seeline

Amen to this, Joe!!!

papsrus, you and Bev have suggested some viable options. I think part of the problem might lie in our (musicians') own wanting X kind of gig/session (etc.) and not being willing to explore other avenues that lead to opportunities for playing. (and I'm not talking about playing weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc.) It's one thing to specialize (and I have - in Middle Eastern and W. African percussion), another to find opportunities where I can put the skills I've learned in those specific areas of study to use. A lot of what I've learned in both of these "fields" is transferable to most any other kind of music... So the question becomes, am I interested in - or willing to - play something else? Since there's not exactly a whole lot of demand for the stuff I've specialized in, the answer is "yes." (Though I definitely *do* try to pick and choose, not just accept everything that might come my way...) I guess I should add that playing in pickup bands and doing some comping for folk/soft rock/theater gigs has been where I've learned the most about musicianship, ensemble playing, and lots more. Most of these gigs haven't been anywhere close to what I'd *like* to be doing, but they've been a good school. (And fun at times; draining at others.) Being forced to think outside the box can bring about some really good things. One of the results is: trying to diversify my own playing, wanting to learn more about how to play (for example) "Latin" rhythms and more. imo, fwiw, etc. Edited to add: I don't mean to give the impression that I've got lots of gigs - it's been a while since I actively sought anything, although I'm thinking that the summer might be a good time to see what's out there... (I live in the middle of nowhere; gigs and sessions seem to be pretty dependent on the tastes of the academic folks who live in a nearby university town. Am not wanting to try and organize my own band - who needs the hassle? ) Edit edit: I started W. African percussion classes 2 years ago, as a chance to learn something new (also because I'd wanted to study before, but it was very hard to find good teachers). To my surprise, I fell in love with the music and dance, and one of my fave things these days is to do small ensemble accompaniment for dancers. The music really isn't complete without the dance; both drummers and dancers are constantly trading fours (though the music is rarely in 4!), egging each other on, etc. It's a very dynamic style; lots of fun to play!

Maybe. Last week the Juilliard School announced that it was cutting its scholarships for low-income middle school and HS kids, for who knows how long. There are 12 and 13-year-olds on an audition waiting list, or maybe I should say that there were... You'd think that some of their major donors would come to the rescue, but so far, nope.

Oh, absolutely! But I do think that some pretty outrageous behavior was tolerated - or maybe I should say "overlooked" - in my undergrad art department. There were (as in lots of other fields) a bunch of tenured profs who really shouldn't have been teaching. (In one case, the person was clearly very disturbed and hell-bent on tearing students down, emotionally and verbally. Two other profs used to get into public fistfights with each other. Some were alcoholics and/or drug abusers. They were scary.)

Ptah - very interesting. A lot of people who pursue M.A.s and Ph.Ds in visual arts and music do so with the express purpose of teaching. An M.A. in studio art isn't really necessary unless you intend to teach at the university level - which is how the people who do so get the financial stability to be able to work on their own stuff. (As you can imagine, there's very little turnover in those jobs!) That said, I encountered many profs. who weren't really qualified to teach - they had no real background in/understanding of practical issues re. the transmission of information, how to give an informal lecture, and even - in some cases - how to carry on a conversation with a student and how to provide constructive criticism. What I'm trying to say is that a lot of people whose personalities and skills are ill-suited for teaching end up in teaching positions. And often, students suffer because of this. So the stories you've just related about Cecil sound very believable to me - not because they're about Cecil, but because I've met academics who were every bit as arbitrary, difficult, demanding and abrupt as the Cecil of these stories. Even if the details aren't 100% true, the rest sounds all too real. (I hope it's not, but...)

Well, let me put it another way: Are your goals in life now the same as they were when you were 18? Were you ever extremely idealistic - to the point of being starry-eyed, maybe - about music, or dance, or painting, or...? My thought on a lot of the issues being discussed in this thread is that they have more to do with the way colleges and universities are structured - and how there's a lot of regimentation to that - than anything else. (Which is one reason that I mentioned the "Let's overspecialize ourselves to death!" mentality that seems to be one of the results...) What someone who's 16 or 19 thinks about being "an artist" (musician, painter, sculptor, composer, studio musician, novelist, poet, actor/actress, dancer - whatever) probably has very little to do with the harsher realities of all those professions - because the people in question are lacking in life experience. If anything, I think the unwillingness of arts educators to deal with cold, hard realities is one of the single biggest failings that kids who go into the arts encounter. (Again, I feel like I can say this because I was one of them.) There was technique and media and whatever up the wazoo, but *no* help - let alone pedagogy - in dealing with real life. (How to get a job and keep one, what art-related expenses are tax deductible, etc. etc.) There was literally no course that took that stuff into consideration at the liberal arts school I attended. I'll say this for the professional arts programs: they do take on these topics, and help prepare their students for the real world. Academia is self-perpetuating to a large extent - if only so that the ivory tower types don't have their jobs taken by the kids in their classes. I don't think that's the fault of incoming students. (And yes, I'm cynical about many aspects of the educational system, due to being in close proximity to it for a long time. There's much that's good, but also much that needs to change.) Edited to add: 7/4 said this many posts back. he's right.

Jim, I wonder if you're being a tad to harsh re. very young people? I also think that what's being discussed in this thread is true for every single person who's majoring in (or has majored in) the visual and performing arts at university level. The reason I say that is that I've got a BFA that more or less collects dust; have had it for a long time. I *do* wish I'd studied something more "practical" as a minor, but overall, I'm not sorry that I took the arts path. Also, I think it's important to see this - choosing jazz studies (or whatever) - in the larger context of career change. Most people today don't stay in one career for their entire lives. (Things have changed pretty radically since the 60s and 70s...) I think there are skills - very much including self-discipline - that can be honed in any arts program and applied to other fields of study/careers. Academia in general (or US academia, at least) is ridiculously intent on overspecialization - and that's likely part of the problem for students and faculty alike. It's affected me in terms of certain career options (more like non-options) pretty directly. I couldn't pursue museum archival work because i didn't have any degree in archival studies - never mind the fact that I already had a *lot* of background and some practical experience in the field. I think this kind of thing happens to too many people, every year - lots of them coming directly from undergrad and grad programs.

Must also be why all the uploads from this video have been deleted from YouTube...

Sorry to see this news...

I didn't realize that Roku was now handling Amazon video - it was Netflix-only at 1st. I'm beginning to think that I'll buy one, because I'd far rather watch the content on my TV than on my computer monitor. Thanks for all the input, guys!

@ Dave James - The one and only Bob Ross! My local PBS station has taken to airing a painting show hosted by a guy who dresses in "frontier mountain man" gear, a la Kit Carson. The interesting thing is that for all the faux-He Man-ishness, he's pretty good at rendering landscapes. (Well, make that "mountainscapes.")

And some info. ...

The name definitely rings a bell, but I can't recall actually seeing him - even though I probably did. (Hope that makes sense!)

Thanks muchly for the links!

Thanks for this, caravan! Brazil instituted reforms in spelling, orthography - even the alphabet - not that many moons ago. (they dropped the letters K and Y, among other things.) So I'd bet that the Portuguese-speaking African countries might be a lot closer to European Portuguese spelling (etc.) than is the case in Brazil. I'm wondering about the local languages, though - I looked up some info. yesterday re. Portuguese as spoken in Mozambique and Angola, and the sources I came across said that there are lots of loan-words from various "local' languages, as well as a strong influence on pronunciation. But I honestly have no way of knowing if this is accurate or not - can you direct me to some info.? Equitorial Guinea: yes, my bad! Cape Verde: I can imagine (dialects and so on). There are more people from the Cape Verde Islands living in the US than there are on the islands themselves. (At least, that's what the Cape Verdean immigrants here say - they're mostly clustered in and around Boston.) What you say about "not much drumming left" is interesting, as that's not true in Brazil, although (AFAIK) there were efforts to suppress certain kinds of instruments and playing. Those might have been successful in the short term, but obviously not in the long run! Thanks in advance for your help; it's much appreciated.

No! For one thing, the Brazilians say that people from Portugal "swallow all the vowels," and I'm inclined to agree with them. Listen to a Portuguese singer, then a Brazilian, and follow the lyrics while you're listening. It's like hearing a Yorkshireman/woman or Scot, then someone from the South Carolina coast. (You don't need to know any Portuguese to be able to do the listening test - just a good ear and some lyric sheets in hand.) See caravan's post below . As others have noted, a lot of Portuguese-speaking African countries follow Portuguese "rules" for pronunciation, but then, they've only been independent for a little over 25 years. There are also creole languages spoken in (for sure) the Cape Verde Islands, São Tomé and Principe, and probably also Angola, Equitorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. (Not sure at all about Mozambique, but it wouldn't surprise me to hear that it's much the same.) There's actually a lot of back-and-forth influence in the music of the former Portuguese W. African countries - from Brazil, that is, and vice versa. I've corresponded a bit with Brazilian musician Rodrigo Lessa, who spent over a decade working on research - and ultimately, a CD - that documents some of these mixtures and influences. I'd love to learn more about this! As far as Brazilian accents, it's a huge country and there are lots of different regional accents, even dialects. I can hear a big difference between people from Rio and São Paulo, which aren't all that far apart geographically - but are very different places in terms of the people who've settled there. (Lots of Italians in SP; also thousands and thousands of poor people from northeastern Brazil who've come in search of job opportunities and a better life.) Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethânia are all from the state of Bahia. They really (IMO) had to tone down their accents a bit once they started recording. (Bethânia probably most of all, since she spent some of her early career in theater and has specialized - to some degree - in romantic songs by Rio-based composers and lyricists.) But I really should ask some of my Brazilian friends about all of this, just to make sure I'm not misleading you folks. (Oh and... definitely a smart question, Jim!)

Mamadou Diabaté is an incredible player - haven't heard all of this disc, but I've really enjoyed his older recordings... I've been listening to this and loving it - Sinaly "Papus" Diabate - Kara Bara (Hard Work) "Mali Music: Mande songs, master drummers from Les Ballets Maliens, balafon, African violin, Mali guitar..." there's one kinda negligible "crossover" cut, but the rest is beautiful - great singers, wonderful balafon and guitar, super-tight percussion orchestra (well, "small ensemble," maybe). CD Baby is the only source for the disc (AFAIK) - MP3 can also be downloaded at Emusic.com.

A *really* short list - From Brazil: Mônica Salmaso Zélia Duncan (singing classic sambas) Joyce Clara Nunes Beth Carvalho Sérgio Santos Vitor Ramil Paulinho da Viola A few of my favorite African singers: Dorothy Masuka Busi Mhlongo Hadja Kouyate Sali Sidibé Youssou N'Dour (depending on material) Tabu Ley Rochereau Kofi Olomide (depending on material) From the Caribbean (Latin and otherwise): Izaline Calister Trio Matamoros Celia Cruz (in her younger days) From the Middle East - Reem Kelani Fairuz Asmahan Fahrid Al-Atrache Umm Kulthuum (aka Oum Kalsoum and a bunch of other spellings) Sabah (depending on material) Abed Azrié Chava Alberstein From Europe - Mariza Juliette Greco June Tabor Concha Buika Joan Armatrading Henri Salvador (depending on material) Marta Sebestyen Barbara Gianmaria Testa Darko Rundek Melina Kana

How does Rhapsody work, Seeline? Not as well as it ought to, I think. Here's part of their FAQ. When you go to "supported players," you'll see that neither the iPod or the Zune are compatible.

Rhapsody's been around for quite a few years now, but for people who don't have broadband, it's highly impractical. I have this sneaking feeling that a lot of site developers and companies are overlooking the fact that an awful lot of people (in the US and elsewhere) are still using dialup.

They're both good, although I have mixed feelings about reissues like these, because the compilers have chosen music that's not really representative of most of what was going on in W. African pop music at the time. They seem to want to focus on cuts that will have immediate appeal to American audiences. Too bad, really, because there's a lot of nifty material out there that they're overlooking. You can find some examples on these blogs: http://wrldsrv.blogspot.com/ http://likembe.blogspot.com/ http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/blog/ - lots of fantastic stuff here, from the Voice of America archives http://mattgy.net/music/ http://matsuli.blogspot.com/ * For a taste of contemporary Ghanian pop, you might check out King Ayisoba's MySpace page (for starters). Not sure why his album hasn't gotten much press, because he's really good!

NYT blogger David Gonzalez: In El Barrio, Mourning a Giant of Latin Music

there should be an obit/profile up on Descarga.com very soon... Also, try emusic.com for lots of entirely legal tracks by Joe.

Yes. It was a limited CD reissue, part of the Con series.

OK, I'm game, Bev. I recently came across this book by John P. Murphy, and can't recommend it highly enough - The author's website has some great additional material (text, music and videos) that didn't make it into the book and its companion CD. What impresses me most is this: he deals with almost every existing genre of Brazilian music, and is (AFAIK) the 1st to write about most of them in English. He spent a lot of time in the northeast of Brazil, studying several kinds of folkloric/"popular" music with master musicians, and the results are impressive! This book is part of a series for classroom use, so there are occasional bits of intrusive text meant for teachers. But that's easily overlooked. He includes a lot of web-only resources in the text and bibliography, too - very easily accessible stuff. Probably *the* biggest gap is that there are no YouTube/Daily Motion/etc. links, but the book went to press before that all took off.