2018 Welcoming Week Performance: Karuna featuring Hamid Drake, Ralph M. Jones, Adam Rudolph

• Event Date: Sunday, September 16, 2018
• Time: 2:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Performance

The Spurlock Museum, Center for Advanced Study and Robert E. Brown Center for World Music celebrate 2018 Welcoming Week with a free performance by music trio Karuna. This performance is presented as part of Improvisers Exchange, the annual CAS Initiative for 2018–19 broadly exploring the field of music improvisation.

• Hamid Drake (drumset, percussion)
• Ralph M. Jones (woodwinds, flutes)
• Adam Rudolph (handrumset, electronics, percussion)

What makes Karuna's music magic is the special history and decades of shared experiences among Drake, Jones and Rudolph, who bring their unique and evolved rhythm and sonic languages to the fore, reaching to inspire any audience though spirited dialogue.

Deep roots were established between Hamid and Adam in 1969, when they met in a Chicago drum shop, started studying music together, and began performing regularly with the great Baba Fred Anderson by 1972. The 1974 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival would bring Adam and Ralph together in performance in groups led by Detroit artist / mentors Kenne Cox and Charles Moore.

When Drake, Jones and Rudolph started performing together in the Moving Pictures ensemble in 1997, it was immediately clear a special chemistry was at play. Karuna reflects their ongoing research into the connection of the inner life to musical expression and speaks to the idea of creative action as a gesture of compassion.

This event is cosponsored by the Division of Musicology, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and School of Music and is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

Improvisers Exchange

Improvisers Exchange is a two-year initiative deeply investigating the field of music improvisation. This multifaceted program features performance and engagement residencies by leading artists representative of a wide spectrum of the practice, initiates a new performance course on improvisation for students, and promotes scholarly discourse through lectures and panel discussions.

Jason Finkelman (KCPA) and Mike Silvers (Musicology) have been appointed CAS Resident Associates for AY2018–19, which includes a graduate seminar (CAS 587) in Spring 2019. For more information please consult The Center for Advanced Study (external link).

Welcoming Week

More than two dozen organizations in Champaign County will celebrate 2018 Welcoming Week by hosting events throughout National Welcoming Week, September 14–23 (external link), and throughout much of the month of August and September to recognize immigrant contributions to our communities. Welcoming Week Champaign County is a community bridge-building initiative of the New American Welcome Center at the University YMCA (external link)—fostering newcomer and immigrant integration strategies for more inclusive, vibrant, and welcoming communities in Champaign County, Illinois.