Concert showcases ‘musical tongues’

As the lights dimmed and voices began to soar Sunday night in Auer Hall, dancers clad in red, yellow and blue silk suddenly ascended from the crowd onto the stage, rushing together in the middle to express, through dance, the words to the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”\nThus began the 13th annual Extensions of the Tradition concert, co-sponsored by the African American Arts Institute and the Archives of African American Music and Culture. \nThis year’s theme was “The Enjoyment of Composition: from Stage to Audience.”\nEvent producer Marian Harrison, a fourth-year doctoral student and a featured composer of the event, quoted civil-rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois as Harrison introduced the event and its theme.\nShe said “Extensions of the Tradition” refers to the several different “musical tongues” in which African-American composers speak, which Du Bois said exist “in a double consciousness” of European and African artistic traditions.\nThe event featured the works of four composers, including Harrison; David Baker, a distinguished professor of music in the Jacobs School of Music; William C. Banfield, professor of Africana studies and music and director of black music programming at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.; and Tyron Cooper, a second-year doctoral student with the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. \nThe music that was played varied from emotional pieces on piano and strings to big-band sounds. \n“I thought it was very well-done and it stretched the imagination,” said William Wiggins Jr., professor emeritus of African American Studies and Folklore. \nJohn Pruitt, who attended the concert in support of his friend Harrison, said he liked Tyron Cooper’s compositions and the music of Banfield and Cooper with harp accompaniment. \n“I loved the intricacies of the harp, where it went from more classical to gospel,” he said. \nThis was Harrison’s second year producing the concert. She said the fact that black composers get so little notice outside of Black History Month upsets her.\n“The thing that angers me the most about being a black composer is, how are we supposed to live if we only play during the month of February?” she said. “We need to play and live March through January as well, and that’s definitely something that needs to be addressed, and not just in the month of February.” \nThe theme of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was expressed in several ways through the evening.\nAt the beginning of the event, Harrison unveiled a painting by her aunt, Wilhelmina Fowlkes, based on the song. The painting featured three women dressed in red, blue and yellow representing passion, hope and struggle.\nFowlkes said her niece contacted her and asked her to create a painting based on the song, and she just listened to the words and used the emotions the words stirred in her to paint the three women.\nJunior Jennifer French was one of the dancers. She said she liked the way everything came together.\n“I thought it was really interesting how the dance connected to the painting, which connected to the song,” she said. \nFor more information and events featuring African-American arts, visit www.indiana.edu/~aaai/AI06.htm.