Clarion's Millenial Music
By Yafonne
Asian Week, November 11, 1999
Bay Area's own world music guru Kutay Derin Kugay, the host producer of KPFA's "Music of the World" has teamed up with dedicated visionary Michael Santoro, producer and director of Clarion Music Centees annual concert to shake the world music scene.
Through weekly radio shows and live world music concerts, Kugay and Santoro are expanding the range of music in the Bay Area, and providing greater professional opportunities for local musicians, including Asian Americans.
"World Music at Clarion" is a non-profit production entity held at Clarion Music Center, owned by Clara Hsu. Since its inception in 1997, The "World Music at Clarion" c"ncens have served more than a hundred world music artists and ensembles on Clarion's stage-- including Australian Aboriginal animal vocalizations of the Didjeridu, classical music of India, folk tunes ofrural China, folk of Vietnam, and the percussion of Nigeria.
Since 1995, Santoro has been cultural awareness through music of the world with educational workshops for schools and world music master classes. In 1997, Santoro added the Friday night live concert series, which he plans to expand to three nights a week.
API groups that have played on the Clarion stage include the Jumping Buddha Ensemble, Melody of China, Shubh Yatra, and the Palabur~iyan Kulingtang Ensemble, among others.
Nov. 19 marks the second anniversary of world Music at Clarion", one of the country's only world-music venues. The anniversary concert will bring back several world music artists who have played on Clarion's stage in the past year.
Hosted by Dore Stein, producer of KALW's "Tangents", and Kugay of KPFA, Clarion's second anniversary concert is dedicated to Tuvan Blues singer, Paid Pena.
"I think what is going on here at Clarion is rooted in the work of people like him," says Michael Santoro. "We want to show our respect and appreciation for what he (Paul Pena) has contributed to the Bay Area music scene."
The anniversary concert will feature performances by Bay Area world musicians Brian Theriault & Friends, (a Celtic Ensemble known for their fiery Celtic dance tunes, Scottish melodies, and original music for Irish harp and fiddle), and Tibetan singer, Techung, who blends traditional music of the Tibetan people with Western soundscape compositions.
The concert will also highlight Shakuhachi artist Philip Gelb; the ever popular and electrifying contemporary Didieridu exp,onenet and maestro, Stephen Kent; and Global Paradigm, a Persian ensemble of world class musicians, led by santur virtuoso Asgbar Azarvand, whose timeless universal sounds combine instruments and modalities that encompass the globe.
More recently, "World Music at Clarion' concert has featured master musicians from China, Japan, Indonesia, Turkey, Australia, and India. City and local funders like the San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts and the Zellerbach Family Fund, are supporting 'World Music at Clarion" as a performance niche for ethnic and world music artists, many of whom were previously overlooked by more mainstream venues because of language and cultural barriers.
For the wise Kugay, with 30 years of involvement in world music under his belt, he partners well with the energetic Santoro, who is working with him to fulfill a lifelong dream of bringing world music to the Bay Area public.
As producer and host of the Monday edition of "Music of the World" at FSFA 94.1 FM, Kugay has hosted many of the great artists in the world music scene for the past 12 years since 1988. The owner and producer of 718 Music Productions in San Francisco, Kugay also produces music from Central, South, and South West Asia, North African, the Caucasus, and Balkans.
Kugay's radio program, as much as it is music, also blends entertainment with educational insights into various cultures.
"I believe that certain music from around the world is not well exposed and not well-known. This is due to certain attitudes in musicology and cultural biases, so my intention was to promote music that is less known," Kugay said .
Possessing a deep respect for the cultures of the musicians that they present, both Santoro and Kugay are dedicated to creating a context for world music and world music artists, not only in the Bay Area, but across the country.
"This period where people are exploring music from around the world," says Kugay, "l think we are at this time witnessing the flowering of world music. It is now recognized by general public and definitely gaining audience. They are enjoying the diversity of music."
Together, Kugay and Santoro are launching the first annual San Francisco World Music Festival to be held in May 2000.
"There is a tremendous need," Kugay reflects. "Many musicians have asked me why there isn't one. I have always desired and dreamed of a festival of world music, not only for the audience, but also for the musicians. We have top-quality world musicians, a great variety, and want to expose the public to world music in one single venue in the course of several days."
As a performer of Cantonese music and opera himself, what's significant about the festival for Santoro is the positive exposure and support that it will provide for local world music artists, many of whom are Asian.
"Our similarities as people are linked to our differences," explains Santoro. "In order to see this link and begin to understand our similarities, there needs to be much exposure to social diversity, with the hope that the inherent differences will be clarified. My main hope is that it (the festival) will grow and evolve to a point that it puts San Francisco on the map for world music, that it really brings out the richness and cultural diversity of the Bay Area."
