|
| VOLUME 6, NO. 6 | October 28, 2008 |
What's NewContinuing the 600-Year-Old Tradition of Kyogen
By Yuriko Doi Editor’s Note: Portola-based Yuriko Doi is a master artist working with San Francisco-based apprentice Lluis Valls in Japanese Kyogen theatre in the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program this year. Doi is the founder of the 30-year-old Theatre of Yugen, located at Noh Space Theater in San Francisco. We sit facing each other, bow and say Yoroshiku Onegaiitashimasu. “Please take care of me.” So begins each lesson. Being mindful of where we are, who we are with and why we are there. Kyogen has been passed down from generation to generation and survived for over six centuries because of its inherent human quality, depending heavily on the practitioner’s prowess as a singer, dancer, and actor. My teacher, Mansaku Nomura, is a son of Kyogen actor Manzo Nomura, the sixth generation in his Nomura Kyogen acting family, and designated in 1998 as a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government. The disciplined training of such a performer is as rigorous as the skill it demands of the performer, delivered mostly orally from one teacher to one student, one lesson at a time. Nuances are highly prized, and only the intimate setting of a one-on-one lesson can convey those subtleties. Even in the United States and even as a woman, basically in my teaching I strictly follow the tradition I have learned from my master and have shared my knowledge. A Minority within a Minority: A Mother-Daughter Apprenticeship in Kurdish-Alevi Music
By Kutay Derin Kugay, Program Director, San Francisco World Music Festival and producer/host of the Bay Area radio show Music of the World, Mondays on KPFA 94.1 FM San Francisco-based artist Ozden Oztoprak is a master musician and vocalist who is participating in the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program this year with her 11-year-old daughter Berfin Ozsoy, instructing her in Kurdish Alevi songs and the baglama saz, a long necked lute, which is the seminal musical instrument for traditional Alevi culture. This stringed instrument is used in Kurdish and Turkish music. As a Zaza-speaking Alevi, Ozden is a minority (Kurdish) within a minority (Alevi) in her homeland. Born in the Tunceli/Ovacik region, located in the southeastern part of Turkey, Ozden graduated from the prestigious Istanbul University Turkish Conservatory where she trained her soulful voice as well as became a skilled musician. Ozden sings and plays the baglama, the long neck lute that is in the family of saz, (along with the cura, divan, and meydan). She is dedicated to teaching her daughter the art and tradition of her Kurdish Alevi heritage, continuing a family lineage of musicians. Berfin and her mother went to Turkey last summer and spent many weeks in the village where Ozden as a child got her initial infusion of Alevi culture. Berfin Ozsoy is an extraordinarily gifted child who loves to sing and play the saz, and has already learned quite a number of Kurdish folk and Alevi songs from her mother through this apprenticeship. Their informal lessons consist of ongoing sessions in their home. Berfin wants to continue learning the family tradition of music. An Apprenticeship in Persian Classical SetarIn playing setar, an audience of one person is not enough. An audience of two people, too many. --Ostad Abolhasan Saba
By Sherwood Chen, Associate Director and Apprenticeship Program Manager Master artist Kourosh Taghavi of San Diego has been working with Novato-based apprentice Emad Borjian as part of the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program this year. The apprenticeship has revolved around monthly meetings in a donated office space in Berkeley, and focuses upon the Persian classical music repertoire and the Radif, particularly focusing on the Avaz Bayât-e Tork which is a derivative of the Dastgâh Shur. Mid-20th century compositions by Ostad Ali Akbar Shahnâzi have been selected to challenge Borjian. Involved in the course of their apprenticeship is a deeper understanding of knowledge of Avâz Bayât-e Tork’s limited selection of Gushes, in addition to developing Borjian’s improvisational skills within the framework of the Radif—something which is essential to growth in Persian classical musicianship. “Emad has a keen ear already and can already improvise on some older melodies,” Kourosh notes. “This ability and the expanded knowledge of repertoire is an important basis for him.” The focus on improvisation also revolved around the Avaz Bayât-e Tork. The setar-playing style they have focused on was introduced in the 1920s by master musician Ostad Said Hormozi, characterized by Taghavi as “very melodic, soft, with longer phrases conceptually and over time, technically challenging, and definitely very passionate.” Taghavi wants to create more opportunities for Borjian to perform, seeing Borjian as a fellow ambassador who can introduce Persian music to wider audiences. Ultimately, Taghavi expressed an ultimate goal to develop a fine fellow musician to play with. An Apprenticeship in Hmong Paj Ntaub
By Sherwood Chen, Associate Director and Apprenticeship Program Manager Master artist Ying Yang of Long Beach has been working with apprentice Xong Lee of Riverside in an apprenticeship on Hmong paj ntaub as current participants of the Alliance’s Apprenticeship Program. Also known as reverse appliqué embroidery, paj ntaub involves meticulous hand sewing and cutting, resulting in embroidered fabric squares with various combinations of geometric, symbolic designs which can take anywhere from a week to several months to complete, depending on the complexity of design, scale and frequency of work. Paj ntaub has multiple purposes and applications in daily and festive life, used as gifts, funeral cloths, and ornamentation, and, Yang summarizes, is “one of the most important Hmong art forms. We decorate our New Year festival clothes with paj ntaub to show our gratefulness for the good things of the year past and in hopes of good things in the year to come. We decorate baby carriers with paj ntaub to show how we value our beautiful babies. We place paj ntaub with the dead to honor them. The designs show our respect for nature and all the beauty in nature. We create beauty as an important part of living.” 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
|
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 Dia de los Muertos @ Arte Américas Recuerdos: Dia de los Muertos Celebration 2008 Batizado Gradation Ceremony Dia de los Muertos @ Riverside Metropolitan Museum Folklórico: La Magia del Pueblo / Folklore: The Magic of our People Seibi Lee: Solo Kathak Performance 9th Annual San Francisco World Music Festival Wikitmallem Tahmuwhae (Singing the Birds): Bird Song and Dance Festival
Get your personalized plate. To subscribe to the weekly CAC Update, please visit their website. |
| SUBSCRIBE at our Website | COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS | www.actaonline.org |
