This year’s World Music Celebration Concert was different from its eight predecessors as viewers joined a Zoom panelist presentation rather than attending the event in-person.
This concert was anything but ordinary, viewers from across the nation tuning into the live and prerecorded performances of Eduardo Mendoca, Navin Chettri, UI World Beat Ensemble, Jazz Band I and the LHSOM String Quartet.
Navin Chettri, the special guest, had lots of experience playing for the Dalai Lama, Pope John Paul II and Nelson Mandela in his past. Chettri was the featured artist in this concert as a director, composer and player of Brazilian popular music.
“What a strange thing, as we finish the piece we usually have claps at the end but I’m getting used to that,” Chettri said.
He took the stage in silence after a prerecorded video of him and the string quartet performing his original composition “Guru Mantra.”
Following the string quartet’s performance, Chettri presented with U of I’s World Beat Ensemble. This tune “Samba Batucada” included a variety of percussion instruments, and the group was joined by Mendoca who played several smaller instrumental features with different techniques and types of drums.
Musicians rearranged the stage for the next live performers. Mendoca was featured on guitar and vocals in his own home, edited with a video of the UI Jazz Band playing in a socially distanced and plexiglass divided circle.
Though the bands did not perform together, the editing of the video was done well and the sounds blended seamlessly.
The concert continued with performers live and in-person, practicing social distancing, wearing masks and used clear dividers for wind instruments.
Audience members shared their virtual applause and thanks in the chat, and one viewer wrote out their appreciation for the chance to watch the concert from the other side of the country.
“So happy to be tuning in from St. Petersburg, Florida! I attended many of these performances when I lived in Moscow. You all are awesome,” Kristen Kroenig stated.
Paige Fiske can be reached at [email protected]