American, Chinese and Turkish music might sound like random categories in a world music store, but for one local band these genres influence a single sound. The Eclectic Folk Orchestra, four musicians who have recently combined their diverse backgrounds to form a group, played Sunday at the International Cultural Center for students and members of the Baton Rouge community. They use mandolins, guitars, a traditional Chinese instrument called a pipa and a Turkish instrument called a saz to create their unique sound. Band member Yunbing Ma has been playing the pipa since she was 9 years old. Born near Shanghai, Ma said she got bored one day and asked her parents to take her to the town’s cultural center. There she enrolled in a class that taught her how to play the pipa, a feat that involved two years devoted to training each hand separately. “It is a popular instrument in the southern part of China, where I’m from,” she said. “It has a two thousand-year history.” She traveled to the U.S. to get her doctorate in biology at the University. “In America I have many more opportunities to play. People really appreciate Chinese culture here,” Ma said. Here she met John Larkin, associate professor of biological sciences, because they worked in the same department. Larkin has played the guitar for about 35 years, and more recently, the saz. He was previously in a local band called The IndoEuropeans that played Turkish and American folk music. The other two members of The Eclectic Folk Orchestra, Alan Morton and Heather Owens, both teach at McKinley Middle School. They met Larkin when he helped out with a school play that Morton played the mandolin in. Morton said the band happened by total accident. “We didn’t have a discussion about what to call this performance, and I came up with The Eclectic Folk Orchestra. That pretty much sums it up,” Larkin said. The musicians have been playing together for a year and a half but only as a hobby from their education-related pursuits. But the proficiency of their sound would lead most listeners to believe the band has played professionally for some time. Susanna Dann, the ICC vice president of programming and mathematics graduate student, said she was very impressed with the band. “They were very professional sounding,” she said.
—-Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]