Northern Harmony Vermont World Music Choir
Meadowbrook Park Activity Building, 7901 Meadowbrook Lane (aka ?Candyland?), Chevy Chase, MD
Concert: 7:30 pm
Free to members, but reservations are recommended! Members may reserve seats until Saturday, March 9 at glen.echo@erols.com or 301.717.4641. Reservations will not be taken day of concert.
Non-members $20 at the door
Workshop: 2:30 ? 5:30 pm $15
There will be a potluck supper after the workshop
Concert + workshop for nonmembers $25
Exploring the possibilities of traditional harmonies from different singing cultures throughout the world--A shifting collaboration of accomplished singers and instrumentalists based in Vermont, but including guest participants from across the U.S. and from many foreign countries.
Workshop 2:30-5:30 ($15, but see combination pricing for non-members above), potluck supper, Concert at 7:30 PM. All at the Meadowbrook Park Activity Building, 7901 Meadowbrook Lane, Chevy Chase, MD (just off of East-West Highway, MD 410, near Rock Creek, between Bethesda and Silver Spring)
Northern Harmony, the unique world music vocal ensemble based in Vermont, presents a concert and workshop on March 10 in Chevy Chase at Meadowbrook Park Activity Building, 7901 Meadowbrook Lane, sponsored by Folklore Society of Washington. The workshop for any interested singers runs from 2:30-5:30 and the concert is at 7:30 PM with a potluck supper in between. The twelve sparkling young singers, led by Larry Gordon, present a thrilling mix of world harmony traditions including South African songs and dances, traditional polyphony from Georgia, Corsica, and the Balkans, American shape-note singing and quartet gospel, and medieval motets. Fresh from their fifteenth European tour, Northern Harmony has won a wide reputation for their remarkable command of the different singing styles and timbres appropriate to these different traditions.
Northern Harmony is the highest level performing group under the umbrella of the world music organization Village Harmony, which sponsors singing camps and workshops in New England and many parts of the world. (see www.villageharmony.org) The singers are primarily brilliant young graduates of Village Harmony singing programs, and most have studied traditional singing styles first hand with native teachers in South Africa, Bulgaria, Corsica and Caucasus Georgia.
Shape-note singing, one of Northern Harmony's trademarks, had its origins in the community singing schools of 18th century New England. It is simultaneously a sacred and a social singing tradition, featuring stark, open harmonies, rhythmic, contrapuntal "fuging" sections, and the marvelous sacred poetry of the 18th century English hymn writer Isaac Watts and his followers. The concert will also feature traditional and contemporary arrangements of 1930?s gospel quartet numbers, with tight harmonies and catchy rhythms.
South Africa has a particularly powerful and appealing folk harmony singing tradition, with a rich, resonant vocal sound, and wonderfully syncopated rhythm. The singing is always accompanied by dancing, with the rhythm of the dance movements often in counterpoint to the song.
Georgia?s ancient three-part harmony singing tradition features a dark, sonorous vocal quality, and startling harmonies, unlike anything in European music. Traditional Corsican singing, passed down through oral tradition, features two highly ornamented upper voices over a more sustained harmonic bass. The excitement for the listeners and singers both comes from the impassioned delivery, the surprising harmonic shifts which ripple from voice to voice, and the buzzing vocal timbre which creates an extremely powerful sound rich in overtones.
Northern Harmony also performs a wide variety of village music from the Balkan countries. This music features the characteristic bright, "hard-voiced" Balkan vocal timbre, with dissonant harmonies frequently based on drones, and irregular dance meters in 7, 9 and 11.
