When I met Brian Cina '98 for the first time, I was quite surprised. I managed to get into a fight with him, insult his taste in music, and mangle his last name in the first few minutes.
This being my usual I was not surprised by all of this, rather, by Cina's selective propriety of certain concepts, present in idealogies that often conflict with each other. In additon this causes Cina to stumble, often before grace, as an orator. It is clear that, while not in its nascent stages, Cina is still developing personal philosophies.
Cina, 21, is one of this years recipients of a College fellowship. For those unfamiliar with the fellowship program, Cina was given an office on campus and awarded a grant to pursue an independent project which relieved him of most of his class requirements (except for distributives).
For Cina his project choice was obvious -- he wanted to do something original in the fields of electronic music and urban dance.
During my profile, as always, Cina was very careful in the words he chose to use. While Cina did not come across as phony, he was weary of giving answers that could be misconstrued.
"[People] are trying to get me to say anti-establishment things, and I would've when I first came here, but now I don't see things as so clearly defined," Cina remarked.
One instance of this would be Cina's (however brief) entertainment of a pre-medicine concentration. "I worked in a hospital for 6 years, most of it in an O.R. I became so fed up with westernized medicine [when I came here], I saw that for everybody it was about making money."
Another was his involvement in Student Assembly. "I don't want to put this the wrong way," Cina urged, in addition to stating that SAs current make up was far more different than when he was a freshman.
"To a [certain] extent it was about egos more than it was about issues," Cina said.
"I'm not really interested in the financial wealth of people, but more their spiritual wealth."
I felt this begged to be expounded upon so I asked Cina if he felt the upper classes often lacked spiritual wealth. "I'm not going to sit here and judge. When I was a freshman I would have said that all people with money aren't good people, but I'm not going to sit here and do that now."
Cina's project, conventionally put, is the composition of a musical suite. Thirty to 45 minutes in length, the suite will consist of seven pieces. Featured instruments include a five piece wind section (containing flute, oboe, clarinet, french horn and basoon), an electronic synthesizer, digital media and sampling and a Native American flute, with Cina himself on this last instrument.
In an effort to contextualize Mid- and South-Western Native American environment, Cina traveled to reservations in North Dakota and Arizona during this summer.
Cina brought with him a portable DAT player and recorded everything, from the sound of bubbling geysers at Yellowstone National Park to the mass clicking of choruses of cicadas in Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona. These are natural elements which Cina will use in his piece to recreate the environment of tribal dance culture. Cina also recorded numerous urban sound textures, from car horns to screeching brakes. Through the similarities and disparities of the two, Cina hopes to build his bridge.
"I'm making a generalization, although it's fairly safe. In Native American music the drum is the heartbeat of the earth."
It is this very same undercurrent that Cina sees in urban dance music. While one is obviously centered in the city, and the other often in rural America, Cina feels that the cacophony of the city, reflected in the music of it's inhabitants, is no less the heartbeat of the earth than sounds heard on an Indian reservation. Cina's project is aptly titled, "Representing Environments with Sound: Connections Between Urban Dance Culture and Tribal Dance Culture."
"The heartbeat of the city, which many consider it artificial, is no less a reflection of the earth's heartbeat than a Native American drum. A drum is an animal skin stretched across wood. A drum machine is an assembly of circuits (made of minerals) powered by electricity (energy released from matter and harnessed by man). Both the drum machine and the drum are man-made, they just differ in technology and environmental impact. In both cases, the materials used come from the earth."
"I believe in the need to reach back to something primal, something more spiritual, not just some frat hump [dance]," said Cina of his music. "The kids see the heartbeat and reflect it in their music."
Many may find it difficult to get a read on Cina. When we have found out where Brian is coming from on an issue he may approach it from a different perspective. Or, sometimes when we've figured out what we feel Cina represents to us he doesn't quite say what we know is on his mind.
One thing is for certain, once Cina expresses his mind however, his statements can show brilliance in the symbiosis of thought complexity and simplicity.
Cina's fellowship is sure to be one of the most interesting ones to watch develop over the next year. If not the fellowship, then the fellow.
