Will Ridenour and Betsy Bevan couldn't be more different.
He is an essentially self-taught drummer and Kora player, and she is a classically trained pianist and painter. He has played in several bands, and she has never been in one. His music is in his head, and she writes out all of her compositions. But their shared love of African music harmoniously meshes their two very different styles.
"We're both so interested in culture and world music," Bevan said. "I think that's where we connect."
Bevan also plays African drums and met Ridenour through their mutual appreciation for African culture and music. Ridenour played the Kora, an African instrument with 21 strings, at one of Bevan's art openings and they started playing together in December. Bevan began playing the piano along with one of Ridenour's Kora CDs at home and thought the two instruments would create a nice sound.
When they first performed their composition, "Air of the Meadow," at a church service, Ridenour said he knew they were making something special.
"I was shaking so bad I almost fell out of my chair," Ridenour said. "Not out of nervousness but out of the power of what we were creating."
Now Ridenour and Bevan are channeling their different creative energies into a tribute album, "Wind and Stars," in honor of a good friend of theirs who died .
"I was able to be composing with Will and working on the album these last six months while my musician friend, Emily, was slowly succumbing to cancer," Bevan said. "It was very helpful for me to process her leaving this plain here on earth by writing music for my own healing of emotions of that and at the same time know I was lifting her up in honor with our music."
Ridenour and Bevan describe the music as "healing art," an easy listening sound that inspires listeners to heal through the power of music.
"This music was created with the intention of bringing forth music that was relaxing, beautiful and uplifting," Bevan said. "Many of the pieces have a slow tempo for a soothing sound when people are receiving holistic, alternative therapy healing sessions such as massage, Reiki, acupuncture, energy work or for people when doing yoga, Tai Chi or Qi gong."
"Wind and Stars" will be released in early September, and Ridenour and Bevan's different styles and backgrounds contribute to its original sound.
Ridenour, who has lived in Greensboro all his life, started playing drums in bands in high school but was never surrounded by music during his childhood. He later joined the punk band Zegota and toured across Europe with them.
He became interested in West African music through his drumming and was drawn to the Kora when he saw a friend play it seven years ago.
"It's just so beautiful," Ridenour said. "The simple sound that comes out of it is unbearably awesome."
Though Ridenour has always loved music, he said he didn't know he wanted to devote his life to it until about three years ago when he quit his job as a chef to pursue music full time.
"It wasn't a choice," Ridenour said. "It was a realization."
Bevan realized her passion for music earlier in life. When she was 10 years old, she attended a concert and saw a high school student playing an original composition on the piano. She thought she could do it, too.
"I grew up with music so I started writing early on," Bevan said.
She attended music schools, entered contests and festivals and performed in cathedrals across Europe with a concert choir.
Bevan moved from New York to Greensboro eight years ago and currently paints, composes and teaches music at a private studio and various schools.
Ridenour teaches drum lessons and is involved in activism with Cakalak Thunder , a radical drum corps in Greensboro.
But right now, Ridenour and Bevan are both focused on "Wind and Stars," which Bevan said may be the first in a series of healing arts CDs.
"Music empowers me to know myself better, to feel more alive than ever," Ridenour said. "We all get chills from certain music, and that's a great, indestructi ble feeling."
Contact Alexa Milan at amilan@elon.edu
