Amidst all the techno-madness in so much of today`s musical sounds, a cappella groups are a somewhat quiet, pure voice.
And a bit of a rarity. Rarer still is an a cappella group composed entirely of women and focusing not on pop tunes but on a broad range of sounds.
Yet that`s what Sweet Honey in the Rock is all about-and what they`ll bring to Chicago Friday for a single performance at the People`s Church.
Their music weaves gospel, folk, blues, African tribal sounds, jazz, reggae and rap together into a performance as bright and richly textured as the vibrant clothing they wear on stage. Their voices, each individually electrifying, produce dynamic harmonies with only the occasional accompaniment of hand clapping or African percussive instruments.
It is an eclectic sound that has built the group an immense audience, earned kudos from Alice Walker and Pete Seeger, among others, and nurtured a worldwide reputation.
Founded 15 years ago in Washington, D.C., Sweet Honey in the Rock evolved from the D.C. Black Repertory Theatre Company, for which a woman named Bernice Johnson Reagon was vocal director. An Atlanta native and a Freedom Singer in the early `60s, Reagon founded Sweet Honey in the Rock as a way to help preserve the a cappella style and celebrate black American culture, pulling the group`s name from an old spiritual about a land so sweet that honey flows from the rocks.
Although the group`s membership has changed over the years, as the women have left to pursue family and career matters, Reagon, a cultural historian with the Smithsonian, has remained the energetic constant.
Sweet Honey in the Rock has a half dozen albums to its credit and played Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, Kenya and Japan, plus numerous countries in Latin America. Their performance in Chicago marks the group`s return from Europe, according to Ed Holstein, who`s helping organize the appearance here. ”They`re unique and very hard to categorize because their music encompasses so much,” says Holstein. ”Sweet Honey in the Rock is for people who like folk music, for people who like gospel. It`s eclectic.”
Sweet Honey in the Rock performs at 8 p.m. Friday at the People`s Church, 941 W. Lawrence Ave. Tickets are $17.50 and are available at Ticketron or by phone, 902-1919. For more information, call 489-7264.
Credit the Cotton Club, 1710 S. Michigan Ave. (341-9787), for helping revitalize the nightclub scene in the South Loop. And give them credit for serving up a regular string of top-notch jazz and blues performers.
Friday and Saturday, the club presents jazz pianist and singer Keiko McNamara. The artist, who studied classical piano for many years in her native Japan before turning to jazz after college, currently lives in Michigan with her auto executive husband. But it was the music of such visiting jazz greats as Duke Ellington that influenced her present sound, a mix of different styles and eras.
McNamara performs at 10 p.m., midnight and 2 a.m. this weekend. Tickets are $12 and available at the club.
Twenty-five years ago, so hot was fondue that newlyweds received the requisite two or three fondue pots as wedding gifts.
So fascinated with fondue was Chicagoan John Davis that in 1964 he opened a restaurant serving cheese and chocolate versions, tossing in a side order of flamenco guitar, courtesy of maestro Tomas (one name, please).
That first restaurant on Wells Street wore the name Geja`s Cafe and was planned as a hobby for Davis, who cautiously kept his day job. Yet the combination of entertainment and casual dining clicked, and Geja`s began tallying up the years, moving in 1971 to its present location at 340 W. Armitage Ave. (281-9101).
Over the years, the guitarists have changed, but Geja`s has remained one of those candlelit, romantic places where you could count on hearing fine flamenco and classical guitar, sipping a bit of wine and enjoying a light meal. Sort of a retro night of entertainment and dining.
Now in the midst of its 25th anniversary, Geja`s is spotlighting not only the fondue, of course, but three guitarists. They perform from about 7:30 p.m. daily-Ted Richine on Fridays and Saturdays, with Christopher Martin and Michele Walsh alternating the rest of the week. The restaurant opens at 5 p.m.
