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Andy and friends
rehearse for Synesthesia
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New York, USA
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Musician, performer, composer and educator Andy Akiho
does not rest when it comes to the thrill of his life -
music. Well-versed on chamber and
conventional orchestra instruments, he has a special passion for his
primary instrument - the steel pan. For years he has
been well-known within the New York pan community, where he
has co-arranged along with Freddy Harris, III for
Sesame Flyers Steel Orchestra during the annual Panorama
season. In past years, Akiho has also participated in
Sesame Flyers’ biennial Steelpan extravaganzas with groups
Jambalasi and Joubala, and more. His
skill set is also well-known in the home of the steelpan,
Trinidad & Tobago, where he has given very impressive
accounts of himself in competitive solo arenas, as performer
and composer, and also as a member of Phase II Pan Groove and
Starlift Steel Orchestra for the country’s annual national
steelband music panorama competitions.
But Akiho’s ongoing quest for
musical excellence has already expressed itself in: his role as a commissioned composer,
placement at
prestigious performance venues such as Carnegie Hall,
positioning of his talented showmanship before celebrities,
and fostering of musical collaborations with several ensembles and
orchestras.
Brilliant, confident but modest, Akiho is now
finishing his Master’s in Contemporary Performance at the
Manhattan School of Music (MSM), and completing studies in composition
with Julia Wolfe and in percussion with John Ferrari and
Jeffrey Milarsky. September of this year will find him
moving along a similar trajectory, this time studying at Yale
University with David Lang.
The steel pan remains the principal
instrument for Akiho, with its incorporation into many of
his compositions for Contemporary Classical Music, fusing
the unique timbres of the pan with traditional western
instruments (strings, woodwinds, brass, etc.). His
goal, he says, “is to make the pan less of a novelty and
more of an instrument that has no limitations in respect to
musical styles or artistic endeavors. I am very happy
that many composers and performers have been doing this
already while keeping the wonderful tradition alive. I
am just trying to do it as well, with my own experiences and
interpretations, and I hope that it may affect or touch
someone someday.”
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Andy and friends rehearse
for Synesthesia |
And it is that inspiration, determination
and talent that will be front and center two
days from now,
when Andy Akiho presents his final show - “Synesthesia”
(with music by Akiho) - at Manhattan School of
Music’s
Borden Auditorium,
New York -
featuring steel pans, jazz combo and chamber orchestra.
Showtime is
7:30 p.m. and this unique musical event is free
and open to the public.
He and fellow musicians have been
devoting their full attention to Friday’s event.
Officially billed as the “Synesthesia Suite,” it showcases a
series of short works for steel pan, jazz combo and chamber
orchestra (in full ensemble or in subsets of the full
group). The full cast -
Andy Akiho and Friends - features a complement of performers,
many who are recognized musicians in their own right. The
complete suite/performance is approximately one hour in duration, and
the line up is as follows:
Conductor: |
Jeffrey Gavett |
Flute/Piccolo: |
Nicole Camacho |
Oboe: |
Kathleen Coughlin |
Clarinet in Bb: |
Alejandro Acierto |
Bass Clarinet in Bb: |
Philip Everall |
Bassoon: |
Annie Lyle |
Horn in F: |
Matt Marks |
Trumpet in C: |
Suresh Singaratnam |
Trombone: |
James Rogers |
Tuba: |
Justin Clarkson |
Percussion: |
Jude Traxler, Alyson
Rzeszotarski,
Kyle Ritenauer |
Pan: |
Andy Akiho |
Guitar: |
Kobe van
Cauwenberghe |
Harp: |
Matthew Tutsky |
Piano/Toy Piano: |
Vicky Chow, Anne
Rainwater |
Amplified Cello: |
Mariel Roberts |
Amplified Bass: |
Gregg August |
Drumset: |
Kenneth Salters |
Violins: |
Olivia De Prato,
Andie Springer |
Viola: |
Victor Lowrie |
Cello: |
Isabel Castellvi |
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“Synesthesia Suite” PROGRAM
“21”
Duet for cello, steel pan, prepared pan, percussion
and electronics
featuring Mariel Roberts on cello, percussion and
electronics
“Synesthesia Suite”
A series of short works for steel pan, jazz combo
and chamber orchestra (in full ensemble or in subsets of
the full group)
Daidai Iro (Orange)
Quintet for steel pan, toy piano, cello, bass, and drumset |
Kimidori (Lime Green)
aka: “Omnipresent”
Solo for tenor pan |
Murasaki (Purple)
Quintet for steel pan, harp, cello, bass, and
drumset |
Shiro
(White)
For steel pan and strings |
Momo
Iro (Pink)
Quartet for steel pan, acoustic guitar, bass,
and drumset |
Ki Iro
(Yellow)
For Large Chamber Ensemble (strings, woodwinds,
percussion, pan, piano, Harp, and Drums) |
Karakurenai (Crimson)
aka: “Rochester Song”
Solo for prepared steel pan |
Kuro
(Black)
Open instrumentation (free improvisation with
full ensemble) |
Hanba
Iro (Beige)
For Chamber Orchestra (the entire group:
woodwinds, brass, percussion, pan, jazz combo,
and strings) |
Aka
(Red)
For Chamber Orchestra (the entire group:
woodwinds, brass, percussion, pan, jazz combo,
and strings) |
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Rehearsal for
Synesthesia
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Andy Akiho’s connection with the New
York pan community remains steadfast and he
is indebted to those who have influenced and mentored
him, including the late arranger and guitarist
Scipio
“Skip” Sargeant. Says
Andy: “This show is dedicated to all of my past and
present teachers and musical colleagues, with special
reverence to the great Scipio Sargeant, who
passed away on
April 20, 2009. He was a great influence and inspiration to
me and to the entire steel pan community.”
Andy Akiho’s words:
Background info about my studies with Scipio
‘Sarge’ Sargeant and his impact on my music:
I used to live on Sterling Street
in Brooklyn, one block away from Sarge in 2004.
For about two months in the fall of that year, I
would go to his apartment to study with him
almost everyday for hours at a time. Skip
taught me a lot about jazz and about the feel
and interpretation of Calypso music. We would
work through standards while hitting on the
ins-and-outs of turnarounds and advanced chordal
substitutions. I wish that I had more time with
him. He was an amazing guitar player, and he
knew more about the steel pan than most pan
players. He was one of the greatest panorama
arrangers to ever live. The “Synesthesia”
movement entitled “Momo Iro” for pan, guitar,
bass, and drums is especially dedicated to
Sarge. It definitely has a lot of his influence
and personality hidden within the piece.
Sarge also taught me not to be
afraid of performing even though I was not a
Trinidadian. He never got caught up in the
trivial nonsense of a “foreigner” playing the
pan. He really had confidence in me and was
always 100% genuine in his encouragement. When
Freddy Harris, III and I were arranging for
Sesame Flyers in ’04 and ’05, Sarge would
regularly come by the panyard with full support
and give us tips on how to arrange for the
band. He even put the final touches and ending
measures to our arrangement of “Action” in
2005. Sarge was an inspiration to us all. I
wish that I thanked him more when he was alive…
Program notes for the compositions of the
“Synesthesia Suite”:
About “21”
“21” was written for
Mariel Roberts in October, 2008. After meeting
Mariel at the Bang on a Can Summer Music
Festival, I became extremely impressed with her
sense of rhythm and effortless mastery of the
cello. I first realized her talent when we
performed “I falleN TwO” for string quartet and
steel pans. I was amazed by her interpretation,
accuracy, and musical interpretation of the
piece, and it inspired me to write her a duet
for cello and steel pans. I wanted to
incorporate elements in the piece that I hoped
would be unique, challenging and fun to work on
together. The cello part requires the cellist
to play a kick drum and operate a loop pedal
while playing the cello. The pan part requires
the pannist to play one regular tenor pan, a
prepared tenor pan with rubber bands (to mimic
snap pizzicatos), and a tambourine with the
foot. The title “21” refers to the twenty-first
measure of J.S. Bach’s Violin Sonata #1 Fugue in
Gmin. The harmonic chords in this bar are
the inspiration of the sequence of notes for
“21.” Also, Mariel Roberts was 21 years-old
when the piece was written and premiered.
About the “Synesthesia Suite”
Synesthesia:
from the Ancient Greek
σύν
(syn), “together,” and
αἴσθησις
(aisthēsis), “sensation”
-- is a neurologically based phenomenon
in which stimulation of one sensory or
cognitive pathway leads to automatic,
involuntary experiences in a second
sensory or cognitive pathway.
(definition from Wikipedia on April 28,
2009)
I do not have perfect pitch at
all; however, when I compose, improvise,
memorize or perform music, especially on steel
pan, I associate the pitches with colors. For
example, every time I play or think of an “A,”
it has to be red in my mind… “D” = Orange, and
so on… Some people have synesthesia with
absolute pitch. They can hear a note without
knowing what it is and tell you the exact pitch
sounded by the color that they see in their mind
associated with the particular pitch. I however
only have synesthesia in a kinesthetic sense,
where I associate the colors with the note that
I am already aware of striking or writing. This
first happened to me one late evening in
Trinidad in 2002. I remember it clearly… We
were rehearsing in the Starlift Panyard under
Ray Holman for his composition and Panorama
arrangement “Dr. Mannette.” I had never been a
part of any musical experience quite like that
before (playing with over 100 steelband members
till 2:00 am every morning). One night we were
rehearsing this octatonic lick that Ray had just
given to the frontline for at least an hour
straight. Eventually, I began to close my eyes
and just feel the music. The lick began to show
up in colors, and was consistent with each
repetition. I vividly remember first seeing
orange associated with the “D” pitch and it has
been the same ever since.
This experience inspired the
movements of the “Synesthesia Suite.” Each
movement represents a different tonal center or
key for the various colors. For example “ki
iro” (Japanese for Yellow) is a waltz based
around Bb: the pitch that I associate with
yellow. There are fourteen movements total: all
twelve equal tempered tonal colors or centers,
and black and white. White is represented by a
piece that includes a lot of bright ambiguous
harmonics produced by striking the spaces
between the hammered steel pan notes, while
black is represented as a free atonal
improvisation of extended techniques by all the
performers.
The movements were almost all
originally written as unaccompanied tenor pan
solos within the past few years. However, I
have just begun to orchestrate them. Currently
ten of the fourteen movements are complete, and
this concert will be the first performance of
these completely orchestrated versions. The
musicians performing are all amazing
contemporary and jazz artists who I have had the
pleasure to perform and collaborate with this
past year. This performance will be a
culmination of everything that I have learned in
the past two years at the Manhattan School of
Music. I am very grateful that I will be one of
the first thirteen to graduate as the first
class of the Contemporary Performance Masters
Program at MSM. It has been an honor to be a
part of the program, and to have studied with
John Ferrari, Jeffrey Milarsky, and Julia Wolfe.
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click for
review of show
Contact Andy Akiho at:
andyakiho@gmail.com
www.andyakiho.com
Concert location:
Manhattan School of Music - Borden Auditorium, (West 122nd
St. and Broadway), New York - No. 1 Train
to 125th St. or 116th St.
Time: 7:30 PM
Date:
Friday, May 1st 2009
Free Admission!
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