Free tunes go down easy on the Morristown Green
MORRISTOWN – The easy vibes of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” played by a calypso band, had everyone in a mellow mood on a warm Tuesday lunch hour at the Morristown Green.
Some danced and some sat and ate their lunch, while others merely passed through the park during the midday performance by the Conroy Warren Duo, part of the sixth-annual Music Without Borders concert series presented by Morris Arts and the Mayo Performing Arts Center and sponsored by the Novartis Corp.
Programmed as a showcase of world music artists for an equally diverse Morristown audience, Tom Werder, executive director of the nonprofit Morris Arts organization, said all are welcome to come and experience the joy of music and Morristown in the summer.
“It feels like we’re in the Caribbean, beautiful music, beautiful day,” Werder said. “We have the folks that just came in from Novartis. You have families that come with their kids. You have the homeless people in the park, just chilling to the music. We feel like it really brings the community together.”
The 2015 series began on June 23 with Middle Eastern sounds of the Secret Trio. It continues on July 21 with a Ukrainian music and dance performance by the group Barynya, and concludes on Aug. 4 with the Korean Drum Dance ensemble with Korean Traditional Dance of Choomnori.
“It’s like little tour of the world without leaving Morristown,” Werder said. “For this series, we really wanted to do something that was different from what people would get in their daily life. A couple of weeks ago we had a group from the Middle East, doing really exciting music from Turkey, Armenia and Macedonia. This (calypso) music couldn’t be more different than that, but hopefully is representative of pockets of our community.”
“I’m loving it,” said Arthur Thompson, a transplanted Jamaican living in Morristown. “It sounds like home, and with this weather, it feels a little like home, too.”
The popular events also give the presenting organizations a chance to meet people and share their missions with what seems to be a growing audience every year.
“It’s a great partnership with the Mayo,” Werder said. “It’s one of those great collaborations where we use the strength of both organizations.”
“It’s always great to be here in the park and meet with people,” said Mayo Performing Arts Center General Manager Ed Kirchdoerffer, who was there with a group of volunteers to hand out fliers advertising the many summer performances scheduled at their venue a few blocks away.
“It’s become a part of what people expect to happen around here,” Werder said of the many cultural attractions brought to Morristown by both groups. “We have Meet Me in Morristown (which brings artists and street performers to town) on the last Thursday of the month, we have this series on Tuesdays at lunchtimes, we just had the Giralda Farms concert a few weeks ago with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. We’re committed to continue to bring great events to Morristown and Morris County.”
Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.