It would be well beyond facts to make the claim that every comedian is also inherently musical. However, I expect the exceptions would be a meager number when compared to those comedians who are, or in the case of comedians of yesterday, were endowed with significant musical abilities. Consider Steve Martin, today as much musician/banjo player as comedian. Even the recently departed Phyllis Diller played piano, apparently well enough in her younger years to consider a career in music. And what about Charlie Chaplin, who wrote music for his films?
This consideration of comedians as musicians is prompted by a postcard I recently pulled out of a box of Mexico memorabilia. It pictures a mural called "Comedians of the 20th Century." I'm not sure who painted the mural, but I believe it might be in San Miguel Allende. Pictured, from left to right: Will Rogers, Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, Cantinflas, Rafael Mendez, Buster Keaton, and Laurel & Hardy. Conducting, of course, is Charlie Chaplin. I'm not sure who the harpist is, but perhaps it is Harpo Marx. There's plenty of detail here to keep one engaged for quite some time. I especially like the humor of the group's name: Orquesta Tipica Sexteto de Diez(Sextet of Ten).
It was no less than Charlie Chaplin who crowned the Mexican comedian Mario Moreno, better known throughout Latin America as Cantinflas, "the world's best comedian." I think the title of best "musical" comedian might have to go to Danny Kaye, but perhaps Cantinflas would have run a somewhat close second. The musical scene in the 1952 Cantinflas movie, "Si Yo Fuera Diputado (If I Were a Deputy)," is pure joy. Here we find Cantinflas slipping past security to get backstage at a concert hall. The police are in hot pursuit, eventually leaving Cantinflas no where to go except, unwittingly, onstage. He's trapped, with no choice but to conduct the concert.
Hope you enjoy this excerpt as much as I did.
James Baker - host and producer of Itinerarios: Music with Latin American Roots.
San Antonio's venerable Tuesday Musical Club has a history of over 100 years. The Club was founded in 1901 by Anna Hertzberg, providing she and a group of her friends the opportunity to perform and discuss classical music. In October, 1923, Tuesday Musical Club presented the first of an annual series of concerts called Musical Teas. These "teas" are now known as the Artist Series Concerts.
The great thing about Tuesday Musical Club's Artist Series is that the musical spotlight is as likely to focus upon young ensembles as old, and long established artists. Such was the case last October when the fledgling Quarteto Vivace Brazil (at 4 years old the ensemble seems very young considering the 111 years of the Tuesday Musical Club) came to town with a varied program ranging from J.S. Bach to Astor Piazzolla.
The concert by the Quarteto parallels the programming criteria for Itinerarios. The music might be European, even American, but the performances are all rooted to Latin America by the nationality of the ensemble. As their name indicates, this is a Brazilian ensemble, which explains their inclusion of music by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho, better known in Brazil as Pixinguinha.
A few words about Pixinguinha will perhaps underscore his importance in the evolution of Brazilian music. Pixinguinha was a flutist, saxophonist, composer and arranger born in Rio de Janeiro in 1897. He is one of the most important composers of the Brazilian musical form known as choro, shepherding the 19th Century form into the 20th Century by introducing a more contemporary harmony and a jazz-like improvisitory character to this popular music of the streets. Listen for one of Pixinguinha's most popular choros, Carinhoso, on this week's edition of Itinerarios.
In addition to Pixinguinha, other highlights from the Quarteto Vivace Brazil's San Antonio concert will be blended into this week's mix of music with Latin American roots. Itinerarios airs at 7PM every Sunday evening on KPAC-San Antonio (88.3fm). The program is hosted by James Baker.
In remembrance of several important Mexican musicians who passed away during the year past, the Orquesta Filarmonica de la Ciudad de Mexico has erected a Dia de los Muertos altar in the lobby of their hall, the Sala Ollin Yolitzli, honoring Daniel Catan (1949-2011) and Eugenio Toussaint (1954-2011). May they Rest in Peace.
Listen to their music on the October 30, 2011 edition of Itinerarios.
Always amazing in this world which is touted as "global" is to find music which is unknown to most of us in the Northern Hemisphere. We are all more likely to have a steady diet of South American fruits, vegetables and coffee than even a few bars of classical music from
Peru, Argentina, Brazil or Bolivia. Outside of Astor Piazzolla or Heitor Villa-Lobos, our general knowledge of serious music from South of the Panama Canal is scant. That's what makes this recent discovery such a gem. Argentinean conductor Gabriel Castagna, is ardent in his quest for revealing a wealth of South American orchestral music. Fiesta Criolla is the 5th such recording in his discography. Let's hope for many more.
Danzones of Arturo Marquez on This Week's Itinerarios
Shall we dance? The music will certainly be dancing to the alluring and at times exotic rhythms of the Cuban-Mexican danzon on this week's edition of Itinerarios, KPAC's weekly program of music with Latin American roots. Of course, Marquez' signature Danzon No. 2 will be present, but there will also be the lesser known side of Arturo Marquez, a composer of chamber music, concerted works and, of course, danzones.
Itinerarios airs every Sunday evening at 7 o'clock on Classical Oasis KPAC-88.3fm. Listen online at tpr.org.
Alondra de la Parra's new double CD "Mi Alma Mexicana" continues to be one of the top sellers internationally. KPAC's James Baker recently talked to Alondra about her path to music, her experiences conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas and other ensembles around the world, and the making of the new recording. Listen now.
"Just across the street Mexico began. We looked with wonder. To our amazement, it looked exactly like Mexico." Thus wrote Jack Kerouac, seeing Mexico for the first time through the eyes of narrator Sal Paradise in the essential road novel On the Road.
My first Mexico road trip came in the early 70s, Spring Break from UT. I headed my naturally low riding Chevy Biscayne to the border, crossing at Reynosa. I intended to follow my nose, camping wherever I could pitch my one-man pup tent. This trip ignited a passion in me for Mexico, one which still burns white hot.
"Then we turned our faces to Mexico with bashfulness and wonder as those dozens of Mexican cats watched us from under their secret hatbrims in the night. Beyond were music and all-night restaurants with smoke pouring out of the door. 'Whee,' whispered Dean very softly." (On the Road, Jack Kerouac)
If you think you know Mexico from the border regions, think again. Although this is an important geography and culture - the border - it all changes within miles of the immigration station. The roads begin to wind through the countryside, expressing an abandon unknown in the world left behind. I headed my car in the direction of Monterrey, then further West, higher into the surrounding mountains. I camped at the end of a dirt road, listening to the sounds of a distant shepherd and his flock.
Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, Jack Kerouac's On the Road characters, were seeing their slice of Mexico in the early 50s. The Pan-American Highway ran from Laredo to Monterrey, then South and East, unlike today's more common route which slices the Central Highlands through Matehuala (a great place to stop for the night), onward to San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, and Mexico City. That explains why Kerouac's characters found themselves passing through Montemorelos, Linares and Hidalgo, eventually stopping in Gregoria, a largely imagined town which was alive with music:
"Behind the bar was the proprietor, a young fellow who instantly ran out when we told him we wanted to hear mambo music and came back with a stack of records, mostly by Pérez-Prado, and put them on over the loudspeaker........In a few minutes half that portion of town was at the windows, watching the Americanos dance with the gals. They all stood, side by side with the cops, on the dirt sidewalk, leaning in with indifference and casualness. 'More Mambo Jambo,' 'Chattanooga de Mambo,' 'Mambo Numero Ocho' - all these tremendous numbers resounded and flared in the golden, mysterious afternoon like the sounds you expect to hear on the last day of the world and the Second Coming." (On the Road, Jack Kerouac)
Kerouac's journey to Mexico ended in Mexico City, the last of the road trips Sal Paradise would take with Dean Moriarty. My own road trip, the first one, ended in the mountains South of Monterrey when my gas tank snagged on logs across a small waterway. I looked back in the rear view mirror to see the tank rocking back and forth, back and forth. There was just enough gasoline in the fuel line to back up to the tank. Now the canyon came alive with Mexicans descending from the hills to watch the gringo on the edge of panic. They brought tools and offered advice as I managed to lift the tank back into place and secure it with the dangling straps. The crowd celebrated by jumping into my car for a joy ride, a ride which lasted until we encountered a bus going back to the hills from which the campesinos had descended.
"Adios!" they shouted. "Qué le vaya bien!" This week, on Itinerarios, the mambos of Pérez-Prado will be found, played by the Mexico City based wind octet Sinfonietta Ventus. We will also hear a musical picture of another destination from On the Road, Pachuca de Soto. This week's program also takes us off road, to Lake Patzcuaro and the island Janitzio. Please join me as I share with you music from Mexico this Sunday evening at 7 o'clock, on KPAC-San Antonio and KTXI-Ingram. Not in the San Antonio area? Listen online at TPR.org.
Mexican tenor Villazon needs larynx surgery Rolando Villazon's (seen left) concert organizer in Germany says the Mexican tenor needs surgery to remove a cyst on his larynx and has canceled two performances in the country. Deutsche Entertainment AG said in Wednesday's statement that Villazon should be well enough to return to the stage by the end of the year. Villazon apologized to his fans for canceling a concert slated to take place in Berlin on Thursday and another in Hamburg on May 8. They are to be rescheduled for 2010. Earlier this month Villazon was forced to cancel a series of performances at New York's Metropolitan Opera due to acute laryngitis.
Tune in this Sunday for the artistry of Juan Diego Florez (seen right) on Itinerarioswith James Baker. Sunday night at 7pm, we'll have his latest cd and an interview with the Peruvian tenor! The reigning “King of the high C” tells what it’s like to sing an encore at the Met and of his love for the sentimental Latin song. Only on KPAC & KTXI, your classical oasis!
Perhaps you saw the feature on 60 Minutes about the extraordinary success of El Systema, the state administered music education program in Venezuela which reaches deep into the ghettos, to the lower rungs of the socio-economic system and recruits young Venezuelans into an extensive orchestra training program. Regular listeners to KPAC may have even heard a recent edition of Itinerariosin which I exhibited some recorded evidence of the success of El Systema. As we anticipate the live recording in San Antonio of Christopher O'Riley and his delightful weekly public radio program From the Top, I thought it would be appropriate to make a few comments about music education and its importance to the continued nourishment of classical music, both as a performance art and as an entertainment for the public.
Although there are a few fundamental differences between Mr. O’Riley’s approach and the rules of engagement for El Systema, there is substantial common ground. First, the most apparent differences: From the Top concentrates on solo playing and chamber music; it also invites participation of singers, pianists, composers and even aspiring conductors, in addition to players of orchestral instruments. El Systema is all about orchestral training; the focus is on teaching young people to play instruments well enough to work within the fabric of a symphony orchestra, though there is also some attention given to the training of conductors.
The similarities between our American programs of music education and “The System” in Venezuela are apparent. They both strive to teach and cultivate high levels of technical and artistic proficiency. But do both systems guide young people to the same career aspirations? I believe on this matter we may find some substantial differences.
Music education in America is under siege, or so we are told. Thankfully, there are still many dedicated band and orchestra teachers in our public schools (and let’s give thanks for the chorus directors, too, though I will say little more about this area). There are also many private instructors who give excellent guidance to aspiring instrumentalists across the country. In many ways, we still have an embarrassment of riches. Just listen to the many fine public school bands and orchestras and it is impossible to deny the results of our public school instruction. But there is some truth to the “siege” to which I earlier referred. There is such demand to answer the various measuring rods of educational success (in Texas it is TAKS – Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) that energy is drawn away from curriculum more creative in its intention (visual arts, music, creative writing). I am certain many music educators are frustrated by the time and other resources which the TAKS (and similar tests across the country) siphon from their band and orchestra programs. Again, I am frankly amazed at what many music educators continue to produce, given the current atmosphere of test, and test some more.
I suspect a program such as El Systema would not work verbatim in this country, though there is much we could learn. How often do educators in the U.S. actively recruit students from our own ghettos? How often do our educators encourage students onto an artistic path, one which is less likely to create wealth and economic standing?
As I understand El Systema, the focus is upon the underprivileged. I don’t know if this implies that the program of free music education found in Venezuela is closed to children of the middle and upper classes. It seems to me that this should be governed by something between pragmatic and ideal. But this is for others to ponder and solve. The important matter here is that we must place a very high value on educating children, young people and adults in matters creative.
As I contemplated the success of El Systema while writing and producing that particular segment of my radio show Itinerarios, I felt it imperative to remind us all that there is a value to the creative arts which cannot be measured in dollars or Venezuelan pesos. I read an interview with a young Venezuelan man who had taken advantage of the music education offered him by El Systema. He came from the ghetto, detoured from a path which would have insured for him nothing. He commented that he was the first in his family to ever aspire to meet the world outside of his squalid surroundings. He got a passport and traveled to England to further his studies as a cellist. Within the past 5 years, numerous of the student-musicians in the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela have received their passports and have traveled forth to entertain in the U.S. and across Europe. They were awarded tremendous ovations at the Proms, in England.
Impressive? Yes! But more important, in my humble opinion, is that these young people have been allowed and encouraged to express themselves in one of society’s most creative languages, the language of music. And they are being encouraged to pursue careers as orchestral players and teachers. Here we find the brightest success of El Systema, and here we learn how we ought to encourage our own youth to explore a creative path. How often as teachers, parents, and councilors have we guided our young charges toward careers where success is measured in dollars? We do it with best intentions. But maybe, just maybe, we ought to suggest to young and old alike that there is merit beyond wealth to exploring our creative sides. And we should definitely encourage, rather than discourage, a young person’s inclination to declare the artistic path over the traditionally more lucrative paths to careers of wealth and power. You are right to protest that many will find a dead end to their creative paths if we are only talking career. There just aren’t that many orchestras or, in the case of visual artists, gallery spaces. But the creative path has many destinations and we ought always to encourage that exploration. It will liberate us and show us worlds heretofore unimagined.
This consideration of comedians as musicians is prompted by a postcard I recently pulled out of a box of Mexico memorabilia. It pictures a mural called "Comedians of the 20th Century." I'm not sure who painted the mural, but I believe it might be in San Miguel Allende. Pictured, from left to right: Will Rogers, Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, Cantinflas, Rafael Mendez, Buster Keaton, and Laurel & Hardy. Conducting, of course, is Charlie Chaplin. I'm not sure who the harpist is, but perhaps it is Harpo Marx. There's plenty of detail here to keep one engaged for quite some time. I especially like the humor of the group's name: Orquesta Tipica Sexteto de Diez (Sextet of Ten).
ays amazing in this world which is touted as "global" is to find music w
