In the next few posts, I would like to share a type of connection between brass and movement which I haven't discussed yet. We have already looked at brass musicians who dance and brass musicians who play for professional dancers. Today we are going to look at brass musicians who play for social dancing. This post one of three that will feature a specific group.
The first group is the Molotow Brass Orkestar. This group from Berne, Switzerland, describes their music as "Balkan Brass meets Swiss Folk music with a little bit of klezmer and ska on the side." This group has performed in a variety of settings. In addition to their recordings, they make music for public and private shows and parties. They have also participated at festivals such as the Emergenza Festival, the Buskers Festival, and the Brass Durham International Festival.
The Molotow Brass Orkestar gives lively performances which almost demand dancing. In this video, you can see people dancing in a club/bar setting.
One interesting thing, as you will see, is the instrumentation. The group includes two rotary valve trumpets, baritone, helicon, tuba, and drums. In this particular video, someone plays the alphorn as well. I personally haven't been to very many clubs/bars but it seems that here in the US, most places with dancing seem to use recorded music or a live rock band. I wish more groups like this played in the United States.
Websites to Check Out:
http://www.brassorkestar.ch/?lang=english&changelang=yes
http://www.emergenza.net/home.asp
http://www.brassfestival.co.uk/about.html
This is pretty interesting to bring up dance and brass. When you stop and think about human history, dance and music have always been pretty closely intertwined. Somehow, in our western art music tradition, having the audience move or dance was largely lost. A way to attract new audiences might be to find repertoire that audiences can dance to and perform it at a venue where dancing is possible. Of course, many classical music consumers may not like to dance, but most young people enjoy it. Perhaps finding repertoire for brass ensembles that people can dance to is a way to attract more young audience members to brass chamber music performances.
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