Event box
Gao Hong and Issam Rafea Performance In-Person
Pipa virtuoso Gao Hong and oud master Issam Rafea met in 2017 at Carleton College while Gao Hong was teaching there and Issam Rafea was a residency artist. They bonded when first met and immediately committed to recording and performing together. Once in the recording studio, they began improvising music that was so cohesive it seemed as if they had worked together for years. Both Issam and Gao Hong are wonderful composers, and this helps each anticipate what the other will do in their improvisations. Since they only play improvisations, no two performances are ever exactly the same, and the duo often creates instantaneous site-and audience-specific pieces to describe their immediate feelings and honor their audiences. Their music sounds both ancient and strikingly modern at the same time. Both musicians are immigrants as well, and the performances are ones that immigrants from any culture can enjoy and relate to. They bring the instruments together for the kind of compelling duets that earned them two nominations for the 2019 Independent Music Awards. Songlines calls their collaboration “a recording that is consistently engaging, deeply contemplative, and culturally resonant.”
- Date:
- Saturday, January 25, 2020
- Time:
- 3:00pm - 4:00pm
- Time Zone:
- Central Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Northtown Meeting Room
- Library:
- Northtown Library
- Audience:
- Adult All Ages
- Categories:
- Arts/Entertainment Cultural Heritage