Monday night, the University of Arkansas Music Monday series continues with Blue Thread and a concert titled "Caravan." The ensemble, led by Nikola Radan from the UofA music faculty, will include flutes, Carnatic violin, doumbek, Spanish guitar and sitar. Nikola says playing the concert will continue the mission of Blue Thread, which is to musically find community.
Radan: It's inspiring working with people with different cultures and finding the common language, in this case, music. And it's really, truly a... I'm amazed how we end up making conversation. And, you know, they don't read the Western notation. I don't read their actually notation of, or whatever, the way how they preserve the music. But we find actually the same note that actually we can bond to.
Kellams: What will we see? What will we hear?
Radan: Well, this is a program that I first... Blue Thread is a group that my friends, Cristi Catt, vocalist, and I formed literally 10 years ago, actually almost 10 years ago. But, and our journey through the music of finding that, that actually is. So the music that traces my great music migration and sharing shared stories, and the focus on the particular Portuguese or Mediterranean.
But now actually I met the other musicians from other parts of the world that I really wanted to kind of put together. Fortunately, Cristi cannot be with us this time, but I wanted to actually create this instrumental versions of the music that basically is the kind of has the same concept of sharing traditions and stories. And so I called this program "Caravan."
So this is not simply a journey from one place to another, but that is the people who travel together and meet other people along the way and the instruments they carry as well. They share the story sitting around the fire, the melodies that they remembered. And along the way they transformed us to something else. So "Caravan" is simply a mystery, a mystery of what ways beyond the horizon and the unexpected things that happen when different worlds meet.
Kellams: You mentioned the instruments that people carry. Well, give us an idea of some of the instruments we'll hear.
Radan: Well, there will be a Carnatic violin that is a South Indian type of playing. It looks like a violin, but it has a completely different tuning and the way of playing. So it has a completely different technique. Kartik Balachandran is the great Carnatic violinist who lives around in Fayetteville. He's going to play that.
Then I have good friend, the Iranian musician, his name is Mohammad Javad Ravi, and he plays the Iranian kamancheh, which is the predecessor of violin type of bowed instrument. And a sitar is a plucked instrument from Iran. Also one of the ancient instruments from the Persian music.
Then Patrick Griffin will play Middle Eastern doumbek percussion instrument. I have also my friend Robin Bibeau on guitar and me on the flute. Nikola Radan, flutes, rather to say flutes, right, more than one.
Kellams: Now has this ensemble... I'm sure you've rehearsed, but have you performed as an ensemble in front of people before this particular...
Radan: Never. This is going to be the first time, and the first, I can tell you from the first rehearsal we had when we got together and everybody was, didn't know what to expect. But that joy, they immediately, you find it actually that we found common language with some ancient tune.
And, you know, this music to some can be familiar. Some of it is ancient and some of it may feel completely unknown. And that is the part of the journey. And that is the part actually that we really enjoy. I mean, we kind of found good vibration between each other. And we know what we do, what we are doing. Even though that could be really difficult stuff to play. And we feel so good in this environment being together.
Kellams: Will there be some... Those of us who are in the audience may not know, but will there be some improvisation happening Monday?
Radan: I would say most of the things are going to be improvised.
Kellams: Oh my gosh.
Radan: So, but expect actually to hear something, you know, not as a jazz, right? But it may sound as a jazz because of its rhythm, but you will find that actually the Iranian improvisation crossing the South Indian as well as Balkan. And it's something that you will find it maybe on the Silk Road.
Kellams: So you, the musicians up there, how are you communicating? Obviously, you're communicating through the music, but you're also looking at each other or...
Radan: I also found actually through our work and the rehearsals that what basically we work on, on the breath, really the breathing, how one breathes. And that's the something that is really, we kind of see each other or we feel each other in the breath. We know when is going to be the next one. And so that's something that is, I guess, another thing that makes a special thing between us.
Kellams: I always love it when you come by. Can't wait to hear the music Monday night.
Radan: Thank you so much, Kyle.
Nikola Radan and Blue Thread will be in concert in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall on the University of Arkansas campus Monday night for the next installment of the Music Monday series at the UofA. The concert has no admission charge. Music scheduled to begin Monday night at 7:30.
Blue Thread will also perform tomorrow evening in the Upper Ramble in Fayetteville. That begins at 5:30 and is part of the City of Fayetteville's Weekend Starts series. That, too, free.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
