Devil Music Ensemble to play soundtrack to ‘Red Heroine’(1)
The Devil Music Ensemble (from left, Brendon Wood, Tim Nylander, and Jonah Rapino) play many instruments to get their unique sound.
Deep down in a brick and concrete basement in Jamaica Plain, the three members of the Devil Music Ensemble whittle away at pieces of music that swerve in mood from warlike to courtly to comical. Brendon Wood plays plucky notes on an electric guitar while Tim Nylander clip-clops on woodblocks. Meanwhile, Jonah Rapino bows a rubbery-sounding two-stringed violin - the traditional Chinese erhu.
As they play, a smoky black-and-white film flickers on one wall, where an old warlord in royal dress inspects frightened lineups of women for a potential concubine. The music plays along with sinister undertones. A drooping guitar string mimics a slide whistle effect when one character climbs down a rope to escape from a high tower window.
It’s one of a handful of last-minute rehearsals the group has to create an original soundtrack to a rare silent kung-fu and wuxia film, 1929’s “Red Heroine.’’ Devil Music first brought the film to the United States four years ago when they performed it at Chinatown’s outdoor “Films at the Gate’’ series; but this month, they accompany the film on its most important voyage yet - the one back home to China, for the Jue Festival of Art in Beijing and Shanghai. Boston audiences will get a warm-up concert next Saturday at MassArt’s Pozen Center.
“It’s a dream come true,’’ says Rapino. “It’s an amazing film and still seems weirdly shocking and up-to-date. The hard part was to just figure out how to really accompany it.’’
Devil Music is a group uniquely equipped for the odd task of deconstructing this rediscovered classic. The trio is propelled by the members’ evolving musical tastes, which have never sat still for too long (Rapino and Wood also play in the renowned Ethio-pop group Debo Band). They built a reputation as a psychedelic pickup band that blasted through improv rock sets and versions of Terry Riley’s minimalist benchmark, “In C.’’ They often played with films running in the background. “It was just eye candy,’’ says Wood. “It was something for people to look at while we freaked out.’’
