Preview: Qiet, The Angie Haze Project / November 15 / Casa
Casa Nueva / Saturday, November 15, 2014
By Marc Blanc, Contributor
Qiet, the West Virginia quintet, will lead a caravan of musicians through Athens on Saturday. The notably progressive Casa Nueva will shelter the night of innovative music, from artists influenced by punk, jazz, religion and the Romani culture alike.
Pronounced “quiet,” the headliner draws its name from quietism, a Catholic philosophy that declares one ought to make the mind “passive while God acts within it.” The idea challenged 17th century Catholicism, just as the band today challenges genre conventions. Qiet’s synthesis of jazzy horns with folk rock and classically trained musicians with self-taught rockers was called “baffling” but “visionary” by The Owl magazine.
The band’s rejection of style borders could be tied to its affinity with the itinerant Romani people, commonly and controversially known as “gypsies.”
“In America, we’ve taken to [the perceived ‘gypsy’ culture] as attractive, because of the style, the mystery and darkness, and anything but the history,” guitarist and lead vocalist Christopher Vincent said. “Qiet has a lot in common with the Romani, but we ourselves don’t easily fit into a word.”
Appreciation of the Romani has extended into northeastern Ohio, embodied perhaps most proudly in The Angie Haze Project, who will perform before Qiet on Saturday. The band’s Facebook calls its singer and namesake a “gypsy,” and says she brings with her a “caravan of vaudevillians” on instruments ranging from cello to clarinet. While generally a Cleveland band, Angie Haze’s Project will accompany her other band, roots rock duo The David Mayfield Parade, on a tour jumping from Chicago to Kent, and then onto North Carolina.
Having extensive travels of its own, Qiet has been to Athens “many times,” and regularly works with Josh Brown, who books Qiet at Casa Nueva.
“He takes tremendous initiative to get us in there whenever possible,” Vincent said. Qiet played The Union on October 15 alongside local boys Blond.
Alasha Al-Qudwah, Qiet’s classically trained violinist, attended Ohio University and was a member of the OU Symphony Orchestra. Prestige does not make an esoteric musician, as the songs of Al-Qudwah’s band are unique yet accessible. With its “eclectic dance” music, Qiet has amassed an online following not to be written off, as Qiet’s Facebook photos often get over 100 likes and the band’s cinematic video for “Get Found” has gathered around 5,000 hits. An official Pandora station was recently designated to Qiet, which Vincent said is “incredibly rare for an up-and-coming [band] with no label and DIY.”
Music and merriment will begin at 10:00 p.m. Admission is $5 for 21 and over and $7 for those beneath the drinking age.
