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World music artists on stage in spring

Master puppeteer Sigit Adji Sabdo Soegito

Sacramento State’s Department of Music will bring six world renowned artists to this spring’s World Music Festival. All performances will take place in the Music Recital Hall in Capistrano Hall.

The female throat singing ensemble Tyva Kyzy (translated as “Daughters of Tuva”) will perform on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. Throat singing is a vocal form in which one performer produces two or more voices singing in harmony at the same time. The ensemble is the only female Tuvan professional group specializing in throat singing—a special distinction, as Tuva is the principle location in the world where throat singing is performed.

Master puppeteer Sigit Adji Sabdo Soegito and Gamelan Sari Raras will give a Javanese shadow puppet theater performance on Saturday, February 24 at 8 p.m. The stars of the show will be Wayang kulit puppets, which are prevalent in Java and Bali and are constructed of leather and supported with buffalo horn handles and control rods. Soegito, a graduate of STSI Surakarta—the foremost Indonesian conservatory of music and dance—has won top prizes in major Indonesian wayang competitions.

Pre-eminent Indian classical artists Ravikrian (hailed as the “Mozart of Indian music” after making headlines as the world’s youngest prodigy at the age of two) and Tarun Bhattacharya will perform on Sunday, March 11 at 6 p.m. Ravikrian will represent the south Indian Karnatic music tradition while playing the chitraveena (a slide instrument that is a cross between the north Indian sitar and the Hawaiian steel guitar), while Bhattacharya will represent the north Indian Hindustani tradition on the santur (a string instrument).

Stephen Kent will be joined by Moroccan musicians Yassir Chadly and Bouchaib Abdelhadi on Sunday, March 18 at 6 p.m., playing traditional Moroccan instruments including the oud, guimbri, karkabas, darbuka and fretless banjo. Kent is considered a pioneer in bringing the ancient Aboriginal sound on the didjeridu into a contemporary context.

Indian vocalist Sanjeev Abhyankar will perform on Saturday, April 28 at 8 p.m. Abhyankar is internationally acclaimed in the field of Hindustani classical music and has given concerts all over the world since his first stage performance at age 11.

The final concert in the series features Veenai Jayanthi Kumaresh playing the veena on Sunday, May 6 at 6 p.m. The veena is a south Asian instrument with seven strings that has a long, fretted fingerboard with resonating gourds at both ends. Kumaresh has earned the distinction of being the youngest veena artist to receive “A TOP” grading from All India Radio, as well as the “Best Veenai Artist” by the Music Academy in Chennai.

For more information, contact the Department of Music at 278-5155 or visit www.csus.edu/music/.