Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 30 Mar 2016

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From YouTube: smARTS: Hear Daren Jackson, an Opera Singer/Rakontyr (Spring 2016)

Description

Starring in a jazz opera about fighter Joe Louis.

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June 22nd, 1938, the whole world cheers.

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As american boxer, joe louis kos, his german rival, max schmeling.

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Louis' win signifies not only a triumph in the boxing ring,.

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But a stunning victory for the united states and its allies over hitler and the nazis., but what s happens after the bell has rung and the lights go out?.

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Our next guest, daren jackson, will answer that question when he plays the role of joe louis in the jazz opera, "shadowboxer".

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For center stage's play lab series.

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good to see you!.

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Good to see you as well.

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Well, now,: are you excited about playing this seminal american figure?.

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I actually really am because this is the first time.

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I will be playing an historical figure.

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And on top of that, a black historical figure -- and to see that interpreted in a format of theatre that I'm involved in.

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Okay., I'm bad with words sometimes.

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No, no you're not. well we'll talk about your wordsmith in a little bit.

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But,, so a full disclosure here.

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I'm producing -- I'm involved in this production, and so I had a chance to hear you sing.

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you auditioned with another --. There were over 50 people.

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Who auditioned for the jazz opera.

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And so I'd love to give our viewers just a little sneak preview of this incredible voice that you possess.

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so,, we're going to have our beautiful steinway "g" here in the--.

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( "g" note is played ) there. You go. give us just a little excerpt from that opera.

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All right. this is from vous qui êtes l'endormie from faust, by charles gounod.

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( singing in french ).

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( laughing at different pitches, ).

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Okay,, so for people who don't know that opera,, that laugh is something that you're not improvising. --, that's written into the score.

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Yeah,, that's part of the music.. I didn't just find the music so hilarious.

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Okay, all right. so, also,, you know,, you have this beautiful operatic voice.

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But you have another focus in your music..

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Tell me about that and demonstrate it please.

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so, growing up,. I was really into rap music.

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And, as I grew up, I decided to start doing it. Myself.

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Okay, so give us just a little excerpt. okay,. This is from one of my albums, "polarity switch,".

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In which I am joking on commercial rappers and things like that.

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So it goes --. This is just the chorus:.

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Oh really? you're the best that no one can defeat.

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Oh really? you're a gangster and you carry heat, oh really?, you're, a drug dealer who doesn't think it's wrong to confess all of your crimes. In a song. Oh really? you're, a pimp who gets any girl. You want!

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Oh really?, you have cash that you like to flaunt.

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Oh really?, you've got designer clothes, galore, okay, now, tell us something that we haven't heard before okay,. So we talk of you being a wordsmith.

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Obviously, text is really important to you., yes. and so, in this opera about joe louis, we have a wonderful--, the librettist's new work., the composer and librettist are going to be there working with you as you kind of workshop this, correct?.

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Yes, and that's--- I don't know if you had a question--.

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Well,, I'm saying--, or do you just want --, I feel like I'm just taking over like, "yes,, I really like doing that." well, you're joe louis, right?. That's your strong personality.

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The braggadocio. no., so how do you feel about being part of this whole production,.

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Working with center stage and the great director leon major who's coming in to stage it?.

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I feel-- as an opera--.

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A person who's studying opera and has studied it for the last eight years,.

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It's so interesting that you read about claudio monteverdi.

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And you read about puccini--, who are no longer living., yeah, exactly.

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and you read about how they made the operas and how they worked with the librettists and they're getting angry at the librettists.

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And all this energy and stuff that's happening. And,, you know.

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At first,, when you're first introduced into it,, it's just like, "oh, here is this thing: that's existing.. You have to do it.".

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And then, you know, as we go through classes,, we have to read about them and it's like, "oh,, that's interesting!", like it wasn't just set in stone like we think most of history as like,".

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These are an event--. These are set events that happened. people got angry about. Certain things. people walked out on operas.. People were impassioned by it. people, were--.

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Well,, so speaking of opera, being timely, then, and being relevant to today, "shadowboxer" is even though this took place back in the 1930s,.

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There's a lot going on with racial issues --, particularly in baltimore.,.

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So this really speaks to a lot of what people are thinking about.

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Here in the area.- and I think, what's really interesting about doing a show.

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That focuses on black history -- because it is american history.

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It isn't like, "here is black history, happened.

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and then the rest of history, happened.".

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And the reason you say that is joe louis --, because I've studied this a bit. -- is the first african-american to be totally embraced by all of the united states. --.

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Both black and white folks, yeah. yeah, so--.

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And,, so what I like about this is that,. You know,.

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I mean the truth of the matter. Is most americans are white.

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But, you know, black history,, even though we're maybe like 50 percent of the population,. It's still a very integral history.

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And I love it when we can, you know,, have these stories introduced still--.

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And it will start a lot of discussion., so we encourage everyone to come out.. We are really looking forward to you, along with a cast of another 24 singers.

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It's a spectacular piece.!

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You are going to be spectacular in it,, so we look forward to it.

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I hope so. thanks.

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So mark your calendar., it's may 13th, 14th, and 15th for the staged readings of "shadowboxer," part of the center stage play lab series.. You can go online to center stage and find out all the details.

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And while you have your calendar open, as a matter of fact, here are some more ideas. ( ♪♪♪ ).