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| VOLUME 6, NO. 5 | September 29, 2008 |
What's NewAn Apprenticeship in Peruvian Marinera
By Gabriela Shiroma My name is Gabriela Shiroma. I am the artistic director of De Rompe y Raja Cultural Association, an Afro-Peruvian dance ensemble in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am participating in the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program this year as an apprentice working with San Carlos-based master artist Nestor Ruiz, alongside apprentice Stephan Sester. Together, we are focusing on the Peruvian dance traditions of Marinera Norteña and Marinera Limeña, traditional couple dances between a man and woman. (Please see A Brief History below.) A Brief History of the Zamacueca and Description of the MarineraBy Gabriela Shiroma To talk about Peru’s National Dance, La Marinera, is to talk about passion, celebration, gallantry, romance, independence, identity, struggle, and academic research. This dance represents the courtship of the man and woman as they advance and retreat with flirtatious movements with the solo use of a handkerchief. Its history covers 5 centuries of socio-cultural exchanges, political conflict and identity development. In order to have a better understanding it is necessary to go back to its root—the Mother Dance Zamacueca. Read more about the history of the Marinera and the Zamacueca on the Alliance’s website. An Apprenticeship in Persian Santur Music
As a child, Bahram Osqueezadeh’s early fateful encounter with an instrument he would eventually master occurred as he approached the trapezoidal stringed wooden object sitting on a table on the top floor of his family’s home in Tehran. His elder brother had brought the instrument home and left it in a room on a table, its many strings evoking its namesake—santur—literally meaning “one hundred strings.” A curious Osqueezadeh reached out to one of the strings, plucked it, and let the sound resonate for seconds as he listened. Then he plucked another string and listened deeply. And another. As he basked in the individual resonance of each string, one could say it was love at first pluck. Now a seasoned performer, instructor and scholar based in Goleta—a town neighboring Santa Barbara and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)—Osqueezadeh is participating in the Alliance’s 2008 Apprenticeship Program as a master artist working with fellow Goleta-resident, neighbor and apprentice Areo Saffarzadeh. The santur is a hammered dulcimer with relatives in Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Armenia, India, Greece and elsewhere in Asia. The apprenticeship focuses on developing Saffarzadeh’s playing skill, and serves as Saffarzadeh’s ongoing introduction into the essence and backbone of Persian music, known as the Radif. Ya Hala Means Welcome: The 14th Annual Arab Cultural FestivalLily Kharrazi, Living Cultures Grants Program Manager What are the connecting threads of a cultural celebration that includes among its constituents people from twenty-two countries, each with their own linguistic, artistic and political history? And what about the region’s religious plurality? With this snapshot of complexity in mind, one connecting thread seems to be the celebration and affirmation of cultural arts. These activities were in abundance at the 14th annual Arab Cultural Festival aptly themed, “Ya Hala,” the Arabic word for welcome. Read more about this summer’s Arab Cultural Festival on the Alliance’s website. Radio Bilingüe Airs Raices II SeriesBuilding off their successful 2006 series profiling folk and traditional artists across California, Radio Bilingüe, a national Latino community radio station, returns Raices (or, Roots) to the air with Raices II: Art Moments on Radio. For the next three years, monthly Raices II features will profile traditional artists and educate listeners about their art form and the role it plays within that cultural community. The Alliance is serving as an editorial advisor for the series. Read more about the Raices II series on the Alliance’s website. Friends of Negro Spirituals’ In Our Own Words Wins the Oral History Association’s Elizabeth B. Mason Project AwardThe Friends of Negro Spirituals’ oral history project In Our Own Words – The Negro Spirituals Heritage Keepers was recently awarded the Oral History Association’s Elizabeth B. Mason Project Award for 2008. The Oral History Association presents this award to recognize outstanding oral history projects throughout the English-speaking world. Supported in part by the Alliance’s Living Cultures Grants Program in 2007, In Our Own Words – The Negro Spirituals Heritage Keepers documented the oral histories of ten heritage keepers of the Negro spirituals tradition in the Bay Area. The collected transcripts and interviews on DVDs are available to the public through the Oakland Public Library’s History Room, the African American Museum and Library, and Mills College. (Visit the Alliance’s website to read an article about this project.) The Alliance wishes to congratulate the Friends of Negro Spirituals on receiving this honor. FundingThe Alliance's Traditional Arts Development ProgramDeadline: Ongoing The Alliance’s Traditional Arts Development Program makes contracts up to $1,500 to support consultancies, mentorships, and travel opportunities that foster a new level of growth for individual folk & traditional artists and organizations engaged in this field in California. Requested services may be focused on organizational, program, and/or artistic development goals. Individual artists and cultural practitioners, as well as organizations, whether incorporated or not, may apply. A sampling of past contracts include: Artistic Mentorships Gen Taiko (San Francisco), an organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and presenting Japanese traditional arts including taiko (traditional Japanese drumming), traditional folk dance, and folk song forms. Its artistic director, Melody Takata, was trained by National Heritage Fellow Madame Fujima Kansuma to learn the Nihon Buyo (Japanese classical) dance called Kojo No Tsuki (Moonlit Castle Ruins). Ms. Takata taught the dance to four of her students and performed it at Gen Taiko’s 10th Anniversary Concert in November 2005. Organizational Consultancies: Kwashi Amevuvor (Los Angeles), a master drummer from Ghana, West Africa, worked with consultant Janet Planet, who assisted him with marketing and web design to develop professional promotional materials to publicize the work of the artist and the traditional cultural arts of Ghana. In addition, Ms. Planet’s consultancy supported Mr. Amevuvor’s efforts in organizing a cultural study tour of Ghana. Travel Opportunities The Eszterlánc Hungarian Folk Ensemble (Foster City) traveled to Southern California to perform for an audience of over two thousand at the annual Magyar Sajtónap (Hungarian Press Day) hosted by the newspaper California Hungarians. At this event Eszterlanc dancers had the opportunity to perform with members of the Karpatok Folk Ensemble of Southern California, which is led by Istvan Szabo. Requests for organizational consultancies, artistic mentoring, and travel support may be submitted to the Alliance at any time. Download the application and application instructions from the Alliance’s website or call (559) 237-9812 to request a copy be mailed to you. The Alliance’s Traditional Arts Development Program is supported by grants from the California Arts Council, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Native Arts @ NEFA
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FEATURES ABOUT ACTA The Alliance for California Traditional Arts strives to "ensure California's future holds California's past" by providing programs and services to support the state's diverse living cultural heritage. The Alliance cultivates the growth of traditional arts and culture through Stewardship, Services to Artists, and Connection-Making. CONTACT ACTA Website: Staff: Sherwood Chen, Associate Director Lily Kharrazi, Living Cultures Grants Program Manager Suzanne Hildebrand, Administrative Coordinator BOARD OF DIRECTORS Melanie Beene Emmett Castro, V.P. of Finance and Administration Jo Farb Hernandez, Secretary Joel Jacinto, Sojin Kim, Ph.D. Amy Kitchener (ex officio) Frank LaPena Malcolm Margolin Libby Maynard Chike Nwoffiah, V.P. of External Development Peter Pennekamp, Executive Director Amy Rouillard Charlie Seemann, Board President Daniel Sheehy, Ph.D. Deborah Wong, Ph.D. Honorary Bess Lomax Hawes FUNDERS
Kumeyaay: Indigenous People of Southern California San Francisco Croatian Festival Master Katsuko Teruya—40th Anniversary 9th Annual San Francisco World Music Festival
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