Music reading for conference
explores race, class barriers
By Mick Dyer
Staff Reporter
Poet June Jordan and musician
Adrienne Torf will perform ex
cerpts from their musical, “Bang
Bang Uber Alles,” as part of the
“Literacy, Culture and the Shaping
of Democracy” conference spon
sored by the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln department of
English and the Nebraska Council
of Teachers of English.
Concert
Preview
The reading with music will be
at 8 p.m. in the East Union.
The performance is open to the
public; a suggested donation of $1
will be asked of those who arc not
registered for the conference.
The musical premiered at
Atlanta’s Seven Stages Theater in
June 1986. It tells the story of a
group of eight young performers,
initially more concerned about
paying bills than about social is
sues, who act against the Ku Klux
Klan after the lynching of a young
black man and killing of a Jewish
family. Armed with song and
danqe, they decide to face the Klan
on its turf. They discover in the
process the importance of coopera
tion across the barriers of race, sex
and class, and the necessity of
heroic confrontation in the preser
vation of basic American values.
The music is an eclectic mix lure
of contemporary popular styles,
moving from pop to jazz to gospel
and then to waltz, reggae and funk.
It is written for young performers
and uses familiar styles to promote
ideas and feelings not common in
the media. Torf will perform the
music on the synthesizer, Jordan
will read lyrics for some of the
songs, and a local group will sing
the gospel-style “Death to the
Klan.”
Jordan is a well-known poet,
teacher and political activist. Her
several volumes of poetry and es
says include: “New Days: Poems
of Exile and Return,” Emerson
Hall, 1973; “Things that I Do in the
Dark: Selected Poetry,” Random
House, 1977; “Civil Wars,” Bea
con Press, 1981; and twochildren’s
books, including “His Own
Where,” nominated for the Na
tional Book Award.
Torf has composed music for a
wide range of settings, from the
contemporary eclecticism of
“Bang Bang Ubcr Alles” to pro
grams for the Brooklyn Philhar
monic find music for dance
troupes, films, cabarets and public
radio. She also has done a solo
album of music for piano and syn
thesizers. Torf earned a degree in
political science from Smith Col
lege and Stanford University in
1979.
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