Picture this — a silent November evening with the ground still covered in white from a recent snowfall. You walk out of the dark and into the warm performing arts center. A large snake of people waiting to purchase their entry into the event is what greets you. Luckily your admittance is already guaranteed as you exchange pre-bought tickets for the night's program. Making your way into the concert hall you see the stage is already filled with hanging musical weapons of some sort; that's how you know it's going to be a good night. Finally seated in your cushioned and comfy seat, only four rows from the front with the time ticking further and further past the scheduled performance start time you see the host walk onstage while everyone starts to clap. It’s time.
Now, where might this be, you wonder? Maybe at an extravagant theatre in New York? Maybe in downtown Los Angeles? If anything it would be Seattle.
Nope.
It was little ol' Bellingham, Washington.
Last month I went to see a musical preform by the group Arcomusical. Admittedly the show started pretty slow, with just a single performer, Gregory Beyer.
But it was just slow for the initial minute.
Beyer very quickly got the stage and crowd warmed up with his rhythmic moves and smooth melodies. He had the whole audience clapping along to the beat as he jammed away on his seemingly magical berimbau.
Let me backtrack a little and explain something. As I stated above, before any of the performers came out, their instruments were already hung up on stage. Now, I'm not at all a musician and as someone who has never experienced the type of instrument they used, I was a bit lost as to what they would sound like, or even how they were to be played.
But when Beyer started playing his berimbau I was surprised by the sweet sound that it emitted. Before the show, the emcee had described the sound to be “harp-like,” although that is not what I connected it with. While certain notes were reminiscent of a harp, overall it reminded me much more of a sitar (well, at least a one-string sitar).
As you can see from the image, a berimbau looks like a bow only with a drum-like object attached to it. Overall there were six members performing with the group and they all seemed to have the same kind of berimbau, with the exception of the drum placement. From what I gathered, the closer to the ends of the bow the drum was placed the higher notes it produced, whereas the closer to the center of the bow the drum was it made gave a deeper sound.
One of the most interesting things from the show was how fluid all the performers were with their berimbaus! These look like complicated instruments but they were turning them upside-down mid-song and kept playing without missing a beat.
I assume it was so they could produce a different sound, but with all six of them playing, and my ears not used to this kind of music, I couldn’t tell a difference. But it did look pretty awesome.
Midway through the concert, one of the performers, Daniel Eastwood, had their berimbau break right in the middle of the song! The group halted everything and everyone took it well, as they should. We can't control everything.
But this incident led to something else I found really neat. There were extra berimbaus on stage already so when Eastwood went over to get another one we got to see him tune it.
It didn't occur to me until then that a thing that looks like a weapon would need tuning at all! He used what looked just like a guitar tuner and in a matter of no time, he was up and ready again.
Overall, one of the coolest things from the concert was just being able to listen to something so exotic. I doubt I would have had the chance to listen to a berimbau group anywhere else if it wasn’t for this sort of international environment that WWU strives to create.
If you get a chance to see this group in person, I highly recommend you do so! Or you could pick up their newest album, MeiaMaia, on iTunes or Amazon! It would make a great Christmas gift.