The Gaffney Ledger from Gaffney, South Carolina • Page 22

Page 8B The Gaffney Ledger, Wednesday, March 14, 1979 ARTS COUNCIL PROGRAM HERE MARCH 27 Luboff An Unusual Man With An Unusual Show made him one of the most prominent musicians of our age. The early years in Chicago brought a variety of activities, teaching, arranging, and singing. Often, the latter two went hand in hand, for as the Norman Luboff voice began known over the radio waves and on recordings, so too. Norman Luboff arrangements became increasingly more in demand It was not long before Mr. Luboff was called upon to arrange for some of the most art which has kept him at the top of the musical world for over a quarter of a century.

He is asgifted a teacher asheisan artist, and as versatile. In his lectures he will cover the gamut from the eighth grade voice to the professional soprano, just as his recordings will range from the beat of rock to the choral masterworks of Handel and Beethoven, and his compositions from the modal chart of the African Mass to the folk style settings of his Songs of Man. Versatility, precision and compassion these are the ingredients of the Luboff tradition, and these are the qualities which will keep that tradition a dynamic and growing part of the music of the world. Season tickets available at had reached a point at which they could no longer be ignored. So it was back to America and down to the business of rehearsal and work and more work, for it is one thing to record, and another to perform live.

The one demands enough, but the other requires a kind of precision and craftsmanship which few artists have. Norman Luboff has that craftsmanship and whereverhe and hischoir have gone they have left a bit of their magic behind. Since 1963, Luboff has toured in live concert, using the off-season to write, record, and, most recently, to teach other choral conductors what he has learned over the years. In workshops held on the campuses of America's leading universities, the composer-conductor discusses and demonstrates the The ensuingyearswereones of incredible output and artistic growth. In addition tohis work for radio, there were arrangements and compositions for many of the top television shows, and over 80 motion pictures, plus works created especially for America's most noted recording artists.

So much was his work in demand that his only recourse was to begin to record with his own choir. By the late 50's the Norman Luboff Choir had established itself as one of the leading choral forces in the world. Winters for the Luboff family were now spent in London where the composer could travel, relax, and write for the upcoming seasons. Once more, however, the demand for his music brought about a change of venue. The public was clamoring for live concert tours, and by 1963thedemands At 8 p.m.

Tuesday, March 27, Norman Luboff, the internationally acclaimed choral conductor and composer, will lead his choir onto the stage of the Fullerton Auditorium, and there, after the rustling of paper and last-minute coughing has died away, he shall, under the auspices of The Arts Council, begin what will be one of the most unique and exciting performances of this or any other season. It shall not be a beginning to dazzle and bewilder the spectator. Don expect the fanfare and hoopla of a Madison Avenue gimmick or Hollywood parade. Such displays are for late-night television ads and barga in basement sales. Rather expect to be lifted gently and taken into a world where the gimmick is replace by the nuance and the flashy labels by the beauty of a universal thought and an incredible variety of expression.

"I am reminded of the poem." says Mr. Luboff, "which ends with the lines important Chicago programs. But it was also not long before Pearl Harbor, and like the rest of America, the young musicians turned his thoughts to those of war and peace. War does not gloss lightly over the life of anyone, and it glosses less over the life of an artist whose most basic instinct is to create a bond between people rather than to destroy them. Norman Luboff served in theSignal Corps, and when his tour wasover, he took up his career once more with an even greater commitment to the expression of a humanity which the world had all but lost.

Moving to New York, he resumed his dual role as singer and arranger, but by now the demand for his arrangements had become so great, that he was forced to give up singing entirely. One after another, the most prestigious radio programs sought his work, and it was inevitable that sooner or later Hollywood would call for his services. for thesingersas well. By having a wider selection of material, we can vary our program from concert to concert, and believe me, that's important if you're doing 100 concerts each season." "The mastery of all styles of music and the development of an esthetic philosophy which enables him to speak a truly universal language were for Norman Luboff no chance occurrence. They evolved from many years of study and work, many thousands of miles travelled, and.

of course, a basic desire to communicate with his fellow man. He was born in Chicago in 1917, and, though he studied piano and voice as a child, it was not until college that he began to think of music as a lifelong profession. By the time he had attended the University of Chicaog, his mind was made up. Enrolling for graduate study in orchestration and composition with the noted composer, Leo Sowerby, Mr. Luboff began in earnest the career which has 'The world standsout oneither side, no wider than the heart is You know, it's true.

We touch only as far as we reach, and the greatness of music is that it reaches all around the world So for me the world is as varied as its songs. It is as capable of beauty as we are of singing." And the artistic range of the Norman Luboff Choir is un-parallelled in all of vocal music. Nowhere else will one hear a Bach chorale and a Beatle tune sung in the same program with equal artistry and understanding. "Why not," Mr. Luboff insists, "Every composer speaks to us in his own very personal way, and if he has genius he will move 'us whether it is with a soft and flowing line or the force of a rock beat.

I have never agreed with the elitists who put down this and praise that in an effort to get us to like what they think is good. And I choose my singers accordingly. They must be at home in all styles. Not only is that good for the audience, it's good tt Mi Norman Luboff One Man's Encounter With Awesome Environment TAYLOR-WATSON FURNITURE tTIXE HEStf THE RIVERS AMAZON. By Alex Shoumatoff.

Sierra Club, 1978. 258 pp $10. The Amazon basin of South America remains one of the earth's great frontiers and a source of mystery for many outsiders. In "The Rivers Amazon," Alex Shoumatoff guides us from the mouth of the world's premier river, along its forbidding tributaries, through its immense hinterland and up to its frigid Andean headwaters almost within sight of the Pacific Ocean. While two million square miles of the basin fall within equatorial Brazil, smaller portions are found in eight neighboring countries.

The main river, traveling a course of 2,400 miles, carries a volume so vast it accounts for 15 percent of all fresh water dumped into all the earth's oceans and has in its mouth an island larger than LUES OC3 V. 'I- ivy r- III Residents Cited For Service mm 0 immmm --Mm kwm. Though containing fewer than three persons per square mile, Amazonia has hosted some dramatic events in human history: the first Euro-peandescentof theAmazonby Francisco de Orellano and his ragged Spanish band in 1541-42 the pre-World War I rubber boom which made Manaus, a city 1,000 miles up river, an outpost of European culture with its elegant opera house and Parisian fashions; and the reduction of the tribal Indian population from several million in the 16th century to probably less than 250.000 today. More recently Amazonia has witnessed a major influx of population. Brasilia, the frontier capital opened in 1960, is approaching one million residents.

Resurgent Manaus has over 500.000 people, a major university and an international airport. Five million cattle graze where 20 years ago there were none. And having had major surgery She is a former member of Buffalo Church and was reared in this community. Mr. and Mrs.

Thomas White spent the weekend in Columbia with friends. Mr. and Mrs. Steve Hulsey and Kenny of Gaffney and Misses Tina and Jessica Cook of Boiling Springs, N.C., visited Sunday with Mr. and Mrs.

A.J. Hulsey of Old Chester Road. Mrs. Bonita Mintz was not named in last week's column with the list of great-grandmothers of Allyson Leigh Wilkins.infantdaughter of Mr. and Mrs.

George WilkinsJr. The writer regrets this omission. Vx VRU JUl J5 MILES tul STONE HARBOR Hi-Low shag. Beautiful tweedcolors. Reg.

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Yet only a fraction of Amazonia has thus far been settled, and many observers find it even more exciting that the region is an immense biological laboratory and museum. Within the basin grow one billion acres of rain forest, representing one-sixth of the world's broadleaf forest. There are perhaps 50,000 species of plants, 4,000 species of fish and thousands of species of ants, Amazonia's most abundant insect. Peru alone houses 4,000 species of butterfly and 20,000 species of moths. About ten percent of all life forms reside in Amazonia.

That might mean as many as one million species, a few of which date back 125 million years when South America and Africa were still partially joined. Despite heat, disease and marginal soils, Amazonia is inviting exploitation. Unfortunately, habitat destruction threatens the survival of many animals and deforestation can alter rainfall patterns, turning "green hell to red desert." Brazilian efforts thus far to provide for orderly development have been erratic at best. Alex Shoumatoff follows a long line of naturalist-explorers who found the grandeur of the Amazon irresistible. At times his account is too technical and detailed.

Yet "The Rivers Amazon" is a human and emotional description of one man's encounter with an awesome environment, with those isolated inhabitants who still function as an integral part of nature, not apart from it, and with the encroaching forces of change. Joseph L. Arbena, History Department, Clemson University. 200 DELUXE ROOMS Each with 2 Double Beds Individually controlled air-conditioning and heat Color TV. xuMt DISNEy Wnp, f1Rli- "ID Superb Restaurant featuring International Buffets-lounge Gitt Shop FREE PARKING, large Heat ed Swimming Pool Children's Playground Open Courtyard.

ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS sports HONORED Florida Silver Phone: 305846-7700 Florida 32741 iPi. jmm By Florence Wallace Buffalo Correspondent Congratulations are extended to Mrs. Barbara Peeler on her recognition as "Teacher of the Year in Adult Education." She attends church at Buffalo and is a member of the ARP Church. Congratulations go also to Mrs. Isabel Blackwell who was selected as "Senior Citizen of the Year" by the Blacksburg Jaycees.

Mrs. Blackwell is a faithful member of the church here. The community appreciates these two deserving ladies. Russell Moss returned home Friday from Cleveland Memorial Hospital where he had been a patient for almost two weeks. Mrs.

Linda Panther has returned home after attending a clinic in Dallas, Texas, Thursday and Friday. She is vice president of First Piedmont Federal Savings and Loan of Gaffney and manager of its loan department. Mr. and Mrs. O.T.

Gunnells and Miss Peggy Gunnells of Shelby spent awhile Friday night with Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Wallace. On Wednesday afternoon Mr. and Mrs.

Joe Jones of Rock Springs visited in the Wallace home. Mrs. Elaine Moss and daughter, Mrs. Lynn Moss, of the Hopewell area visited awhile Tuesday in Forest City with the former's uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs.

Fred Callahan. Miss Susie Fowler was welcomed into the church fellowship Sunday morning with transfer of her letter from Landmark Baptist Church near Shelby. Friends here of Mrs. Obe Webber Gu inn of Simpsonville will regret to hear that she is a patient in the hospital there, of the big sale prices: Lees has reduced our prices on the best selling styles colors and textures. Featured savings on carpets of Du Pont Antronlll, the soil hiding fiber that stays cleaner looking, resists wear and crushing, and even protects Here are just a few KIMBERTON Beautiful level-cut pile in many solidcolors.

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