Making a marriage of hip-hop and classical

02.18.08
Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)
The Star-Ledger

With dreadlocks down his back and rings on his fingers, violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain makes certain that the image he presents is that of an indisputably streetwise musician. During his performance Saturday night with Elan Vytal, a.k.a. DJ Scientific, at New Jersey Performing Arts Center's The Chase Room, Roumain interspersed musical selections with oration, outlining an artistic statement on hip-hop, ownership and society, and how he found his own voice within the musical spectrum.

But Roumain's music goes beyond image and vague ideology for the way it embraces fearless exploration, whether through extended violin technique, the infusion of electronics, or in attempting to redefine chamber music. Roumain hinted that he lacks the chops to pursue a career in classical music, but effectively demonstrated that there are alternative paths for musical expression (and certainly commercial success). At their best, Roumain and Vytal achieved a bold onstage dialogue wedding popular musical forms to classical without coercion. It was an evening, in Roumain's words, "about Paganini, but also about Prince."

Such a juxtaposition was audible in the duo's performance of Sonata for Violin and Turntables, which began with a languid melody from Roumain's electric violin, intercepted and mixed with harmonic support from Vytal at the board and on the turntables. Roumain at times plucked his instrument as a slap bass -- bow in teeth, performed Hendrix -- inspired guitar solos complete with wah-wah pedaling and divined harmonics clutching his violin as a miniature cello.

A collaboration between DJ and soloist can fail, regardless of genre, if the backing or looping becomes overly static, but Vytal's creativity and wide color palette replete with beats and ambient noise kept things interesting, particularly when trading scratches with Roumain. The duo together performed aural illusions, mixing live performance with pre-recorded, swapping sustain with effect, recalling the work of classical composer Roger Reynolds.

The crowd at The Chase Room was appreciative and youthful: many were young students and budding string players in attendance with their parents. Adjusting to his demographic, Roumain added a touch of educational outreach and audience participation to the performance, encouraging listeners to provide the rhythm to one of the works and to sing along in another. In a separate piece, the violinist improvised a composition for a young girl in the front row, using her name as a motive. The concert, part of NJPAC's Alternate Routes, had an easy, community feel throughout, with snacks provided at intermission and with the artists signing albums, Roumain's "etudes4violin&electronix," afterward.

Roumain also performed a brief set at the piano, which included a work written in collaboration with Philip Glass. But Roumain is more at home on the violin, and drew cheers for a final piece imitating different instruments (with help from Vytal), while narrating a personal voyage of musical discovery. As an encore, Roumain played a quiet lullaby with electronic reverb, showing he also could do more with less.