TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s New College and Creative Campus present the third season of its Sonic Frontiers concert series this fall.
The events feature musicians who explore the outer boundaries of folk and rock, incorporate cutting-edge digital technology into live performance and transform everyday materials into expressive instruments.
The fall events of the 2013-14 season begin Tuesday, Sept. 24, with Them Natives and continue on Wednesday, Oct. 30, with “Uncanny Valley” and Wednesday, Nov. 20, with Dr. Judy Dunaway. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public.
The kickoff event – Them Natives – will be 8 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Green Bar, 2350 Fourth St. in Tuscaloosa. The concert is for audience members 19 and older. The joyfully unpredictable music from this Birmingham-based band veers from freak folk banjo with harmonized vocals to neo-psychedelic rock and “walls of sound” that would make Phil Spector blush.
This concert also will be a live video shoot for Tuscaloosa’s music TV show, “Tuscaloosa Monorail.” Them Natives has been active in central Alabama and touring nationally since 2006. Originating with the trio of Jasper Lee, Milton Ragsdale and Turner Williams Jr., the group evolved over time to encompass a variety of revolving players who now include Leah Hamby, Amber Locke and Carter Glascock. While rooted in the folk history and mythology of the Deep South, the band’s music is informed by a desire to communicate with distant cultures, both in space and time. Them Natives explores their geographical landscape and genetic inheritance through a mixture of ritual, improvisation, songwriting and visual presentation.
At 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30, Sonic Frontiers will present “Uncanny Valley” in the Moody Music Building Recital Hall. This event is co-presented with the UA English department’s Bankhead Visiting Writers Series. “Uncanny Valley” features a performance of poet Jon Woodward’s serial poem with music by composer John Gibson. Gibson provides a sonic environment for Woodward’s poetry, performed by pianist Oni Buchanan.
At 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20, Sonic Frontiers will present Dr. Judy Dunaway in UA School of Music’s Moody Recital Hall. Boston-based composer and performer Dunaway’s chosen instrument is the balloon. Dunaway will present a concert of the balloon music she has been developing for more than two decades that will stretch both ears and rubber. The concert will include an audience interactive performance of her “Balloon Symphony No. 2.”
In spring 2014, Sonic Frontiers will present Birmingham artist and songwriter Lonnie Holley at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 7, in the Paul R. Jones Gallery in downtown Tuscaloosa.
The Sonic Frontiers series began in spring 2012, building on a number of experimental music events organized in the area since 2008 by series founder and artistic director Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, a composer-musician and assistant professor in UA’s New College and the School of Music.
The events are sponsored by UA’s New College, The College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music and Creative Campus. For more information, phone 205/348-9928 or visit http://www.sonicfrontiers.ua.edu.
Contact
Richard LeComte, media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu, 205/348-3782
Source
Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, adewar@ua.edu, 205/348.9928