MAPLEWOOD, NJ — South Orange and Maplewood residents looking to experience the big band jazz of New Orleans or the intricate tempos of traditional Brazilian music need look no further than the Burgdorff Cultural Center in Maplewood, where master musician Scott Kettner holds SOMA Beat classes on Tuesday nights now through early summer.
SOMA Beat is a highly-interactive percussion class, open to tweens and teens — ages 11 to 17 — and adults, that explores the rhythms and instruments of both Brazil and New Orleans, and seeks to show the participants how the music from the two American continents have more in common than meets the eye.
The classes, which charge tuition and are held in six-block sessions, came about after Kettner, a Maplewood resident, began collaborating with the Maplewood Artist Collective; there he noticed a lack of opportunity in the area to explore these unique sounds.
“It started off with me collaborating with Benny at the Maplewood Artist Collective. My original goal was to have a drumming group that would perform at local events, and then I was directed to Melissa and Andrew in the Maplewood Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department, and they were very excited to start doing this,” Kettner said in a recent phone interview with the News-Record.
“They too had noticed that there are not a lot of musical and recreational opportunities for music of the Americas, and this would provide another outlet for that representation. From talking to them, the idea of putting together some classes came about and we just took off with it.”
Kettner has lived in Maplewood for the past four years; prior to moving here from Brooklyn, he created a Brazilian percussion school that has drawn hundreds of students during the past 15 years.
Kettner’s school, Maracatu New York, is the city’s first and only maracatu ensemble dedicated to the performance and knowledge of traditional maracatu de baque virado and other musical styles from the northeast of Brazil, while fusing these rhythms with New Orleans second line and Mardi Gras Indian rhythms.
A master percussionist, bandleader, producer and songwriter, Kettner also leads Nation Beat, a band that combines primal maracatu rhythm of Brazil’s northeastern region with the Big Easy’s funky, hypnotic second-line and strolling Mardi Gras Indians, and the unfettered freedom of big-city downtown jazz. As a side-man, Kettner has performed or recorded with Willie Nelson, Cyro Baptista, Stanton Moore and Galactic, Frank London, The Klezmatics, Cascabulho, Vieux Farka Toure, Maracatu Nacao Estrela Brilhante and many more.
Kettner’s new book, “Maracatu for Drumset and Percussion,” is now available by Hal Leonard Publishing. This is the first in-depth percussion book about the rich culture and music of maracatu de baque virado from Brazil, with photos, history, recordings and an instructional CD-Rom.
Kettner is also a recent recipient of a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts award for his “A Tale of Two Nations” project, which brought together Nation Beat and the traditional maracatu group from Maracatu Nacao Estrela Brilhante from Recife, Brazil. The grant helped fund a tour that had its world debut at Lincoln Center Out of Doors in summer 2013. This tour was historic in that it was the first time a traditional maracatu group from Brazil had ever performed in the United States.
“When I moved out here, I saw an opportunity and wanted to create an outlet for South Orange and Maplewood residents to learn a style of music from Brazil and also build a diverse community,” Kettner said. “There’s a lot of diversity in the area, and people have really been having a lot of fun with the classes. Right now we have seven people in our adult class, many of whom thought that they didn’t have rhythm and have found that they are able to drum.”
But Kettner said he is still focused on his original goal: creating a local performance troupe.
“I really want to develop a local percussion troupe where my students can participate in parades and do performances and do marches and provide local drumming around the area,” he said. “Already many of the students have expressed interest and there’s room for plenty more.”
Maplewood Recreation Director Melissa Mancuso is excited about this new opportunity for the community.
“The program is currently offered for tweens and adults, a segment of the population sometimes under-served recreationally. Students have already learned so much from Scott’s instruction, and we look forward to spring programming as well as some exciting new additions as the weather warms up,” Mancuso said in a recent email to the News-Record.
Kettner credits the town of Maplewood for being so open to his new classes and looks forward to meeting more locals who come out to experience the new sounds.
“I love it here, it has been a great transition. It’s a very progressive town and people are very friendly,” he said. “The support of the arts is one of the original draws of me moving here from Brooklyn and the town has really lived up to its reputation in that regard.”
No experience is necessary and all instruments are provided. For more information, contact the recreation department at recdirector@twp.maplewood.nj.us.
Photos Courtesy of Scott Kettner
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