"Gypsy Tango Inferno"
Zum to Perform Tuesday, October 24
Zum brings its explosive gypsy fiddling and fiery Argentinean tangos to Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, this month.
The London-based quintet will perform at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 24 as part of Music at Noon: The Logan Series. The performance will be held in the McGarvey Commons of the Reed Union Building; in keeping with the informal spirit of the Logan Series, admission is free, and casual dress and packed lunches are encouraged. Hot and cold lunch items also can be purchased in the building’s Bruno’s Café.
The intoxicating Zum is the creation of cellist Chris Grist. In late 2000, Grist was introduced to the genius of Argentinean musician and composer Astor Piazzolla just before seeing a London performance by renowned Hungarian violinist Roby Lakatos. Unable to shake the two musical strands from his head, Grist instead fused them to create a brilliant new genre he calls “gypsy tango inferno.”
To this twisted tango Zum adds threads of jazz, Celtic, salsa, bluegrass, klezmer, Arabic, and calypso to create what a BBC reviewer described as “a passionate fusion of folk music traditions from around the world…hair trigger changes of time signatures, melodic lines that spiral from funereal mournfulness into reeling intoxication.”
"(Zum's) further level of abstraction brought original, dance-inspired compositions, among them a boldly bitonal arrangement of a Bosnian wedding song, a cheeky little tango by Rosendo Mendizabal and (violinist Adam) Summerhayes’ comic theatrical ‘Mosquito Splat,’ in which bassist Jonny Gee is amusingly distracted by a nuisance insect before it meets its death on his instrument" notes The Strad magazine of one performance in London’s South Bank. "(It was) rendered with unbuttoned passion and brilliance, with virtuoso performances especially from Summerhayes, (pianist David) Gordon and accordionist Eddie Hession."
"Zum is an incredibly engaging and evocative ensemble," Dan Barnard, Behrend music faculty member and director of The Logan Series, said. “They have the ability to transport their listeners seamlessly between worlds of Piazzolla tangos, modern jazz, and Argentinean gypsy music. They are a perfect fit for our series, because it celebrates the diversity within chamber music.”
Music at Noon, an innovative program to introduce classical music in an informal atmosphere rather than in an intimidating concert hall, was founded at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, in 1989 by Warren philanthropist and arts advocate Kay Logan. Its unique music outreach efforts were honored in New York City last spring with an Adventurous Programming Award given by Chamber Music America and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.
The Logan Series also has been honored for its curatorial approach to programming. Each year a theme is chosen for musical exploration and then balanced with artists more traditionally associated with chamber music. Highlighted in the 2006-07 season will be Latin music.
The series receives major support from the Kay Logan Trust and additional funding from the Erie Arts Endowment of the Arts Council of Erie, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Penn State Behrend Student Activity Fee, Pennsylvania Partners on the Arts, Wal-Mart, JazzErie, and Romolo Chocolates.
For more information about The Logan Series, visit the season Web site at www.pserie.psu.edu/musicatnoon or phone the Penn State Behrend School of Humanities and Social Sciences at 814-898-6108.