Category: Music

25th January 2021

South Africa: Jonas Gwangwa – The political musician

That was the first of several firsts. Gwangwa was co-copyist for the first all-black South African stage musical, King Kong, travelling with the show to London and starting a lifelong love affair with the stage musical format: Words, action, and music! I became fascinated with just how you … put all those pieces together. Seven curtain calls London contacts helped Gwangwa...

Activism/Art-ctivism/Feature Stories/Featured/Music/People Comments: 0

24th November 2020

Remembering Beethoven – a Genius with a Disability By Heike Kuhn

BONN, Apr 29 2020 (IPS) – Do you recognize this man? You do, of course. It is the silhouette of Beethoven, the famous composer and pianist‎, well known all over the world. The year 2020 marks his 250th anniversary and the UN city of Bonn, Germany is very proud of its famous son, born here, next to the river Rhine. The...

Miscellaneous/Music Comments: 0

21st November 2020

THE ROAD TO KINDNESS: ENCOURAGING GREATER GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT IN AN OVERLY COMPETITIVE WORLD

The habit of comparing ourselves (and being compared) to others is not restricted to the world of music. Starting shortly after birth, our physical attributes, talents, and achievements are constantly compared to those of our peers. The age at which first words are spoken and first steps are taken can be a tremendous source of pride for parents, but often only...

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7th April 2020

Ravi Shankar, godfather of world music, a century after his birth

One hundred years after the birth of sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, his meditative reinvention of Indian classical raga music has particular resonance during the corona crisis. The loneliness that many experience during the corona crisis is a feeling that was often shared by Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar. “I have received so much love, but my loneliness has not disappeared,” said the musician in 1977. “Somehow I got it by inheritance, and I’m carrying it all the time in my life.” Perhaps Shankar’s lonesome spirit explains, 100 years after his birth, why his music has a special relevance in this...

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24th March 2020

Lara Downes Explores the Many Resonances in Roots Music

Lara Downes | Credit: Max Barrett In liner notes for her new album, Some of These Days, pianist Lara Downes expresses the 14-track CD’s origins and significance. A line in an African-American spiritual, “Welcome Table,” provides the album’s title and the final track is an adaptation by Downes of the composition by African-American composer Florence Price (1887–1953). Following a pull quote from the refrain,...

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24th March 2020

Bay Area Musical Luminaries Plan a Tribute to Hamza El Din

Hamza El Din | Credit: John Werner There were so many right reasons why the tribute to the late Nubian musician Hamza El Din, at San Francisco’s Presidio Theatre, was planned for March 21. “It’s on the weekend of World Water Day,” notes the producer of the event, Mina Girgis, who’s also the founder of the Nile Project and a fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering and...