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Campus alive with lyrical sounds from around the world

The ensemble Sakura Minyo Doo Koo Kai will open the Fall 2006 World Music Festival with a performance featuring music, dance and drama.

Musicians from around the world will bring their distinct sounds to Sacramento State this fall in the World Music Festival. All performances will be held in the Music Recital Hall in Capistrano Hall.

The season opens with Japanese music, dance and drama on Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. featuring the ensemble Sakura Minyo Doo Koo Kai. The performance will feature a dance from feudal times following a story about a Satsuma princess who marries a lord from the rival Tosa clan, as well as a 20th century dance about Japanese American men who came out of internment camps after World War II.

Also performing that evening is the Davis Wakamatsu Taiko Dan, demonstrating traditional and contemporary styles of Taiko drumming. Sacramento’s Crane Culture Theatre will present “Sakako and the 1000 Cranes,” a theater production combining masks and live music to tell the story of a girl in postwar Japan and her battle with leukemia. Admission is $10 general, $5 students/seniors.

The festival continues with North Indian classical vocalist Shruti Sadolikar performing on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. She will be singing all forms of classical and semi-classical North Indian music including thumri, tappa and natya sangeet. Tickets are $15 general, $8 students/seniors.

On Sunday, Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. the South Indian classical ensemble Vadhya Vrindha will give an instrumental performance featuring violin, veena (a plucked string instrument), flute, mridangam and tabla (percussion instruments). Tickets are $15 general, $8 students/seniors.

North Indian classical guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya, considered the greatest slide guitarist in India, will give a performance on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. Awarded the President of India award at age 21 for his remarkable music ability, Bhattacharya has elevated the Hindustani slide guitar to its highest level. Having undergone decades of disciplined study of Indian vocal technique combined with his instrumental work, Bhattacharya can sing perfectly in parallel with every melody he plays. Admission is $15 general, $8 students/seniors.

Chirgilchin, a group of throat singers from Tuva, will make their second appearance in Sacramento on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. The group is considered the pre-eminent ensemble in the world for throat singing, a vocal form in which one singer produces two or more voices in harmony at the same time. The art form originated in Central Asia, and is practiced principally in Tuva, a country located in the southernmost part of Siberia. Tickets are $15 general, $8 students/seniors.

The World Music Festival concludes with the Danish folk music performance of Instinkt on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 8 p.m. Though their music is inspired mainly by the sounds of Nordic folk, the group incorporates the unusual instrumentation combination of strings, hurdy-gurdy (a mechanical violin), jews-harp, flutes, djembe (a hand drum shaped like a large goblet), bass and drums. Their unique sound has been referred to as “Nordic folkbeat.” Admission is $15 general, $8 students/seniors.

A complete schedule of events is available at www.calendar.csus.edu. Tickets are available from the Sacramento State Ticket Office at 278-4323 or at Tickets.com. For more information, contact the Sacramento State Music Department at 278-5155. For media assistance, contact the Sacramento State Public Affairs office at 278-6156.