2016 Doris Duke Artist and Fulbright scholar, experimental vocalist-composer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and producer Jen Shyu has been named “one of the most creative vocalists in contemporary improvised music” (The Nation).  Her most recent album Sounds and Cries of the World on Pi Recordings was listed in the “Top 10 Best Albums of 2015” by The New York Times and The Nation, among others.  A Stanford University graduate dedicated to traditional music study, she has performed her own music at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. www.jenshyu.com

All events are free and open to the public and take place at Allen Hall, 1005 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana.  Free parking is available in the garage across the street.

Sunday, November 13 2016, at 7:00 p.m., Solo Rites: Seven Breaths, a solo music ritual-drama (Main Lounge)

Jen Shyu invites you to join her for a musical pilgrimage through Taiwan, China, East Timor, Indonesia, Vietnam, and South Korea.  In this solo music ritual-drama, directed by award-winning, renowned Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho, this American-East Timorese-Taiwanese experimental jazz artist sings in seven languages, transporting the audience.  Ben Ratliff of The New York Times writes that her concerts, “…involving movement, video and self-accompaniment on the two-stringed Taiwanese moon lute, or the gayageum, a 12-stringed Korean zither,” are “among the most arresting performances I’ve seen over the past five years.”

Monday, November 14, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., “You are Everything" lecture/workshop on fieldwork research, improvisation, and composition (South Rec Room)

Jen Shyu will show highlights of her video footage from her traditional music and dance research over the last 10 years from Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, and South Korea, and talk about how it inspired the creation of Solo Rites: Seven Breaths in collaboration with renowned Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho. Then Shyu will guide the group in ear and rhythm training as well as intermedia improvisation for artists and non-artists, meant to give the participants some tools and inspiration to pursue their own creative projects, whether it be a future solo performance piece or writing project or whatever creative work they wish to embark upon.

Thanks to Laura Haber of Unit One/Allen Hall for this information item.

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