Clark/Singh is a minimalist duet of voice and drums. Their first project is a study of a song cycle written by Brazilian composer Dorival Caymmi, Canções Praierias. Stripping songs down to their most essential form, the duo employs sweeping melodies, rhythmic interplay and changing timbre as the tools to explore spaces typically filled with harmonic movement. Their performances are educational, powerful and engaging, connecting listeners to the visceral and essential experience of music across time and culture. “Laura Ann Singh’s performance of ‘Canções Praieras’, a poetic set of compositions by bossa nova originator Dorival Caymmi, accompanied only by the seaside murmur and crash of Scott Clark’s drums, was as lovely and surprising as anything in this or any year.” – Peter McElhinney, Style Weekly More about Canções Praieiras: Dorival Caymmi composed and recorded his first full album, Canções Praieiras in 1954 at the age of 40. An avid writer, composer, musician and painter, Tom Jobim said of Dorival, he “picked up a guitar and orchestrated the world.” In Canções Praieiras, Caymmi crafts vivid scenes depicting life by the sea as fishermen and villagers go to work, fall in love, celebrate, and face death. All this activity happens around the main character of this song cycle: the sea. The sea is first beautiful, enticing and mesmerizing, but also awesomely powerful, demanding. Sweet, even when it exacts sacrifice, placating yet unforgiving, constant but everchanging. It serves as both a metaphor for the complexities of the human heart as well as an acknowledgement of something indomitable and beyond comprehension. The communities by the sea face these dichotomies of life and death, beauty and destruction, tenderness and passion, daily. Caymmi makes these far away characters accessible and even familiar in the simple sophistication of his music and lyrics. Drummer and composer, Scott Clark keeps time in the balance. His performances behind the kit are generous and empathetic, establishing his voice immediately upon striking the surface. Laura Ann Singh is a multilingual American singer, recording artist and composer, often associated with musica popular brasileira and Latin boleros. She has performed internationally in Europe, Russia, and South America as well as the Tiny Desk concert series on NPR and headlining the annual Globalfest festival in New York City. Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
