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Scroll down to read or go directly to: San Francisco Celebrates the Holidays with Filipino Parols and Rondalla Music ACTA Welcomes New Board Member Deborah Wong Tribal Coalition Pursues Rights to California Condor Milestone Meeting of Mariachi Music Educators Proceeds from the license plate sales will benefit the California Arts Council (CAC)
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WHAT'S NEWSubscribe to The New Moon, ACTA's Monthly E-Newsletter. See the latest edition of The New Moon ACTA Participates at Beijing International Symposium
Opening Ceremony of the International Symposium on the Photo by Zhu Shouxian Amy Kitchener, ACTA Executive Director In November, I traveled to Beijing, China to make a presentation on ACTA’s programs and strategies to support California’s living cultural heritage at the International Symposium on Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage, organized by the Chinese Academy of Arts. ACTA’s participation was facilitated by Ms. Jubao Pu, Cultural Consul, Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco. Four U.S. presenters joined 20 international representatives from Europe and Asian/Pacific Island countries, with 40 speakers from China to discuss the most pressing issues affecting what the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has termed, "intangible cultural heritage (ICH) - the practices, representations, expressions, as well as the knowledge and skills, that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage." The sponsoring Chinese Academy of Arts is the largest academic arts institution in China, and has taken leadership in promoting the safeguarding China's living cultural heritage through convening international symposia, research and publications, and participation in multi-agency national efforts. The conference in November was the third such successive annual symposia the academy has organized. Its commitment and investment in promoting China’s leadership in preserving intangible cultural heritage parallels UNESCO’s relatively recent focus around the safeguarding of in ICH and the adoption of the “Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage” (adopted 2003). Topics of the symposium included: administrative models for preserving intangible cultural heritage; legislation protecting cultural heritage; issues of cultural tourism; systems of supporting the bearers of cultural heritage; relationships between environmental and cultural conservation; and lessons learned from implementation of ICH preservation. This wide-ranging agenda encouraged 64 diverse presentations ranging from “the protection of Shaolin Kungfu martial arts” to “the use of sound archives for the study of endangered languages” and to “the involvement of practitioners in policy-making.” Beginning on the second day, we broke into smaller working groups where ideas could be shared and more in depth discussions ensued.
Workshop for Research on Administrative Mechanism of Preservation on ICH Photo by Zhu Shouxian China ’s infrastructure for supporting its intangible cultural heritage is well endowed by the government. Four ministries—the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Finance, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, and China Federation of Literary and Art Circles started up the China Ethnic and Folk Culture Preservation Project in 2003. This projected seventeen-year endeavor for the preservation of ethnic and folk culture, supports endangered forms of expression including oral literature and language, traditional opera, storytelling, music, dance, acrobatics, fine arts, traditional craft, ritual and ceremony, festivals, sports, among others. Last year this coalition initiated 39 pilot projects throughout China, of which many made presentations at the symposia. The project methods include survey and identification of expressive culture; collecting, recording and research; establishment of “cultural ecological preservation zones;” and establishment of systems for the transmission of folk culture, support to practitioners, and promotion. The State Center of China Ethnic and Folk Culture Preservation Project is based in the Chinese Academy of Arts. The symposium provided a special opportunity for project leaders to convene and learn from each other in exchange with international perspectives. The meeting hosts, represented by the three Vice Presidents of the Chinese Academy of Arts, demonstrated generous and elegant hospitality by sharing elaborate meals with the participants. At dinner, dozens of traditional dishes were presented in successive courses to tables of 12 on huge “lazy Susans” allowing for a revolving feast, and easy lively conversation facilitated by the successive toasting with 5-grain wine. After the last papers were delivered and the closing banquet ended, one table began an acapella jam session, led by the strong and resonant voice of the County Head of Tongren, from a Tibetan community in Qinghai province. Soon, an informal party began that continued into the night. After the symposium ended, I took a few days to explore Beijing on my own. A highlight of the trip was meeting Mr. Shu Chengyi, a senior national class percussionist, who introduced me to a sampling of the richness of Beijing culture – in food and performance. This special meeting was arranged by Wang Wei, the master Chinese percussionist in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program who studied with Mr. Shu at the conservatory in Beijing. Our excursions included attending performances of Peking opera, feasting on roast duck, tea house culture, and culminated with a performance of the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra. Mr. Shu recently retired as the Chief Timpanist of the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra, which has toured internationally and broadcasts regularly on Chinese national television and radio. After the concert, the Director, Zhang Gao Xiang and his wife, the concertmaster, Jiang Ke Mei, both former students of Mr. Shu joined us for tea, along with the first pipa (plucked lute) player, Chen Yin and Ms. Jiang’s nephew who provided exceptional translations in English and Chinese.
At a Tea House with Musicians from the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra. Clockwise, standing from left, Jiang Kemei, Chen Yin, nephew of Jiang Kemei (translator), Shu Chengyi, Amy Kitchener, and Zhang Gaoxiang. In my short days of touring the capitol’s most famous sites, I encountered Mr. Charlie Deng, a free-lance tour guide and retired horticulturalist. With a tight schedule, an ambitious itinerary, and no Chinese language ability, I decided to hire Mr. Deng for a whirlwind tour to the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, the Great Wall, and the Temple of Heaven. Mr. Deng grew up under the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, with a father who worked at the American Embassy giving him a foundation in English which now flourishes as he shares the long, rich, and complex history and culture of the capitol with foreign visitors. At 74, he was hard to keep up with on the steep climb at the Great Wall. The whole experience left me wanting to spend more time in China and hoping for a future return.
Charlie Deng, tour guide and horticulturalist, at the Great Wall at Mutianyu Photo by A. Kitchener Links to some symposium participants’ websitesArchives for the Future: global perspectives on audiovisual archives in the 21st Century. Archives for the Future is a downloadable book edited by Anthony Seeger and Shubha Chaudhuri. This unique book is based on a workshop for an international group of administrators of research-based archives held near New Delhi in December 1999, the aim of which was to bring together archivists from industrializing countries which have a relatively recent history of audiovisual archives, principally from the Southern Hemisphere; to take concerns of audiovisual archives outside the national and regional boundaries that so often define them; and to focus on audiovisual archives that document musical and folklore traditions or ethnomusicology. Asia/Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO The Center supports cultural cooperation programs to assist the safeguarding and promotion of various kinds of intangible culture heritage that exist in Asia and the Pacific. Austrian National Folklife Archives This website provides virtual access to the databank of Austrian folklife archives (in German). The Austrian government facilitated digitization and networking of seven autonomous regional archives to make their combined extensive collections totaling 90,000 musical recordings and 6,000 photos accessible on the internet. International Council for Traditional Music The aims of the ICTM are to further the study, practice, documentation, preservation and dissemination of traditional music, including folk, popular, classical and urban music, and dance of all countries. The ICTM is an NGO (non-governmental organization) in formal consultative relations with UNESCO. Mercator-Education Mercator-Education at the Fryske Akademy in the Netherlands supports the European Network for Regional or Minority Languages and Education. Mercator 's main goal is to gather, store and distribute information through a documentation and information network for regional and minority languages in the European Union. Vanuatu Cultural Centre (VCC) The VCC is an organization that works to record and promote the diverse cultures of the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu. The VCC runs an extensive network of volunteer workers around the country who record information and participate in projects run by the Centre. San Francisco Celebrates the Holidays with Filipino Parols and Rondalla Music
Contemporary parols hanging at the Community Parol Stroll Lantern Parade Mari Pongkhamsing, Archivist/Special Projects Coordinator, ACTA The Filipino American Development Foundation, in collaboration with Kulintang Arts, recently produced the Community Parol Stroll Lantern Parade and the San Fernando Giant Lantern Parol Concert featuring Filipino rondalla (traditional string ensemble) music and displays of parol (Filipino Christmas lanterns) in San Francisco’s South of Market district. The events were part of a large scale project, partially funded by ACTA’s Folk & Traditional Arts Mentorship Initiative, to increase community participation in Filipino traditional arts. ACTA´s program is supported by the Walter & Elise Haas Fund. 2,000 parols, which were featured at the Lantern parade and placed on display at the Asian Art Museum, Zeum, the main branch of the public library, and Yerba Buena Gardens. Traditionally, artists created parol by fastening pieces of bamboo into the shape of a five-pointed star. They covered the frame with rice paper. Workshop participants learned how to use bamboo to create this traditional shape, which symbolizes the star of Bethlehem. They then decorated their parol with colored paper and cellophane.
Parols created by members of the local community in parol-making workshops Over the years artists incorporated new materials and their designs became more intricate and varied. A popular contemporary style of parol is made with electric lights and colored plastic. The San Fernando Giant Lantern Parol Concert featured a large electric parol, which was sent from the Philippines. Robert David, the Filipino lantern artist who assembled the giant parol, noted that the most difficult part of making this type of parol is the electric wiring. David had to coordinate hundreds of colored light bulbs to flash in alternating patterns. The next phase of the project, which is funded by ACTA’s Folk and Traditional Arts Mentorship Initiative, consists of rondalla workshops which will be taught by Herna Cruz. Ms. Cruz, who is co-director of Likha Pilipino Folk Ensemble Rondalla, recently performed with her ensemble at the San Fernando Giant Lantern Parol Concert and next month she will begin the twelve-week series of workshops for youth and adults. She hopes to introduce rondalla music to the next generation of Filipino Americans, noting that some young people have rejected the form as a symbol of the colonial past. Ms. Cruz will teach her students that rondalla is a distinct Filipino form, unique in its instrumentation, styles of playing, rhythms, and melodies. Rondalla has helped to preserve traditional Filipino lullabies, love songs, harana (serenades), and other folk melodies. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to perform at the Flores de Mayo/Lechon Parade in May. For more information on workshops contact Kularts at (415) 239-0249 or see their website.
Herna Cruz, co-director of Likha Pilipino Folk Ensemble Rondalla
Likha Pilipino Folk Ensemble Rondalla performing at the Photos by Mari Pongkhamsing ACTA Welcomes New Board Member Deborah WongThis month ACTA welcomes new board member Deboarh Wong. Dr. Wong was elected to ACTA’s Board of Directors on November 3, in San Francisco. Dr. Wong, an Ethnomusicologist, is currently a Professor of Music at the University of California, Riverside, continuing a career of professorships since 1991 that includes residencies at Pomona College, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and the University of Chicago. Dr. Wong holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Wong is the author of two books including Speak It Louder: Asian Americans Making Music (Routledge) and Sounding the Center: History and Aesthetics in Thai Buddhist Ritual (University of Chicago Press). Dr. Wong, herself a musician, is a member of Taiko Center of Los Angeles and the University of California, Riverside Javanese Gamelan Ensemble. Her extensive career includes time for community service where she has spent many years on various boards of community-based organizations including serving on the Mayor’s Multicultural Forum for the City of Riverside. ACTA is very pleased to have Ms. Wong working with us to “ensure that California’s future holds California’s past.” Deborah Wong will be adding to the ranks of ACTA’s prestigious Board of Directors; joining with Melanie Beene, Principal Melanie Beene & Associates; Natividad “Nati” Cano, Director Los Camperos de Nati Cano; Bess Lomax Hawes (honorary), former Director of the National Endowment for the Arts Folk & Traditional Arts Program; Jo Farb Hernandez, Museum Consultant and Folklorist; Vicki Filgas Treviño, Director of Los Paisanos ballet folklorico de Selma and teacher; Joel Jacinto, Executive Director, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans; Frank LaPena, Professor Emeritus (retired) American Indian Studies, CSU Sacramento; Malcolm Margolin, Publisher, Heyday Books; Libby Maynard, Co-founder and Executive Director, Ink People; Hugo Morales, Founder and Executive Director of Radio Bilingüe; Chike Nwoffiah, Executive Director, Oriki Theatre; Peter Pennekamp, Executive Director, Humboldt Area Foundation; Charlie Seemann, Executive Director, Western Folklife Center; and Daniel Sheehy, CEO Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Tribal Coalition Pursues Rights to California Condor
Dee Dominguez, her daughter and granddaughter get their By Mary MacGregor-Villarreal, Ph.D, Independent Folklorist Editor’s note: Since early last year, Delia Dominguez, who is Chairwoman of the Kitanemuk and Yowlumne Tejon Indians, has kept Mary MacGregor-Villarreal informed of the Indians’ efforts to obtain the feathers of a California condor. She has invited Mary to document the ongoing discussion between the Indian tribes and the United States Fish & Wildlife Service. This is the first report in a series that will appear in the New Moon over the next few months. On a clear, chilly morning the first Saturday in December representatives of five California Indian tribes and the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) gathered at a parking lot in Fillmore, California. Scott Aikin, the Native American Liaison for the Pacific Region of USFWS, had arranged for the Indians to visit the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, a facility located in the heart of the condor’s historical territory in the Sespe Range and a center for the work of the California Condor Recovery Program. This is one of a few facilities that release condors into the wild continuously monitoring them in ongoing efforts to save the endangered species from extinction.
Monitoring device used by the USFWS to track condors in the wild This visit to the refuge was actually the most recent meeting between members of the Tribes and the USFWS to discuss the future disposition of the remains of Adult Condor 8 (“AC8”), a female condor, who was illegally shot and killed on the Tejon Ranch in February 2003. For the past 22 months AC8 has remained in the custody of the judicial system awaiting the conclusion of the proceedings against the poacher. As the time approached for the return of AC8 to USFWS on December 16, various interested parties came forth with claims for her body. Since becoming aware of the death of AC8, Delia “Dee” Dominguez, Chairwoman of the Kitanemuk and Yowlumne Tejon Indians, has been working for the release of the bird to a coalition of tribes (including the Barbareno Chumash, the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Costanoan-Rumsen Carmel Tribe, Gabrieleno/Tongva, among others), so that proper ceremonial and spiritual steps can be taken to dispose of her body and keep her spirit alive. The Indians, who consider the condor to be both earthly and spiritual kin, wish to use the sacred feathers for dance regalia and return her body to the earth properly. AC8 provides an unusual opportunity for the tribes to pursue their traditions and connect their past with the present and the future. The regalia is needed for the Condor Dance, which is extremely rare, and most recently was performed by a Chumash elder, Tony Romero, until his death a few years ago. The only known extant condor cape resides in a Russian museum, having been taken to that country during the 19th century when the Russians were involved in seal hunting on the west coast of the United States. Feathers from AC8 would provide a new cape that would be used by the various tribes for tribal ceremonial purposes and for general educational purposes.
Looking out over the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge and the historical territory of the California condor Photos by Mary MacGregor-Villarreal This meeting of the Indians and USFWS at the Hopper Mountain Wildlife Refuge was an opportunity for both parties to present and explain their positions on the disposition of AC8. USFWS invited the Indians to view the condors in the wild and to become more acquainted with the California Condor Recovery Program, the controversial efforts by biologists and environmentalists to save the California condor from extinction since 1982. They also made clear that they want to be sure that the disposition of the carcass best benefit the agency’s interest in the advancement of the recovery process and education outreach to the public. An obstacle to the Indians’ claim to AC8 is the fact that this coalition is composed of non-federally recognized tribes who are attempting to negotiate with a federal agency. Although nothing conclusive resulted from the meeting of the Tribes and USFWS, the day was well spent. As a result of the discussion, both sides were better informed of the interests and work of the other. Furthermore, USFWS requested that the Indians present their plan for AC8 in a written proposal to the agency for further consideration, a step that can be perceived as hopeful for the Tribes. However, probably the most inspirational moment of the day occurred after a bumpy trip by van on an unpaved road up into the wilderness area of Sespe Mountains high above Fillmore, where we were rewarded with our first sighting of California condors in the wild. After watching them from a distance through binoculars, everyone was awed to find them soaring overhead. This was a magical, spiritual moment, one that could only be perceived as auspicious. Plans for AC8 as proposed by the Tribal Coalition include:
California Condor Recovery Program and AC8Since contact with Europeans, the California condor population has steadily declined at an ever-increasing rate. By 1983 there remained only 22 birds. The California Condor Recovery Program is an effort sponsored by the USFWS that enlists the efforts of many cooperating environmental and scientific entities in the United States and Mexico. Over the past 22 years through a special breeding program that includes capturing birds in the wild, hatching eggs in captivity, and reintroducing birds to the wild, the Recovery Program has been successful in increasing the number of the species from 22 to 246. However, the major factors that brought the bird almost to extinction remain to be addressed and some biologists fear that despite the increased number of condors, the situation remains the same as it was in 1982. Lead poisoning, for example, is one of the many dangers continuing to threaten the condor’s recovery. Although each and every condor is important to the recovery program, AC8 in particular is a major loss with additional symbolic significance to all parties concerned. AC8, a female, was one of the wild condors when the recovery program was initiated. Hatched in the wild sometime prior to 1976, she was first captured in 1986 and later re-released to the wild in April 2000. Of the last wild condors alive in the fall of 1984, seven currently live in zoos, two are dead, and one lives in the wild. Thus, AC8, the most recent to die, is understandably a highly significant bird, both to the California Condor Recovery Team and its scientific and environmental supporters and to the public, as well as to the Indian tribes who place great spiritual and ceremonial value on the condor. To the indigenous peoples, the life of AC8 is a metaphor, symbolic of the path of their own lives after contact with Europeans. Read more about Hopper Mountain NWR and the California Condor Recovery Program. Read more about threats to the condor. Read more about the life of AC8. Milestone Meeting of Mariachi Music Educators
The panel members at the National Association for Music Education (MENC) meeting on mariachi music education are left to right: Daniel Sheehy, Javier Trujillo, Juan Ortiz, Belle Ortiz, David Circle, Marcia Neel, Jose Hernandez, Richard Rodriguez, Rene Benavidez, Noe Sanchez, Jeff Nevin, Yamil Yunes, and Bill Virchis. Photo by Rosalind Fehr Richard Rodriguez, Multicultural Music Representative, California Music Education Association As a significant step to make music education more inclusive and relevant in today¹s schools, the National Association for Music Education (MENC), held a meeting on mariachi music education at the Reston, Virginia headquarters on December 13. The meeting, chaired by MENC president David Circle and co-chaired by former MENC Western-States Division president Marcia Neel, addressed the exploding interest in mariachi music nationwide. The meeting was attended by a small group of leading educators and performers in the mariachi field to trade ideas and discuss the many possibilities open to mariachi music making in the schools and communities of the United States. This prestigious panel included legendary Jose Hernandez from Mariachi Sol de Mexico, revered Texas mariachi educator Belle Ortiz, as well as the foremost ethnomusicologist of mariachi music, and Director & Curator of Smithsonian’s Folkways Recordings, Daniel Sheehy. The topics covered the breadth and quality of what mariachi music will bring to the nearly 120,000 MENC memberships, and likewise what this organization can do to enhance this great cultural tradition so popular with students from Latino communities as well as students of all races and ethnicities. The panel discussions created an air of excitement at the interest mariachi music represents to the mission of MENC and its potential to expand opportunities to engage students in public schools. The master practitioners that have committed resources and time to the education of students through mariachi music are coming forward to assist MENC by providing knowledge to help teachers in the many forms that mariachi music takes in the successful school and community programs existing today. Providing sequential age-appropriate teaching curriculum, and equally significant professional development assistance for teachers that would be necessary for a successful implementation was discussed. The resources that MENC can bring would include performances, clinics, classes, and news and professional articles supporting mariachi books and materials comparable with those that now exist for band, orchestra, and choir. Communication would improve with a presence on the MENC website, conference strands would be developed, and special emphasis for those seeking specialized instruction as beginning teachers as well as those with a more familiar knowledge of this captivating style of learning music would be shared. Given the significant interest in multicultural music existing in California, a large benefit by this commitment from MENC would be realized. In a recent MENC sponsored on-line survey dealing with mariachi music education, participation of respondents from California was first, having almost double the participation of the next closest state. Slowly the acceptance and valuing of music making from the wide variety of cultural traditions that exists in our state has occurred, and this recent development and association with mariachi music by MENC is sure to increase music education’s stature and value to communities and families alike. Editor’s Note: Radio Bilingue, a non-profit network of over 65 radio stations serving Latinos throughout the United States, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, has a history of supporting mariachi music education by providing mariachi music workshops in conjunction with their annual Viva el Mariachi Festival. The Alliance for California Traditional Arts serves as the coordinator for this year’s workshops to be held on March 12, 2005 on the campus of California State University, Fresno. The workshops, open to ages 10 and up, offer instruction for beginners, intermediate and advanced musicians on traditional instruments-violin, vihuela, guitar, guitarrón, and trumpet. Instruction is also offered to students of voice. Nati Cano y Los Camperos will serve as the instructors for the intermediate and advanced level classes. Juan Morales, a current master in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, with Mariachi Tenochtitlán will teach the beginning classes. Registration fees begin at $35. Those interested in registering may contact the workshop coordinators-the Alliance for California Traditional Arts at (559) 237-9812 or Radio Bilingüe, to speak with someone in Spanish, at (559) 455-5777. Or visit Radio Bilingüe’s website to download a registration form.
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