GANGAMAZON: Celebrating the music of South India and Brazil
March 19, 2001
Wheaton College is proud to present a bicultural celebration of sound on Friday, March 23, 2001 at 8:00 p.m. in the Watson Fine Arts Center. Sponsored by Worldfest at Wheaton, ''GANGAMAZON '' brings together master musicians and composer Brazilian pianist and flutist Jovino Santos Neto, and South Indian chitravina performer N.Ravikiran, in a remarkable collaboration. The two have recently recorded a CD comprised of modal improvisations based on scales from Indian ragas and this concert will be their first public performance together. Legendary jazz drummer Bob Moses and Master Anand, a talented young mrdangist (drummer) from South India, will complete the stage in this unique and unforgettable blend of talent in the arena of world music.
Hailed at the age of two as a child prodigy, N.Ravikiran has grown into a renowned composer of Carnatic music and master chitravina player. He has been performing and composing music since the age of two, giving his first three hour vocal concert at age five. What soon followed was an intense passion for the study of the chitravina or gotuvadyam, a 21-stringed fretless Indian lute, which he mastered by the age of ten. In the past twenty years he has gone on to become a trendsetter, innovator, teacher, author, and philanthropist. Ravikiran[base ']s 2000 performance with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the Kalasangam[base ']s Global Echos multicultural festival in the U.K. earned the top ranking from among the 2,000 events from various parts of the world. In composing for the festival, Ravikiran introduced his concept of ''melharmony ''- bridging the melody of the east and the harmony of the west together as one, which has been lauded as a revolutionary concept in world musiic.
Jovino Santos Neto, originally from Rio de Janeiro, began playing the piano at age thirteen. He studied piano, flute, composing and arranging for fifteen years under the tutelage of Hermeto Pascoal, the legendary multi-instrumentalist and Brazilian composer. In that time he co-produced six award winning CDs and served as Pascoal[base ']s sole archivist in the scoring and filing of his musical compositions. Now a resident of Seattle, Washington, he has formed the Jovino Santos Neto Quartet whose CD titled '' Caboclo '' was released in 1997 to great acclaim. Jovino has conducted the Shorecrest Symphony Orchestra and is a member of the Latin Jazz band Fourth World. He also teaches Latin Jazz Ensemble at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.
The concert is open to the public without charge on Friday, March 23, 2001 in Watson Theatre of the Watson Fine Arts Center at 8:00 p.m.
# # #
Last updated on 3/19/01.
Send questions about this page to Mike Graca or contact Wheaton College.