Humans have been observing the winter solstice across cultures and continents for thousands of years. In 1990 two Chicago percussionists, Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang, marked the northern hemisphere’s shortest day with a concert in a dance studio with a view of the el tracks. The idea was to provide a special occasion for a couple dozen friends who might not celebrate the season in any other way. But that concert has grown over the past 25 years into a beloved series of concerts—an annual gathering that transcends Drake and Zerang’s respective social circles and fan bases. For those who come year after year, it has become an anchor, a beacon, and a seasonal tradition in its own right.
For this oral history of the duo’s solstice concerts, I spoke with Drake and Zerang, of course, as well as with five other people with close connections to the series. Performer and educator Zahra Glenda Baker has greeted solstice audiences for more than 20 years; bassist and guimbri player Joshua Abrams has collaborated with both drummers, and he once sat in on a sunrise concert. Cellist, composer, and bandleader Tomeka Reid and drummer Mike Weis, who plays in Zelienople and Kwaidan, have both been attending solstice shows since moving to town (in 2000 and 1995, respectively). And Raymond Salvatore Harmon is an artist and record producer based in London who attended sunrise concerts from 1996 till 2002—that is, every year he lived in Chicago.
Drake: Zahra and I met years ago when we were working for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Baker: Aw, that’s sweet! Even though I’m younger than both of them.
Mike Weis: You enter a room lit only by candles arranged in a circle around the drums before dawn. As the performance carries on, the room slowly fills with the light of the rising sun, and the music in the room begins to be accompanied by the sounds of the city waking up outside—the elevated trains increasing in frequency, commuters beginning their day, et cetera.
Drake: Constellation is nice because we’re on the ground floor.
Mon 12/21 through Wed 12/23, 6 AM Constellation 3111 N. Western $25 All ages
Hamid Drake, Ari Brown, and Harrison Bankhead; Michael Zerang & the Blue Lights Mon 12/21, 8 PM Constellation 3111 N. Western $15, $10 in advance 18+
Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jim Baker, and Kent Kessler; Hamid Drake, Joshua Abrams, and Jason Adasiewicz Tue 12/22, 8 PM Constellation 3111 N. Western $15, $10 in advance 18+
Solstice Orchestra; Tatsu Aoki, Tsukasa Taiko, Hamid Drake, and Michael Zerang Wed 12/23, 8 PM Constellation 3111 N. Western $15, $10 in advance 18+
