The Seahawk

Issue date: 3/26/09 Section: Lifestyles

Media Credit: Courtesy of UNCW Presents UNCW Presents brought the Hot 8 Brass Band from New Orleans, La., to perform.

Any Seahawk can attest that keeping up with Wilmington's unique social culture is something that we have all become good at. That's one of the good things about the Dub life; it's a gateway for students to experience new and interesting things that don't necessarily deal with grades.

UNCW's Arts in Action Performance Series is an enrichment program that gives students and the general public the opportunity to explore a wide variety of entertainers and performances. As a branch of UNCW Presents, the Arts in Action Performance Series books creative and innovative dancers, artists, lecturers and musicians. One musical group in particular is the fresh Hot 8 Brass Band from New Orleans, La., whose energetic performers recently brought the same resonance that can be heard echoing down Bourbon Street.

After meeting in high school, the band has been together for more than 10 years and has toured eight different countries. They pride themselves with sticking to true New Orleans traditions as performers of second-line parade anthems. In traditional New Orleans culture, music is an integral part of many public processions, as several public funerals have been termed "jazz funerals."

As opposed to the first line of a funeral, which consists of family members and friends, the Hot 8 Brass Band considers themselves to be part of the second line, a term adopted by those who followed the processions solely because of the music. The Hot 8 Brass Band continues the second line traditions with blends of upbeat jazz and funk, similar to the sounds you would hear as pallbearers march down the streets of New Orleans with a casket.

Director of UNCW Presents Shannon Hooker explained that before a group like the Hot 8 Brass Band comes to UNCW, the first question is how UNCW and the Wilmington community will benefit from the performance.

"We want to offer a range of styles and performances to get students to think about things in new and different ways and expose them to different ideas and cultures, so we try to bring artists who engage students in the creative process both on and off the stage," Hooker said.

Programs like the Arts in Action Series focus on providing students with entertainers who they can appreciate and learn from. Scheduled to perform April 17, the Alison Brown Quartet is a Grammy award-winning, banjo-playing bluegrass group. Brown has previously played with Alison Krauss. "It's not just bands and it's not just concerts, we want to represent a variety of disciplines like dance, theatre or world music to chamber music to jazz, and I think that we want to expose students throughout their four years here an opportunity to experience all that there is to experience in the performing arts world," Hooker explained.

UNCW's reputation as an attractive performance venue is recognized now more than ever as they continue to cooperate with other UNC schools to obtain access to the best entertainment possible for students and the surrounding community.

The Association for Campus Entertainment (ACE) is the most widely known contributor to UNCW student's contemporary entertainment needs and has been very successful in bringing popular artists like Tim McGraw, Destiny's Child and Kanye West. Citizen Cope is scheduled for the 2009 spring concert.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools