Find ANY word Find ALL words  Find EXACT phrase    Help

Go directly to:

16 Teams of Master and Apprentice Artists to Begin Intensive Learning Cycle

An Apprenticeship in Bharata Natyam Dance

United States Artists Awards Fellowships to Two California Traditional Artists

Hugo Morales and Leanne Hinton awarded 2006 Cultural Freedom Awards

New Book on Community Cultural Development Released

 

Become a Licensed Art Lover

Proceeds from the license plate sales will benefit the California Arts Council (CAC)

To subscribe to the weekly CAC update, please visit their website.

Archived What's New

 

WHAT'S NEW

Subscribe to The New Moon, ACTA's Monthly E-Newsletter. See the latest edition of The New Moon.

ACTA Announces Living Cultures Grants
Program Awardees

This month ACTA awarded grants to thirty-seven California traditional arts organizations in the second round of its Living Cultures Grants Program.  Organizations received grants of up to $7,500 to support exemplary projects in the traditional arts.  The Living Cultures Grants Program is a project of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, in partnership with the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation.

1. Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose, $5,000 – Support will go towards the production of “Prithi: the Earth,” an evening length concert that will interpret ancient Sanskrit texts about Mother Earth.  The repertoire includes three traditional Bharata Natyam pieces, which is one of the classical dance styles of Southern India.  Performances will take place in November 2007.
2. Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, Vallejo, $5,000 – Funds will be used for website and database development to support increased efficiency towards reviving Native California Indian languages.  AICLS core belief is to nurture and expand the earthbased wisdom housed in the legends and astute observations of the environment.  It is through these qualities that Native Californians have evolved into the most culturally and linguistically diverse peoples on earth.  There are over 100 different languages of five or more major language families in California alone.  
3. Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, Palm Springs, $7,150 –  The 2nd Annual Singing The Birds Festival (Wikitmallem Tahmuwhae) highlights the music and dance traditions of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.  The birdsongs are sung to bring the souls of the deceased back.  The festival will take place on December 16, 2006.
4. Ali Akbar College of Music, San Rafael, $5,000 – To mark the 85th birthday of Ali Akbar Khan, a National Heritage Fellow, and 40 continuous years of the music school’s operation, the award will support the school’s master artists in concert performances, the archiving of historic documents and development of  web-based long distance learning courses.
5. Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, $5,000 – Master Japanese bamboo basket artists, Koho and Aya Kajiwara, will be in residence for three weeks coinciding with the exhibition of the Cotsen Japanese Bamboo Basket Collection which will be on view from February 2, 2007 – April 29, 2007. These funds support the artists in public programs.
6. Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts & Culture (FilAm ARTS), Los Angeles, $7,000 – Funds will support the traditional/folk arts component of the 16th Annual Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture. Some of these components include craft workshops for making parols (star lanterns), sipa (rattan kick ball) and kites; a workshop on the ancient Philippine script, Alibata; rondalla music (plucked string ensembles from the Spanish-influenced North); as well as kulingtang music (from the Muslim South) are also featured. Appearances by the BIBAK dance ensemble offer a rare insight into the tribal cultures of the Bontoc, Ifugao, Benquet, Apayao and Kalinga who live in the Southern Philippines. The Festival will be held September 10-11, 2007, at Point Fermin Park, San Pedro.
7. Bay Area Boricus, Inc, Oakland, $7,500 – The Encuentros de Maestro Project is a year-long education project that will explore bomba, the Puerto Rican song and dance style whose influences come from Africa, Europe, and the indigenous people of the island. Weekly song, percussion, and dance workshops with local artists will culminate with the visit of Modesto Cepeda and Gladys Camara, tradition bearers of bomba, who will teach a series of master workshops in July 2007.
8. Berkeley Old Time Music Convention, $5,000 – This four day traditional folk arts festival celebrates and perpetuates the old-time music genres of the Appalachian region. The festival includes concerts, workshops, master classes, panel discussion, square dance, string band contest, jam sessions, and community stage. The award will support the appearances of master artists Clyde Davenport, old-time fiddler and banjo player from Tennessee and National Heritage Fellow; Sheila Kay Adams, ballad singer, banjo player and storyteller from North Carolina; and Southern Carolina native and singer, Rich Hartness. The fifth annual event will take place in September 2007.
9. BrasArte: the Damesceno Brazilian Cultural Exchange, Oakland, $5,000 – The performance troupe Ile Aiye from Brazil is best known for advancing the African roots of Brazil’s celebrated Carnavale.  The company will be in the Bay Area in May for performances, outreach activities with youth, and an appearance in the San Francisco Carnavale in May 2007.
10. California Association for Music Education, Portola, $3,798 – As a principle partner in the music education of students, the CMEA will bring traditional master musician Jose Hernandez and Mariachi sol de Mexico to instruct educators at its statewide conference.  Instructions will relate directly to the goals of teaching music of all cultures to students, and help expand its current practice of presenting multicultural music workshops to music educators in California.  The conference will take place on March 15-17, 2007.
11. Camp Fareta, Berkeley, $5,000 – A residential intensive with master artists from Guinea and Mali will offer an opportunity for instruction in drumming, dance, song, history and language.  Youssouf Koumbassa, Abdoulaye Sylla, Moustapha Bangoura, Fode Bangoura, Mangue Sylla, Nimatoulaye Camara, M’mah Tooure, Mariama Camara, Alseny Soumah, Lansana Louyate, Moussa Traore and Djenema Sako will be the artists in residence.  Each have had professional touring experiences with national African dance companies.  The camp offers these diaspora master artists an opportunity to convene and create.   The camp will take place on July 8-15, 2007, at Camp Hye Sierra, near Fresno.
12. Carolina Lugo’s Brisas de Espana’s Flamenco Dance Company, Pleasant Hill, $5,000 – A full length concert production, “El Camino de un Artista – The Pathway of an Artist,” will commemorate 40 years of Carolina Lugo’s exploration into the full spectrum of flamenco and Spanish dance.  The concerts  and educational outreach concerts for school-age children will be presented in July 2007 and will be featuring guest artists from Spain.
13. Charya Burt Cambodian Dance Company, Windsor, $5,000 – “Princesses and Peacocks: An Exploration of Cambodian Classical and Folk Dance” will premiere in May 2007 for audiences in Sonoma County.  The production will be in collaboration with the Khmer Arts Academy of Long Beach.
14. Center for Bridging Communities, San Diego, $7,000 – The Burannbur Conference takes its name from traditional Somali women’s poetry.   This event will bring together women poets, cultural activist and scholars to reflect upon the art of Burannbur.  The event will provide an opportunity to teach young refugee high school girls the art of Burannbur.  Artists and panelists will include Fadumo Ali Nakruma, a singer, actress and buraanbur poet, Sahra Muse, a poet whose recitation is in demand at wedding ceremonies, Saeed Salah, musican and filmmaker and Amina Cali Mire, a human rights activist.  An evening cultural celebration will include traditional dance, song and oral poetry in February 2007.
15. City of San Fernando, $7150 – The Master Mariachi Apprenticeship Program brings together mariachi music masters with promising youth in an instructional experience that preserves the mariachi music tradition.  The program focuses on advanced instrumentation, arrangement, and performance skills for youth between the ages of 11 and 19.  Among the master artists who teach this program are the distinguished Nati Cano, a National Heritage Fellow, as well as other musicians from Mariachi Los Camperos, including Jesus Guzman, musical director; Sergio Alonso, ensemble harpist; Juan Halcon, multi instrumentalist; and Martin Padilla, violinist.
16. Diamano Coura West African Dance Company, Oakland, $7,500 – Support for the 2007 “Collages des Cultures Africaines” which is a four day event comprised of workshops, symposium, performances, and festival which maintains a bridge between African Diaspora master artists and community participants.  The event will take place in March 2007.
17. Dimensions Dance Theater, Inc., Oakland, $5,000 – Free classes for youth will be taught in the Rites of Passage program.  The program goals are to deepen young people’s understanding and appreciation of cultural traditions that share a common thread and have contributed to African-American history.  Tradition bearers, Collette Eloi of Haiti and Alseny Soumah of Guinea, are among the instructors.
18. Friends of Negro Spritiuals, Oakland, $7,500 – Documenting the art of spirituals through the activities of community sing-alongs, quarterly workshops, and interviews with lay and community leaders, the FNS will promote and cultivate new culture bearers while recording the oral history of 10 singers and musicians in the Bay Area community.
19. Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, Oakland, $5,000 – In a project highlighting traditional arts of farming and cooking, the Mien elders of the Fruitvale community of Oakland transmit their cultural traditions to Mien youth and other youth of the surrounding neighborhood.  The project documents the traditional arts of the Mien and holds public community banquets bi-monthly.
20. Japanese Cultural Fair, Santa Cruz, $5,000 – In its 21st year, this one day cultural fair is a celebration of the many cultural contributions of Japan.  Presentations include performances of taiko drumming, folk and traditional dance styles from Japan and Okinawa, shamisen (lute) music, and storytelling.  Demonstrations of Aikido (martial art), Ikebana (flower arrangement), tea ceremony, origami (paper folding), and bonsai (miniature tree gardens) will be presented.  The fair is scheduled for June 2007.
21. Jewish Music Festival, Berkeley, $5,000 – The 22nd Annual Jewish Music Festival will present an outreach program to youth featuring Dror Sinai, an Israeli citizen of Yemenite- Jewish and Syrian-Turkish background, with Faisal Ghazi Zedan, a Syrian born Muslim musician.  This program uses music to facilitate commonality in musical traditions, representing the rich cultural histories of the Middle East.  The festival will be held in March 2007.
22. Ke Po’okela Cultural Foundation, Redondo Beach, $7,250 – Two workshop events will be held in Los Angeles and Encinitas to provide opportunities to learn more about Hawaiian culture and heritage as exemplified through dance, language, crafts, and music. Collaborating with other Southern California halaus, or schools, a non competitive traditional environment will be emphasized.  Traditional master artists from Hawaii and Californian will participate in sharing the spiritual essence of hula.  Kumu Frank Kawaikapuaokalani Hewett will offer classes in Hawaiian healing principles and ancient hula and chant, Kumu Sonny Ching will offer classes in dance and chant, and Kumu Hula Kunewa Mook will offer classes in the making and playing of authentic hula implements and instruments.  Workshops will occur in Encinitas and Los Angeles in May 2007.
23. Kitka Inc., Oakland, $5,000 – Three week-long residencies with master artist Mirjana Lausevic will encompass intensive repertoire development work focused on traditional Bosnian song forms.  Additionally, community outreach workshops will be offered as well as in school lecture/demonstrations and radio appearances.
24. Korean Youth Cultural Center, Oakland, $5,000 – The grant will support 2007 Korean Lunar New Year ritual and celebration known as jishinbalpki.  The drum and dance ritual parade brings auspicious tidings in the new year as it performs in various public venues. Occurring on February 24, 2007, the jishinbalpki will culminate in a performance at the Koryo Village Center.
25. Kulintang Arts, San Francisco, $7,500 – Funds will support the residency activities of Tongatong Kalinga Music and Dance Ensemble, led by Cirilo Sapi Bawer, in March 2007.  The troupe will provide a one-week intensive workshop for adults at Bayanihan Community Center and two lecture demonstrations and community interactions/dialogue in dance, music, and indigenous practices of the Kalinga tribe of Southern Philippines.
26. Linda Tillery and The Cultural Heritage Choir, Oakland, $5,000  – Musical director and vocalist, Linda Tillery, and ensemble, the Cultural Heritage Choir, will collaborate with English acapella choir, Black Voices, on a project called “A Long Way Home.”  This collaboration will explore the musical legacy of the slave trade from Africa, through the Caribbean to the New World.  Outreach activities with local African American choirs culminate in performances in May 2007.
27. Mas Makers Massive, Oakland, $7,500 – A two day symposium entitled “Calypso Journey” explores Trinidad and Tobago’s musical genre.  A series of interactive workshops will take place.  There will be a culminating musical performance to explore and display the multifaceted history and aesthetics of calypso in the 20th century.  Hollis Urban Liverpool, Director of the Carnival Institute from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, will be the featured speaker.  Rudolph Ottley, researcher and author of books on women in Calypso; Brother Resistance, international performer and lecturer in the genre of spoken calypso rapso; and Joanne Rowley, international calypso performer, are among the participants.  The symposium will take place in June 2007.
28. Pacific Islander Community Council (PICC), Huntington Beach, $7,000 – Each year this festival focuses on particular island cultures.  On May 5-6, 2007, the 18th annual festival will focus on the Maori communities from Aoteroa (New Zealand) and Cook Islands.  There will be displays and performances of traditional dance and music, cultural arts, (weaving, flower craft, and tattooing), historical artifacts, displays, and foodways.  Additionally, there will be participation from the indigenous Polynesians from Hawai’i, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti ,and Cook Islands, as well as Micronesians from Guam, Northern Marianas, Marshall Islands, and Melanesians from Fiji.   Los Angeles hosts the largest community of Pacific Islanders on the mainland.
29. Persian-American Cultural Center, Berkeley, $7,500 – Funds will support travel and artistic fees for a master Iranian percussion artist, Houman Pourmedhi, to travel from Los Angeles to Berkeley in order to teach bi-monthly music classes to Persian-American youth.  The instruments include the tonbak, the chief percussion instrument made of a single block of hollow wood , and the daf, a frame drum with a row of small circular metal hoops fastened to the inside of its rim.  The students, ages 8-18, meet regularly for language and culture classes.  A culminating performance in March 2007 coincides with the Persian New Year.
30. San Francisco International Arts Festival, $5,000 – The 4th annual festival, “The Truth in Knowing/Now, A Conversation Across Africa and the Diaspora” will use the award to support the performance and community residence activities of Ayanagalu, a traditional Yoruban music and dance performance group from Nigeria.  This troupe is comprised of dancers, masqueraders and praise singers who have passed down their skills and knowledge from generation to generation.  Master classes at the African American Art & Culture Complex in San Francisco are planned as well as a performance for middle school students.
31. San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, $7,150 – The “Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory” traveling exhibit will be in the Bay Area July-September 2007.  The exhibit highlights textiles created by people in Afghanistan/Pakistan, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Chile, Peru, Israel, Egypt, the Caucasus, and South Africa who have begun incorporating pictorial images of violence and war into traditional art forms that previously included mostly abstract patterns.  The museum will work with local social service agencies and cultural organizations to plan and implement a series of public programs in connection with this exhibit.  Included will be artist demonstrations. Performances and panel discussions on the vital role of folk arts and how people respond to and cope with experiences of war will also be included.
32. Slavonic Cultural Center, San Francisco, $5,000 – The 7th Annual St. Kiril and Methody Bulgarian Music and Dance Festival will take place in May 2007.  The festival will feature master Bulgarian performing artists, sing-a-longs, master classes, group dancing, children’s workshop, food, and wine.
33. Stepology, San Francisco, $6,000 – The Bay Area Tap Festival provides an opportunity for American tap dance master performers to teach and perform.  A week long event in August 2007 will include the Bay Area Rhythm Exchange Concert Performance, 30 workshop classes open to the community, and a community showcase performance.
34. Teatro de la Tierra, Fresno, $7,000 – The award will support the production costs and artist fees of “A Yellow Rose From Texas – The Story of Emma Tenayca,” a bi-lingual work in Spanish and English, depicting the life of a labor organizer who, at 16 years of age, mobilized 12,000 pecan shellers in a historic strike that led to the passing of national legislation that raised wages and protected workers rights.  The community based theater, under the leadership and training of Augustin Lira, will combine elements inherent in Mexican carpa, or folklore theater, techniques with live corridos, or ballads, to create the piece which will take place in March 2007.
35. vivaARTSnetwork, Oakland, $5,000 – The Omo Aso Quilt project serves to weave common threads of cultural traditions through different African derived textile and beading traditions.  The master artists include Sina Olajuwon, a Nigerian master artist specializing in understitch embroidery and appliqué work.  Shaka Zulu from New Orleans, whose family has participated in the “Indian” masquerading tradition associated with the annual Mardi Gras for several generations, will lecture and lead a workshop about the soft sculpture beading style that is associated with the Mardi Gras contingent’s costumes. Regina Califa Calloway provides instruction in quilt traditions, altar installations, and ceremonial regalia related to African based religions. Charmaine Ridder, a practictioner of Yoruba traditions, will provide a workshop on three dimensional beading.
36. World Beat Center, San Diego, $7,000 – In December 2006, Kwanzaa in the Park will celebrate two of the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa with free community wide events that reaffirm African-American traditions and connections to African ancestry.  In addition to music, dance, food and performances, the creator of Kwanzaa, Maulana Karenga, will be a guest speaker.  An informational fair will coincide with the celebration providing social service resource information to all attendees.
37. Yuval Ron Music, Los Angeles, $5,000 – Yemenite-Israeli singer, drummer, dancer, and actress Margalit Oved will record rare traditional Yemenite folk songs and related explanations and stories with world music producer and scholar Yuval Ron.  This series of ten 2-hour recordings will focus on archiving and preserving songs from the three main cultural sources of traditional Sephardic-Yemenite folk music – women’s songs, songs of the Diwan, (a 17th century book of devotional poems that are sung outside the synagogue), and prayers and chants of the Synagogue.  Culminating in two workshops for educators and the general public, the work will also be uploaded to a web site for free access.

top

16 Teams of Master and Apprentice Artists to Begin Intensive Learning Cycle

This month ACTA welcomes 32 participants to its Apprenticeship Program.  ACTA's Apprenticeship Program encourages the continuation of the state’s living cultural heritage by contracting master artists to train qualified apprentices working in intensive one-on-one learning relationships.  This year’s participants come from a wide range of geographic locations and artistic genres including Mariachi harpists, Korean pojagi (patchwork) artists, Cambodian classical dancers, and many other practitioners of diverse art forms.

A panel of experts on California’s folk and traditional arts selected this seventh round of Apprenticeship Program participants.  Contracts of $3,000 with the master artist support the intensive learning cycle which lasts between six months and one year, depending on the needs of the particular project.  Participants work closely with ACTA staff as they strive to accomplish a specific set of pre-defined goals.  ACTA staff visits pairs to document their work together and their progress will be featured in future The New Moon articles and on ACTA’s website.  Each pair will culminate their work in a modest public presentation, such as a performance, exhibit or demonstration, where the results of the apprenticeship project can be shared with the public.  ACTA announces these public presentations in The New Moon calendar listings.

The Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) Apprenticeship Program is supported by the James Irvine Foundation, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Pamela Joy Afuso (Los Angeles) will study Okinawan kutuu (a plucked zither) with master artist Katsuko Teruya Arakawa (Gardena).  Arakawa began studying kutuu over fifty years ago with Nae Kochi, senior headmaster of the Ryukyu Sokyoku Koyokai Kutuu School in Okinawa, where Arakawa received her master teaching certificate in 1968.  Afuso has studied kutuu for ten years and received her teaching certificate in 2004.  She has also studied Okinawan dance for almost thirty years.  Their apprenticeship will focus on advanced instrumental and singing techniques to prepare Afuso for her next level of certification.  They will also work together to plan Afuso’s beginning kutuu class curriculum.

Prumsodun Ok (San Francisco) will study classical Cambodian dance with master artist Charya Cheam Burt (Windsor).  Burt trained at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia where she also became a faculty member in the Department of Dance.  Ok began studying Cambodian dance three years ago with Sophiline Cheam Shapiro at the Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach.  He will now focus on studying the movements and facial expressions of one of the four main characters of the classical Cambodian repertoire and he will learn two new dance pieces over the course of the apprenticeship.

Farah Yasmeen Shaikh (Menlo Park) will study North Indian classical Kathak dance with master artist Chitresh Das (San Rafael).  Das began studying as a child with Pandit Ram Narayan Misra in Calcutta, India, and after eighteen years of intense training he brought the tradition to the United States.  Shaikh has been studying with Das for eleven years and is currently a member of his dance company.  She is now ready to learn to perform a Kathak solo, a tradition that is now in decline.  She will study improvisation, rhythmic structure, and will have to increase her stamina to perform a two-hour solo concert.

Jivan Gasparyan Jr. (Sherman Oaks) will study Armenian duduk (double reed woodwind instrument) with his grandfather, master artist Djivan Gasparyan (Sherman Oaks).  Djivan Gasparyan started learning the duduk as a child and was a self-taught musician.  He later studied and taught at the Yerevan Conservatory in Armenia and received the title of People’s Artist of Armenia in 1973.  Jivan Gasparyan Jr. has studied with his grandfather since he was a child and is now an advanced player.  During the apprenticeship he will work on circular breathing and ornamenting notes.  He will also expand his repertoire of traditional Armenian folk songs.

Janice Ng (Piedmont) will study Kunqu opera, the oldest form of Chinese folk opera, with master artist Sabrina Hou (Pacifica).  Hou studied at the Beijing Opera Conservatory and performed with the Beijing Northern Kunqu Opera Theater before moving to the United States ten years ago.  Ng had studied and performed Cantonese Opera for over ten years before she began to study Kunqu opera with Hou three years ago.  During the apprenticeship she will learn singing, dancing, and acting techniques to perform the female lead role of Du Li Niang, in a 45 minute scene from the Kunqu opera Peony Pavilion.

Conrad Benedicto (San Francisco) will study Pilipino kulintang music with master artist Danongan Kalanduyan (South San Francisco).  Kalanduyan comes from a family of accomplished kulintang musicians in Mindanao, Philippines, and he began learning kulintang from his parents and older relatives when he was a small child. He is also a National Heritage Fellow, the highest recognition bestowed on traditional artists in the U.S. by the National Endowment for the Arts.  Benedicto has been studying with Kalanduyan for the past nine years.  During the apprenticeship they will focus on advanced rhythms and techniques on the five different kulintang instruments.  Benedicto will also learn improvisational techniques and the history and social context of kulintang music.  He will share what he learns with his students at Balboa High School in San Francisco.

Melody Takata (San Francisco) will study Japanese Classical dance with master artist Fujima Kansuma (Los Angeles).  Kansuma has been teaching Japanese dance in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, for sixty-five years.  She studied as a child in Japan at the Fujima School of Dance with master teachers Onoe Kikugoro VI and the Fujima Kanjuro VI.  She was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1986.  Takata is a taiko (Japanese drum) musician and dancer who studied with Kansuma for ten years as a teen and young adult.  She has traveled to Los Angeles to work with her teacher over the years and during the apprenticeship she hopes to learn more of Kansuma’s extensive repertoire.

Yejin Cha (Glendale) will study traditional Korean pojagi (patchwork) and embroidery with master artist Bonghwa Kim (Los Angeles).  In Korea women used to weave ramie, hemp, and silk cloths in their home; most of the family’s clothes and bedding were homemade.  The scraps were embroidered and used to make patchwork gift wrap, table coverings, or wall hangings.  Women continue to practice the art of pojagi in Korea today.  Kim began learning these traditional arts from her mother when she was a young child.  Cha has been studying with her for about a year and during the apprenticeship she will continue to study stitching, embroidery, natural dyeing, and traditional color selection techniques.

Mehrdad Jahangiri (Los Angeles) will study Persian tar (a six-stringed plucked instrument) with master artist Sahab Motallebi (Los Angeles).  Motallebi began playing the tar as a child and attended the National Iranian Music Conservatory in Tehran, the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, and RGS University in Turkey.  Jahangiri studied setar (a four-stringed lute) for three years in Iran before he began to work with Jahangiri on tar.  During the apprenticeship he will study the Radif, the repertory of Persian classical music.

Kami Thephavong (Fresno) will study Northern Laotian weaving with her mother, master artist Leanne Mounvongkham (Fresno).  Mounvongkham comes from a weaving family.  Her mother taught her to weave when she was a child and as an adult she sold her skirts and shawls in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.  She is one of a few Laotian women who continued to weave even after moving to the United States as refugees following the Viet Nam War.  Her daughter Thephavong studied weaving for a few years as a child but now she is ready to learn some more complex designs as well as the intricate process of setting up the loom for weaving.

Erasmo Villareal (Earlimart) will study arpa mariachera (mariachi style harp) with master artist Juan Morales (Wasco).  Morales became interested in learning to play the arpa during his youth when he visited his father’s homeland of Veracruz, Mexico.  He studied with Arturo Mendoza of Mariachi Vargas and joined the ensemble Los Camperos de Nati Cano (a National Heritage Fellow).  Villareal has been studying with Morales for four years and has learned to play the guitarrón, vihuela, guitarra de golpa, and arpa.  During the apprenticeship they will focus on learning to play the bass line of the music on the arpa and improvise while playing with an ensemble.

Sheela Bringi (Oakland) will study North Indian classical bansuri (bamboo flute) with master artist G.S. Sachdev (San Rafael).  Sachdev studied bansuri with Vijay Raghav Rao for twelve years in Delhi, India and with Pandit Ravi Shankar for eight years in Bombay, India.  Bringi studied bansuri for six years in Colorado before beginning to work with Sachdev three years ago.  During the apprenticeship they will focus on improvisation within five ragas, or melodic modes, as well as intonation, fingering techniques, and rhythmic meters.

Joti Singh (San Francisco) will study Guinean dance with master artist Alseny Soumah (Oakland).  Soumah’s family taught him to dance when he was a small child in Conakry, Guinea, and he performed with a neighborhood group before dancing professionally with Ballets Merveilles and Les Ballets Africains.  Singh has studied Guinean dance for eight years with master dancers in Portland, Oregon, the Bay Area, and Guinea, West Africa.  During the apprenticeship she will study improvisation, and other skills necessary for solo performance.

Sruti Sarathy (Palo Alto) will study South Indian classical Carnatic violin with Anuradha Sridhar (Saratoga).  Sridhar began studying violin as a young child with her mother, Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam.  Sridhar’s great-great-grandfather was a disciple of the composer Saint Thyagraja and music has been passed down in her family for over five generations.  Her family developed its own style of playing the violin, termed “Lalgudi Bani.”  Sarathy has studied with Sridhar for over five years and has already won awards for her skills.  During the apprenticeship she will continue to study improvisation so that she can perform as both an accompanist and soloist.

Cher Ker Thao (Fresno) will study traditional Hmong bamboo flute with master artist Pao Xiong (Fresno). Xiong learned to play the flute from his father when he was growing up in Laos. He has been playing for over thirty years and performs regularly at community celebrations and for the local Hmong radio station. Thao initially learned from his family members to play basics on the flute and has practiced for many years on his own. During the apprenticeship he will learn new songs to increase his repertoire and he will also study the history and cultural context of Hmong flute music.

Ruth Yafonne Chen (San Francisco) will study Chinese Wushu (sword dance) with Ling Mei Zhang (San Francisco).  Zhang studied with masters Liu Yuhua and Lee Wenjin in Tian Jinh and became the double straight sword Wushu champion for all of China in 1975.  She has taught martial arts for over thirty years.  Chen is a Chinese dancer who spent several years performing with Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company before beginning to study Wushu.  During the apprenticeship she will learn several straight sword routines and will choreograph an original double straight sword routine with her teacher.

top

An Apprenticeship in Bharata Natyam Dance

by Mari Pongkhamsing

Next month Madvhi Venkatesh will be completing an intensive seven month apprenticeship in South Indian Bharata Natyam dance with master artist Viji Prakash. Both are participants in Round 6 of ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program. Bharata Natyam is one of the classical dance forms of India that was originally practiced by a class of temple dancers called devadasis. Bharata Natyam has two major aspects, nritta, or pure dance, and nritya, which contains the interpretive and dramatic aspects of the form. Madvhi already has a good grasp of the technical aspects of the form so during the apprenticeship she has been focusing on abhinaya, the art of expression, which plays an integral part in helping the dancer portray the emotional and theatrical aspects of Bharata Natyam.

Viji Prakash began learning Bharata Natyam from Guru Mahalingam Pillai and Guru Kalyanasundaram when she was a young girl in Bombay, India. She explained that in India almost every little girl studies either music or dance starting at a young age, but for her dance was much more than a hobby. She explained, “Dance was always the central focus of my life.” She moved to the United States as a young woman and began performing in Southern California. She formed the Shakti School of Bharata Natyam, and the Shakti Dance Company and she continues to teach over one hundred students, seven days a week. She explained that she used to have even more students but she wanted to spend more time with each student and help them grow. Over eighty percent of her students have continued to dance, even after they have completed their arangetram, or formal debut, and Viji tries to find opportunities for them to perform and continue to grow as dancers even as they bring their own children to class.

Though she is just completing her first semester at UC Berkeley as a bioengineering student, Madvhi Venkatesh is determined to continue dancing. Focusing on the expressional aspects of dance during this apprenticeship has allowed Madvhi to learn a lot about herself as a dancer. She explained, “When I was younger I would learn everything by memory and rote. I didn’t used to put the feeling into it or make it my own. I’ve been learning how to bring that spark to my dance, to make it more graceful and bring that extra life into it.” Dance plays a central role in her life because she sees dance as an offering to god. Viji also shared her ideas about the spiritual role of the dancer, “Dance is not a religious expression but a spiritual expression. It’s not limited by who you are or where you come from. Dance is given to you so you can share it with others.” Madvhi plans to demonstrate what she has learned during the apprenticeship with a performance for the community at a local temple in Southern California.

top

United States Artists Awards Fellowships to Two California Traditional Artists

Born in Jalisco, Mexico, into a family of mariachi musicians, Nati Cano is widely recognized as one of the masters of his genre.  He came to Los Angeles in 1957, and in 1961 he founded Los Camperos, a mariachi group that is still in existence.  After touring with the group for eight years, he opened the restaurant La Fonda as a way to continue performing while staying at home. Cano is almost single-handedly responsible for the wide reach of mariachi music in the United States and has done much to preserve and perpetuate this genre in the course of his fifty-year career. Cano was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990.  Cano is also one of ACTA’s founding board members.

Ali Akbar Khan is a master of the sarode (a twenty-five-stringed Indian instrument) and is one of the most respected Indian classical musicians in the world.  He came to the United States in 1955, and in 1967 he founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Marin, California.  Since then Khan has had a tremendous impact on music in the United States, through both his teaching and his performances.  He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1991 and was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1997.

United States Artists’ formation was prompted by the Urban Institute’s breakthrough 2003 study, Investing in Creativity: A Study of the Support Structures for U.S. Artists.  This research found that, while 96% of Americans appreciate the arts, only 27% believe that artists contribute to the good of society.  In addition, the study reported the median reported income for artists from their artistic work was only $5,000 and that more than half of America’s 2 million artists pay for their own health insurance.  The Urban Institute report and other studies show that, despite these findings, artists contribute not only to the vibrancy of America’s culture, but to the education of young people, the development of a competitive creative economy, and the revitalization of the nation’s neighborhoods and urban centers.  For more information about United States Artists visit the website.

top

Hugo Morales and Leanne Hinton awarded 2006 Cultural Freedom Awards

The Lannan Foundation recently honored ACTA board member Hugo Morales and linguist Leanne Hinton with a Cultural Freedom Award. The Lannan Foundation is a family foundation dedicated to cultural freedom, diversity and creativity.  The 2006 Cultural Freedom Awards and Fellowships recognize eight people whose extraordinary and courageous work celebrates the human right to freedom of imagination, inquiry, and expression.  As defined by the foundation, cultural freedom is the right of individuals and communities to define and protect valued and diverse ways of life currently threatened by globalization.

Hugo Morales is the Executive Director of Radio Bilingüe, Inc.  In 1976, Mr. Morales and an all-volunteer staff of farmworkers, former farmworkers, and artists founded Radio Bilingüe, which began radio broadcast operation over the entire San Joaquin Valley in California, on July 4, 1980, to affirm the First Amendment free speech rights of Latinos.

Radio Bilingüe is a transnational satellite community radio service in Spanish, English, and Mixtec (an indigenous Native American language in Mexico) that serves Latino radio audiences in the Northern Hemisphere.  It has its headquarters in Fresno, California.  Regional offices are in Salinas, Lamont, and El Centro.  The national production studios are in San Francisco.  Radio Bilingüe is the recognized national Spanish-language radio service for the public radio system in the United States.  It serves over half a million listeners with its pioneering daily Spanish-language national talk show, Línea Abierta, its independently produced news service, Noticiero Latino, and its rainbow of Spanish-language folk music for its national Latino audiences.  The entire 24-hour daily operation is devoted to informing hard-to-reach, low-income, Latino populations in California and across the U.S.

Mr. Morales is a Mixtec Indian from Oaxaca, in southern Mexico.  He was raised in Oaxaca until the age of nine when his family immigrated to California.  Throughout his youth he was a farmworker.  After graduating from high school in 1968, he went on to graduate from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.  In 1994, he became the first resident of the San Joaquin Valley to be a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

Leanne Hinton is a linguist and advocate for the perpetuation and revival of Native American languages. Dr. Hinton is chair of the Linguistics Department at the University of California at Berkeley and has been a professor in that department since 1978. She is a founding member of the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS), whose mission is to assist California Indian communities and individuals in keeping their languages alive.  AICLS is a participant in ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program. 

She strongly supports interdisciplinary approaches to linguistics and linguistic research that relates to community needs and interests, as well as to theory. Dr. Hinton has published 8 books and numerous articles on the state of indigenous languages. She co-developed a language learning technique for communities in which the only Native speakers are elderly and few in number. Called the Master Apprentice approach, this immersion method pairs an elder, fluent speaker with a younger non-speaker, where the language is taught and learned in a culturally meaningful setting. She also organizes the bi-annual Breath of Life Workshops at UC Berkeley, where California Indians with no living speakers of their Native languages use scholarly and other resources to reconstruct and start speaking their Native languages again.

top

New Book on Community Cultural Development Released

New Creative Community by Arlene Goldbard is a foundational textbook about how communities develop themselves and affect social change through the creative arts.  This comprehensive, photographically illustrated treatise on the field of community-based arts, which range from political theater on the street to murals celebrating cultural heritage, will appeal to the curious non-specialist reader, as well as the practitioner and student.  Through personal stories, rousing accounts, detailed observation and histories, Arlene Goldbard describes how communities express and develop themselves via the creative arts.

Arlene Goldbard is a well-known author on community cultural development.  Her seminal books and essays are widely read in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries – among them, Community, Culture and Globalization and this book’s antecedent, Creative Community.  For more information or to purchase the book visit Arlene Goldbard’s website.

top

 

© 2000-2008 Alliance for California Traditional Arts | Email Us | Site Map