The jazz group Luluk Purwanto and the Helsdingen Trio will perform at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday in front of the Alson H. Smith Library at Shenandoah University. The group has a touring bus that converts into a stage. (Photo Provided by Luluk Purwanto and the Helsdingen Trio)

The jazz group, made up of an Indonesian violinist and a Dutch American jazz trio, will perform at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday in front of the Alson H. Smith Library at Shenandoah University. The concert is free and open to the public.

The group has been touring American colleges and universities since June on its “Born Free-USA” tour, and will visit more than 40 schools in 24 states by mid-October.

“What’s unique about (the group) is the international flavor and this crazy thing,” said Bob Larson, SU’s director of jazz studies, referring to the group’s bus, which converts into a stage with a piano, drum set, and lights.

Larson, who organized the concert at SU, said he learned of the group’s tour via e-mail and responded by inviting the group to SU.

Luluk Purwanto, the group’s violinist, holds music degrees from The Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia and the Institute of Art in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

She joined with her husband, René van Helsdingen, a jazz musician from Amsterdam, Holland, while on a musical tour through Indonesia and India in 1986.

The group also includes Marcello Pellitteri on drums and Essiet Okon Essiet on bass.

They play bebop, modern, cool, mainstream, and swing jazz, and Larson said Purwanto has adapted a technique popularized by George Benson in the 1970s of singing improvised notes while playing music.

“She’s an incredible musician,” he said.

The purpose of the Born Free-USA tour, in addition to exposing students to free jazz concerts, is cultural exchange, promoting better relationships among different cultures, and linking the people of the United States, Indonesia, and the Netherlands.

“The international emphasis at SU has grown so much over the years,” Larson said, adding that the school’s 17-member jazz ensemble will travel to Senegal in May.

Activities for SU students will take place in front of the Smith library prior to the 7 p.m. performance by Luluk Purwanto & The Helsdingen Trio.

Larson said he hopes between 300 and 400 people will attend the concerts. SU students have responded to news of the group’s performance enthusiastically, he said.

The Born Free-USA tour is sponsored by The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington, D.C. and Jakarta, The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Washington, D.C. and Rome, The Embassy of the United States of America in The Hague and Jakarta, Munich Records, and others.

For more information on the performances by Luluk Purwanto & the Helsdingen Trio at SU, contact Larson at 665-4557.

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