Museum Hosts ‘Wild Music’ Festival: A full day of live music and educational presentations
For Immediate Release
July 20, 2007
Contact: Emelia C. Cowans, Asst. Communications Director, 919-733-7450, ext. 305
RALEIGH— The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences' current traveling exhibit, "Wild Music: Sounds and Songs of Life," teaches us that as human beings, we share sound and music with other animals. From its ancient origins, humans have drawn inspiration from the natural world to make music and continue to do so today. To further demonstrate this, the Museum will host the Wild Music Festival on Saturday, August 4, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to celebrate the biological origins of music and the human spirit.
The free festival will span all four floors of the Museum and outside on Bicentennial Plaza. Come hear musical acts from every genre from blues to gospel to salsa. There will also be eclectic world music including sounds from a sitar, a plucked string instrument used throughout the Indian continent, and a didjeridoo, a wind instrument of Indigenous Australians.
Musical guests include:
- Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to keeping the blues alive and helping the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern music meet their day to day needs.
- One Sun, a trio formed from Saludos Company, featuring traditional, contemporary, and original music from Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Mixed Water, an ensemble that mixes gospel, blues, jazz, rock, and funk to form soulful melodies.
- The Foyer, a folk-rock, jazz-fusion band that combines live "jam band"/new age improvisation with tracks of wildlife sounds.
- And the Rail Readers, a modern rock-infused bluegrass band out of Carrboro.
- Different Drum, an Afro/Latin ensemble, based in the Raleigh/Durham area. Musical styles include South African township, traditional West African rhythms, folkloric Andean melodies, Cuban Guairá’s, cumbia, merengue and much more.
- Charles "Wsir" Johnson - Folk/Traditional music and storytelling
As a special treat, local favorite, four-time N.C. State Fair folk music champion Dulcimer Dan will perform and two-time winner of the national Spivey's Corner Hollerin Contest winner, Tony Peacock, will be on hand to do some of his famous calls. In addition to musical acts, special presentations and lectures in the Museum's auditorium and Windows on the World amphitheater will also provide visitors with information on instrument making as well as insight on how the human voice works.
The Wild Music Festival is funded in part by a grant from the Southern Arts Federation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council.
Auditorium Schedule
11:00 a.m. & 3:30 p.m.—Susan Rawcliffe/performer, instrument builder and ceramic artist
Susan Rawcliffe of Los Angeles is an explorer of primeval soundscapes. She is a master flute maker, player and researcher as well as a master didjeridu player. She delights in exotic and potent sounds, whether as a performer, a creator of musical instruments and sculptures or a researcher into ancient flutes and their music.
12:30 p.m.—Douglas Ewart/performer, instrument maker, lecturer
Jamaican born Douglas Ewart will give a lecture on the history of instruments. Ewart is a maker of rain sticks, man-tall totem flutes and percussion instruments and an instructor at the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) School of Music in Chicago
Windows on the World Schedule
10:30 a.m. & 11:30 a.m.—Leda Scearce & Dr. Seth Cohen/Duke Voice Care Center: "How Do Humans Sing?"
Leda Scearce is currently Clinical Coordinator/Speech-Language Pathologist and Professional Voice Specialist at Duke University Medical Center. As a voice therapist and singing voice specialist, Scearce combines her passion for helping people with voice disorders with her extensive background as a singer and voice teacher. Dr. Seth M. Cohen is currently Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Duke University Medical Center.
1 p.m. & 2 p.m. —Alex Weiss
"Bilingual Music & Stories"
For more information about the Wild Music Festival, contact Steve Popson at 919-733-7450, ext. 379.
The "Wild Music" exhibit runs through Sunday, September 16. Hours are Monday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Sunday 1:00-4:30 p.m. (last tickets sold at 4:00 p.m.). Adults $5, Seniors (60+) and Students $4, Children (5-11) $3, and Friends of the Museum Free. For more information, visit http://www.naturalsciences.org or call 919-733-7450, ext. 305.
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown Raleigh, documents and interprets the natural history of the state of North Carolina through exhibits, research, collections, publications, and educational programming. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 am to 5 pm, and Sun., noon to 5 pm. Admission is free. Visit the Museum on the Web at naturalsciences.org. The Museum is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary.
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