University of Arkansas Music Presents 'All Over the Map' Oct. 21

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Cristi Catt and Nikola Radan of the duo Blue Thread.

Join the University of Arkansas Department of Music for All Over the Map, a performance by the duo Blue Thread, Sunday, Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall on campus. Blue Thread members Cristi Catt and Nikola Radan will perform Ozark ballads paired with medieval love songs. This event is free and open to the public.

Catt, a soprano, is a founding member of the vocal ensemble Tapestry and a two-time Luso-American Foundation grant recipient. She has recordings with MDG, Telarc, Erato and several independent labels. Catt teaches at Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory and Merrimack College and presents workshops throughout the United States and abroad. She is the author of The Kinesthetic Singer: Lessons on Singing from Basketball and Yoga.

Radan is a professor in the U of A music department. He is a professional flautist, composer, songwriter, producer and educator. Radan founded the Balmus Ensemble in 2001 with a vision to involve artists from diverse cultural and musical backgrounds and show their works to a wide audience while preserving the musical treasures of the Balkans and beyond. He is also a cofounder of the internationally-awarded Clash of Civilizations music project and recently started the new multicultural music project Blue Thread, where he explores medieval ballads that connected different areas of the world during the time of the Trade Routes.

Over the summer, Catt and Radan discovered a wealth of folk ballads in the University Libraries Special Collections department that were collected by Maria Celestia Parler in the 1940s and 50s. The University Folklore Collection was of particular interest to Catt, who spent her childhood summers on Ozark rivers soaking up local music. The collection contains multiple versions of a song best known as "John Riley" or "Broken Token," although it has many other names. The performance will combine Portuguese, Sephardic and Ozark versions of the ballad. Also included in the performance will be a ballad now known as "Twisted Sister" or "Cruel Sister," which originated in 1656 as "The Miller and the King's Daughter." Ozark versions of this ballad will be combined with those from Vermont, Scotland, Ireland, England and Iceland.

The collections used by Catt and Radan in the selection of these songs include the University Folklore Collection, the Ozark Folksong Collection, a recording of Anglo-American Folksongs sung by Emma Dusenbury, and Emma Dusenbury transcriptions, which are part of the Laurence Powell Papers. The physical collections and recordings are available for the public to view and use any time the Special Collections department is open. The department is located on the first floor of Mullins Library. The Ozark Folksong Collection is a digital exhibit available to the public 24/7. 

This concert was possible thanks to the generous support of the Artists and Concerts Committee of the University of Arkansas.