Courtesy ETHEL is a band comprised of classically trained musicians: two violins, a viola and a cello. The group is touring the country, fusing their sound with the regional sound. Their stop in San Antonio features classical and conjunto.

It's conjunto. It's classical. It's ..... well, nothing you've ever heard before.

And that, says violinist Cornelius Duffalo of the “string band” ETHEL, is the whole idea.
 
“We are looking for a way to shake musical traditions up a bit and keep it fresh,” Duffalo said.

Duffalo, 34, and the three other ETHEL members will give a concert of classical-conjunto fusion with accordionist Eva Ybarra at the Esperanza Center on Friday, Jan. 18. No guarantees — since each show is a unique performance — but this modern-day string quartet is known for using lights, staging and amplification to make a show that looks and feels as unique as it sounds.
 
Using amplification, something the group often — though not always — does, doesn't mean “it's going to be so loud it blows your ears out,” Duffalo said. “It's more of a sound-color thing, and (younger listeners) especially are used to hearing amplified instruments.”

The concert is part of ETHEL's Truck Stop tour, a 10-month quest across the United States (with one quick detour to Holland) to meet and perform with local artists.

The goal behind the tour is to take music back to its roots as an art form that communicates, Duffalo said.

“It's a way of approaching art that is much more local and community-based,” he said. “It's about using music as a bridge to connect with communities.”

It's also about finding regional voices around the country and sharing in their rhythms and melodies. ETHEL itself is a group of four classically trained musicians: two violins, a viola and a cello.

But instead of touring on a program of Bach, Brahms and Beethoven, the foursome kicked off the Truck Stop tour with a collaboration with Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and the Arab-jazz band Hewar in New York this month and will include concerts with the Kaotic Drumline in Chicago; a slack-key guitarist in Hawaii; and a Native American flutist in New Mexico.

The San Antonio concert will conclude a three-day residency at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, at which Ybarra and the four members of ETHEL will work with young artists.

The concert, in which classical music and conjunto will share the same aural space, is one that particularly excites Duffalo, since conjunto is, itself, a fusion sound.

“Conjunto is such a wonderful kind of music, and it's this genuine fusion of Mexican music that was coming from a real Spanish tradition (with the sounds of) German and Eastern European polkas,” he said. “It's a real, beautiful example of how music is a constantly evolving art form, of how it's always changing.”

Jennifer Roolf Laster | 210SA contributor