Twelve Series Concert comes to Harare
IF MUSIC is a language for most of us, then for Oran Etkin it is his mother tongue, and with his trio and his project Timbalooloo, he has dedicated his life to passing it on to others. With support from MBCA, this renowned American jazz outfit will perform and teach in Harare for two weeks, starting Friday sFebruary 23.
The Oran Etkin trio visit is the grand finale of the diverse and wonderful musical series that has been Twelve Concerts' first season, running from early 2017 until now.
Adults and children alike will fall in love with this music as Etkin not only performs world-class jazz, but also gives insight into a ground-breaking teaching method that he has pioneered through Timbalooloo.
The band has won awards and praise at flagship jazz festivals around the world, and the New York times has described Oran as “a great clarinet player” and “an excellent improviser”.
Etkin will also be here with his Timbalooloo Method, a unique approach to teaching and performing music that gets children to imagine that their instrument is alive and full of character, humour and emotion that is yearning to come out.
“Sometimes I like to step back and look at the music classes and see what the children are actually learning beyond the music. Of course they're also learning different skills, math skills, social skills, verbal skills, speech, language, fine and gross motor skills,” he said.
While music lovers look forward to Etkin's visit, he is equally excited to visit Zimbabwe; music has diverse dialects and he seeks to learn as many as possible and to incorporate them into his work as a performer and teacher.
The notion of listening and collaborating is vital to learning music, and is especially close to Etkin's heart.
Etkin will be collaborating with Zimbabwean mbira masters and taking to the stage with them on the second of his Theatre in the Park concerts during the visit.
"I'm interested in the ability to listen, and actively listen, and then add your own voice, which is what you do as a musician. You listen to what's going on and you add your own voice to create more beauty. This is important in life as you grow up to be an adult," he said.
The Oran Etkin trio and Timbalooloo will perform at Theatre in the Park, Harare Gardens, on the following dates: ◆ Friday February 23 at 7:30pm, featuring Oran Etkin Trio and guest player Sam Mataure (tickets $12 or $10, with children in school uniform free); ◆ Saturday February 24 at 11am, featuring the Oran Etkin Timbalooloo concert for children(one child with parent, $12); ◆ Saturday February 24 at 7.30pm, featuring Oran Etkin Trio with Blessing Chimanga and Zimbabwean mbira masters in a collaborative concert. The full workshop and outreach programme will be publicised later, but information on Oran Etklin can be found at www.oranetkin.com. Concert tickets are now on sale at The Spotlight in Reps Theatre.