Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100061
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
David Fanshawe had trekked all over Africa in the late '60s and early '70s, and he noticed one day that his travels described the shape of a giant cross superimposed on a map of the continent.
It was the genesis, said the English ethnomusicologist and composer, of "African Sanctus," which gets its Roanoke premiere Monday night from the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and the Roanoke Valley Choral Society. RSO officials aren't certain, but they think the performance may be a Virginia premiere as well.
Fanshawe had collected more than a thousand recordings from more than 50 African tribes, from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Egypt, the Sudan and many other countries. Represented in his library were an Islamic call to prayer, an Egyptian wedding, a Masai milking song, and the wails of a mother lamenting her dead son on the shores of Lake Victoria.
The sight of the cross framed by the outline of Africa suggested to him the idea of combining indigenous African rhythms and melodies and his striking audio documents with the ancient words of the Latin Mass text.
The result was simultaneously one of the more unorthodox and most popular new choral works of the past quarter century. Parts of the work were first heard in 1972; the completed "Sanctus" got its world premiere at the prestigious Three Choirs Festival at Worcester Cathedral in England in 1978.
The Roanoke audience will hear exactly the same recordings that were played at the work's premiere.
One reason Roanoke concertgoers will get their first taste of this work is economics: The RSO needed to economize, and the work requires a smaller-than-usual complement of players.
The other reason is that Roanoke Valley Choral Society director Jeffrey Sandborg performed the "African Sanctus" as a chorus member in the year following its premiere and had retained a lasting interest in conducting it himself one day.
"It was a very new piece [in 1979], and I really fell in love with it. It's very exciting and extraordinarily beautiful in some spots. It's a sort of African `Carmina Burana,' highly energetic, very dissonant and wild in places, a powerful piece that I've always wanted to do. And what with Black History Month, it was the perfect time to do it," said Sandborg.
But why call the work "African Sanctus," since the Sanctus is only one of several sections of the Mass?
"Well, Fanshawe included the complete Latin Mass, but the Sanctus happens to be what's called a Bwala Dance, a very exciting rhythmic piece in the opening movement. You hear it again in the middle and at the end, so it acts as a sort of ritornello - it's a structural thing. I daresay if anybody remembers anything, it'll be this tuneful, rhythmic Sanctus," said Sandborg.
Woven through and around the Mass text are African songs and sounds. Sandborg said the work operates on three levels: the chorus, live instruments and the taped music and sound. It will challenge the Roanoke Valley Choral Society's singers because not only will they be having to listen for taped cues, but Sandborg himself will be wearing headphones - not a customary sight in any orchestra's concert hall.
"In much of the actual live performance I won't be hearing the singers and players - I'll be cued into the audio, the African lead. Those are the composer's instructions, that the conductor must be cued into the tape at all times," said Sandborg.
Symphony players will include a number of percussionists on exotic African drums and more traditional Western instruments, as well as piano, electric guitar and electric bass. Regular RSO players will be supplemented by Al Wojtera and his Radford University Percussion Ensemble.
The conductor says that the element of rhythm is paramount. "They [native African musicians] view rhythm as we in the West view melody and harmony, and a single line of rhythms may be extraordinarily complex. To them, that's as beautiful and meaningful as a tune to us in the West. ...
``The ancient Western European traditional form of the Mass text, which has been set thousands of times, will be combined with recordings of African rites and rituals, all having to do with prayer and praise. ...
"The main thing is to keep an open mind about what you're hearing. This is Africa meets the West.''
Traditional African songs and sounds come alive on stage in Roanoke
``African Sanctus'': Monday, 7:30 p.m., Roanoke Civic Center. Performed by the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and the Roanoke Valley Choral Society. Concert also will include the "Gospel Mass" of Robert Ray. Tickets, $20, $18, $16 and $12. 343-9127.
by CNB