Wednesday, September 24, 1975
P239 16
daily nebraskan
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Sarod player
featured here
Ali Akbar Kahn, who gave a concert
Tuesday evening in the Nebraska Union
Centennial room, is known as India's great
est sarod performer. '
The sarod, perfected by Ustad Allaud
din Khan, Ali Akbar's father, is somewhat
similar to a guitar. It has a skin covered .
belly, metal fingerboard and 25 metal
strings, 17 of which act as sympathetic vi
brators. Four are used to play the melody,
and the other four are tuned to the tonic
note and used as drones. s
Kahn took his frst lessons from his.
father at age three, and learned drums and
vocal music before deciding to concentrate
on the sarod. He practiced eighteen hours a
day for fifteen years to gain mastery of the
instrument.
Kahn is the most recent member of a
musical family which can be traced to
Tansen, Mongul court musicial of Akbar,
Mogul emperor in the 16th century.
Since his initial yisit in 1955, Kahn has
since performed extensively in the United
States and other countries, and appeared at
the concert for Bangla Desh in Madison
Square Garden.
In 1956, he founded the Ali Akbar
College of Music in Calcutta to carry on
the teaching tradition of his father. In
1968, he founded a branch of this college
in Main County, Calif.
Kahn also is known as a composer, and
has written music for eighteen films, ballet
and theater performances. He also has
written eighteen original ragas, or melody
types, which are ihe basis of classical
Indian music.
In 1963 and 1966 he was presented
with the President of India award, the
highest honor given an Indian musician.
He also holds the award of the Padma -Bhushan,
or "lotus-adorned master."
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" Phota esurtmy JudrtJi Ll&gim Artfen
Ali Akbar Khan, a sarod player from India, performed in concert Tuesday evening in the
Nebraska Union Centennial Room. . "
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'Undercovers Hero'
PES
By Sarah BosJough
When 800 people crowded Into Lincoln
East High School's auditorium Saturday
night for the annual barbershop singing
show of the Lincoln Continentals, they
witnessed a tradition at least five centuries
old.
The Continentals are singers belonging
to the local chapter of the .Society for the
Preservation and Encouragement of Barber
Shop Quartet Singing in America
(SPEBSQSA). They were featured in the
first half of a program, entitled "a patriotic
salute to America."
The distinctive sound of a barbershop
quartet or chorus is achieved by singing
causes chords to "lock in" or "bloom" as
the natural overtones of each note rein
force the tones of the others.
This effect cannot be achieved with
piano or most instrumental groups, because
they must play in the tempered scale and
therefore slightly out of tune.
Dynamic range
The singing ensembles in the program
displayed excellent intonation and blend in
a wide dynamic range. This is noteworthy
because barbershop groups are unac
companied, and few of their singers are
professionals.
The second half of the program featured
two guest quartets: "Grandma's Boys"
from Illinois, third place medalists in the
international quartet competition, and the
"Classic Collection" from Hastings, cur
rently the top-ranking quartet in Nebraska.
The average age of "Grandma's Boys"
members is 23 years, suggesting that a wide
range of people are attracted to barber
shop singing. The 65 members of the
Lincoln Continentals, although predomi
nately middle-aged singers, include four
high school and five college students.
The capacity audience, which included
people of all ages, responded enthusiastical
ly to every number and called the two
guest quartets back for encores.
Passs the time
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1
Will
were places where men met and passed the
time. Barbers or customers waiting for
their services could play a cittern (a guitar
like instrument in most shops), and sing.
The custom of informal, extemporized
singing died out in I8th century England,
but was transported to the United States.
Barbershop singing, then almost any
type of amateur singing, survived to the
20th century. In the 1930s, the popularity
of radios led to the fear that group singing
would die out. In 1938, 26 men met and
formed the SPEBSQSA. The organization,
which has more than 35,000 members and
800 chapters:, the largest all-male singing
society in the world.
By K. Alice Berts
Combine several imported spices of
Peter Sellers with approximately 1,500
pounds of provocative and soliciting ladies;
set in gay Paree during World War I! and
garnish with a farcical overtone. The inev
itable result is a funny, very funny, movie.
Undercovers Hero, showing at the
Douglas 3 Theatre and 84th and O Drive-In,
is a hilarious approach to the Allies' war
tactics. Ladies from the den of iniquity, a
highly respected Paris brothel, are unoffi
cially drafted into the French forces. Their -heoric
endeavors in seducing and detaining
high-ranking German officials incites con
tagious laughter throughout the audience.
ihe fiim stars ietcr . Sellers in seven
roles. The British actor was particularly
memorable as the German inspector (sound
familiar?) determined to uncover sus
picious activities. Although he was the
villain, you had to feel sorry for the over
achiever's dedication; despite continual
failure.
It was a film full of puns; Bennett Cerf
would have loved Undercovers Hero. Much
of the movie's comedy was derived from
sexual Implications and political puns that
consistently provoked chuckles.
The superb make-up techniques used to
create Seller's many faces were commend
able. I almost "Heiled Hitler" when the1
, German leader made his appearance. And if
I had known the Japanese presidential sal
utation, I would have offered my respects
to their commander. The disguises were "
unbelievably believable.
For unorthodox nostalgia, Undercovers
Hero, rated R,- provides adult entertain
ment only. '
waa vmu sisals mi?
'Hark the Ark' to be in Lincoln
Back in the Dark Ages, when theater
was a spokesman for the church, the prev
alent forms of stage entertainment were
the morality pi ays-the tales of Everyman
battling Satan and the temptations of this
Vrorld to find truth and salvation in the
next, '
A troupe from San Diego, the Lamb's
Flayer? have revived this tradition, giving
productions at churches, parks, campuses,'
fairs and penal institutions throughout the
country.
The actors will be on campus this week
to present Hark The Ark Wednesday on
the south lawn by Love Memorial library
at 12:30 and 6 p.m.
The six groups sponsoring the produc
tion are Prayer and Praise, the Campus
Cru&ade for Christ, Inter Varsity Christian
Fellowship, N viators, the Baptist Student
Union and the Baptist Student FcBowsl-Jp.
"'" " iC'' 111,111
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K W JlMfttCAN it ;1
A PUbiic Service d This Newspaper
& The Advertising Council
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