Individual Artists Shine in Multicultural Mix

Music, we love to boast, is a universal language. But, in fact, nothing may need more translation than music.

Those attuned to every subtlety in Beethovenian drama may have no entry point into the foreign subtleties of tuning, rhythmic cycles or improvisation of Indian raga. Folks who turn out for the classics often need help understanding present-day composers, to say nothing of hip-hop. Opera audiences now insist that every word be translated in projections; they trust the language of music to tell them nothing.

But what music does do is make new languages with incredible ease. Just about any time two musical cultures collide, something new results, and that was the point Thursday night at the opening of CalArts’ 1999 festival devoted to world music.

The festival concerts, to be held at CalArts in Valencia this weekend and next, will be devoted to individual practices--those of Bali, Java, Africa and North India. This first concert, however, took place off campus, at the Skirball Cultural Center in West Los Angeles, and was an experiment in international musical cooperation. Under the guidance of Poovalur Srinivasan, a magnificent Indian drummer, the program, called “Karnatic Evens and Modern Odds,” was an outing for his South North East West Ensemble (SNEW), a flexible grouping of players of various degrees of expertise in various cultures.

Srinivasan is the embodiment of the modern multicultural musician. A specialist in the double-headed South Indian drum, the mridangam and the tambourine-like kanjira, he has performed with everyone from violinist Yehudi Menuhin to mandolinist Bela Fleck to David Hildago of the rock group Los Lobos. Also on hand was Chitravina Ravikiran, an arresting virtuoso in the sitar-like instrument for which he was named, and which is played with a sliding bar like a Hawaiian guitar.

Glen Velez, a popular percussionist who seems able to bring musical ideas from half the world into his spectacular playing of a simple frame drum, also made a guest appearance. And the CalArts community, in the form of students, graduates and faculty members, contributed a percussion quartet (the Hands On’semble), a trio of winds and electric guitar, and a fretless acoustic guitar tuned to play Indian music and played by Paul Livingstone.

As a musical United Nations with the best intentions, Srinivasan’s SNEW can be inspiring. And yet when these musicians actually played together, they were not all that different from tourists communicating in foreign languages, relying upon simple ideas and generalities. And so little was music trusted to break down language barriers that all the musicians joined in on just a single feisty novelty number by Srinivasan at the end of a long evening of impressive individual performances.

In that number, “Sweet Seventeen,” Srinivasan kept a rhythmic mantra with sticks; the percussionists provided a background rhythm section; winds, electric guitar and chitravina offered ecstatic improvisations, momentum continually building for a happy explosion of a close.

Otherwise, the program was distinguished by Ravikiran’s ravishing playing of two ragas, by Velez’s flabbergasting technique (somewhat diminished by the soft, New Age center to his music), and the cheerful beat of the CalArts percussionists. Too much the diplomat, Srinivasan remained out of the limelight in which he belonged, especially since the best players are the ones who need the least translation.

For a complete schedule for CalArts’ Creative World Music Festival, call (818) 362-2315.