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Scroll down to read or go directly to: ACTA Welcomes New Staff Member, Lily Kharrazi Portuguese Traditions Thrive in California Oxford University Press Releases a New Textbook, Mariachi Music in America, by Dr. Daniel Sheehy Sousa? Many Students March to Mariachi Instead A Classical Cambodian Stranger in a Strange Land “Living the Tradition” Produces an Anthology of International Bagpipe Music Advocacy Update on SB 691 – Your letters are working! 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 The California Traditional Arts Advancement Program Finds a New Home at ACTA!This month the California Traditional Arts Advancement Program, a grant program of the Fund for Folk Culture (FFC), will find a new home with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA). In recognition of this important change, the grant program will be re-christened the Living Cultures Grants Program. In order to ensure a smooth transition in 2005, the application process and guidelines for the Living Cultures Grants Program will be similar to past grant guidelines for the California Traditional Arts Advancement Program. Current grantees should submit final reports to the Fund for Folk Culture. Grant seekers for the new 2005 round may contact the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. Guidelines and applications are now available. Hard copies may be requested by calling the ACTA office in San Francisco at (415) 561-7893. The transfer of this important grant program is the culmination of a long and successful partnership between the FFC and ACTA. Both organizations will continue to work together in the future and remain committed to building a supportive environment and strong resource base for folk and traditional artists, organizations and communities in California. The FFC and ACTA wish to thank The James Irvine Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for their support and assistance during this transition. Both foundations are longtime supporters of the California Traditional Arts Advancement Program and will continue their funding of the Living Cultures Grants Program in the coming year. Make a Note! Contact and Address ChangesNew Name/Contact Info: Living Cultures Grants Program Contact: Lily Kharrazi, Program Coordinator Old Name/Contact Info: California Traditional Arts Advancement Program Contacts: Betsy Peterson or Laura Marcus The Living Cultures Grants Program is a pilot project of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts in partnership with The Fund for Folk Culture, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The James Irvine Foundation. ACTA Welcomes New Staff Member, Lily Kharrazi Ms. Kharrazi has long been a student of world dance, studying such forms as Yemenite, Balinese, Haitian and contemporary dance. She performed with the Aman International Folk Ensemble, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Margalit Oved Dance Theater, and Flesh and Spirit Haitian Dance. Ms. Kharrazi had this to say about her new position at ACTA and the opportunity to work with California’s diverse folk and traditional arts field: Working with traditional artists is a natural continuation of my work experience and life passion. As a child of immigrant parents, I was made aware at a very young age, just how extraordinary it is to be surrounded by more than one language, different foods, smells, and customs that were not part of the “mainstream.” It was also difficult not to be part of the majority, but I am the richer for the experience of negotiating more than one culture. When I think about the tapestry of people that exist right here in California, I am convinced that what we do here in this state can play a leadership role in showing that one of our most precious natural resources is how we appreciate, promote and support the traditional arts. I welcome working with you, learning from you and creating a stellar program this year and into the future through the Living Cultures Grants Program. I look forward to meeting many of you and hope you will call or email me with any questions or comments. Lily Kharrazi works in ACTA’s San Francisco office and can be reached by phone (415) 561-7893 or by email to lilyk@actaonline.org. Portuguese Traditions Thrive in California
Capes worn by the queens of the festa parades are often hand-sewn Photo by Missy Jessen On a warm May morning, I sat beneath a shade tree in Easton, California with my grandmother, mother, and aunt. I listened to them talk with old friends, greeting each other with warm smiles and kisses. I stood up and walked to the middle of the road, straining my eyes to see as far in the distance as possible. And then I saw it – the start of the parade. I could see the raised banners, and the Portuguese and American flags being carried down the road, side-by-side. I turned back to my family and smiled, saying “It’s coming” before rejoining them in the shade. This will be a regular scene throughout California this summer. Portuguese and Azorean Americans will gather together in celebration for annual festivals called a Festa (pronounced fesh-ta). A Festa, which is rooted in the Catholic religion, features numerous customs including a parade, mass, dancing, and traditional food, among others and has been a long standing tradition in California Portuguese communities. For me, a third generation American, this is a tradition I have always known and treasured as it binds me to my mother’s family and our heritage. My mother’s maternal grandfather, Manuel Garoupa, immigrated to the United States in 1921 from the island of São Miguel in the Azores. Her father’s parents hail from the island of Pico. Festas are organized and hosted by a community brotherhood or organization, many of which were founded during the early settling years of Azorean and Portuguese immigrants in California dating back to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. My great-grandfather was associated with the Colónia Portuguesa do Divino Espírito Santo (CPDES) in Easton, California. This year on May 15, CPDES held its 78 th Annual Festa to pay homage to the Holy Ghost and I returned to document it for the New Moon. While many festas honor the Holy Ghost, others may honor a particular saint; for instance Saint Anthony, born in Lisbon, Portugal and patron saint of fisherman and harvests is often honored at festas. As a young child, and again when I was a teenager, I participated often in the CPDES’s St. Anthony Annual Festa, as did my sisters. While a festa’s activities can span an entire weekend and may include a variety of activities such as Portuguese bullfights, a special dinner or auction, and a rosary mass, the day of the parade and feast is the most popular day of the festa. This was no different for the Holy Ghost festa this year as crowds of people lined the streets of Easton to watch the parade. Each brotherhood or organization that sponsors a festa will often choose a teenage girl to serve as the “big queen,” and a pre-adolescent girl to serve as the “little queen.” The queen is charged with representing the organization at other festas throughout the state and is given two female attendants to march by her side at all of the parades she attends. Today, the queen is viewed as a reminder of Queen Saint Isabel of Portugal, who is revered as a peacemaker and protector of the poor. I come from a lineage of queens for CPDES parades, my great aunts, mother, cousins and sisters have all served as both little and big queens.
"Island Girls" represent each island of the Azores in the festa Photo by Missy Jessen As the parade approached us, we waited anxiously to see the new queen of the CPDES Holy Ghost parade, though she would not appear until the end. At the front of the parade marched the outgoing queen, who after a year of service would relinquish her crown. Following her was a number of queens from other towns and organizations. They brought with them flag bearers carrying a banner with the name of the organization and town, and again a Portuguese and American flag. The Queen’s dresses are always white and the style of today is similar to a wedding gown with large skirts and intricate beading. The queen is separated from her attendants by a long cape. The cape, which is usually hand sewn by a special cape-maker in the community, is often made of velvet and trimmed in marabou. The cape maker will design the cape based on the type of parade the girl is representing. For instance, a queen from a Holy Ghost parade will usually have a dove, which is symbolic of the Holy Ghost in Catholicism, on her cape. We watched the queens pass and enjoyed their beautiful clothing and tiaras which sparkled in the sun. As the parade continued we began to hear the music of a local marching band and we tapped our feet in time. We cheered for them as they passed us playing traditional Portuguese tunes and an occasional American marching song. As the parade neared the end we saw the little “Island Girls” dressed in traditional-style clothing while carrying a miniature representation of the Azores Islands. I remembered fondly, that my first role in a parade was as an Island Girl. Finally, the new queen approached, her court of “Gladiola Girls,” usually friends and relatives of the queen chosen to march in the parade, stretched out before her. As they rounded the corner to the church, the parade participants formed an aisle and the Gladiola Girls raised their flowers to form an arch for the Queen to walk through. At the front of the church, the outgoing Queen waited patiently for her successor. The Priest of the church shared blessings with both queens and the old queen ceremoniously gave the symbolic crown, owned by the organization, to the new queen. After the changing of the queens, all were invited to enter the church for a mass in devotion to the Holy Ghost.
Sopas, a traditional Portuguese dish, is served free to the public at Photo by Missy Jessen While the parade was passing through the town, many cooks were busy preparing a large feast to feed hundreds of people. They prepared the traditional meal called sopas, which is a stew made up of cabbage, meat, and bread. Men who belong to CPDES cooked the sopas in industrial-sized pots and used large pots connected to a broom handle to stir the sopas with. All of the ingredients for the food are donated, and the meal is given for free to the festival-goers in honor of the kindness Queen Saint Isabel showed to the poor of Portugal, as well as an opportunity for the brotherhood to give back to their community. My grandmother has often told me stories of how her father raised a cow each year with the purpose of donating it to the festa for the sopas. That evening we did not return for the continued events. But I know what was to happen. A dinner of sopas would be served to the public, and people would enter the hall for a night of dancing and fellowship. Usually a live band will play traditional Portuguese music, as well as contemporary music. The dance is kicked off by the grand march, a series of circles and loops marched around the hall dance floor, performed by the Queen and her court. At one point in the evening, a caller would probably get on the microphone and sing the music for the chamarrita, a traditional style dance similar to square dancing in that a caller calls out directions and dancers follow by changing partners and twirling about. As I look now at pictures from that day, it strikes me how symbolic the two flags leading the parade are—the Portuguese and American flags waving together, so much like the culture within me, so much like the culture of my grandmother and my mother. I am proud of my Portuguese and Azorean heritage and I am thankful to my great-grandparents, my grandmother, my mother, and the other members of my community for ensuring that our traditions are continued so that I might know where I come from, so that I might know who I am. For a listing of festas taking place throughout California from now until October, visit the Irmandade do Divino Espirito Santo (I.D.E.S.) website. Asian Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership Celebrates the Arts with Balinese Dance
Students performing Keybar style Balinese dance at the AYPAL Arts Festival Photo by Mari Pongkhamsing Mari Pongkhamsing, ACTA Asian Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL) presented music, dance, poetry, and theater at the 7th Annual May Arts Festival in Oakland’s Fruitvale district. At the Festival, a group of youth dancers in vibrant costumes performed traditional Balinese dance, an art form they had studied for eight months through the AYPAL Talking Root Arts Collective Dance Exchange Project with support from ACTA’s Folk and Traditional Arts Mentorship Initiative funded by the Walter and Elise Haas Fund. AYPAL Talking Root Arts Collective is an arts education program that seeks to develop youths’ artistic skills, help them recover cultural identity, build community, and facilitate cross-cultural understanding. Talking Root Arts Collective participants come from diverse Oakland communities including youth of Cambodian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Mien, Korean, Pilipino, Samoan, Tongan, and Fijian heritage. The Collective hopes to use traditional arts to preserve cultural heritage, empower youth, and help communities withstand the stresses of alienation, violence, and poverty. This year’s Dance Exchange Project paired youth with two Balinese master dancers, Noni Gunarsa and Kompiang Metri Davies. Noni Gunarsa began studying Balinese dance when she was a young girl and performed with the local gamelan ensemble in her village of Banda. She came to the United States in 1995 and has been performing and teaching dance workshops with Gamelan Sekar Jaya ever since. Kompiang Metri Davies began studying dance at the age of five in her village in Eastern Bali. She currently dances and plays music with Gamelan Sekar Jaya and the Indonesian American Friendship Association of the Bay Area. Youth participants in the Dance Exchange Project met with their mentors twice a week to study both dance technique and the historical and cultural context of Balinese dance. Balinese dance is a tradition with early influences from the dance style and historical epics of India. In Bali, traditional dance became closely connected with the ceremonies of Balinese Hindu culture and dance has flourished in Bali because it is so central to local festivals and rituals, which maintain the well-being of the community. In a ritual context dance is considered an offering that is presented to the deities.
Youth performing Mien dance at the AYPAL Arts Festival Photo by Mari Pongkhamsing In addition to Balinese dance, the festival featured Mien and Chinese music and dance, contemporary poetry, and theatrical performances. The Lao Iu Mien Culture Association presented Mien music and dance as part of a project to help urban youth rediscover traditional Mien culture. Another group of youth presented a compelling vignette, which critiqued the California Youth Authority’s facilities for their abuse of inmates and lack of rehabilitation services. Youth participants in AYPAL’s diverse programs presented and moderated the entire Arts Festival. Oxford University Press Releases a New Textbook, Mariachi Music in America, by Dr. Daniel SheehyIn July 2005, Oxford University Press will release Mariachi Music in America, a new textbook by Dr. Daniel Sheehy, director of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Mariachi Music in America is part of the Global Music Series, a series of textbooks that explore the practice of music around the world. This case-study offers an introduction to the social, cultural, and economic conditions surrounding mariachi music in the United States. Sheehy focuses on the rising popularity of mariachi music amongst Mexican Americans over the last twenty-five years as evidenced by the many festivals, workshops, and school programs that have developed. The book incorporates first-hand accounts of musicians, photos and illustrations, and a 50-minute CD with samples of music discussed in the book. Fore more information about Mariachi Music in America or to purchase the book visit the Oxford University Press website. “Living the Tradition” Produces an Anthology of International Bagpipe Music“Living the Tradition,” a non-profit group headed by Ferenc Tobak, a former master artist in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, recently released Drone Magic, an anthology of international bagpipe music featuring Irish, Bulgarian, Swedish, Scottish, and Hungarian musicians who have brought their traditional music to California. Each of the pipers is a culture bearer, maintaining strong ties to his heritage and actively participating in his community to pass important musical traditions to the next generation. The bagpipe is an ancient instrument, which, over centuries, has developed in many forms and in diverse cultures. The instrument has been found in numerous locations, from India to the British Isles, from Sweden to Northern Africa, and covering the European continent. Before the invention of modern musical instruments, the bagpipe was an important source of musical entertainment for many societies with its complexity of sounds and often rather penetrating volume. Each culture has tailored the bagpipe to its own individual taste, and the instrument has come to occupy an important place in the history of music with its own musical repertoire . Drone Magic honors the diverse musical traditions of the bagpipe by presenting a talented group of pipers who have introduced their traditional music to California communities . To learn more or purchase the CD, visit visit the Drone Magic website. Please contact Ferenc Tobak, tobak@mindspring.com, with specific questions. AdvocacyUpdate on SB 691 – Your letters are working!Background on SB 691SB 691, introduced by Senator Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), will exempt the personalized Arts License Plate from a portion of the fees being diverted to the Environmental License Plate Fund. The Arts Council License Plate marked its 10th anniversary last year, and has been one of the most popular specialty plates offered by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The Arts Council License Plate has generated more than $7 million for arts program funding, while at the same time generating over $8 million for the Environmental License Plate Fund (ELPF). Status of SB 691On April 19, 2005 this bill passed out of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. Then on May 26, 2005 the bill passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee with bipartisan support! The full Senate approved the bill on June 1, 2005 and SB 691 will now need to be approved by the Assembly Transportation Committee. If approved, the bill will then go to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, then to the full assembly. Letters in support of this bill are still needed! Below this alert is a list of members on the Assembly Transportation Committee. Constituents of the following Assembly members are strongly urged to write a letter expressing their support of SB 691. Sample Letter Dear Honorable (insert name of legislator): I am asking you to support SB691, as introduced by Senator Jackie Speier. SB691 would amend the vehicle code for special interest license plates, including the Arts Council License Plate, and allocation of license plate fees. It would delete the requirement that fees be deposited in the Environmental License Plate Fund (ELPF) and would require that those fees instead be deposited in the Graphic Design License Plate Account, to be used by the California Arts Council (CAC), upon appropriation by the Legislature, for arts education and local arts programming. Since its inception, the Arts Council License Plate has generated more than $7 million to support arts education and local arts programming and more than $8 million for the Environmental License Plate Fund. The Arts Council’s General Fund budget was cut by 94% in the 2003/04-budget year from $18 million to $1 million, and that was down from $32 million in 2001/02. Revenue from the Arts License Plate program now totals approximately 30% of the Arts Council’s budget. In 2004, DMV collected approximately $1.1 million to support arts programming from the sale of the Arts Council License Plate, and more than $1.5 million in fees for the ELPF —$400,000 more than the amount collected to support the California Arts Council. SB 691 would result in the full $2.6 million collected being dedicated to the CAC to support arts education and local arts programming. The DMV Website does not explain to the purchaser of a personalized plate that the fees collected support the ELPF, rather than the plate sponsor (i.e. the California Arts Council). Your vote for SB691 will restore public belief that their dollars paid for license fees will be used for the purpose stated in the legislation. And you will be making sure that California’s children and all citizens will have access to diverse and high quality arts and cultural programs and events that are an international trademark of our state. Sincerely, Your Name and Address Assembly Transportation Committee MembersJenny Oropeza, Chair (Carson) Bob Huff, Vice Chair (Diamond Bar) Russ Bogh (Yucaipa) Wilma Chan (Oakland) Shirley Horton (Lemon Grove) Betty Karnette (Long Beach) Carol Liu (Pasadena) Dennis Mountjoy (Monrovia) Roger Niello (Sacramento) Fran Pavley (Woodland Hills) Mark Ridley-Thomas (Los Angeles) Simon Salinas (Salinas) Alberto Torrico (Fremont) Senator Jackie Speier (Hillsborough) |
This month ACTA announces the latest addition to its staff – Lily Kharrazi, a dance ethnologist, who will serve as project coordinator of ACTA’s new 
