If modern-day country music has fallen short of tantalizing your American grassroots taste buds, then you need not stray far from campus for an alternative ““ UCLA’s Bluegrass & Old-Time Ensemble will perform tonight as part of the Fowler Out Loud! music series.
The ensemble, the only one of its kind on campus, draws upon the classics to serve up a harmonious amalgamation of vocals and instruments that they hope won’t remain foreign to their audience for long. Founded three years ago under the guidance of ethnomusicology Professor Anthony Seeger, the group sets out to preserve a musical tradition without jeopardizing the spirit and liveliness that the genre exudes.
“With this music in particular, it is very rich in history, but we never feel like we’re some kind of re-enactor,” said Doug Morier, epidemiology graduate student and guitar player for the group. “We completely act like ourselves, dress like ourselves and go about our lives, but then we get together and play this 50- to 100-year-old music without the historical pressure ““ we just have fun.”
This seemingly aged music is well on its way toward a revival throughout the country. From jam sessions known as “pickin’ parties” sweeping across thriving college towns on the East Coast, to day festivals such as Coachella featuring the bluegrass band Old Crow Medicine Show right here on the Westside, it has become evident that the genre has acquired a new, young and eager audience.
“It’s a genre that breeds high musicianship; it surpasses two chords on a guitar ““ not that there’s anything wrong with that,” ethnomusicology graduate student and fiddle player Jennie Gubner said .
And high musicianship is quite necessary in a group such as this. With students majoring from mathematics to physics, it is evident that the love and dedication for this style of music was a necessary factor in bringing together a group of Bruins who have been mastering instruments ranging from banjo to upright bass to kazoo for up to 20 years. Yet, the ensemble said that the music they create is not your everyday, mainstream country music.
“It’s not electric, it’s personal,” Seeger said. “You make it and improvise it with one another, you play along with one another and that’s the attraction.”
While sheet music occasionally serves as the springboard for their songs, the Bluegrass & Old-Time Ensemble travels much further beyond a handful of notes on a page. No two instruments playing the same melody will sound exactly alike since improvisation is a key factor in their creative process. It is through their collaborative energy that the group will deliver virtuosic instruments, three-part vocal harmonies and catchy, fast-paced songs at tonight’s performance.
“It is really fun when you take a group like this up in front of a crowd of people who you know don’t listen to bluegrass. And you get the fiddle going really fast, you’re singing really loud and everyone just has to put down what they’re doing and listen,” Morier said. “I can’t think of anyone who hears a fast bluegrass band playing and doesn’t tap their foot along to the music and have fun, even if they aren’t going to go out and buy a record.”
As part of their performance at Fowler, the ensemble will perform a tribute in memory of the late American folk musician Mike Seeger and the New Lost City Ramblers.
“Mike came to UCLA for two weeks and met with the group twice,” said Seeger, nephew to the bluegrass legend. “He was a tremendously studious and capable player of old-time music and really was partly responsible for its revival.”
In addition, the crowd can expect a number of improvised solos, which all of the instruments, from mandolin to jug, are in the running for, as well as lyrics about love, heartache, alcohol and travel.
“This music that we’re playing is universal,” second-year ethnomusicology student and upright bass player Wyatt Stone said. “It’s a really participatory music; you can dance, move, sing along. You’ll be humming the tunes when you’re leaving. You have to really give it a chance before you write it off ““ it’s not just country music, it’s American music, it’s the people’s music.”
The ensemble is passionate about the impact of the music that they create and feel as though it’s positivity has contagious potential.
“If you’re tired and sort of run-down by the end of the week, this will lift you up, it will revive you,” Seeger said.