{"id":254138,"date":"2019-01-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/connecting-through-rock-n-roll\/"},"modified":"2019-01-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T08:00:00","slug":"connecting-through-rock-n-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/connecting-through-rock-n-roll\/","title":{"rendered":"Conectando a trav\u00e9s del rock 'n' roll"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Jean Lowerison<\/p>\n

Everybody knows about rock \u2018n\u2019 roll greats Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. But not many know about the influence of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight on that music form.<\/p>\n

Rock \u2018n\u2019 roll came out of the gospel and soul traditions represented by the likes of Mahalia Jackson. But the lesser-known Sister Rosetta Tharpe took gospel to a different place when she started \u201cswinging\u201d it in a way that made it welcome in clubs as well as churches. She was a huge draw in the 1940s, and her stylistic innovations led to her being named the \u201cgodmother of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Connecting
Rosetta \u2014 known as the \u201cgodmother of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll\u201d \u2014 sings and plays guitar with passion. (Foto por Karli Cadel Fotograf\u00eda)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

George Brant\u2019s musical profile \u201cMarie and Rosetta\u201d \u2014 playing at Cygnet Theatre \u2014 begins in a funeral home in Mississippi, with two caskets and a piano onstage. It opens with 30-something Rosetta (\u201cSister\u201d was a nickname, not a job title; she was no nun) auditioning starstruck 20-something Marie Knight as a performing partner.<\/p>\n

Rosetta\u2019s gospel stardom was beginning to wane and she was looking for something new to offer. She had heard Marie as part of Mahalia Jackson\u2019s backup quartet. Marie had a \u201cchurchier\u201d sound and fine piano technique, but a reluctance to let go and wail in the way that made Rosetta famous.<\/p>\n

Why are they in a funeral home? And why does Rosetta say they will sleep there tonight? Because these women are African-American, and there is nowhere else in pre-Civil Rights Act Mississippi they could spend the night. Marie is downright creeped out by the suggestion but impressed enough to have been chosen by Rosetta to stick around.<\/p>\n

Brant doesn\u2019t give much information, or even much of a coherent story about these women. Most of what passes for dramatic action centers on Rosetta\u2019s efforts to get Marie to loosen up and let the music swing. Though occasional lines like Rosetta\u2019s \u201cYour piano\u2019s an old maid with a gray tabby on her lap\u201d are amusing, that\u2019s not much of a plotline.<\/p>\n

\"ConnectingDirector Rob Lutfy understands this and plays down the bland paint-by-numbers script, allowing the audience to take this as what it really is \u2014 a concert.<\/p>\n

Soprano No\u00ebl Simon\u00e9 Sippler plays Rosetta with assurance, though she would be easier to understand if she spoke slower. But she sings with plenty of power and heart, and also plays a mean piano and guitar. She\u2019s a good foil for Amaiya Holley\u2019s Marie, an alto powerhouse who can also tickle those ivories and play a guitar with authority.<\/p>\n

Together, they really do swing. Listen to these ladies and see if you can spot the elements of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll in their sounds.<\/p>\n

\u2014Jean Lowerison es miembro desde hace mucho tiempo del C\u00edrculo de Cr\u00edticos de Teatro de San Diego y puede ser contactada en infodame@cox.net<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Jean Lowerison<\/p>","protected":false},"author":919,"featured_media":254139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Connecting through rock \u2018n\u2019 roll","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/919"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}