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An Apprenticeship in the Armenian Duduk

As an internationally lauded artist (receiving the WOMEX lifetime achievement award in 2002, multiple accolades from UNESCO, and a Grammy nomination this year alongside collaborator Hossein Alizadeh for the album Endless Vision), master duduk musician Djivan Gasparyan is often credited for being one of the most important exponents of duduk in the world during the 20th century and today, with over one hundred active, accomplished students throughout the world, cultivated since he served as a professor for 25 years while at the Yerevan Conservatory in Armenia.  Celebrated in 1973 by the Armenian government as People’s Artist of Armenia while developing intercultural and crossover collaborations with composers and musicians including Alizadeh, Erkan Oğur, Kronos Quartet, Peter Gabriel, Lian Ensemble, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Brook, and Sting, Gasparyan has “devoted my life to the perfection of the instrument.  Duduk is my soul, my child, and my best friend.  Duduk and I are like fish and water.”

As a current master artist in the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program, he shares this impassioned devotion a little closer to home with apprentice and 25-year old grandson Jivan Gasparyan Jr. – referred to as “Little Jivan,” respective to “Big Djivan” – at home in Los Angeles County’s Sherman Oaks.  Having taught his grandson from the age of 10, with more concentrated studies in recent years, Djivan is “confident that [Jivan] will keep this tradition alive.”

During their apprenticeship, the two have focused on Jivan’s mastery of technical “secrets” of the duduk, including breathing techniques, fingering techniques, performance ability and circular breathing.  Jivan articulates that “it is my dream to become a master musician in duduk in general and in Armenian music in particular.”  Learning up to ten to fifteen songs and key melodies from traditional Armenian folk song repertoire during the apprenticeship involves not only memorizing them, but also how to “learn the songs by yourself,” by applying phrasing and musical principles which determine melodic structures and ornamentations.  As an advanced student who was raised in both Yerevan, Armenia, and California, under the watchful tutelage of his grandfather, Jivan’s apprenticeship focuses on some of the most difficult phrases embedded within each song learned, phrases Djivan himself has learned, refined, and interpreted over the course of over 70 years of playing the instrument.

Djivan’s active performing schedule has yielded opportunities to share the stage with his grandson playing by his side, and most recently, they played together at major concerts at Los Angeles’ Kodak Theater and Hollywood Bowl before thousands, showcasing material which was learned during the apprenticeship.  Recognizing that his septuagenarian grandfather is considered a “living legend of this instrument,” Jivan reflects that “for anything to become good, time is necessary,” spending time outside of their frequent lessons carefully studying nuances in his grandfather’s extensive recordings, and hoping to play alongside his grandfather again in years to come.

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An Apprenticeship in Chinese Kunqu Opera

Master artist Sabrina Hou and apprentice Janice Ng, from Pacifica and Piedmont respectively, are current participants in the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program, studying Kunqu opera, the oldest form of Chinese folk opera with a history of 600 years and characterized by its lyricism, “where every physical movement from beginning to end is in the mode of dance.”  Kunqu was given UNESCO’s Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity status in 2001, being one of the two official forms of drama within the imperial court and maintaining a position as the most popular national style of drama for more than 200 years in ancient China, described as possessing “a perfect combination of poetry, dance, music and drama.”

Hou comes from a lineage of four generations of Kunqu opera tradition bearers.  With only five Kunqu opera companies remaining in China, Hou has taken a leadership role in sustaining the tradition from her base in California, feeling that Kunqu “has shaped my life in so many profound ways.”  A graduate of the Beijing Opera Conservatory studying with master Kunqu performers including Shen Shi Hua and Cai Yao Xian, Hou became lead actress in the Beijing Northern Kunqu Opera Theater before arriving to the United States ten years ago.

Meeting regularly in a dance studio in San Francisco, Hou and Ng spent their apprenticeship focusing on developing a 45-minute piece from the popular Kunqu opera, Peony Pavilion, written by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) during the Ming Dynasty, a classic which was the main vehicle for the revival of the Kunqu.  Hou and Ng’s work together was performed this spring in San Francisco’s ODC Theater as part of the premiere home season by Peony Performing Arts, Hou’s organization dedicated to promoting Chinese classical drama and dance to a global audience.  Hou coached and trained Ng for the role of Chun Xiang, handmaiden to character Du Liniang.

In addition, the apprenticeship also focused on a key role for Ng – to dance the Tang Dynasty character of Concubine Yang – in a well-known scene in which Lady Yang sings and dances, intoxicated and with fan in hand,  to a song based on Li Bai’s poem Tunes of Lucidity and Serenity.

While the choreography for these roles is traditional, Ng had to learn movements, singing and facial expressions specific to Kunqu opera form which differed from her decade-long training in Cantonese opera.  Though she had worked with Hou for the past four years, after having met Hou at the venerable San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, the apprenticeship this year allowed Ng to step into new, prominent roles in the Kunqu form, and further deepen her understanding of Kunqu’s history and cultural context.

In working with Ng, Hou stressed the importance of imparting the traditionality of Kunqu, while also observing Ng as an individual performer, making adjustments and adaptations in movement phrases which were suitable to Ng’s performance presence and movement style.  “Sometimes,” Ng reflects, “traditional arts can be perceived as rigid in our community, but Sabrina gives us all a fresh, creative and rooted experience.  She is so encouraging!”

Hou assesses Ng’s progress and dedication: “She has learned quickly and will benefit from one-on-one intensive study with me... [the apprenticeship] will bring her to a whole other level.”

“My father, grandfather and great-grandfather were celebrated performers,” Hou says, acknowledging her role and duty in a line of master artists. “[I] am responsible with my sister, [Xiaomu Hou], to carry on the family legacy,” she concludes, reflecting on her leadership in Peony Performing Arts as well as keeping the Kunqu form alive with dedicated students such as Ng. 

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An Apprenticeship in the Pilipino Kulingtang

Master kulintang artist and ethnomusicologist Danongan Kalanduyan is regarded as a key figure and major influence in the promotion of indigenous Pilipino culture throughout the United States and in the Philippines.  Coming from a family of accomplished kulintang musicians, Kalanduyan has “become a symbol of Pilipino American identity and pride in the United States” and was the 2007 recipient of World Arts West’s Malonga Casquelourd Lifetime Achievement Award, recognized for his “extraordinary achievements in the arts.”

This year, Kalanduyan worked with apprentice Conrad Benedicto of San Francisco as part of the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program, focusing on advanced lessons in kulintang music, and practicing complex rhythms on the kulintang ensemble’s five instruments with an emphasis on competitive agung and gandingan playing.  (A kulintang ensemble consists of five instruments: the kulintang, eight small bronze gongs which provide the melody; the dabakan, a drum made from lizard or goat skin; agung, two large hanging gongs that provide bass rhythms; gandingan, “talking” gongs; and the babandil, a gong used for time keeping.)  Lessons were held at Kalanduyan’s residence in South San Francisco or at San Francisco State University, where Kalanduyan’s Palabuniyan Kulintang Ensemble rehearses under his direction, and of which Benedicto is a member.

Kulintang ensemble music, once practiced throughout the Philippines, is an ancient pre-colonial indigenous art form practiced in the cultures of the southern region of Mindanao, where Kalanduyan was raised.  Played during weddings and community celebrations in Mindanao communities, kulintang plays an important role in articulating and representing Pilipino/a cultural identity in the United States.  Kalanduyan comments that “so many Pilipinos both young and old who have lived in this country for a long time, and feel the need to reclaim a cultural heritage they have lost or their parents failed to instill in them, see kulintang music as an authentic way to reconnect with who they are as Pilipinos.”

Benedicto’s own experiences echo these thoughts.  “It is a major part of my life now and it was a big missing piece before I began learning it.  Through kultintang I am able to feel a connection with my homeland and my culture.”

In addition to the lessons, the history and social relevance of kulintang music, in addition to “an entire cosmology of stories, beliefs, practices and traditions from healing to courtship to humor” were shared during their apprenticeship.  Benedicto expressed that the concentrated, one-on-one apprenticeship allowed him to understand more deeply this cosmology and context to the kulintang which often proves to be difficult to relay in detail during ensemble rehearsals. During the apprenticeship, Kalanduyan also challenged Benedicto to “develop his own variations to the music, which are in keeping with the authentic tradition.”

Benedicto, who has studied with Kalanduyan for ten years, articulates that his serious practice in kulintang as a musician and a teacher in his own right has encouraged “decolonizing my mind and spirit and reclaiming my heritage.”  Benedicto himself teaches kulintang to students at San Francisco’s Balboa High School, and serves as an important member of the Palabuniyan Kulintang Ensemble.  He hopes to “pass on the knowledge and skills learned in this apprenticeship” to colleagues and emerging generations alike.

Kalanduyan, who has been teaching for over thirty years, and has been responsible for the establishment of several kulintang groups in the Unites States during that time, considers his role as a master kulintang artist and teacher as “the source of my livelihood and happiness.  It is also the source of my purpose in life.”

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An Apprenticeship in the Persian Tar

Master artist Sahba Motallebi began playing the tar from age 12, and was soon admitted to the National Iranian Music Conservatory when she was 14, mastering her ability to play tar and setar under the direction of Fariborz Azizi, and later refined her performance and composition capabilities with musician and composer Hossein Alizadeh and music theoretician Dr. Mehran Rouhani.  Trained in composition at Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, and comparative studies at RGS University in Turkey, Motallebi is a graduate of the Tehran Conservatory.  For four consecutive years, she received the award for best tar player at the Iranian Music Festival from 1995 to 1998 and joined the Iranian National Orchestra in 2000. In addition to her extensive live performance schedule, she has also recorded several CDs and composed numerous theatrical pieces.

As a current master artist in the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program, Motallebi worked with tar apprentice Mehrdad Jahangiri of Los Angeles, who himself practiced setar under the supervision of master Massoud Shaari in Tehran, and upon arrival to the United States, Jahangiri re-initiated his studies through colleagues and online resources until he connected two years ago with Motallebi, who also lives in Los Angeles and is well-regarded as a tar and setar teacher and virtuoso.  “This is a blessing, the opportunity for me to resume my practice under the supervision of my teacher,” Jahangiri expressed.

The tar, a plucked six-stringed instrument with a waisted, double bellied body made from mulberry wood with a thin membrane of lambskin stretched over it, is considered one of the central instruments in Persian classical music.  With eighteen frets per octave, unequally spaced, the tar enables performance of all modes within the Radif (Persian modal system) which consists of 12 Dastgahs (melody types).  Motallebi and Jahangiri’s apprenticeship focused on concentrating on reading complex musical notations, advanced techniques with the mezrab (metallic plectrum), and concentration on the Radif in order to deepen and expand Jahangiri’s knowledge and song repertoire.  Additionally the apprenticeship developed improvisational skills in playing.  Motallebi considers Jahangiri “an advanced student with high potential … he is so interested and committed to pursue learning Persian music.”

Jahangiri himself notes that he was “touched by traditional Persian music since early childhood and I am committed to improve the quality of this experience within myself, and also do whatever it takes to gain the skills required to be able to share my own interpretation of such a unique experience with others.”

“This form of music,” Motallebi muses, “is the best way for me to communicate with people and the outside world… Persian music is truly inseparable from my life.”

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An Apprenticeship in Laotian Weaving

Master artist Leanne Mounvongkham comes from a weaving family, and started to learn weaving from her aunt and grandmother in the village of Ban Ghang in Laos soon after she was orphaned at the age of ten due to the Laotian civil war.  As an adult, she sold her skirts and shawls in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.  As a current master artist in the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program, Mounvongkam worked with her daughter Kami Thepphavong to focus on Northern Lao weaving techniques on their backyard loom in Fresno, built by Mounvongkham’s husband and his father.

Traditional Laotian weaving plays an important role in Laotian communities due to their use as skirts, shawls, and shirts worn during special occasions like weddings, funerals, sacred holidays, and temple visits.  Painstaking symbolic designs are produced by taking select threads up and over the warp threads throughout the course of weaving, resulting in ornate, geometric patterns embedded in the cloth.  Mounvongkham is one of few Laotian women who continued to weave after arriving to the United States, and is recognized for her skill in “embroidering” designs into the warp during the weaving process.

Thepphavong studied weaving in Fresno as a child for several years, and through the apprenticeship she resumed her studies with her mother after a ten year hiatus.  The apprenticeship focused on skills including selecting appropriate silk threads, learning how to set up the intricate weaving apparatus independently, and learning to weave more complex designs, all with the goals of yielding a shawl and a skirt bottom, the latter of which traditionally bears the most elaborate designs on a traditional Laotian skirt.

In an era and region where Laotian weaving knowledge and skill are as increasingly rare as a functional loom, Mounvongkham and Thepphavong recognize the importance of taking the time to learn and practice weaving skills together.

Thepphavong has future goals of being able to teach weaving skills to the Laotian and Laotian-American youth whom she works with at the Lao American Advancement Center in Fresno.  She considers the weaving which she learns from her mother as “unique to my heritage and it defines who I am and where I come from.  It also makes me proud to be able to acquire an art form that is dear to my mother.”

“As a Laotian woman growing up in a rural area of Laos, I did not have the opportunity to go to school,” Mounvongkham elaborated, “Weaving was a way of life for most women including myself.  Weaving gave me the means to earn a living to help provide for my family.  Also, weaving was a way in which Laotian women can show their self-worth and the pride in their cultural traditions.

“I chose my daughter as an apprentice because I want to pass on this valuable skill that has played a major role in my life to her.”

Read more about Leanne Mounvongkham on the Alliance’s website.

The previous articles reflect recent site visits to current participants in the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program.  Text and photos by Sherwood Chen, Associate Director and Apprenticeship Program Manager for the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.

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Berkeley Old Time Music Convention 2007 – A Living Embodiment of the Evolution of Old-Time Music

Suzy Thompson, Director, Berkeley Old Time Music Convention

Editor’s Note: The Berkeley Old Time Music Convention represents how a destination festival of this nature, which is far away from Appalachia, can assist in keeping alive the music, dance, and storytelling forms from the region.  The Convention hosted three generations of traditional artists over a full four-day period.  They interacted with attendees through performances, panel discussions, workshop instruction, and social dances.  The events were mutually beneficial because the artists feel validated beyond their own communities, and the aficionados and serious participants leave the festival with a richer and fuller understanding of how traditional arts are transmitted  This year’s Convention was supported in part by the Alliance’s Living Cultures Grants Program.

“My heart is always lifted by the reciprocation of joy and sense of well being as I participate in music festivals around the country.  People seem to be very interested in and appreciative of my music, my attention, and the special times we share playing tunes together.  And of course, I love to seek out new opportunities for getting acquainted with new communities.”  These words were written by North Carolina fiddler Rich Hartness, a featured tradition-bearer at this year’s Berkeley Old Time Music Convention.

In September 2007, the Bay Area’s extended old-time music community gathered together to rejoice in their shared heritage and to play tunes and songs, dance together, perform, learn, and teach. The Berkeley Old Time Music Convention (BOTMC) focuses on the traditional music and dance that originated in the American South before World War II, which has spread as southerners have migrated to different parts of the U.S.  Old-time music includes fiddle and banjo tunes, unaccompanied ballads, sacred songs, jug bands, square dancing, and much more.  Mainly non-commercial and social in nature, it is mostly heard on the front porch, at a fiddle contest, or a community dance.  Stories and dances become intertwined with the songs and tunes, and there is no real distinction between “artists” and “audiences.”

At the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention, guest musicians, local community members, and visitors from throughout the U.S. enjoy square dancing on Saturday night, join ad hoc bands for the contest, participate in spontaneous song swap, and stay up very late at night playing tunes!  It’s a celebration by the local community, a reunion of far-flung friends across generations who seldom are able to get together, and a place where new connections are forged.

This year, funding from the Alliance’s Living Cultures Grants Program made it possible for the BOTMC to host three generations of southern traditional musicians: a living embodiment of the evolution of old-time music.

Eighty six year-old Alabama fiddler Lee Stripling (now living in Seattle) epitomizes the “father-to-son” oral tradition.  His father and uncle, Charlie and Ira Stripling, were a well-known fiddle and guitar duo in the early twentieth century; they performed all over their region and made over fifty 78s, which were extremely popular throughout the south.  At the tender age of 8, Lee started backing up his dad at square dances and fiddle contests.  Lee said, “I still play and love some of my dad’s tunes, although I drifted off a little into Western Swing.”  He then illustrated the differences in these styles by playing one of his dad’s tunes as his dad played it, then playing the same tune in his swing style, which was the hot new music when Lee was a teenager.  Lee respects and preserves tradition, but doesn’t hesitate to also integrate it into the music of his own generation.

Rich Hartness, in his fifties, is a blind fiddler originally from South Carolina who makes his home in Asheville, North Carolina.  Rich works as an internet technology professional (so much for the romanticized “poor blind fiddler” so popular in early Appalachian lore).  Like Lee, Rich grew up hearing the popular music of the day, except that for Rich it was the Beatles instead of old-time square dance tunes.  In his teens, Rich became aware of the traditional music of his home region and began to visit and learn from older musicians in his community.  He stressed the generosity of the older-generation musicians that befriended him, and talked about the role that technology (in the form of the Victrola) played in the musical lives of these mentors, much as internet technology does for today’s generation of old-time musicians.  Rich is now a well-loved figure at fiddle conventions throughout the U.S., just as his first mentors, such as Tommy Jarrell, once were.

Ballad keeper Donna Ray Norton, in her mid-twenties, sings traditional songs that have been passed down in her family for eight generations.  Donna’s way of sharing her heritage is informal and down-home; for her, the stories that go along with the songs are an integral part of the songs themselves, and she presents them as if she was on her own front porch in western North Carolina.  As a small child, Donna heard family members singing the old songs, but by the time she became interested in singing them herself as a high school senior, the older generation was gone – so she has learned some of her own family’s repertoire from recordings, as well as from her mother and aunts.  Donna is now passing along this repertoire to her four year-old daughter Arionna, who traveled with her to Berkeley and knows all the words to most of the old songs.

This year, the BOTMC held a panel discussion at U.C. Berkeley.  Lee, Rich, and Donna talked about how they became interested in old-time music, how they learned it, and how it fits into their lives.  This was followed by two nights of concerts at the Freight & Salvage, an intimate venue that holds about 250 listeners.  Afterwards, spontaneous parties took place in the homes of some of the local participants; some intrepid musicians were still playing tunes when the sun came up the next morning.

The String Band Contest in Civic Center Park, on Saturday, is the centerpiece of the Convention.  Traditionally, at similar events in the south, many of the bands are formed just for the day.  This year, all three of the winning bands were ad hoc groups.  One consisted of local musicians (all of whom play in regular bands, but not the same one); another was a family band from Santa Cruz who combined forces with former neighbors who were visiting from their home in New Mexico; and the third was an especially far-flung band: the members came from North Carolina, Alabama, and Japan!

Saturday night’s square dance started with a family dance; as the evening progressed, parents took their tired kids home to bed and the dance floor continued to fill.  Three bands took turns providing music; three callers took turns teaching and calling the dances.  As the room heated up (literally!) the sidewalk filled with dancers cooling off before plunging back into the dance hall.

Sunday morning provided an opportunity for a more structured session with a master fiddler, banjo player, or singer.  Donna Ray Norton had 20 people singing a ballad that came from her grandmother; Rich Hartness and Brad Leftwich de-mystified some of their complex bowing techniques; Tom Sauber explained the fine points of old-time banjo frailing.  Meanwhile, a slow jam session gave less seasoned players the chance to experience the joys of communal tune-playing.

Afterwards, everyone walked around the corner to the “Old Time Cabaret.”  Performers signed up for short slots the day before, and the lineup included the visiting masters as well as local musicians, both the cream of the crop and some for whom it may have been  their debut as performers.  Lee Stripling played a favorite old-time swing tune with some of the BOTMC organizers.  Holly Tannen got everyone laughing at her old-time satirical songs, accompanied by Appalachian dulcimer.  The crowd became hushed as Donna Ray Norton sang a powerful “Black is the Color.”

In previous generations, in order to attend a fiddle convention, old-time musicians would make the trip from New York City to Galax, Virginia; today, musicians make their way from Asheville, North Carolina, to Berkeley, California for the Berkeley Old Time Convention.  As the U.S. becomes increasingly urbanized, it makes sense to have an old-time convention in the place where hundreds of old-time musicians now make their homes.  The BOTMC is proud to play a role in the strengthening of the old-time music community, as we honor our past and nurture our future.

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