faculty

UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
World Music Summer Institute

June 22 - June 28, 2008

World Music Faculty

Faculty

Music of African Americans (gospel)

James Roberson is a Grammy-nominated producer and choir director who has produced for such diverse artists as Norman Hutchins, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Howard Hewitt and others. A professor on the faculty at UCLA for the past eight years, Professor Roberson is the director of UCLA’s award-winning gospel choir. A graduate of the Grove School of Music, with a specialization in vocal studies, Professor Roberson is also the founder and president of JDI Records, the fastest growing indie gospel record label in the world. JDI’s roster includes Norman Hutchins, Chester D. T. Baldwin, and DeNetria Champ, among others.

Music of Brazil

Kirk Brundage is a professor of Ethnomusicology at UCLA. Highly regarded among students, faculty and staff, he is part of a new generation of percussionists who have had western training, and have subsequently immersed themselves in another culture.

Mr. Brundage got his professional start in his native up-state New York playing in symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, and theater productions under conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov and Doc Severinson. He played as a sideman for various entertainers such as Engelburt Humperdinck, Jerry Vale, and Donald O’Conner. With an MFA in percussion from CalArts, Mr. Brundage went on to win many awards, including a Fulbright Scholarship to Denmark, the International Solo Music Competition of the German Radio (Munich), a Rockefeller grant to Mexico, and a Rotary Exchange grant to Japan. He received critical acclaim for his solo recitals given in Europe, Mexico, and the United States. With the Maelstrom Percussion Ensemble he recorded a series of 3 CD’s for the Swiss Label hatART, featuring the percussion music of John Cage, Lou Harrison and James Tenney.

Mr. Brundage then changed his artistic direction, focusing on percussion of the African Diaspora. He studied with master drummer Bernard Woma from the National Dance Company of Ghana, and traveled to Cuba to study with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas. His primary concentration, however, has been Afro-Brazilian percussion from historic and mystical Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. There, he studies the religious drumming of Candomble, the Berimbau of Capoeira, the roots of Samba, and the modern Carnaval and pop styles. He has played in Brazilian Carnaval many times with the world-renowned percussion group Bloco Afro Olodum. He is currently writing an instructional book entitled: “Afro-Brazilian Percussion Guide: From Mystic Roots to Contemporary Carnaval.”

Based in Los Angeles, he has appeared at the Hollywood Bowl, the Ford Theater, the LA Music Awards and American Idol Underground. He also performs with the Viver Brasil Dance Company in their high-energy presentations of Afro-Brazilian culture.

Music of Korea

DongSuk Kim is founder and director of the Korean Classical Music and Dance Company and president of the Korean-American Culture and Arts Association. He and his groups have performed at prestigious venues such as the New York Metropolitan Opera House, the Los Angeles Music Center, the White House, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the Hollywood Bowl, the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival, and the 1988 Seoul Olympic Arts Center. He ahs also performed extensively and given workshops through the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Intercultural Awareness Program, the Music Center on Tour Program, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, San Diego Young Audience, Santa Barbara Children’s Creative Project, San Jose Young Audiences, and the Performing Tree. Kim has had his own radio program for over ten years through the Radio Korea Broadcasting system. He teaches at private colleges and gives lessons at his private studio on Korean traditional instruments and dance.

Music of Mexico (mariachi)

Jesus Guzman is the musical director of Los Camperos de Nati Cano, a world-renowned mariachi ensemble. The group was one of four mariachi ensembles featured on Linda Ronstadt’s best-selling album Canciones de Mi Padre (Song of My father). The ensemble was also featured on two subsequent Ronstadt albums, Mas Canciones (More Songs) and Canciones de Siempre (Eternal Songs), and on the Grammy Awards Show in 1989.

Professor Guzman was born in San Luis, Sonora, Mexico and began playing the violin at the age of seven when his father began to instruct him. In 1980, Guzman moved to Tijuana to progress in his study of mariachi music. There he performed for six years with the world-renowned group, Mariachi International. He then moved to Los Angeles and worked with Mariachi Los Galleros until 1989, when he joined Los Camperos. Guzman has led workshops in Fresno, California, and Tucson, Arizona. In 1995, he performed at the White House for President Bill Clinton.