The Brooklyn Arts Council is taking music
out of Brooklyn’s churches and putting it out for everyone to
enjoy in Prospect Park. On Sept. 15, BAC presents "Praise
in the Park," a free program of traditional, religious music
from around the world at the park’s Greek temple-styled Peristyle.
The focus of this concert is Catholic folk music traditions with
a special emphasis on processionals and music performed to honor
saints.
Artists performing in "Praise in the Park," curated
by BAC folklorist Kay Turner, include The Giglio Band, led by
Danny Vecchiano. This 10-piece group usually plays atop the five-story
spire carried as part of the annual Dance of the Giglio at the
feast of San Paolino d’Nola in Williamsburg. At "Praise
in the Park" they will perform songs in honor of St. Paulinus.
(Although for this concert, the Giglio Band will have their feet
firmly planted on the ground.)
The dance of the Giglio is an ancient Italian tradition that
came to America with immigrants who arrived at the end of the
19th century. The festival can be traced back 1,600 years to
Nola, Italy.
Filmmaker Tony De Nonno, in his 2001 documentary "Heaven
Comes to Brooklyn in July," reports that in the 4th century,
the town of Nola was overrun by a North African band of warriors
who kidnapped Nola’s young men and brought them home as slaves.
San Paolino, then the bishop of Nola, gained fame when he liberated
Nola’s men from a North African sultan. When he returned with
the men, the townspeople brought him lilies – the inspiration
for the design of the Giglio, or "lily."
Also on the "Praise in the Park" program are Los Afortunados,
a band led by Felix Sanabria, who will play "palo congo,"
drumming music that weds African and Catholic religious traditions.
According to Turner, this Spanish song tradition references Catholic
saints but praises Congolese spirits.
Mariachi Real de Mexico, a seven-piece ensemble, will play music
honoring Santa Cecilia, the Mexican patron saint of music. Founders
Ramon Ponce Sr. and Ramon Ponce Jr. organize the Santa Cecilia
Feast celebration at Sacred Heart Church on Clermont Avenue.
La Troupe Makandal, will perform Haitian music performed during
"rara," or Lent. Rara’s irreverent song lyrics juxtapose
Christian and voodoo chants, according to Turner. From the first
Sunday after Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, bands of musicians,
dancers and devils thread through the Haitian countryside, transforming
the season into a blend of voodoo magic and the Christian story
of redemption.
According to Turner, rara is both the name of the bands and the
season and may be a Kikongo word for the winding stroll of the
musicians. Rara bands’ trademark instrument is the vaksin, a
bamboo trumpet.
Finally, the Catholic Melkite Church of the Virgin Mary choir,
from Park Slope, will sing traditional liturgical songs in Arabic
and Greek.
The Brooklyn Arts Council presents "Praise
in the Park: Musical Expressions of Faith" on Sept. 15,
from 1 pm to 6 pm, at the Prospect Park Peristyle.
To reach the concert site, enter the park at Park Circle (Prospect
Park Southwest and Parkside Avenue) and walk north on South Lake
Drive.
Bring lawn chairs and blankets. For more information, call Brooklyn
Arts Council at (718) 625-0080. The concert is free.
