Third Coast Percussion’s Presenting Series spring season performance on Friday, February 2 at 7:30 p.m., is based on the classic children’s book and Oscar-nominated short film Paddle to the Sea. In a dynamic multimedia experience, the audience follows the story of a Native Canadian boy who carves a wooden figure called Paddle-to-the-Sea and sets him on a journey through all five Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and finally to the Atlantic Ocean. The evening underscores the geographic, economic, and cultural connections formed by our shared waterways, and asks us to consider the human impact on the waters that help us transport our goods, provide our electrical power, bathe ourselves, cook our food, and quench our thirst.
Music composed collaboratively by the members of Third Coast Percussion is interwoven with pre-existing music by American composers Philip Glass (arranged by Third Coast) and Jacob Druckman, and traditional music of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. The music composed by Third Coast Percussion accompanies the 1966 film Paddle to the Sea. The other works are performed with newly created video art by Joseph Burke.
The Dallas Morning News called Third Coast’s concert performance “arresting and enjoyable.” TheaterJones called it “unforgettable” and said, “There was something magical about the performance, but it is almost impossible to describe the experience in mere words.”
Third Coast Percussion’s album Paddle to the Sea, featuring the music on the program and more, will be released on Cedille Records in February 2018.
