Thoughts
I’m Not Racist But…
Definitely a compelling title right? This was the title of a community conversation held at the Seymour Center on the University of Sydney’s campus. It was one of many events hosted in part by the New South Wales Reconciliation Council targeted to fight racism in Australia directed predominately towards the indigenous community and refugees. L-Fresh, a.k.a ‘The Lion’, was one of four invited speakers. I have had the pleasure of working with him while I volunteered at Street University (which I will tell you about more in my next post). He is a hip-hop artist who has shared the stage with Nas, Public Enemy and Urthboy and spoken at conventions, most recently for Amnesty International. L-Fresh (picture courtesy of L-Fresh) is a young vibrant artist who has a way of succinctly stating really big ideas and deep thought… yet he is very approachable, and always ready to share a smile. So listening to his accounts of how he was made to feel different because of his religious practices was both saddening (because of how he was treated) and inspirational (because of how he handled it). I asked him to expand a bit more on the topic, and he provided this statement…
“I feel like there is a deep-rooted need for distinction or definition. The scene in Australia is very much divided. Hip-hop in Australia is still very much underground. It is only just beginning to tap into the mainstream. Nevertheless, there still feels as though there is a sort of mainstream and underground divide.
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Welcome to Africulturban…
Africulturban is one of the premier hip-hop cultural centers in the Dakar area.The name is combined from the words Afrique- Culture- Urban and the association focuses on the education, promotion, and development of urban arts in Senegal. I have been lucky enough to collaborate with Africulturban quite a bit throughout my time here in Senegal.
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Hari Baseball
As news of spring training started appearing in the subheading of news websites, my stomach griped; this may just be the first year since I was six that I won’t go to a baseball game! Not much later one day at school, some of the children started asking me questions about American baseball: the rules, the players, the teams. In anticipation, I asked my parents to bring along a small whiffle ball and bat when they would visit in April. As baseball has always had a special place in the hearts of the Stillings’ family, they were happily to oblige. Not only did Mom and Dad lug a suitcase of books and protein bars, but the whiffle ball set, a few bags of cracker jacks, big chew bubble gum, and MLB-themed silly bands.
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Al Ritmo del Cajón
The sound of more than 500 pairs of hands filled the sky as they played a cajón during a Peruvian fall. The chaos that normally lingers and defines Lima could not compete with the sound waves of one of the most elemental instruments of Afro-Peruvian music, and for one afternoon the noise of traffic did not reign supreme.
When I first arrived in Peru one of the events I found out about almost immediately was the weeklong festival, held each fall, to celebrate the cajón, a percussion instrument widely associated with Afro-Peruvian music. I had the opportunity to speak with several musicians about this event and finally, eight months into my grant, I was getting the opportunity to attend (and document) this festival. For the last four years the Festival Internacional de Cajón Peruano has been celebrated at the Centro Cultural de España in Lima, and this year was no different. The event kicked off with several musical workshops taught by musicians from all over the world. Musicians from other Latin American countries and Europe each had an opportunity to share their specific talents with anyone who wanted to learn more about percussion instruments, not just the cajón, from all over the world. The picture below demonstrates one instructor as he teaches the opening workshop at the outset of the festival:
Ritmos Viajeros
Every year all of the Fulbright participants of South America’s Andean region come together for a week. During this week we all get to share our experiences and research with one another, as well as enjoy the beauty of the country where the regional seminar is hosted. I wasn’t really aware of this opportunity until I first arrived in Lima, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this year we’d be going to Ecuador. Seeing as I’d never travelled outside of the United States before coming to Peru, I was pretty excited, but I soon forgot about it as soon as I delved into my research.
It wasn’t until the end of March that an email reminded me of this event. I was already pretty excited to travel outside of Peru, but I was even more excited once I found out that instead of going to Ecuador the conference would actually be in Colombia! After arriving from another filming trip in Northern Peru, I packed my bags and got ready to board an early flight out to Bogota.
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Up to four awards will be available to pursue projects around an aspect of international contemporary or popular music as a cultural force for expression. Preference will be given to creative projects that are conveyed in a dynamic fashion and are accompanied by a feasible plan. In addition to presenting unique projects on music as a global force for mutual understanding. Deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.