Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Sept. 20, 2004

Wilmington, N.C.—The University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s Arts in Action Performance Series will present Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem in Kenan Auditorium at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30.

The band will be playing folk music just as unpredictable as their name implies,

paying tribute to swing, country and vintage pop on instruments ranging from fiddle and mandolin to ukulele and banjo.

Arbo, lead vocalist, fiddler and founder of daisy mayhem, was dubbed “the Greta Garbo of folk music” by Acoustic Guitar Magazine. The Boston Globe has described her voice as “smart and sultry, with winking nuances that seem always to be sharing secrets with us. Her fiddle is at once elegant and sinewy, shimmering with sly wit and mystery. She is, in all the important ways, already a star of the first order.”

Arbo’s musical life began with cello lessons and Latin chant at age eight, when she was a chorister of New York’s Cathedral of St. John. Since then, Arbo’s circuitous career has comprised church and concert choirs, early music ensembles, a honky-tonk band, a Balkan rock band, a Capella groups and 12 years leading her own acoustic string bands on the U.S. and Canadian circuit. Praised for her evocative, honest and supple vocals, Arbo is above all a communicator. Whether she is delivering a gymnastic swing tune, a funky call-and-response song or a ballad, she snares the audience for a riveting journey. Her fiddle style draws from swing/jazz, blues and old-time. When time permits, she moonlights in a bourbon-sipping, all-girl honky-tonk combo.

“Last year’s Sam Bush performance demonstrated our community’s passion for traditional American music,” said Shannon Hooker, assistant director for programs and marketing, University Union. “Once I heard Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem play, I knew I had to bring them to Wilmington. This band effortlessly jumps from jazz to Appalachian twang.”

Andrew Kinsey, Anand Nayak and Scott Kessel comprise daisy mayhem. An Oberlin College graduate, Kinsey started out as an elementary school-age bagpiper in Lexington, Mass. He has collaborated with Arbo since 1991 and now plays upright bass for daisy mayhem, veering into banjo, whistle and ukulele as needed. Nayak is a graduate of Wesleyan University and has studied jazz guitar, sung with a capella, choral and theater groups and has fronted a Boston-based original rock trio. Kessel, also a Wesleyan graduate and a Connecticut master teaching artist, is a kit player and world percussionist by training. He teaches and performs through Young Audiences of Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Rani Arbo will conduct a singer/songwriter workshop featuring UNCW students Saturday afternoon. The public is free to observe. For more information, visit www.uncw.edu/arts.

BOX OFFICE AND TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets are $6 for university and area students, $12 for UNCW faculty/staff and senior citizens, and $18 for all others. Arts in Action Choose-Your-Own Season subscriptions may be purchased at a savings of up to 10 percent off ticket prices until Jan. 29, 2005. For tickets, call Kenan Auditorium box office at 910/962-3500 or 800/732-3643 outside the Wilmington area. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

ABOUT UNCW ARTS IN ACTION PERFORMANCE SERIES

Sponsored by the University Union at UNCW and funded in part by UNCW student fees, the Arts in Action Performance Series seeks to culturally enrich, educate and entertain both students and the general public through the presentation of diverse programs featuring professional, high-quality performing artists. For more information, visit the Arts in Action web site at www.uncw.edu/arts.

UNCW Arts in Action is a member of the N.C. Presenters Consortium and the U.S. National Association of Performing Arts Presenters. The 150 member venues of the N.C. Presenters Consortium may be visited at www.presenters.org.