by Stephanie Manning
Once you’ve listened to the American Patchwork Quartet, you might not hear your favorite folk songs the same way. Take the group’s September 13 version of “Shenandoah,” which began with an introduction that held the Oberlin audience spellbound.
Accompanied only by a drone, Harini (“Rini”) Raghavan’s voice spun out a searching melody in the South Indian Carnatic style, an improvisation of pure sound and syllable. But before long, she took a breath and seamlessly began the words to “Shenandoah,” the rest of the group then picking up the familiar, bittersweet song.
Interactions like that are at the heart of the American Patchwork Quartet — a group that combines different cultural and musical traditions to perform folk music in a distinct and dynamic way. Their Saturday night performance in Finney Chapel marked the group’s debut on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series.