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Music

Jazz

“Beyond Category”: McMullen’s History of Jazz course explores music and deepens understanding

Last Thursday night, Portland’s State Theatre came alive—velvety bass slipped through the cracks of the drums as an enthusiastic crowd danced, bathed in a violet light. In name, this was Digable Planets’ 30th Anniversary Tour, celebrating the Brooklyn hip-hop trio’s release of their debut album, “Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space)” in 1993.

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Lecture

Stromae’s “L’enfer”: Roxanne Panchasi talks mental health and celebrity

On January 9, 2022, French television broadcast a live news interview with renowned Belgian singer Paul van Haver, better known as Stromae. During the last few minutes of the broadcast, Stromae answered the final question of the interview, which was directed towards his struggles with depression, by singing his latest song “L’enfer.” A year later and 3,398 miles away in Brunswick, Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at Simon Fraser University Roxanne Panchasi hosted a talk at the College discussing the significance of the moment.

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Portrait of an Artist

Portrait of an Artist: Tracy McMullen

Professor of Music Tracy McMullen’s journey into jazz was neither direct nor without resistance. Raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, McMullen’s introduction to jazz came from a high school stage band visiting her elementary school. “For me, it’s definitely mysterious how I had this love of jazz,” McMullen said.

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House of the Rising Sun

House of the Rising Sun: The Animals, 1964

Let the arpeggiated A minor chord sound! We have arrived at the most recognizable iteration of the song in question. British pop-rock outfit The Animals sent “House of the Rising Sun,” our meager folk tune, to the top of the UK singles chart in 1964 with an arrangement that, in keeping with the folk idiom, was not their own handiwork.

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House of the Rising Sun

House of the Rising Sun: Clarence Ashley, 1933

The Beatles, Nina Simone, Tangerine Dream, Leadbelly, The Supremes, Tracy Chapman, Dolly Parton, Kult, Sinead O’Conner, Jimi Hendrix, Toto and Muse all have one thing in common: they’ve released a cover of the folk-blues tune “The House of the Rising Sun.” As one of the most covered songs of all time, the track serves as an exemplar of the folk tradition—music that is passed down through hearing and playing, not formal tablature.

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Music

New band, same duo: Adams ’24 and Semjen ’24 take the semester off

Editor’s Note, September 9, 2022 at 12 p.m.: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of the band. The correct spelling is Night Hawk, not Nighthawk. While most Bowdoin students returned to a campus marked by pre-pandemic normalcy this fall, Colter Adams ’24 and Peyton Semjen ’24 took the semester off to explore their musical passions with their new band, Night Hawk.

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Music

Student bands vie for opening spot at the Spring Concert

On the night of April 2, Jack Magee’s Pub hosted four student musical groups in the annual Battle of the Bands to decide the opener for Bowdoin Spring Concert headliner, rapper IDK. In the contest’s first running after three years, The Irish step dance performing group BEYONCE (Bowdoin Éireann [Ireland] Ye Olde Neo-Celtic Ensemble), and punk/emo outfit Moosecat won first and second place, respectively, both earning an opening spot at the concert.

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For the Record

Dawn Richard, a master of multiple genres

“King Creole” was the name of a mythic Cajun guitarist known for his command of various styles of rock and roll, made famous by the 1958 film named after him starring Elvis Presley. It is also the name of the bouncing intro track from Dawn Richard’s encyclopedic 2021 album, “Second Line.” Like the original “King Creole,” “Second Line” boasts Richard’s mastery of multiple genres.

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For the Record

The little things

Every now and then, you’ll hear a song that feels like it’s been composed especially for you—its rhythm calibrated to your pulse, lyrics drawn from the marrow of your memory. A few months ago, I came across such a song.

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band

Non-Prophets debut at Reed House’s Fall Fest

This past Saturday, The Non-Prophets established themselves in the Bowdoin student band scene with a debut performance at Reed House’s Fall Fest. The night also included performances by En Jamb and Mistaken for Strangers. The Non-Prophets’ formation comes on the heels of a campus-wide return to in-person, creative pursuits.

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choir

Bowdoin Chamber Choir Returns After Year-Long Hiatus

After a year-long hiatus due to the pandemic, the Bowdoin Chamber Choir will resume rehearsals and performances for the 2021-2022 academic year. Lecturer in Music Jeffrey Christmas will serve as the group’s new faculty organizer following the retirement of previous organizer Professor of Music Emeritus Robert Greenlee.

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Brunswick

Oratorio Chorale launches virtual music workshops

This spring, Oratorio Chorale—a midcoast Maine-based choral community—will continue holding music workshops in an entirely virtual format. While the Chorale traditionally holds these workshops in person, Artistic Director Emily Isaacson still sees the value in providing community members with opportunities to further or begin their education in music.

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A Cappella

Singing over Zoom: a cappella auditions go virtual

In a normal academic year, Bowdoin’s six a cappella groups would have finished recruitment several weeks ago. The week-long process, which typically takes place in late September, consists of a first round of auditions, a second round of callbacks and the “draft,” where the A Cappella Council meets to express interest in singers and then issue bids to them.

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Music

Mauceri redefines music through computation

Frank Mauceri, senior lecturer in music and coach of Bowdoin’s jazz combos, loves to play music with students. His other, more unconventional combo-partner, however, is his computer. Mauceri merges music with computer science, using machine learning and machine listening to improvise and play songs.

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Unheard Voices

Fakoly embraces West African roots through music

Tiken Jah Fakoly, born Doumbia Moussa, is an internationally renowned Ivorian reggae singer from Odienné, a town in the northwestern region of the Ivory Coast. Heavily inspired by Alpha Blondy, another Ivorian reggae star from the 1980s, Fakoly began his musical career at the age of 18, secretly composing songs that he hid from his strict Muslim family.

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Music

A legendary tribute: musical remembers the life of Cole Porter

With a shimmering silver and gold beaded curtain framing the stage, audience members of all ages will be transported back in time to the glitz of Broadway in the roaring 20’s. The vehicle is the music of composer extraordinaire Cole Porter, performed by the students in the Musical Theater Performance class instructed by Professor of Theater Davis Robinson.

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The Aux Cord

Maggie Rogers triumphs on ‘Heard It In A Past Life’

I should leave out the story about Maggie Rogers’ rise to fame through a viral video with Pharrell because it is clear by now that she deserves it. It is true that the Maryland singer/songwriter was a student at NYU just two years ago, making eclectic songs that fused her folky roots with Eurohouse influences acquired from a semester abroad, and that one day Pharrell showed up to class, instantly raved about Rogers’ work, and abruptly sent Rogers and her song “Alaska” into a firestorm of attention via YouTube.

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Music

Singer Andy Shauf brings ‘The Party’ to Portland

You can see the glow of yellow light and the shadows of passing figures through the windows. You leap up a few steps and pull open the front door to be greeted by a rap song from Spotify’s Top 50 hits playing over someone’s parents’ speakers and, subsequently, you inhale an odd fog of beer, body odor and half-assed Febreze.

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Music

West African Ensemble electrifies with eclectic beats

Hip-Hop, rhythm and blues, jazz, reggae—many kinds of popular music have roots in Africa. Last night, the West African Music Ensemble brought to life the connection between drumming, dancing and singing during their performance “The Path and the River.” Distinct at Bowdoin in its non-Western approach to music, the ensemble is directed by Adjunct Lecturer in Music Jordan Benissan—a master drummer of Ewe people of West Africa, esteemed for complex cross-rhythms.

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The Aux Cord

Noname finds her own space

Noname doesn’t need your labels. In the years since her breakout mixtape Telefone, she’s been called “the anti-Cardi B” and “the female Kendrick” by fans eagerly awaiting a second project. While her soft spokenness suggests the former and her lyricial knack the latter, she detests both of these backhanded compliments, telling the Fader, “I’m just Fatimah.” Some already know Fatimah (better known by her stage name Noname) from her stand out features on Chance the Rapper’s early material, or her solo work as Noname on Telefone, a brilliantly warm tape about love, loss and joy in her home Chicago.

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The Aux Cord

On Brockhampton’s ‘Iridescence’

My 17th birthday was on a Friday. I woke up to some lovely cards from my family, happy birthday messages from friends and a couple posts on Facebook. I went to school. Around early afternoon, an hour or so before classes let out, I received a text from a friend of mine: “Dude listen to this shit now, it’s insane.” I went into the bathroom, turned my earbuds up, and listened to “HEAT” by Brockhampton (which I soon discovered had no relationship to the Hamptons), off of an album called SATURATION.

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Music

A strong start: Gingersnap to open Ivies

Although the student band Gingersnap is relatively new to the Bowdoin music scene, it is already leaving its mark on campus. Last week, the group won first place for its performance at Battle of the Bands—only its second performance together—and earned the spot as the opening act for D.R.A.M.

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