Category Archives: music
Starting at 6 p.m. Friday, September 27, 2013, the Richard Thomas 3rd Annual Open Mic Night will open the Waco Cultural Arts Fest on the Indian Spring Amphitheater Stage.
Musicians are encouraged to contact Kurt Krakowian by email at texasvarietyentertainment@gmail.com to sign up for 15 minute performance time slots. Backline sound and light is provided by Dave Nordyke from Sound Music Lab in Austin.
The Annual Poetry Slam hosted by Michael Guinn will be on Sat. night Sept. 28, 2013 starting at 6:30 pm on the Waco Convention Center Patio where it was held last year.
Poetry open mic events will be available at the WCAF on Sun. Sept. 29, 2013 hosted by Jenuine Poetess.
Wine, Divas, Desserts is a sellout! This first-time event will be held on Saturday, March 23, 2013 at 7:30 pm at the Waco Civic Theatre. It is a benefit for the Waco Cultural Arts Festival. Thank you to everyone for supporting this event!
Tickets are $35 each online at http://divaswaco.eventbrite.com. Limited VIP seating. Producer is David Hollingsworth. For information or to get on the waitlist, call Sandi Horton at 254-744-5887.
Los Texas Wranglers will close out the music at the Indian Spring Park Amphitheater for the 2012 Waco Cultural Arts Fest. This powerhouse Tex/Mex-Country-Conjunto band from the Austin area will play on Sunday from 4-5 pm.
Los Texas Wranglers has won many awards including: 2008, 2009, 2010 Best Latin Traditional Band; 2010 Best Drummer, 2011 Best Accordion and 2011 Best Country/Bluegrass Band at the Austin world famous SXSW (South By Southwest ) sponsored Austin Music Awards; inducted to the 2005 Texas Music Museum; inducted into the 2006 South Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame and Tejano Magazine’s “Conjunto of the Year”’; two time receivers of the Texas United Latino Artists Award and recognized as “America’s Conjunto” by US Congressman Lloyd Doggett.
Los Texas Wranglers play with great enthusiasm that matches their extraordinary talent. This makes Los Texas Wranglers one of the most sought after Tejano bands in Texas. These wonderful musicians perform a blend of Tejano, Conjunto, Tex-Mex, Blues, Jazz, R&B, Rock, and Country.
Sunday’s music also features these local groups: The Waco Children’s Theatre at 12:30 pm, The Horton Duo at 1:30 pm with Instrumental Music of the Mediterranean and The Baylor Percussion Group with Todd Meehan at 2:30 pm.
In 2010, Sara became the Official State Musician of Texas. She uses her title to bring music programs into public schools and to help families learn to create together. While in Waco, Sara will share her music at several public schools before the festival begins.
A compilation album of Sara Hickman’s songs recorded by other amazing Texas musicians, including Willie Nelson, Marcia Ball, Shawn Colvin, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Ruthie Foster and 25 other artists was recorded in 2011. This ground-breaking album The Best of Times, gives all proceeds to ‘Theatre Action Project’, a group dedicated to putting art, music and theater back into public schools.
Sara has also performed with her kid friendly trio, Family Time Rocks!, whose motto is “families that create together, do great together!” Sara released Absence of Blame, her most recent CD and put out an animated DVD for children entitled, Big Bird, Little Bird , winner of Dr. Toy’s award for Best Summer Vacation item.
The Indian Spring Park Amphitheater will feature non-stop local talent from 11 am -7 pm.
The main stage will come alive with the sound of orchestral music from 11 am – 1 pm on Saturday, September 22nd. Waco area string and orchestral groups performing will be Prelude Gloria String Chamber Music, Central Texas Strings Academy, Waco Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Baylor Campus String Orchestra.
From 2-3:30 pm, the amphitheater will be filled with dancers from Waco dance studios wearing big smiles and colorful costumes from All That Jazz Academy, Joy’s School of Dance, and Expressions Dance Company.
University High school’s Mariachi Troyanos band directed by Paula Soloss will entertain the crowds at 4 pm.
Stonehenj and Howling Blades will perform at 5 pm.
Lorena’s talented young star, Holly Tucker, will perform country music with a professional back-up band from 6-7 pm.
Announcing WCAF SATURDAY HEADLINER: VITERA
The sonic lovechild of Maná and Guns N’ Roses conceived to the sounds of Santana and born in the land of Crossover, VITERA fuses old-school American rock with Latin grooves and instrumentation as a backdrop for pop rock lyrics in Spanish, English, and Spanglish. His influences include AC/DC, G N’ R, Whitesnake, Allman Brothers, Maná, Cabas, Juanes, and Rabanes. Consistently backed by a hand-picked lineup of seasoned players, this Austin-based artist brings an unmistakable Texas edge to Rock Latino blending congas and horns with greasy slide guitar one minute and orchestral strings with fiery rock violin the next. at 8:45 p.m. Saturday, September 22nd.
http://viterarocks.com/
Saturday’s music also features Ghosts Along the Brazos. You will surely dance, you will often laugh, and you will inevitably be awed by the musical prowess of twenty-something’s playing far beyond their years.
Connor Forsyth on Piano and Hammond B3 is a wunderkind, a player that truly commands attention. A member of The Belleville Outfit, he honed his chops touring the country, and now splits his time between the Ghosts and the legendary Ray Price’s touring band. You may also recognize bassist Kristopher Wade and guitarist Gregory Harkins from one of Austin’s brightest swing/jazz outfits, The Marshall Ford Swing Band, and the interplay between Forsyth, Harkins, and Wade with drummer James Gwyn rounds out the 4-piece, who splits his time touring with country legend, Junior Brown. http://ghostsalongthebrazos.com
The music line-up for the 2012 Waco Cultural Arts Fest to be held Sept. 22-23 is filled with 20 outstanding performing groups ranging from local students to nationally known professionals.
On Sat. Sept. 22, the Indian Spring Park Amphitheatre will provide live entertainment from 11 am to 11 pm. Concert goers will hear several orchestras, a Mariachi band, a Renaissance group, plus several bands playing original music in the genres of country, rock, bluegrass, and more. Several dance groups will dazzle the audience with colorful costumes, precision dancing, and expressive movements. Sunday from noon to 5 pm the main stage will include performances of children’s theatre, world music, percussion ensembles, a vocalist, and a Latin traditional band.
There are only a few months left to get ready for this year’s festival. During this time, I’ll be writing blogs about most of the 20 music groups scheduled for the event so you’ll be anticipating the performances even more. The names of the performers will be revealed gradually. I’m very excited about every group that has agreed to perform!
The Waco Cultural Arts Fest 2011 starts in just 10 days at Indian Spring Park. Admission is FREE for all ages.
Rich Spirit Borthwick will be returning to lead his Ashiko drum construction workshops. Rich has been making drums for 13 years and teaching workshops for 10 years.
An Ashiko is an African drum that originated in Nigeria. It is also popular in Central and South America and Cuba especially in drum circles, parades or during carnivals. The Ashiko is characterized by a truncated cone shape. It is usually played with bare hands in a slapping manner.
Workshops to make an Ashiko drum will be located near the suspension bridge on Sat. and Sun. Sept. 17-18. Be prepared to use ‘hands on’ craft skills such as gluing, using wood working tools, and knot tying. You’ll also need some strength to tighten your drum head to achieve the quality of sound you like. This workshop will develop a love of drumming and appreciation for the drum you build.
Borthwick will also give instructions to help participants play the Ashiko drums.
The FREE Waco Cultural Arts Fest 2011 starts in just 13 days at Indian Spring Park.
One of the headliner groups for the WCAF is Mahenwahdose, Native American performers of song, dance, and story from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company features a full-blood Muscogee Indian storyteller Nagonagogee OniYah, also known as Will Hill. Hill learned the traditions and ancestry of his tribe by the tribal elders. He uses language, traditional flute, drum, and humor to share his stories. Hill is joined by native American Jehnean Washington, a professional performer who graduated from AMDA (American Music and Dance Academy) in New York City.
Mahenwahdose was the first company to perform at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian before it opened in Washington, D.C. in 2004. They have performed at Disney’s Epcot Center and throughout the United States. Their original song, The Trail of Tears was nominated for a Grammy in 2008.
Mahhenwahdose will perform two shows at South Waco Elementary School on Fri. Sept. 16. On Sat. Sept. 17 the group will perform at Indian Spring Park at 6 pm and again at Indian Spring Park on Sun. Sept. 18 at 4 pm.
The FREE Waco Cultural Arts Fest 2011 starts in just 14 days at Indian Spring Park.
A unique percussion ensemble composed of 12 Baylor music students will present a composition written in 2009 by Alaskan composer John Luther Adams entitled Inuksuit on Sun. Sept. 18, 2011 at the WCAF. The percussionists will not perform on the stage. They will be dispersed throughout the park playing for about an hour starting at 12:30 pm. It is an interactive performance.
Inuksuit is intended to be played outdoors, designed to heighten our awareness of the sights and sounds that surround us every day and to energize our experience of our own environment. It is written for an incredible array of percussion instruments—conch shells, airhorns, sirens, gongs, maracas, drums, cymbals, and glockenspiels— and may use 9-99 musicians in its performance.
This summer the Baylor Percussion Group traveled to New York to participate in a 99-person performance ensemble of Inuksuit in Morningside Park in Manhattan.
Inuksuit was first performed in the forests of Banff, Canada and has only been performed a handful of times in the United States. The title Inuksuit refers to a type of stone marker used by Inuit and other native peoples to orient themselves in Arctic spaces. In a program note, the composer writes, “This work is haunted by the vision of the melting of the polar ice, the rising of the seas, and what may remain of humanity’s presence after the waters recede.”
Baylor Percussion Professor Todd Meehan,D.M.A., is the director of the Baylor Percussion Group. He tells us more about what to expect at the performance in Waco.
“Listeners should be ready to hear an ever-evolving piece of music. Starting with barely audible sounds of wind, the piece slowly develops through different ‘stages’ of sound, reaching a climactic peak in the middle of the piece and then receding into the audible distance. The stages are as follows: ‘Breathing/Wind’ (rubbed stones, maracas, whirly tubes), ‘Calls’ (conch and trumpet blasts), ‘Waves’ (blaring sirens, thunderous drums, and soaring cymbal sounds), ‘Clangs’ (bell tones), and finally another stage of ‘Wind/Birdsongs’ (triangles, cymbals, glockenspiels, toy piano). The work ends with sporadic birdsongs played by four of the performers. Because the piece has been performed once before in Texas, the composer was able to provide us with specific musical notation for Central Texas birds. Audiences will hear the songs of the Cardinal, the Purple Martin, and the Tufted Titmouse, in this particular performance.
The percussionists ‘travel’ during the piece, moving to different stations set up throughout the park. The audience should feel absolutely free to walk around the performance area and experience the sounds from different vantage points. As the composer states, there is no ‘best seat in the house’. Walk amongst the musicians and take in the music you are hearing as you would take in the sounds of nature.”