World-Acclaimed Percussionist Valerie Naranjo Featured at TAMIU’s Percussion Ensemble Fall Concert
Globally-acclaimed percussionist and longtime member of NBC's Saturday Night Live Valerie Dee Naranjo will be the featured artist at Texas A&M International University's (TAMIU) Percussion Ensemble Fall Concert Monday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall.
Please note: Due to illness, Naranjo will not be able to perform Monday. The Percussion Ensemble Fall Concert will go on as planned.
Naranjo, TAMIU's Artist in Residence, is a percussionist, vocalist, composer and clinician, and is known for her pioneering efforts in West African keyboard percussion music. She performs in Broadway's The Lion King. She has recorded with several well-known musical acts like David Byrne, Philip Glass Ensemble, and Tori Amos, among others.
The TAMIU Percussion Ensemble Fall Concert is free and open to the public. It will feature works such as "Trinetik" by Andrea Venet, "Threads" by Paul Lansky, "Bonham" by Christopher Rouse, "Ute Sundance" arranged by Naranjo, and "Guun" by Kakraba Lobi and also arranged by Naranjo.
Naranjo describes "Trinetik" as follows: "Traditional roller coasters utilize kinetic energy, reaching their maximum at the bottom of a slope (when it is the fastest). A student actually pointed out to me that the musical energy of the piece resembled that of a rollercoaster, and I thought it was a great observation! Coupled with many musical and rhythmic motives loosely based on groupings of three, the name Trinetik is a mash-up of Tri (3) and kinetic (energy)."
Another piece, "Threads," written by Lansky for So Percussion in 2005, is a 'cantata' for percussion quartet in 10 short movements. There are three 'threads; that are interwove in the piece: Arias and Preludes that focus on the metallic pitched sounds; Choruses in which drumming predominates; and Recitatives made largely from Cage-like 'noise' instruments.
TAMIU's Percussion Ensemble, directed by Dr. Mark Boseman, is a small chamber group of percussion majors in TAMIU's Music program. The Ensemble performs a full concert each semester featuring music that includes ragtime, transcriptions, standard percussion and keyboard ensembles and some of the newest works for the Ensemble.
Percussion Ensemble members include David Arredondo, Christian Galván, José Hernández, Bernardo Magallanes, Luis Vela, David Canchola, José Lara, Kevin Mendoza, Martin Granados, Joseph De La Cruz, Felix Esquivel, Miguel García and José Freyre.
Originally from Southern Colorado, Naranjo moved to New York City after completing studies in vocal and instrumental music education (University of Oklahoma) and Percussion Performance (Ithaca College).
In 1988 her playing of the gyil’s traditional repertoire in Ghana’s Kobine Festival of Traditional Music led to the declaration of a chiefly decree in the Dagara nation that women be allowed to play the instrument for the first time. On six continents she endorses Avedis Zildjian (cymbals) Pearl/Adams (Latin and concert percussion) and Vic Firth products as a soloist and clinician.
Her recent film score recordings include Final Fantasy - The Dream Within and Frida. Her work and music have been written about in Modern Drummer, Drum!, Rhythm, Percussive Notes, and World Percussion Rhythm. She was named World Music Percussionist of the Year in 2005 and 2008, as winner of DRUM! magazine’s Reader’s Poll in that category.
She has recorded several CDs of traditional gyil music with Kakraba Lobi and Barry Olsen, and the CD Zie Mwea with Olsen and Bernard Woma. Her solo Native American CD Orenda is on the Ellipsis Arts Label, and her series of 16 written transcriptions and CDs, West African Music for the Marimba Soloist, Traditional World Music for Western Percussion Ensemble, and Lewaa’s Dream (Ancient and Contemporary Music for West African Marimba) are published by Mandara Music.
Naranjo has apprenticed with some of America’s and West Africa’s strictest master percussionists, including Leigh Howard Stevens, Gordon Stout, Dave Samuels, Godwin Agbelli, and Adama Drame, and continues to spend summers in Ghana to further her percussion study with maestros Yotere Baere and Kofi Misiso.
She has also researched and studied in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Morocco, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, where, in 1994 with Thuli Dumakude, she opened Johannesburg’s Civic Theatre to its first post-apartheid audiences in the production Buya Africa.
For more information, contact the College of Arts and Sciences, department of Fine and Performing Arts at 956.326.2654, or visit offices in the Center for the Fine and Performing Arts, room 217.
Visit a Calendar of Events at https://www.tamiu.edu/coas/fpa , or call the Events Hotline at 956.326.3044 for recorded information on upcoming events and offerings.
