By Lucia Allen, News Correspondent
About 120 students, faculty, and community members heard sounds from Ireland, Mali, South Africa, Brazil and India converge in the Curry Student Center Ballroom Aug. 5 for ‘A Concert of American Chamber Music and International Fusions,’ presented as part of the Fusion Arts Exchange (FAX): Music Composition and Performance program sponsored by the US State Department and Northeastern.
The FAX program, which runs from July 5 to Aug. 15,’ has been at Northeastern for three years, with a competitive grant of roughly $1 million, said Anthony De Ritis, professor and chair of the music department and administrative director of the program. Along with the concert, the students have attended shows, taken classes in American music history and music industry and received private lessons.
‘This is a vast work of cultural diplomacy by the US government. The fact that NU gets to participate in that at such a high level is wonderful for the music department, Northeastern University and cultural exchange around the world,’ De Ritis said.
De Ritis helped pick the American participants, while the other students were recommended by their countries, with the final decision being made by the US State Department, he said.
There are 20 students in the program who have been living in West Village F.
The event was broken up into three sections, the first of which featured performances’ of famous American musicians’ songs like ‘Hello’ by Lionel Richie and ‘Now Have I Fed and Eaten Up the Rose’ by Samuel Barber. The second section was a performance of original compositions composed by the students over the course of five weeks and the final section showcased ensemble pieces involving all the students, with small performance sections for everyone.
‘ ‘Basically we met every day and all of the students suggested pieces. [W]hat we’re going to hear [tonight are] a collection of different pieces that may have started as an assignment within the class,’ said Trevor Weston, director of the Fusion Arts ensemble and guest professor from Drew University.
The students played the flute, piano, viola, guitar, violoncello, bass trombone and percussion. Several sang or even rapped in English or their native languages. When participants weren’t playing, some recorded the event on their personal video cameras.
New England Conservatory professor Sabrina Learman, who also taught classes during FAX, said she was especially impressed with the daring composition of the night.
‘ ‘They’re really breaking out and trying new things,’ Learman said. ‘I feel like I came here to hear my students, but I feel like it’s a concert I would have come to anyway.’
The ages of the crowd varied; some listened with their eyes closed and everyone applauding loudly after each performance. The applause and cheers were loudest from the musicians’ themselves, with one shouting ‘Well done!’
Nayla Howard, 17, of Sudbury, attended with her mother who had let her know about an internship opportunity in the music department.
‘ ‘I’ve heard them practicing and wanted to hear what they’d sound like. I am kind of looking to be a musician,’ Howard said. Howard shared that she’d already taught herself both bass and guitar.
The final ensemble performance had the audience clapping along and on its feet. During a surprise remix piece at the end, all the directors jumped up and danced across the front.
‘ ‘A lot of it has been amazing-all the sites we visited,’ Barry O’Halpin, a musician from Ireland, said. ‘In Harlem, N.Y., we saw a big brass band and the Lion King [musical] later on. Tanglewood, Mass., [was] beautiful and Wally’s Jazz Club has been great for just popping in and finding some band.’
The students went back to the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home in Tanglewood to see Yo-Yo Ma perform over the weekend and on Aug. 11 they will go to Washington, D.C. to sightsee and perform for the State Department. On the final day they will have a private dinner with certificates of completion handed out and a debriefing by the State Department on their time here and what they’ve learned, De Ritis said.
‘ It is not clear whether or not the grant will be renewed or if NU will get to apply again, since the university won the first grant, De Ritis said. They will think of this as the end of a three-year cycle, he said.
Brian Robison, academic director for FAX and professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, said De Ritis modeled the program after one they had participated in as students in France of 1991.
‘It was a tremendous experience for us,’ Robison said. ‘When the State Department had the kind of general idea for this program, Tony ‘hellip; basically tried to create something like it here’hellip;with American music.’
South African saxophonist Camron Andrews, 21, said it’s going to be hard to go home. ‘ ‘
‘The musicians have been great,’ Andrews said. ‘We’ve kind of formed a little family here. I’m definitely going to stay in contact. There’s [a] connection here that you just can’t let go.’
