Event
Sumner McKane Group Presents "Nanook of the North"
Saturday 11.28.2009, Doors at 7:30 PM, Starts at 8:00 PM, $8, All Ages
Sumner McKane Group Presents Nanook of the North at Space Gallery 11.28.09
Maine Music Trio Performs Dynamic Live Score to Legendary Silent Film
The Sumner McKane Group, a modern instrumental music trio, is performing their original score accompanying the classic silent film Nanook of the North at Space Gallery in Portland. The November 28th show will feature a screening of the film, married with a live performance of the musical soundtrack, composed by the Sumner McKane Group. Nanook, the first anthropological documentary film ever made, was filmed in 1922 and profiles the life of the Inuit people, known to most as eskimos; residents of the Northern Hemisphere living closest to the Arctic Circle.
The new score, an expansive and expressive original piece of music composed by the Sumner McKane Group, was written meticulously in spring 2008 over a brief and harried 4-week period. The undertaking was part of the Local Score/Silent Film series, presented by One Longfellow Square in Portland. Unlike other performers in the series, the group opted to score the entire film, using no improvised musical elements at all. The groups bravery in this endeavor was rewarded by two successful shows with substantial local press coverage. Since then, the band has played successful shows of Nanook at Slates in Hallowell and the Boothbay Opera House, as well as releasing a 100-CD limited-edition studio recording of Nanook, available online for a very limited time at www.sumnermckane.com.
The 80-minute film follows an Inuit family, led by patriarch Nanook, through their travels and travails enduring an Arctic winter. At the time of this filming, there were less than 300 of these nomadic people braving the unthinkable conditions with little-to-nothing to work with. While Inuit culture and ways are bordering on ancient, their story of hope for survival is as fresh and timely as it ever was.
The Sumner McKane Group is based in Maine, with guitarist Sumner McKane, bassist Josh Robbins, and drummer Todd the Rocket Richard residing in Wiscasset, Gardiner, and Westbrook respectively. This appearance in Portland is part of a string of shows running throughout the Fall and Winter that will take the group on the road, presenting Nanook across Maine and the rest of New England.
A national audience has already taken notice of this musical work. National Public Radios Echoes program, an ambient music show airing on 150+ terrestrial radio stations, featured a live recording of select scenes from the score as part of a holiday special in December 2008. Host John Diliberto has said of the music, McKane's landscapes are tinged in ambient atmospheres and pulled by an undertow of psychedelia that makes them some of the most unassumingly mind-bending music of the decade... Sumner manages to touch the nostalgic, wistful side of us, without being remotely quaint...
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LocationSPACE Gallery
538 Congress St
Portland, ME 04101
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 18 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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