“At times, their sounds were sweet as birdsong. At others, insistent and pounding,” writes Sandra Dibble in Saturday’s (1/27) San Diego Union Tribune. “The occasion was an outdoor performance on Saturday by U.S. and Mexican percussionists…. The binational event brought close to 70 players to both sides of the border wall at Friendship Park to play ‘Inuksuit,’ a piece for percussion instruments by the American composer John Luther Adams…. The setting … was the northern edge of Border Field State Park, amid concrete picnic tables, views of the Pacific Ocean and vigilant U.S. Border Patrol vehicles. And rising on the other side of the double-fence, Tijuana’s bullring-by-the sea and lighthouse. The free hour-long concert was part of the San Diego Symphony’s third annual festival called ‘It’s About Time: A Festival of Rhythm. Sound. And Place.’ [Festival curator] Steven Schick … steered clear of making any connection between the concert’s setting and the attention brought to the U.S.-Mexico border by President Donald Trump’s call for a continuous wall…. The performers included members of the San Diego Symphony, as well as students from UCSD, San Diego State University, Chapman University and the California Institute of the Arts…. South of the border, musicians came from Tijuana, Ensenada, Guanajuato and Mexico City.”
Posted February 1, 2018
On January 27, 58 percussionists and two piccolo players on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border performed John Luther Adams’s Inuksuit—A Border-Crossing Presentation at the International Friendship Park. The concert was part of the San Diego Symphony’s month-long “It’s About Time” series, curated by Steven Schick.
