Gather “Round’s ‘Live Music and Meditation Spectacle’ A Communal Happening

Written By Fernando Gonzalez for ARTBURST Miami

 

There was a time before streaming apps, stadium tours, and a multi-billion-dollar music industry churning disposable stars when music was a familial, communal event. There were instruments, players, and singers seemingly in every home, and music was not a spectator sport but a chance to share and even participate in creating.

Those notions inform the spirit of Gather ‘Round, an immersive listening experience of mainly improvised music presented as a “Live Music and Meditation Spectacle” at the Plaza at HistoryMiami Museum in Miami on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m.

At the center of it all, literally, given the planned in-the-round setting, will be the seven-piece Gather ‘Round band, featuring Pierangela Dozsa, vocals; Marcelo Romero, saxophone; Julian Bermudez, piano and keyboards; Sami Head, bass; Marvin Clairsaint, drums; Katie Berns Lee, percussion and Michael Cantalupo, multi-instrumentalist (hand pan, harmonium, percussion, and vocals), bandleader and the mastermind of the project.

“The seven musicians that are the lead onstage are all Miami-based,” Cantalupo says in a recent conversation. “Most of them grew up through the music system here —Pierangela went to New World School of the Arts, and so did Marcello. Marvin grew up through the system in Coral Springs, and I feel Miami’s ripe to showcase a sound that is uniquely ours. You think Miami, and you immediately think of some sort of Latin-based sound — and these guys can play that as well. But there’s also this rapidly growing community here in Miami around a sound-healing type of instrumentation, and our music is a combination of the two.”

In fact, the ensemble combines conventional instruments and what Cantalupo calls “traditional sound healing, more mystical instrumentation.” The studio session yielded several pieces that are the core of the repertoire, but much of the music was, and remains, improvised. “We’d have a basic melodic concept, maybe, for half of the song.  And then there’s a couple of tracks that were created out of pure air,” said Cantalupo. “And this is the way that the show still works.”

That is, in part, what attracted Dozsa (who prefers to be referred to only as Pierangela), the vocalist of the group, who is currently a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston. She met Cantalupo at a local jam session. “It was just a very free and fluid environment where people would really just create with whatever was on their mind at that moment,” she recalls. “Miami’s jam culture is incredible. There are so many jam sessions always going on. There would always be jam sessions in my local community. That was my introduction to music.”

Improvising and a shared vision about music and community with Cantalupo and Gather ‘Round moved to her to join.

“Being able to come to a jamming space where there was a band was very unique,” she says. “And also, my goal as a musician is to try to make music that truly uplifts others. I want to share a message of goodness to unite society further. So, when I met Michael and I saw that is what he wants also, I knew that this was the right place for me.”

Cantalupo recalls that for the first two Gather ‘Round shows, he would ask potential participants if they liked yoga and jazz. “And they would say: ‘Yeah, I like both,” and I’d tell them ‘Great. But we’re not really either of those. We’re in this middle ground.’” The goal, he notes, is “to get into the state in which you are able to free-flow create.”

He calls playing and listening to Gather ‘Round music “a deeply, deeply introspective experience. Whatever you’re doing in whatever instrument or tool you choose, is just an outward expression of whatever is going on internally. So, it’s about listening to yourself before anything is ever played.”

The loose setup of Gather ‘Round actually began as a free-form session in the often-forbidding setting of a recording studio.

“I had this idea of bringing a couple of musicians and having a live recording session. We would be creating in real time,” recalls Cantalupo. “We ended up having a 12-hour day at Criteria Studios in North Miami and walked out of it with this sense of having experienced something special. We really listened to each other, we created in real-time, and we were able to allow the magic of not knowing where we were going next. And we wanted to replicate that experience, that feeling, for as large of an audience as possible. So, the next question was:  how do we help somebody feel this, and can we do it so non-musicians can feel it and participate as well?”

The upcoming show will be the third Gather ‘Round event and the most ambitious yet.

“This will be the first actual iteration of the 360-degree surrounding stage that we wanted, which allows for a much more intimate connection with the audience and it allows for different sightlines than most people are used to during concert experiences,” says Cantalupo.

The goal is to encourage the audience “to explore their own creativity in the soundscape we’re creating in real time,” he says. “Many of our songs have simple melodic structures for the audience to sing along and riff off of them if they want to throw something out.

He emphasizes that there was a time when making music wasn’t to get the most downloads, streaming, or amass album sales.

“All I’m trying to do is point people back into their own creativity and intuition and perhaps touch something that they might have forgotten was there.”

WHAT: Gather ‘Round: “The Live Music and Meditation Spectacle”
WHEN:  6 p.m., doors open, 8 p.m. show, Sunday, Feb. 2.
WHERE: The Plaza at HistoryMiami Museum, 101 W. Flagler St., Miami
COST: $30 general admission, $90 VIP

INFORMATION:  www.gatherround.live

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