CAU is proud to present....
Dawn Xiana Moon CD Release & Video Premier
Art & Music Showcase
A seductive and passionate voice, evocative songwriting, and formal training make Dawn Xiana Moon one of the most distinctive Asian-American singers of her generation. With influences ranging from traditional Chinese music to modern American folk, she bridges the musical traditions of the East and West.
Moon was born in Singapore, a cultural melting pot with a rich mixture of Chinese, British, Thai, Indian, Japanese, and Malaysian backgrounds. She began her musical training early, studying classical piano at the age of five; not long after, her family moved to the United States, settling just outside of Detroit. Her piano, a gift from her grand-uncle, traveled the 9000 miles to their new home.
Continuing her classical training in the Midwest, she earned prizes for piano, flute, and voice in regional competitions. But it was her first year at the University of Michigan, where she studied literature and theatre, that shifted her musical paradigm: she broke out of her mold and began to play the guitar. "It was like anarchy," she says. "For the first time in my life, I wasn't limited to the notes a composer told me to play. I was improvising instead of just reading music." Two months later, she was writing folk-pop songs evoking artists like Over the Rhine, Damien Rice, Sufjan Stevens, and fellow Chinese-American Vienna Teng. A few years later, she was touring throughout the Midwest and East Coast with a guitar and keyboard in tow. She moved to Chicago and began collaborating on projects ranging from a commissioned piece for Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre (with composer Christian Matjias) to the film Chase + Mello.
Recently, the singer-songwriter began exploring her roots, fusing elements from traditional Chinese music with her signature blend of folk, pop, and jazz. The result is a musical brew in several languages that draws influences from sources as disparate as Han Dynasty literature and Americana. In Spaces Between, traditional Chinese melodies hover on top of lush layers that take a cue from Philip Glass. The two-thousand-year-old guzheng (zither) punctuates alt folk guitar. Erhu (Chinese violin) joins an understated piano trio, adding a melancholy, haunting note.
But this synthesis of world cultures takes a back seat to Moon’s earthy songwriting and soulful vocals. She continues to wrestle with themes of brokenness, identity, redemption, and hope, delivering every note with raw conviction: “Beauty is born in the midst of struggle, in dark nights that seem like they will never end, in the moments when we try to communicate with each other and fail. Because it’s when we stop trying, when we give up, that we become impenetrable – and we lose something of what it means to be human.”
At times epic and impassioned, at times quiet and introspective, Spaces Between reveals an intense honesty. “There are so many things I struggle to articulate in normal conversation,” Moon says. “But with music, there’s an immense freedom, even requirement, to drop our pretenses and reveal the mess.”
Although the individual members of Common Shiner hail from different cities, in 2008 they decided to make Chicago, IL they're musical home. It's here that they've crafted their sound and came up with the notion that Pop music can be more than just a hook…it can be meaningful as well. Influenced by not only the music they listen to, but also by their friends and the wonderful community of artists they've discovered through local shows and open mics, Common Shiner is ready to bring their music and bare their souls to the world.
Having released the acoustic album "Before They Sold Out (Part 1)" in 2011, Common Shiner shows just what can be done with a song when it's stripped to its core. At the beginning of 2012, Common Shiner independently raised the funds necessary (through the help of their fans using the fundraising site IndieGoGo) to record a new full-length album….this time with ALL their instruments. Be on the look out for "Before They Sold Out (Part 2)" in late 2012."
Facebook page: http://www.Facebook.com/CommonShiner
Left Turn At Albuquerque is a synthesis of 70s folk, 60s pop and classic rock, with lyrics that are not quite Shakespeare but are more than bubblegum (not that there's anything wrong with bubblegum pop, it's a not-so-guilty pleasure). Relying on intricate guitar
fingerwork, sultry piano and well-thought-out lyrics, songwriters and co-lead singers Jeff Churchwell and Sarah Scanlon work all sides of the street to bring you music that refuses to sit in a single niche, but rather appeals to a wide variety of tastes and age groups. Bassist Joe Nemec rounds out the core of the band very tastefully, with groove and soul one minute, and rock and punch the next.
Left Turn At Albuquerque is a detour well-worth taking.
Read My Hips tribal bellydance was founded in 1997. Directed by Stephanie Barto, the first person certified to teach American Tribal Style outside of California, the troupe performs its own fusion style with elements borrowed and adapted from Bharata Natyam, the folkloric dances of the Middle East, Kathak, Flamenco, Hip Hop, and American modern dances. RMH teaches classes and workshops and has performed at a wide variety of local clubs, special events, and private parties, including the House of Blues, Chicago Field Museum, Green Mill, Old Town School of Folk Music, Aragon Ballroom, Alhambra Palace, and Museum of Contemporary Art.
Loni Diep is an artist who explores the ideas of femininity, body, and narrative through book and paper. Making use of her MFA from Collumbia College:Book and Paper program, she uses papermaking and bookbinding to create sculptures that narrate various themes on social perception, human behavior, and cross cultural observations.
Plus Wildfire Weaver fire spinning!
