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| Trio has them moving to music at
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| MIDDLETOWN -- Luluk Purwanto wandered through the crowd sitting in the courtyard's thick grass, cradling a violin under her arm. |
| She watched her bandmates tuning instruments on the stage,
which folded out of the band's sleek, black bus. Soon the sounds of piano, bass and drums flowed from the stage, fillingthe courtyard with fast, clippy jazz. Purwanto bobbed her head, wiggled her hips and then joined in, pricking the strings of her violin like a guitar. The Luluk Purwanto & the Helsdingen Trio returned for the its second Middletown engagement on Sunday at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts. Center for the Arts Director Pamela Tatge said Wesleyan was first stop in the Indonesian-American-Dutch jazz ensemble's first tour of the United States. "Their first American concert performance was here on June 27," Tatge said. "They put their bus on a ship in Jakarta, Indonesia and met it in New York. "They said they will never forget their first concert at Wesleyan," she said. "America is the center of the world for jazze. After the first song, pianist Rene Van Helsdingen introduced Purwanto, bassit Essiet Okon Essiet and drummer Marcello Pellitteri to the rapidly growing audience and gave an update on their tour so far. Helsdingen said the band traveled 23,000 miles to 24 colleges from New York to North Carolina to Oregon, with 23 more to go. "Our bus is 22 years old and already has 1 million miles on it and, by the time we're done, it will have 30,000 more," he said. With a nod to his bandmates, they started again, getting the crowd dancing in their seats. "What Wesleyan is doing with these concert series is wonderful," Middletown resident Dennis Waring said. "We get to experience bands and music you can't hear anywhere else." For more information on Luluk Purwanto & the Helsdingen Trio visit their Web site at www.luluk.com. To contact John Christie call (860) 347-3331 ext. 220 or e-mail jchristie@middletownpress.com. |
| ŠThe Middletown Press 2002 |