Section A·Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, September 28, 1998
Musician tunes up talent of students
Edgar Meyer, right, double-bass player and composer, gives John Hamil, left, former KU student from Kansas City, Kan., tips on how to improve his playing. Edgar Meyer conducted a master class for KU students and area musicians on Saturday afternoon in the Lied Center. Photo by Daniela Sutor/KANSAN
Bass player Edgar Meyer instructs backstage Saturday
Bass musicians knew that Saturday afternoon would be their only chance to have a music class with Edgar Meyer, a double-bass player, who performed with Bela Fleck and Mike Marshall at the Lied Center on Saturday night.
By Mariana Paiva
Kansan staff writer
John Hamil, former Kansas City, Kan, graduate student, tried to absorb all he could in the short time he had with the guest teacher he said he admired so much.
"It was really good," said Hamil. "I learned more doing that than taking lessons the whole year."
Meyer conducted a master class for University of Kansas students and area musicians, and then instructed them for 30 minutes on how to improve their technique and understanding of the instrument. The class was backstage in the Lied Center in front of about 40 audience members.
"We all learned something today. He is so kind to come and share his knowledge with us."
Lawrence Rice
Professor of Bass
Mike Brownell, Reno, Nev. graduate student, who participated in the class, said Meyer did a nice job of balancing compliments of the students' music with constructive criticism.
"It would be nice to have had more time, but I think he did a good job getting a lot of points across in a short amount of time," he said.
Laurence Rice, professor of bass, said the fact that Meyer conducted the class in a small place helped the audience to interact and ask questions at the end of the class.
"It was just a wonderful event." Rice said. "We all learned something today. He is so kind to come and share his knowledge with us."
Freck, Marsh and Meyer performed to a nearly sold-out Lied Center audience Saturday night.
The three musicians have known each other for more than 20 years but do not regularly play together. They are now on tour to promote an album they recently recorded together called Uncommon Ritual.
Amy Hackmeier, Houston senior, said that before Saturday's concert, she was only familiar with the work of Fleck, a banjo virtuoso, but was very impressed with the talent of the other two musicians in the trio.
Hackmeier said her favorite piece was *Sliding Down*, a song where the performance shifted among piano, mandola, mandocello, bass, mandolin, banjo, a miniature guitar called a pappose and a steel-string guitar.
Aarnath Roy, a Bengali priest, tosses a flower to the goddess Purga Puja, whose name means "worship of the daughter." The celebration of the goddess took place at a festival organized by the Bengali Community of Lawrence on Saturday. Photo by Tara Bradley/KANSAN
Festival commemorates Hindu energy goddess
By Steph Brewer
Kansan staff writer
For 12 hours Saturday, a building at the Douglas County Fairgrounds was the site in Lawrence of one of the biggest religious celebrations in Eastern India.
The Bengali Community of Lawrence sponsored the Durga Pua on behalf of the Midwest Sarbojanin Durga Pua committee. The Durga Pua is a worship of the goddess of energy, Durga. Between 200 and 300 Kansas and Missouri residents attended the festival.
Swapan Chakrabarti, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, was the main organizer of the festival.
According to Indian mythology, the goddess Durga killed the king of the demons, Mahishaura, who was disguised as a buffalo. Clay idols representing Durga and her children are worshipped during the Durga Pua.
The celebration is not all somber.
"It has its solemn side, but it's also a festivity," said Robert Minor, professor of religious studies.
Deb Chatterjee, lecturer for the electrical engineering and computer science department, said that the festival was a family time. The festival represents the time that the goddess Durga leaves her husband, the Lord Shiva, to stay with her parents.
"Most families like to have their kids come home and celebrate together," Chatterjee said.
The festival lasts for four days in Calcutta, but in Lawrence, the most important elements of the festival are fit into one day, said Saibal Bhattacharya, an engineer for the Kansas Geological Survey.
Saturday's festivities began with worship of the goddess and continued with lunch, a cultural program of singing, dancing and theater, a film show and dinner. Traditionally, the clay idols are immersed in the Ganges River, India, at the end of the festival, but Bhattacharya said the Kansas group keeps the statues.
The festival is most important in the Indian state of Bengal, Battacharya said. He said that the other Indian states only celebrated the last day, which represents Durga's killing of the demon.