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Scroll down to read or go directly to: An Apprenticeship in Hmong Funeral Customs California Ethnomusicologist Dr. Robert Garfias to Receive Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun Award New Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Feature California Artists California Arts Council Chief of Grant Programs The Italian Oral History Institute Launches New Website Advocacy Update on Two Bills Supporting the Arts 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 Oakland Asian Cultural Center Features South Asian Culture During Asian Pacific American Heritage MonthMari Pongkhamsing, ACTA
Members of the Chitresh Das Youth Company perform Photo by Mari Pongkhamsing The Oakland Asian Cultural Center is celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, with a festival dedicated to the cultural traditions of India. The festival began on April 30th with an Indian Cultural Fair and will continue through the month of May with an exhibit of North Indian dance costumes, and a Kathak (North Indian classical dance) performance by the Chitresh Das Dance Company. The Oakland Asian Cultural Center has been working on organizational development through ACTA’s Folk and Traditional Arts Mentorship Initiative, supported by the Walter and Elise Haas Fund. Anne Huang, director of the Center is being mentored by Ron Chew, director of the Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle to develop a three to five year strategic plan which will outline the center’s organizational growth in the areas of programming, collaborations, audience development and fundraising. The Center, located in Oakland’s Chinatown, offers ongoing classes to serve the local community, including traditional Chinese music and dance training, Chinese food carving, Chinese calligraphy and others. It also hosts exhibits and it has established a full schedule of educational cultural programming with the aim of building bridges between Oakland’s diverse communities.
Members of Dholrhythms teach Bhangra, a lively dance form from Punjab, India Photo by Mari Pongkhamsing The Indian Cultural Fair succeeded in bringing together diverse communities through a rich presentation of traditional genres. Performers presented four distinct types of traditional Indian dance. Dholrhythms, an organization dedicated to preserving the arts and culture of India, demonstrated Bhangra, a lively form of music and dance from North India. People traditionally performed Bhangra at harvest celebrations in the Punjab region of India, but the music and dance form has gained tremendous popularity and today people perform Bhangra at parties throughout South Asia and many other parts of the world. The Chitresh Das Youth Company performed Kathak, a North Indian classical dance form that combines both Hindu and Moslem traditions, telling stories through intricate footwork and fast pirouettes. Nitya Venkateswaran performed Bharata Natyam, a Southern Indian classical dance form that combines dance and drama to depict mythological stories. Satrang, a South Asian dance troupe from the University of California, Berkely performed the Raas, a folk dance from the Indian state of Gujarat. After each performance the audience was invited to learn some dance steps and both children and adults participated with enthusiasm.
A simple Kolam pattern created by children at the Festival Photo by Mari Pongkhamsing The fair also featured demonstrations of Sari wrapping, Henna body painting, and Rangoli and Kolam, two Indian decorative arts. A Sari is a cloth worn by women in India that varies in length from 5 to 9.5 yards and is wrapped, folded, and pleated around the body. Henna, also known as Mehendi, is the art of body painting that originated in India, the Middle East, and Africa nearly 5,000 years ago. Rangoli is a colorful design drawn with rice grains, flour, or colored chalk on the floor near the entrance to a house to welcome visitors. Kolam is an auspicous courtyard or prayer room decoration. To create Kolam women use rice flower, sandstone, or limestone powder to create traditional patterns using a system of loops and dots. Children at the fair learned to create some simple Kolam patterns using white finger paint on black paper and colored Rangoli patterns with crayons and pencils. The fair engaged participants in both interactive demonstrations and hands-on activities and offered an extensive written program with descriptions that explained the cultural context of each art form, giving attendees a rich experience of the artistic traditions of India. An Apprenticeship in Hmong Funeral CustomsGhia Xiong
Photo Courtesy of Ghia Xiong Editor’s Note: In the Hmong culture, funerals are sacred events that can last from one to seven days and are made up of many ceremonial components. The main spiritual goals of the funeral are to guide the soul of the deceased in a successful journey through the spirit world to reunite with his/her ancestors and to receive blessings from the deceased person, if he or she is an adult. The most important vehicles to help accomplish these goals are the sacred practices of chanting, drumming, and playing of the qeej, a reeded mouth organ (pronounced gheng), and the singing of the CheeSai or sacred funeral singers, which facilitate the journey for the soul. The CheeSai facilitates the blessings and wishes of the deceased person to his or her family members. In Fresno, home to the second largest Hmong population in the country (according to the 2000 census), Mr. Chai Pao Xiong is considered a favorite and well-respected CheeSai and is in great demand by the community. Chai Pao Xiong, who has over 30 years of experience in the practice of Hmong funerary traditions, began working with seven apprentices last year in intensive weekly workshops. In addition to the music workshops, the apprentices have also recorded and transcribed the verses of the full repertoire of gospel songs sung by the CheeSai to include in a printed gospel book. The gospel book will make the repertoire more accessible for others to learn. The workshops are one of five projects organized by ACTA as the Community Roots Performing Arts Series, which is funded by the Fresno Arts Council’s Community Enrichment Program. Ghia Xiong, a former apprentice in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program in Hmong wedding singing, initiated and organized the workshop classes and compilation of the gospel book, in addition to his role as apprentice. The remaining apprentices include Andrew Xiong, Zong Yeng Xiong, Zong Yee Xiong, Ger Xiong, Chong Yang and Xiong Neng Vang. Recently, the seven students assisted their master, Chai Pao Xiong in a funeral ceremony for Mrs. Dia Yang. Ghia Xiong shares this report on traditional Hmong funerary practices and the role of the CheeSai, Chai Pao Xiong, in the sacred tradition: In the traditional Hmong culture, there is a saying that a person’s life is spiritually and physically celebrated three times. The first celebration is three days after birth when the person receives his or her name. The second celebration is during marriage, which marks the beginning of adulthood and unification. After children are born into the marriage, people receive their second names from their in-laws. The second name is given to the husband, and the wife is then referred to by that name rather than her previous name. This second naming symbolizes fatherhood and motherhood. Lastly, when the person dies, the celebration is marked by family members and friends paying their final respects to the spirit of the deceased. When Mrs. Dia Yang died this past February, the Yang family first consulted clan members, then immediately sought a Kha Sue (pronounced Ka-Soo) to direct and oversee all activities for their mother’s funeral. It brings a feeling of comfort to the family members during their time of mourning, knowing that the Kha Sue will ensure an appropriate traditional Hmong funeral for their mother--from the very beginning to thirteen days after her burial to release her spirit from the Yang clan. Traditionally there are two Kha Sues, one with the same last name of the deceased representing the deceased’s clan, and one with a different last name representing an outside clan. The Kha Sues are individuals who are well-respected and seen as leaders in the community. They know their role and responsibility as Kha Sue and immediately get to work arranging the funeral details. The Kha Sue will first help in identifying and securing others that are needed for a traditional funeral. For instance, cooks to prepare food for the guests, and qeej players to perform special songs during the ceremony. The Kha Sue also helps to identify the Chee Sai, which in many cases is the Kha Sue himself. Another important role of the Kha Sue is to ensure that all of the guests are appropriately respected, received and thanked. The Kha Sue is charged with the responsibility of personally inviting honored guests by visiting them at their homes. If this is not done properly, the honored guests may choose not to attend the funeral, which is a bad omen for the family of the deceased. This is hard work, and it comes with many responsibilities. The Kha Sue will often use apprentices to help assist him with these responsibilities. The Kha Sue’s service is performed out of kindness and the payment he receives from the family is a symbol of respect. The Yang family members selected Chai Pao Xiong, as the lead Kha Sue to conduct a traditional Hmong funeral and also as the Chee Sai to speak and offer blessings and wishes that their mother would have wanted to say before she spiritually and physically departed from this world. Not many Hmong people are skilled or have enough respect by the community or experience to take on these roles, but for Chai Pao Xiong, these are roles he has played for over 30 years. Xiong enlisted the help of his apprentices, myself Ghia Xiong, Andrew Xiong, Zong Yeng Xiong, Zong Yee Xiong, Chong Yang, and Yee Neng Vang, to whom he as been teaching the songs sung by the Chee Sai, as well as the responsibilities of the Kha Sue for over a year. As Chee Sai, Chai Pao Xiong’s duty begins on the last evening of the last day of the funeral ceremony and continues to the morning before burial. While Chai Pao Xiong was chanting and again when he reassumed the role of Kha Sue, we assisted him, as his apprentices by taking on responsibilities of the Kha Sue, receiving guests and traditionally thanking them for their donations. The singing performed by the Chee Sai can often last anywhere from eight to fourteen hours. To assist him in this process, we sang some of the songs, leaving Chai Pao Xiong to sing the very important and most difficult songs. Chai Pao Xiong’s year-long work with us, as his apprentices has prepared us to act as assistants in conducting funeral ceremonies. We will continue to assist the Kha Sue and Chee Sai for three to five years before we gain the appropriate status as leaders and elders in the community and can begin serving as a Kha Sue and Chee Sai ourselves. This apprenticeship in traditional Hmong funeral practices means a lot to me as an individual person and a Hmong man in my community. As an individual person, it taught me to value and treasure the many wonderful things that make up my culture. As a Hmong man, being knowledgeable of these traditions makes me feel a sense of comfort, appreciation, respect and most of all, useful to my community. California Ethnomusicologist Dr. Robert Garfias to Receive Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun Award
Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon Photo courtesy of Dr. Robert Garfias Dr. Robert Garfias, an ethnomusicologist and Professor of Anthropolgy at the University of California, Irvine, will receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from the Government of Japan. Garfias, who will be granted an audience with the Emperor, will be honored at a special ceremony in Tokyo on May 20 in recognition of his lifetime contributions to the research and understanding of Japanese culture and music. Dr. Garfias, born in San Francisco, received the M.A. and Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles. His doctoral research focused on the Music of the Japanese Imperial Household. Dr. Garfias has continued a close relationship with the Gagaku Department of Japan’s Imperial Household Agency and provided support for the first US tour of their ensemble in 1959. Gagaku is the court music of the Imperial Household of Japan, and has been played by musicians from the same hereditary families, or guilds, for more than one thousand years. To read more about the Gagaku musical tradition visit Dr. Garfias’ website which includes audio samples of Gagaku music as well as extended information and audio samples covering the many musical traditions Dr. Garfias has researched over the course of his career. Dr. Garfias has done research and taught courses on Japanese and Okinawan music as well as in a number of different cultural areas. He taught at the University of Washington where he was one of the founding members of the Center for Asian Arts and now teaches at the University of California Irvine. Dr. Garfias was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan to the National Council on the Arts of the National Endowment for the Arts, where he served for ten years. In 1999, he served as a senior research fellow for the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology in Senri (Osaka), Japan and returned again in 2003. The Order of the Rising Sun was established in 1875 and in 1981 it became a custom to honor foreigners who have made outstanding contributions to promote foreign relations with Japan. The Prime Minister’s office has the charge of administering the awards. New Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Feature California ArtistsSmithsonian Folkways Recordings recently released El Ave de Mi Soñar: Mexican Sones Huastecos by the trio Los Camperos de Valles co-produced by Artemio Posadas and Daniel Sheehy; and ¡Llegaron Los Camperos!: Concert Favorites of Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos. The two releases are part of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings’ Latino Music Initiative, which features the diverse musical heritage of the more than 40 million Latinos living in the United States. El Ave de Mi Soñar features sones huastecos, festive, poetic songs created by the rural people of northeast Mexico, singing of nature, folk wisdom, and love. The songs are played by a trio of musicians on violin and two guitars which are unique to the region: a guitarra quinta, a deep-bodied guitar with eight strings; and the smaller, five-stringed jarana huasteca, tuned higher and played with rhythmic flourishes. Artemio Posadas, a current master artist in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, co-produced the recording, selecting the repertoire and musicians, and composed most of the lyrics. The trio Los Camperos de Valles – Marcos Hernández, Gregorio “Goyo” Solano, and Joel Monroy – formed in 1974 and are considered to be top interpreters of the son huasteco since then. This album contains extensive liner notes and track-by-track annotations in English and Spanish by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Director Daniel Sheehy, a noted scholar of Latino music and ethnomusicologist. Sheehy, originally from Bakersfield, California, also serves as a member of ACTA’s founding board of directors. The Second release ¡Llegaron Los Camperos! features the concert repertoire of “The founder and director of Mariachi Los Camperos, Natividad “Nati” Cano, chose Llegaron los Camperos ‘The Countrymen Have Arrived’ as the title of this recording for two reasons: first, the song that begins with this phrase has been an opening theme for the group’s performances since shortly after the group’s founding, in Los Angeles, California, in 1961; second, it makes the point that Los Camperos have arrived at their artistic and professional destination, taking their evolved version of rural-rooted mariachi music to some of the most prestigious concert venues in the United States and Mexico.” Nati Cano, a 1989 National Heritage Fellow was born in 1933, he grew up in a musical family and joined a group traveling to Mexicali at the age of 15. He has lead Los Camperos since 1961, forming the famed venue La Fonda de Los Camperos in Los Angeles, the first mariachi dinner theater in the United States, in 1969. He also serves as a member of ACTA’s founding board. To order and learn more about El Ave de Mi Soñar or ¡Llegaron Los Camperos! visit the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings website. California Arts Council Chief of Grant Programs
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