Inky fingers, musty tomes and Prius-driving NPR listeners may very well be intimately associated with the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. However, the rival medium of music will be making a strong appearance at the festival, with bands representing cultures from around the world scheduled to entertain visitors who may want a break from panel discussions.
The festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, and several acts are scheduled to perform throughout the days at the stages situated around campus. The acts skew international in their musical styles, with a Russian folk band, a break-dance crew, bluegrass, West African music, salsa and even the world-renowned bassist Victor Wooten, who also comes in the capacity of an author.
What brings so many different performers here? It seems every group has its own reason, along with simple appreciation of the festival.
“I love performing on campus at UCLA because I’m an alumni. Also I just love the Festival of Books,” said Joselyn Wilkinson, founder of the West African music group ADAAWE, which performs at 3:30 p.m. on the Etc. Stage on Saturday.
Wilkinson graduated from UCLA with a degree in World Arts and Cultures in 1994, but her turning point creatively was her third year.
“I spent my junior year abroad in Ghana, West Africa, as part of the Education Abroad Program. … It was so moving and important to me that when I returned my senior year I decided to start another project where it would be based on the concept of the women’s musical society in Ghana, West Africa. And we called that group ADAAWE after the musical form in Ghana,” Wilkinson explained.
Wilkinson’s group consists of seven women of different backgrounds who perform exclusively with percussion and vocals, an homage to what Wilkinson calls the first instruments. Their music is a mix of traditional African songs and original compositions that pay tribute to the music of West Africa that Wilkinson clearly lives and breathes.
“It was just powerful for me that music was just a part of everyday life. Part of celebration, part of coming together as a community, part of celebrating the different things in the cycle of life: birth, death, marriage, things like that. … It really speaks right to the heart,” Wilkinson said.
On the opposite side of the world, in terms of geography and instrumentation, is the Susie Hansen Latin Band, performing at 12:30 p.m. on the Etc. Stage on Sunday. Although the name Susie Hansen may not sound like a real Latin bandleader, her years of experience more than qualify her. Taught by her father, a Chicago Symphony Orchestra member for 37 years, since age 5 in the art of the violin, Hansen went through years of playing in every style imaginable. “Classical, jazz, disco, R&B, I played in all types of groups,” Hansen said. “But it wasn’t until I started playing in a Latin jazz group that I really found music that spoke to me.”
Hansen’s band will feature 10 players total on Sunday, with two vocalists, a horn section, two drummers and a rhythm section.
Although this may sound like a traditional Latin setup, the twist to Hansen’s band is that her electric violin is the lead instrument.
“My violin is playing the part that a trumpet would normally play in a salsa group, but I also get to play rhythm lines,” Hansen said. “That’s why I love this genre, it has so much rhythm to it, but there’s still the improvisation of jazz.”
A decidedly less cosmopolitan but more down-home group, Murphy’s Flaw, will perform at 11:30 a.m. on the Etc. Stage on Saturday. The pun-happy “accidental bluegrass group” was formed by John Bryan in Pasadena. Bluegrass and the fair city of Pasadena don’t necessarily go together, but Bryan’s history accounts for that. After acquiring a beat-up banjo during the ’60’s to take part in the folk explosion in Illinois, Bryan switched his attention to bluegrass after folk died out.
“There was nothing else to play with a banjo,” Bryan said. Murphy’s Flaw, like many of the other groups performing at the festival, are essentially genre groups trying to mix up traditional songs with their own twists or original songs.
“We do some traditional songs, we have a few original songs. One original was written by Jarrett Lesko, our mandolin player, called “Take Me Down.” We’ve done some Neil Young covers too,” Bryan said. Bryan explained his continuing love affair with bluegrass by comparing it to jazz, as both have led melody sections, breaks for solos and an emphasis on improvisation.
The Festival of Books may be known for signings and panels, but the often overlooked musical component offers as many musical styles as literary genres, with skilled instrumentalists playing music from around the world.
What better way to enjoy an $8 taco than with a full salsa band?