December 2009 Blog Posts (10)

Museum Exhibit: 1934 A New Deal for Artists

If you are traveling to Washington, D.C. in the near future I encourage you to visit the exhibit "1934: A New Deal For Artists" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, open through January 3rd. Ann Prentice Wagner, a member of Create Culture, was a curatorial associate for the exhibit and the… Continue

Added by Create Culture on December 31, 2009 at 6:00am — 3 Comments

Book: The Map as Art - Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography

How many of you use a map while seeking to "explore" on your travels? If you have read some of my previous blog postings you know that I have mixed feelings towards maps (see psychogeography). Basically, I don't always want to know where I am going. Despite these feelings I will often spend several hours on the weekend reading through an atlas imagining where I would like… Continue

Added by Create Culture on December 28, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

Video: A Brief History of Tango - a gift from Create Culture to you

My wife had one wish this year. She wished for it over and over again. She would watch "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance" night after night. Afterwards, she would swoop into the room (where I was diligently working on this site) and plead with me. "John, will you take dancing lessons with me?" And over and over… Continue

Added by Create Culture on December 24, 2009 at 6:00am — 2 Comments

Book: Dancing Out of Bali, by John Coast

Dancing Out of Bali. John Coast. Periplus Books. 1954. Reprinted in 2004, with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough.

I read this book on my way back to New York from Bali in summer 2008 after spending three weeks at the Cudamani Summer Institute with my wife. I have been reminded of it by our friends at Cudamani who have just notified us of their… Continue

Added by Create Culture on December 21, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments

New Orleans Jazz and Caribbean Music

There seems to be a close similarity between the body of music known as New Orleans Jazz and what is known as West Indian, Caribbean and/or Calypso music, but which represents musical characteristics associated with Creole culture in the Caribbean. The melodic and harmonic ties are there, but the strongest ties are reflected in the use of the same rhythmic patterns in both geographic areas - in fact, exactly the same rhythmic patterns, and combinations of rhythmic patterns.

John… Continue

Added by Razz'm Jazz'm on December 19, 2009 at 10:43pm — No Comments

Film: Throw Down Your Heart

"Throw Down Your Heart" follows American banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck on his journey to Africa to explore the little known African roots of the banjo and record an album. I was turned on to this film when Culturalist@s Jeremy and Linda Beck attended the red carpet premiere as guests of Béla… Continue

Added by Create Culture on December 17, 2009 at 6:00am — 1 Comment

Culture on Tour: Ethnographies of Travel, by Edward Bruner

I read this book for my extraordinary "Tourist Performances" class with the eminent Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett at New York University's Performance Studies program a couple of years back, and have fished it out recently to re-read some of the fun and really unusual stories. This is a must-read for anyone interested in looking deeper at what can happen- or what happens… Continue

Added by Create Culture on December 14, 2009 at 12:41pm — No Comments

Blogs: "Awesome Tapes from Africa" and "African Music Treasures" - Who's Up for a Road Trip?

If you are planning a trip to Africa and/or just want to increase your familiarity with the continent's music and culture we suggest two sites that we have recently become fans of. Voice of America's "African Music Treasure" goes to great lengths to provide cultural context with its music samples. This we greatly appreciate. For example, below is the opening of a recent posting from… Continue

Added by Create Culture on December 10, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

Film: Genghis Blues - not your mama's throat singing contest

In 2005 for the World Festival of Sacred Music-LA, we brought Chirgilchin, a group of throat singing musicians, to Los Angeles. They performed at the opening concert, outdoors, under the fall equinox moon. It was extraordinary... and made me want to learn more about throat singing and the culture of Tuva. The film… Continue

Added by Create Culture on December 7, 2009 at 9:10am — 2 Comments

Article: Opening Arms and Ears to Cuban Music

This article, published on November 18th in the New York Times, examines cultural exchanges with Cuba. I was in Havana and Santiago in 2002 with Global Exchange and had mixed feelings about the trip. We want to know what you think about the article and Cuba. Have you visited the country? Were you part of a "cultural exchange"? Is it time for the U.S. to allow visitors? Or is the embargo working and necessary? See excerpts from the… Continue

Added by Create Culture on December 3, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments