The Furman University Percussion Ensemble
Fall Concert
6pm, Sunday, November 19th, 2023
Daniel Recital Hall
Haunt of Last Nightfall
(a ghost play in two acts) (2010)
David T. Little
Act Two:
VI. ....and there was morning - the Second Day.
VII. Smoldering Hymn
VIII. Prayer (for No. 59)
IX. Postlude: The Girl on La Cruz
Notes
I think a lot about ghosts. Not so much in the literal sense of sheet-wearing specters, but rather, of things ghostly in function. That is, things that remain behind as the fleeting evidence of what once was. For some reason—perhaps for the same reason as the monk of old’s memento mori—I have always felt the need to surround myself with these kinds of ghosts.
The studio where I compose, for example, is full of mementos: objects from past projects, trinkets from past travel, and most notably, old photographs. I have collected these antique photos for about ten years, not for the photographic quality—I know little about photographic history—but for the mysterious stories they may tell of the people whose images they hold. They are, in a sense, my ghosts.
They lived full lives once upon a time, these people. They had husbands, wives, children, joy and pain. They were no different, really, than you or me. And yet here they are, preserved in a single moment—perhaps the only evidence of their existence—itself gradually fading. I have no idea who any of them are, specifically, but it doesn’t seem to matter. In a certain sense, they each are all of us.
Although this peculiar passion of mine is at the core of this composition, it’s not really what the piece is about. Rather, the “ghost” here is an atrocity that happened long ago, the memory of which I just can’t seem to shake. Specifically, it is the massacre at El Mozote, El Salvador, December 10th through 12th 1981, in which an entire village was erased by US Military-trained Salvadoran government forces, with American-made and provided arms.
Now, I have no interest in getting on a soapbox about El Mozote, or related issues; that is, in fact, the last thing that I want. It’s just that since reading about the massacre—first in Bob Ostertag’s Creative Life, and later in Mark Danner’s The Truth About El Mozote—I have been plagued by two questions: First, how did I never know that this had happened? (The answer to this is fascinating and upsetting.) And second, why am I completely unable to get it out of my mind; to move on? It haunts me. It has been, for the last 15 months, my ghost.
I cannot forget the story of the young boy—now known only as “No. 59,”—who was lucky enough to have a toy, though it could not protect him from the bayonet. I cannot forget the separation of families that happened on the morning of the second day—men to the right, women and children to the left—reminiscent of another atrocity, forty years earlier. I cannot forget the girl on La Cruz, a local hill, who is said to have sung a hymn as soldiers repeatedly raped her. Legend holds that even after they murdered her, her body kept singing, stopping only when they cut off her head. I cannot forget that this village, innocent by virtually every account, was slaughtered, caught in the crossfire of a stupid ideological battle.
I would never say something so boldly reductive as “their blood is on our hands.” We all know that scenarios like these are neither that simple, nor all that unique. But I know that I have been unable to shake this ghost, and consequently felt that I had no choice but to write this piece.
What we know shapes us, and whether I like it or not, I now know this.
- David T. Little October 9, 2010
Shimmer - shine with a soft tremulous light* (2022)
Kevin Shah
Love Story* (2022)
Frances Pollock
Written to commemorate the marriage of my brother McKinley Pollock to the love of his life, Courtney Cash
I. Her
II. Hymn
III. Us (Quodlibet)
ElectNago* (2022)
Val Jeanty
About the Piece
This performance of ElectNago is the result of a unique commissioning and collaborative process with composer Val Jeanty and the Furman University Percussion Ensemble. In staying true to her unique performance style utilizing turntables, samples, and loops, Jeanty gave the ensemble an audio realization of the work which incorporated real-time improvisation along with samples of Haitian drumming and audio excerpts from an interview with Professor Kofi Asare Opoku, retired Professor of Religious Studies at Lafayette College and retired Associate Professor of Religion and Ethics at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon (excerpted text provided below).
The ensemble then set out transcribing the Haitian drumming sample - and all of Jeanty’s subsequent manipulations of it - for a small collection of acoustic instruments. Subsequently, they then mapped each phrase of Prof. Opoku's excerpted interview to a MIDI controller while also learning, sampling, and re-mapping Jeanty’s improvisations onto a drum equipped with a Sunhouse Sensory Percussion sensor. The result is a blend of acoustic and electronic media that realizes Jeanty’s original creation while also allowing the ensemble to interact with its materials and spirit through familiar methods and instruments.
Sampled Text (full interview available here):
"…and what’s the lesson from that? Well, when something happens to somebody, something happens to one of us, all of us go to the help or to the assistance of that person who is suffering…."
"…just looking around us - birds, nature - we learn a lot of lessons which we can apply to to our lives. Now, all this wisdom, tremendous wisdom, has come from our ancestors; and I have said over and over again that there's nothing anybody anywhere has said or thought which my ancestors - our ancestors - have not thought about."
"…and as I study the wisdom of our forebears and I travel through the villages and I talk to people, I am overwhelmed. I stand in awe of my forebears who came up with all of this...this wisdom that is needed so badly by the world."
"…it will empower us because then we know that we too have contributed something."
"From these forests around us we got a lot of medicines."
"…by studying our culture, going deep into the past…"
"…it is our responsibility to search. It’s there! It’s there to be discovered by us."
"…when they [Europeans] see what is good about our past in the histories, they cover it up or they pass by, but we are the ones to whom this heritage belongs. And so I have suggested that Africans in the diaspora and Africans on the continent should begin to cooperate in this common search for our origins; the contributions, the achievements of the past. I've always likened this to to the sun shining behind you, and when the sun is behind you your body casts a shadow in front of you, you see, and I think that if we delve into our past - which becomes like the sun behind us - we will cast a shadow way into the future. And I'm glad that there's this awakening…"
Shiva Brahma* (2013/2022)
John Psathas and Jack Hooker crop.jpg)
arr. by Omar Carmenates and Jack Hooker
Notes
Shiva Brahma is a combination of two works - Shiva Sleeps and Waking Brahma - that bookend the theatrical stage show Between Zero and One performed by Strike Percussion in 2015. Originally written for six percussionists performing to a backing track and video projections, this new version features the six original percussion parts along with six new parts derived from the original backing track. These bespoke parts utilize MIDI controllers and Sunhouse Sensory Percussion sensors mapped with samples from the composers' original Logic Pro X sessions to allow the work to be performed completely live without loops, click tracks, or backing tracks.
*Indicates World Premiere Performance of Work Commissioned by the Furman University Percussion Ensemble
The Furman University Percussion Ensemble would like to thank the following for their musical, financial, and logistical support:
- Randall Umstead, Gordon and Sarah Herring Chair, Department of Music
- Emily Sweezey, Director of Operations, Department of Music
- The Furman Undergraduate Research Office, Erik Ching, director
- The Furman Center for Engaged Learning, Cassie Klatka, coordinator
- The Furman Student Government Association
- Sue Samuels, Director of Bands
- Brian Stockard, Artist Relations Manager, Avedis Zildjian Co.
- John Harris, Professor of Mathematics and Truck Driver Extraordinaire
- The Greenville Fine Arts Center Percussion Studio, Wesley Strasser, director
- John Beckford, Retired Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Percussion
- Professors Stacy Christofakis, Benjamin Dobbs, Buddy Deshler, and Megan Lyons, for taking the time to attend our dress rehearsals and offer much needed musical support.
- All of our colleagues, family, friends, and alumni who have offered their advice, encouragement, and wisdom in preparation for this concert.