W EDNESDAY. OCTOUKl? 2.
l’\( .1- 9
Performance
to highlight
German lied
By Emily Wray
Staff Reporter
Leading performers of the lied
will present a concert Thursday
night at Kimball Recital Hall fea
turing German contributions to clas
sical music.
The lied, a German art song de
veloped between 1800 and 1920,
contains short lyrical poems of vivid
imagery well-adapted to music, said
Margaret Kennedy-Dygas, associ
ate professor of voice at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“It is one of the major contribu
tions of German musical culture to
Western art music,” Kennedy
Dygas said.
The 8 p.m. performance features
two gifted singers specializing in art
song who teach and perform in the
region, Kennedy-Dygas said.
Stephen Town, professor of
music at Northwest Missouri State
University, sings baritone. Richard
Bobo, professor of piano and mu
sic literature at Northwest Missouri
State University, accompanies
Town on the piano.
Town’s program, Romanzen aus
Tiecks Magelone, Op. 33, by
Ob Johannes Brahms, features poetry
based on a famous folk tale,
Kennedy-Dygas said.
“The story line is not presented
in the songs, it’s in the program
notes,” she said. “The songs are in
serts of characters speaking in the
story.”
Soprano Wendy Zaro-Fisher
sings the second half of the pro
gram. Zaro-Fisher, an assistant pro
fessor of voice at the University of
Kansas, is accompanied by pianist
Cory Hall.
Zaro-Fisher will perform part of
composer Paul Hindemith’s piece
Das Marienleben (Selections), Ver
sion u.
Zaro-Fisher’s program includes
contemporary reflective fantasy
poems based on the life of Mary,
the biblical mother of Jesus,
Kennedy-Dugas said.
“ItVneo-classicar, tuneful, but
with more dissonance,” Kennedy
Dygas said. “The poetry and music
as well is more personal and ab
stract at times.”
Thursday’s free performance
will appeal to students interested in
German culture, Kennedy-Dygas
said.
*The images in the text are re
flected in the music to a sophisti
cated degree,” she said. “It should
be a real good performance.”
The Tibetan Monks of the Sera Je Monastery
Monks will entertain, send message
By Bret Schulte
StaffReporter
Feeling a lack of
spiritual fulfillment in
your life? Has it been
awhile since you’ve
attained a plane of
elevated con
sciousness? If the
answer is yes to
either of these
questions, help is on
the way.
The Tibetan monks
of the Sera Je
Mon
▼ as
H tery
will
be visiting
Nebraska Union’s
Centennial Room to
night. The monks plan
on providing a multime
dia event complete with a va
riety of dance, music and pro
jected images of their homeland
onto a large screen.
Excerpts of the film “Compassion
in Exile,” a biography about the plight
of the current Dalai Lama’s forced emi
gration from 111)61 and his triumphs of
nonviolent opposition.
The odd combination of Buddhism
and advanced technology may seem a
bit paradoxical, but this format has
been quite successful in allowing the
monks to convey both a message and
entertainment simultaneously.
Kent Porter, coordinator of the Lin
coln chapter of Jewel Heart, an inter
national organization dedicated to the
study of Tibetan culture, said the pur
pose of the tour is two-fold.
“First, (we want) to raise an aware
ness of (Tibetan) history,” he said.
“Second, (we want) to raise funds for
their monastary.”
The monks have been forced
to take their cause on the
road because of increasing
financial pressure from
constant flow of refugees
who seek shelter in their
f ” monastary.
.» Portersaidalthough themonks are
Tibetan, they were forced to move the
monastary from Tibet to India because
of increasing anti-religious movements
on behalf of the Chinese government,
which has occupied Tibet since 1959.
The Chinese government issued the
death penalty for any citizen carrying
a picture of the Dalai Lama.
This persecution sent the Tibetan
monks to the U.S. in search of support.
Three monks will be returning toUNL
in November for a week.
The Monks plan on constructing a
sand mandela, an elaborate circular
sand painting, on the second floor of
Morrill Hall.
Tonight’s presentation begins at
7:30 at Nebraska Union. Tickets are
$8 at the door and $5 for students.
Prosecutor
angered by
‘Doonesbury’
comic strip
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)
— California’s top prosecutor
lashed out at the comic strip
“Doonesbury” on Tuesday for pok
ing fun at his raid on a club that sold
marijuana to medical patients and
the elderly.
Attorney General Dan Lungren
said such ridicule encourages a
“wink-and-nod” attitude toward
drugs that is responsible for destroy
ing children’s lives.
Lungren asked the Universal
Press Syndicate, which distributes
the popular satirical comic strip, to
either withdraw this week’s series
or run “a disclaimer side-by-side
with the strips which states the
known facts related to the Cannabis
Buyers’ Club.”
Calls to Doonesbury cartoonist
Garry Trudeau were referred to Lee
Salem, Universal’s editorial direc
tor, who said the syndicate would
do neither.
“A disclaimer really violates the
premise of die strip,” said Salem,
adding that it is up to individual
newspapers to provide any addi
tional context they believe their
readers need.
“I don’t think it’s the intent of
any conic strip to provide a full dis
cussion of all the facts in a political
discussion,” Salem said.
In August, Agents from
Lungren’s Bureau of Narcotics En
forcement raided the San Francisco
club, which had sold marijuana to
AIDS and cancer patients for use
as a pain reliever. The club had the
tacit approval of city officials and
local police, operating openly for
five years without interference.
Lungren said at the time that in
addition to providing marijuana il
legally to ill patients, the club was
a major source for dealers who
peddled drugs on the street.
1 heater artist speaks of Multicultural issues
By Ann Stack
Senior Reporter
Almost every kid has the fantasy of
running away and joining the circus,
but most don’t act on it.
Except Jeff Raz.
Raz, a traveling theater artist, is vis
iting the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln this week as part of the College
of Fine and Performing Arts Artists
Diversity ResidencyProgram. The pro
gram brings artists with diverse back
grounds to the UNL campus to address
multicultural issues. -
The 39-year-old San Franciscan
didn’t have to run away to join the cir
cus, but he has performed extensively
as a clown and an acrobat.
He got his start performing when
he was 14,«vhen he learned how to
juggle at a Renaissance fair in San
Francisco.
“I was running a games booth, and
we got excruciatingly bored,” he said.
“Someone taught me how to juggle
with croquet balls. Aim! at 14, when you
find something that people will actu
ally watch yon do, it’s thrilling.”
He continued to perform street the
ater through high school. In 1978, Raz
turned professional when he got a job
with the city’s top juggling group, per
forming up to five shows a day.
Frustrated with the street perfor
mance scene and feeling that it lacked
depth, Raz attended the Dell’Arte
School of Physical Comedy.
“I thought I’d be an actor but found
there was no money and no depth in
that either,” he said.
For seven years after that, he toured
with the trio Vaudeville Nouveau, per
forming original plays.
Then he got the break of a lifetime
when he becarneth&lead character and
ringmaster ofthe Rickie Family Cir
cus. He retired from the circus in
March 19%, after more than five years
of clowning and acrobatics.
**I learned acrobatics as a teen-ager
to go along with juggling,” he said. “A
clown needs Urknow everything about
a circus and go from there.”
Raz even trained clowns for The
Ringling Bros, at the Ringling Clown
College in Florida.
“The American circus is based cm
the Ringling Bros, model — and
Ryan Soderlin/DN
JEFF RAZ demonstrates one of his many talents, juggling, on the
balcony of his apartment
clowns are at the bottom of the heap,”
Raz said. ‘That’s not how it should be,
and they’re finally starting to get away
from that ” *
He said circuses are also getting
away from the triteness that’s always
followed them, becoming more enliv
ened with the theater and the aesthet
ics of the performance.
Because he incorporates theater
into whatever he does—be it juggling,
acrobdftcs or clowning—he appreci
ates the duality the circus strives for.
Please see RAZ on 10
