"Hybridization has been the force that shaped radical changes in music history since Debussy,” says JooWan Kim, leader of the Oakland-based Ensemble Mik Nawooj, which is giving a series of concerts in the Bay Area (see below).
For the uninformed, including this writer until not long ago, hybridization is the creation of new cultural forms as a result of mixing different cultural forms. Example: works mixing jazz, reggae, salsa, Afro-Celtic rock — and with Mik Nawooj, says Kim, "Western European classical compositional techniques." For Debussy, it was more a matter of fascination with Japanese and Indonesian music.
Led by JooWan Kim, described as "Korean born, Bay area-based Taoist composer," the group melds Western European classical compositional techniques into hip-hop, rock, and pop. The result, according to the late San Francisco Bay Guardian, "is a sound that juxtaposes the rapid-fire staccato of rap with the bombastic percussiveness and dramatic tension of Western classical music. It's unapologetic and truly like nothing else.”
The six-piece chamber orchestra includes two MCs, deep funk drums and a lyric soprano. Their first studio release, Ensemble Mik Nawooj: A Hip-Hop Orchestra became available a couple of months ago. The schedule for their appearances:
- Nov. 1, Malonga Casquelourd Center, Oakland, with Dimensions Dance Theater
- Nov. 7 and 8, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, S.F.
- Nov. 15, San Bruno
- Dec. 5, Awaken Cafe, Oakland