Author: Y Kendall

Ides of March at Schermerhorn

Music City Review Goes to War (and Leaves the Funk in Peace)

The lights were already dimmed as I raced in after seeking my reserved parking space in an apparently nonexistent parking lot. The Latino singer was midway through the first verse Read More

Drumming from the Heart of Our Planet:

Kodō Drummers’ “One Earth Tour” at Schermerhorn Symphony Center

Kodō has a double meaning. In Japanese, it means both “heartbeat” and “children of the drum.” This latter also has a double meaning. It means children listening to the heartbeat Read More

Freedom Fighters: DakhaBrakha at OZ Arts

It felt like rare musical events I’ve actually experienced—the opening tour date of Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense” in Berkeley, Parliament Funkadelic’s “Mothership Connection” tour stop in Chapel Hill, New Read More

At TPAC

The Nashville Ballet Publishes an Anthology of Nashville History

Before I returned home to Middle Tennessee, I binged ballet in New York and Houston, two American cities with world-class ballet companies. Having left decades ago when classical and modern Read More

Theatre Nohgaku at the Frist

It was a misty gray afternoon, not cold, but comforting, a stay-inside kind of day, the kind of day you commonly see in the Japanese countryside, the kind of day Read More

At the Frist

A Brief Intro to Nōhgaku: Ancient Japanese Drama

Some years ago, I witnessed traditional Japanese theater live in Japan. After years of teaching world and Asian music courses that featured the rich traditions of Japanese theater, a fellowship Read More

From the Mabry Concert Hall at Austin Peay

Fisk Jubilee Singers: History Repeats Itself 150 Years Later

As we live in roiling tumultuous times, as hatred and violence grow, as we question the fellowship of our fellow citizens, we sometimes need respite, some way of seeing signs Read More

From TPAC and OzArts:

Meow Meow: “Kamikaze Cabaret” in the War Memorial Auditorium

Some years ago, I attended two productions of the esteemed Houston Grand Opera. One was the lesser-known Verdi opera, Macbeth; the other Handel’s Ariodante. Both suffered the same fate: directors Read More

At the Carl Van Vechten Gallery at Fisk University

African Modernism in America: Fisk University’s Historic Role in African Art

Two roosters are frozen in an almost comically surreal cockfight. But their feathers, soaked in brilliant red blood, and the darker blood splotches against a black background belie any humor.Read More

Nashville Jazz Workshop Presents Jazz on the Move

The Jazz World’s Precious Metal: Horace Silver

The five jazz pros were mined from differing ores—cool jazz, smooth jazz, bebop, rock, blues—but together they gradually produced a fine alloy that honored the legacy of Horace Silver, pianist Read More