurred to me halfway through their performance. The person playing the bell played a very familiar beat that sounded like a horse “clip clop”-ing. I recognized it as the same beat played by the Ngoni ba member who played the ball-shaped instrument that clicked as he tossed and caught it. Both groups also used similar side-to-side swaying motions as a way of sticking to the beat. Considering that Ngoni ba is West African and the Pedro Martinez Group is Cuban, it just goes to show how music is a universal thing. Whether the beat actually has a single root or if different regions naturally developed it, the similarities are there! A friend of mine even mentioned how when Pedrito sang long notes she could imagine him being a perfect fit for Ngoni ba, haha!

Hi Kristen!
I agree with everything you said. The amount of skill that Compagnie Kafig posses is truly remarkable, and their positive energy was definitely infectious. It looked like everyone, both on stage and in the audience, was having a great time.
And I thought the hand dancing part was really cool as well. Although they were just using their hands, I saw them almost like tiny dancers and found them equally captivating.
Absolutely fantastic performance!

Wait… why did the music stop? The dancers are still on stage! Uh oh.

This was my initial reaction to what ended up being a very unique and central part of the first half of Compagnie Kafig’s performance.

Entering Friday night, I was really looking forward to the night’s performance. Compagnie Kafig blended hip hop with copeira (among other things), the former being something I’ve always loved to watch and the latter being something I was exposed to only days before but really enjoyed.

Agwa, the second half of the show that involved dancing with and around cups filled with water, was absolutely mind-blowing. When the curtains were raised and I saw the cups, I immediately knew what was going to happen and couldn’t believe it. It certainly didn’t disappoint!

My initial reaction was that Agwa was the better half, due in large part to the suspense that came with wondering if the cups would be knocked over. However, thinking back, Correria (the first half) was equally impressive. It was incredible that Compagnie Kafig managed to stay synchronized even when the music stopped. Spotlight performers would start and stop moving at the same time, while the people who pounded on the ground would start and stop pounding the ground at the same time. I found myself constantly searching for the visual cues that would signal to everyone to start, keeping me deeply engaged with the performance.

I absolutely loved Compagnie Kafig and their performance!

I’m not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to classical music. When I think classical, I think orchestral. When I think orchestral, I think… scores from the Pirates of the Caribbean first, Vivaldi second. The only orchestral performance I’ve ever been to is the one presented by my high school orchestra. It was great musically, but boring visually (bright white lights and slow movements). For some reason, I thought I knew what to expect from Kronos based solely on one other performance: calm, sweet-sounding string music with static aesthetics. Fortunately, that was not the case!

Within seconds, Kronos had fully immersed me into their performance through many ways. In the opening suite from Dirty Wars, my eyes fixated on the musicians’ sharp movements while my mind had me running through the streets of a city in the Middle East. Not long after that, the repetitive and eerie recordings of Hoover in “Sing Sing: J. Edgar Hoover” trapped me in a bright white room and I had absolutely nowhere to hide. In “…hold me, neighbor, in this storm…” the lights hypnotized me as they turned blue when the music was calm, red when it was loud, and even a mixture of the two when the music sounded mysterious. Lastly, the grandeur of “Agency” made me feel like I had been thrust into outer space.

Kronos’s performance appealed to every one of my senses and completely shattered by conception of classical music. It was absolutely breathtaking.