Stringing Together New Tunes

Space isn’t the only frontier that hasn’t been explored, as far as the Turtle Island String Quartet is concerned. There’s also the world of fusion jazz played on traditional string instruments.

The quartet--two violinists, a violist and a cellist--will perform at Occidental College’s Thorne Hall on Friday night.

“It’s completely unexplored,” said violinist Darol Anger, one of the founders of the group. “The string quartet is an amazing tradition. We don’t think it needs to be limited to Western composers or composed music,” such as works by Brahms and Beethoven.

Instead, they improvise and blend, or fuse, musical styles with inspiration ranging from Fats Waller to James Brown to a musical key and style common in Appalachian Bluegrass, East Indian classical and Celtic music. The quartet has even invented a few techniques that enable their instruments to imitate the sounds of horns and drums.

The quartet has been performing for seven and a half years. According to Anger, he and fellow violinist David Balakrishnan had known each other for 14 years and were both interested in developing violin music and exploring American fiddle and jazz styles. In 1984, they met cellist Mark Summer, who was also interested in improvising and expanding the range of the string quartet. Violist Tanya Kalmanovitch is a more recent member.

“We thought it was going to be a side project,” said Anger, but the group now plays together full time.

The performance starts at 8 p.m. on campus, 1600 Campus Road, Eagle Rock. Tickets are $15, or $13 for full-time students, seniors, college employees and alumni. Information: (213) 259-1299.