American bass makes a big statement

Kevin Maynor

Keep holdin' on, a deep, resonant voice says, as Kevin Maynor does some juggling with phones on the other side of world.

He may be in Newark, but next week the American bass will be in Auckland, offering three musical tributes to four giants of the 20th century, who also happen to be black.

It was Maynor's singing of spirituals that got him noticed decades ago when he went with his university choir on a European tour. It was a turning point.

"I knew I must have had something to offer with this thing so I went back to the States and got serious," he says.

His life is not all singing. Maynor is proud that he has been ordained Deacon in his Baptist church for almost 30 years. Spirituals though "represent the struggle we all are involved in. This struggle to understand and be understood to understand.

"These songs haunt us. They don't always explain themselves but their sound lingers. You feel like you're being baptised into something you don't fully understand but it moves you in some sort of way that's beyond explanation."

Ensnared by his oratory, one can hardly wait until next week when he delivers those impassioned readings from Martin Luther King so many critics have hailed.

Racism, he warns is still very much with us: "presenting itself in a way that educated people see even more clearly. We spend half of our lives dealing with it."

To survive, as a black musician, "you become what I call a social genius", he adds. "You learn how to deal with this and you persevere. I think of our ancestors, how they came across on those ships, survived that torture and ridicule and endured that meanness. The ones that made it became terribly, terribly strong. They had to be. They had to have a certain kind of fortitude that's almost not natural."

How do Maynor's religious beliefs affect his singing. For the best, he says. He sees his art as a call to serve.

"In every operatic role, I'm constantly searching for that thing that will move my audience in the direction of wholeness, completeness, feeling good about themselves. It needn't be positive - it can be negative. It just has to have clarity. Recitals like those next week help people to see things and have an opinion about things. If you can help people have an opinion and express themselves then you have dialogue and you are bringing people together."

Even playing the Devil in Boito's Mefistofele is a God-given opportunity. "I like that part. I know I'm not Mefistofele but I can show you what he's like and make you realise why you don't want to be part of that."

After a rumble of laughter, he goes through an impressive list of his roles from Wagner's Ring with Scottish Opera and Philip Glass' Akhnaten with the New York City Opera, to a vast recital repertoire that includes pieces learnt when he studied in Russia in 1979-80.

Maynor had won a Fulbright to go to Moscow Conservatory but "an apprenticeship at the Bolshoi was what it was all about".

Working six long and hard days a week for two years, he returned to America with nine roles under his belt and "feeling so strong I was sure I could sing anything".

Even outside his more radical recital work, Maynor's takes on the standard operatic repertoire can be provocative. Social relevance is "one of the reasons Mozart is so important. The Marriage of Figaro deals with the class structure, The Magic Flute with sexism, racism and every other kind of ism. In fact," Maynor continues, "The Magic Flute is the best thing for children to go and see. It gives you a lesson on life with a great big smack."

Maynor is determined to send out a message that goes deeper than a basso profondo that tingles your spine.

Using visual presentations, sometimes from material entrusted to him by the families, and speaking in between the musical items, he will pay tribute to Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Paul Robeson and Malcolm X.

"I wanted to take recitals and make statements just as Paul Robeson did in his programmes.

"I wanted to tie things together, to commission poets to write on subjects like Stephen Biko, and pay tribute to great orators like Malcolm X."

Of Maynor's three AK05 recitals, it was Friday's Robeson night that was first to be put together, a show singled out for praise by the late Ossie Davis, one of Maynor's culture heroes, a man who was "always sharing, and making sure that things move on and legacies continue".

Robeson's legacy is there in songs that range from Earle Robinson's Joe Hill to Boris' Monologue from Boris Godunov. Maynor wants us to "see the majesty in those songs that Robeson would just roll out. That's what singing is all about. It's taking almost nothing and allowing God's wonderful gift to be heard in the simplest of ways, to be feasted upon. It's like a steak without all that junk on it, without all those seasonings and so forth - just a steak".

The concert hall is not always Maynor's priority. He is on television two or three times a week and works closely with his community.

He is quick to defend the young rappers, "because their music comes from rhythm, the most important part of music". (He sings Star-Spangled Banner with and without rhythm to make his point.)

Visiting some young men in prison last year, he pointed out to them that hip-hop came from bebop and suggested that "maybe one day it will be zip bop with all these computers and so on".

His visit Downunder is not purely musical, either. He is aware of the struggles for Aboriginals in Australia and Maori in New Zealand.

"I'm very much aware of distance and I know how disengaged people can feel when they are 13 or 14 hours from everybody else.

"The connections can get away from you and you need to know how you fit in the whole scheme of things."

In the words of his opening gambit, a sentiment I suspect would be echoed by his heroes, the final message might well be "keep holdin' on".

Performance

*Who: Kevin Maynor
*Where and when: Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell - Gandhi, King: Aspects of Aggression, Wed Mar 9; Repertoire of Paul Robeson, Fri Mar 11; Finale: Malcolm X, Sat Mar 12, all at 8pm.