Bobby McFerrin to perform at Overture Center January 22
Syncopatic emanations
Syncopatic emanations
In the late 1980s, McFerrin hit it big time with mega-hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” It stayed at number one on Billboard’s 100 for two weeks and won McFerrin
three Grammy awards. Most performers would have risen that wave to continuous hits and fortune. But McFerrin was bound and determined to stay in control of
his art and his life.
“As soon as ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ became a hit, all the conversations with the record companies at that point were about ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy – The
Sequel,’” McFerrin said. “They wanted something similar, maybe something upbeat in the same way. And I said ‘Absolutely not!’ I try not to duplicate myself. So I
held out and insisted on going in another direction. And that’s been my MO ever since the beginning of my career. That is the most fulfilling way to do it. It
keeps me interested and it also keeps the audiences interested and curious. ‘What’s he going to do next?’ But the staple of my career is solo voice concerts.”
While McFerrin is equally comfortable conducting Mozart with a symphony orchestra or performing with his vocal group Voicestra, it is probably his solo
performances that most clearly exhibit McFerrin’s musical range. He is almost an entire orchestra in one voice although McFerrin tries to copy nothing, instead
allowing the sounds to emanate from his imagination and his soul.
“My goal was to somehow convey to the audiences’ ears that what they were hearing was actually more than what I was actually doing,” McFerrin said. “I
was trying to create the illusion that as I sang melodic and rhythmic things, that it would suggest the harmonies and all that kind of stuff. That was my only goal.
It wasn’t to sound like a trumpet or sound like a clarinet or cello. It was simply to use the color palette of language and just see what I could come up with. I was
exploring sound. But I never set out to listen to a sound and then try to imitate it. I never worked that way. It was always the other way. I would sing something and
then the critics or the audience would say ‘You sounded like …’ That was never what I was going for.”
While McFerrin will appear by himself at the Overture Center, he never feels alone because the audience is a part the performance because McFerrin is
conscious of how everything and everyone in the music hall affect the sounds and the energy of the performance.
“The audience becomes part of the instrument, just like the hall and the acoustics are part of the instrument,” McFerrin said. “The cultural background
becomes part of the instrument. The cultural background is the region I am singing in, whether it is in the United States or in Europe. That becomes part of the
instrument and part of my palette of sound. They inform the improv. Lot’s of times if I am staying in a particular culture and I hear a particular kind of music — if
I am in Ireland and I hear Irish bands playing — more likely, I will do some improvisations that have a theme based on that music. I deliberately blank out the
audience in the beginning because I don’t want to walk out there and be immediately influenced by anything except the sounds that come out of my voice. In
order for me to do that, I like to work in a dark house where I can’t see anyone and then just start singing. Singing kind of tells me what is going on. It helps me to
gauge where I am and where the audience is coming from. It helps me hear the acoustics in the house because the acoustics are different from the sound check
to the audience. When you do a sound check, the hall is empty. When the audience is there, it changes the sound. All of that goes into my performances.”
For McFerrin, it isn’t about fame or ego, it is about the music and the experience. “I usually get the same king of enthusiastic responses no matter where I am at,”
McFerrin said. “It is enthusiastic in the sense that we’ve all participated in a musical event as a community. It’s not to say that they are enthusiastic about my
technique. I don’t really care about that kind of stuff. What I care about mostly is a joyful and enthusiastic response because we’ve done something together. We’
ve pulled together and created something. That happens everywhere.”
What can the audience expect at his performance? “Fun,” was McFerrin’s reply. And for one cold January night some Madisonians won’t be worrying. They
will simply be happy.
Bobby McFerrin will be performing at the Overture Center for the Arts on Thursday, January 22 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20-$55. Call 258-4141 for ticket
information.
three Grammy awards. Most performers would have risen that wave to continuous hits and fortune. But McFerrin was bound and determined to stay in control of
his art and his life.
“As soon as ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ became a hit, all the conversations with the record companies at that point were about ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy – The
Sequel,’” McFerrin said. “They wanted something similar, maybe something upbeat in the same way. And I said ‘Absolutely not!’ I try not to duplicate myself. So I
held out and insisted on going in another direction. And that’s been my MO ever since the beginning of my career. That is the most fulfilling way to do it. It
keeps me interested and it also keeps the audiences interested and curious. ‘What’s he going to do next?’ But the staple of my career is solo voice concerts.”
While McFerrin is equally comfortable conducting Mozart with a symphony orchestra or performing with his vocal group Voicestra, it is probably his solo
performances that most clearly exhibit McFerrin’s musical range. He is almost an entire orchestra in one voice although McFerrin tries to copy nothing, instead
allowing the sounds to emanate from his imagination and his soul.
“My goal was to somehow convey to the audiences’ ears that what they were hearing was actually more than what I was actually doing,” McFerrin said. “I
was trying to create the illusion that as I sang melodic and rhythmic things, that it would suggest the harmonies and all that kind of stuff. That was my only goal.
It wasn’t to sound like a trumpet or sound like a clarinet or cello. It was simply to use the color palette of language and just see what I could come up with. I was
exploring sound. But I never set out to listen to a sound and then try to imitate it. I never worked that way. It was always the other way. I would sing something and
then the critics or the audience would say ‘You sounded like …’ That was never what I was going for.”
While McFerrin will appear by himself at the Overture Center, he never feels alone because the audience is a part the performance because McFerrin is
conscious of how everything and everyone in the music hall affect the sounds and the energy of the performance.
“The audience becomes part of the instrument, just like the hall and the acoustics are part of the instrument,” McFerrin said. “The cultural background
becomes part of the instrument. The cultural background is the region I am singing in, whether it is in the United States or in Europe. That becomes part of the
instrument and part of my palette of sound. They inform the improv. Lot’s of times if I am staying in a particular culture and I hear a particular kind of music — if
I am in Ireland and I hear Irish bands playing — more likely, I will do some improvisations that have a theme based on that music. I deliberately blank out the
audience in the beginning because I don’t want to walk out there and be immediately influenced by anything except the sounds that come out of my voice. In
order for me to do that, I like to work in a dark house where I can’t see anyone and then just start singing. Singing kind of tells me what is going on. It helps me to
gauge where I am and where the audience is coming from. It helps me hear the acoustics in the house because the acoustics are different from the sound check
to the audience. When you do a sound check, the hall is empty. When the audience is there, it changes the sound. All of that goes into my performances.”
For McFerrin, it isn’t about fame or ego, it is about the music and the experience. “I usually get the same king of enthusiastic responses no matter where I am at,”
McFerrin said. “It is enthusiastic in the sense that we’ve all participated in a musical event as a community. It’s not to say that they are enthusiastic about my
technique. I don’t really care about that kind of stuff. What I care about mostly is a joyful and enthusiastic response because we’ve done something together. We’
ve pulled together and created something. That happens everywhere.”
What can the audience expect at his performance? “Fun,” was McFerrin’s reply. And for one cold January night some Madisonians won’t be worrying. They
will simply be happy.
Bobby McFerrin will be performing at the Overture Center for the Arts on Thursday, January 22 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20-$55. Call 258-4141 for ticket
information.
By Jonathan Gramling
As he grew up in New York City, Bobby McFerrin — the 10-time Grammy winner who will be performing at the
Overture Center January 22 — was exposed to an international plethora of sounds. His parents were classically-trained
musicians. Although his parents never trained him in opera, he absorbed the rich sounds and rhythms of his childhood.
“I heard great operatic voices growing up,” McFerrin said in a phone interview with The Capital City Hues. “My father at
that time was also part of a small Black community that were classically-trained musicians and were dreaming of the
opportunities that they would one day get the chance to do what my father realized when he auditioned for the Met in
1955 and signed a contract in 1966, I believe. It was an interesting time. My sister and I used to watch the Metropolitan
Opera broadcasts on television, presented by Texaco, I believe, when we were kids. We would gather around as a family
and watch the productions and my parents would explain what was going on. The operas were in Italian or whatever
language. So I grew up with this sense that music was music, whether it was classical or jazz. Although my parents were
classically-trained vocalists, they loved jazz, so there was always jazz in the house besides Giuseppe Verdi.”
There was also a diversity of language in the McFerrin household. “I grew up in a family where all of that music was
played,” McFerrin said about music with African, Caribbean and European influences. “You grow up in a house and your
uncle speaks German, your aunt speaks Spanish, your father speaks French and your mother speaks Italian. You hear all of
those languages on a daily basis and you respond to them easily. I grew up in that kind of environment.”
As he grew up in New York City, Bobby McFerrin — the 10-time Grammy winner who will be performing at the
Overture Center January 22 — was exposed to an international plethora of sounds. His parents were classically-trained
musicians. Although his parents never trained him in opera, he absorbed the rich sounds and rhythms of his childhood.
“I heard great operatic voices growing up,” McFerrin said in a phone interview with The Capital City Hues. “My father at
that time was also part of a small Black community that were classically-trained musicians and were dreaming of the
opportunities that they would one day get the chance to do what my father realized when he auditioned for the Met in
1955 and signed a contract in 1966, I believe. It was an interesting time. My sister and I used to watch the Metropolitan
Opera broadcasts on television, presented by Texaco, I believe, when we were kids. We would gather around as a family
and watch the productions and my parents would explain what was going on. The operas were in Italian or whatever
language. So I grew up with this sense that music was music, whether it was classical or jazz. Although my parents were
classically-trained vocalists, they loved jazz, so there was always jazz in the house besides Giuseppe Verdi.”
There was also a diversity of language in the McFerrin household. “I grew up in a family where all of that music was
played,” McFerrin said about music with African, Caribbean and European influences. “You grow up in a house and your
uncle speaks German, your aunt speaks Spanish, your father speaks French and your mother speaks Italian. You hear all of
those languages on a daily basis and you respond to them easily. I grew up in that kind of environment.”