“Large crowds have flocked to a memorial service in Johannesburg for South African singer Miriam Makeba, who died last weekend after a concert in Italy. Musicians, poets and politicians paid tribute to the 76-year-old performer… The singer, who was known as Mama Africa, spent more than 30 years in exile after lending her support to the campaign against apartheid.”
Author: sbergman
CBC Radio Orchestra Not Going Quietly
The Vancouver-based CBC Radio Orchestra plays its final concert this weekend, and fans of the ensemble are expected to protest the CBC’s decision to scrap it. And while the orchestra is expected to continue performing, at least for now, under a new name, the sting of the CBC’s slap is still fresh.
Seven Words You Can’t Say Anywhere, Apparently
“George Carlin’s ‘Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television’ was so far ahead of its time — or maybe just so plain profane — in 1972 that you still can’t utter the Big Seven on prime-time broadcast television… And as it happens, you can’t necessarily hear them at the Kennedy Center, either,” where the routine was mercilessly bleeped during a ceremony honoring the late comic. Some in attendance found it ironic – others were merely annoyed.
The Dancing Seagull
Canada’s National Ballet is giving the North American premiere of a newly choreographed version of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. “Chekhov’s original play is about actors and playwrights. In [John Neumeier’s] ballet, they have become dancers and choreographers.”
Music Is Back In Baghdad
“After years on the run from Shiite and Sunni militias and morality police, Iraqi musicians are slowly returning to the streets of Baghdad, looking to fill the silence left by the fading civil war… Under the strict interpretation of Islamic law imposed by Al-Qaeda on the areas it controlled, musicians were considered a threat to morality, along with alcohol vendors, barbers and women who did not cover their hair.”
Newspaper Music Coverage: Dismal, But Not New
“Music critics write basically for three important audiences: First, the people who attend concerts. Second, a larger group of intensely interested people who read reviews of concerts they aren’t going to hear. And third, the critic’s bosses. Ignore the third audience at your peril.”
Settling Old Scores In AGO Revamp
“Emerging from the debris of decades of squabbles and hundreds of pages of legal documents, Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario unveils its revamped and redesigned home this week in a state of happy detente with neighbourhood residents who once voiced fierce opposition to its transformational plans.”
Tony Boss Ousted
“Producer Elizabeth I. McCann, who guided the Tony Awards through some choppy times, had a lot to do with the success of this year’s telecast, a program that won an Emmy and good reviews from the press.” But McCann was relieved of her duties this week, reportedly at the hands of “Charlotte St. Martin, who heads the Broadway League, and Howard Sherman, who looks after the nonprofit American Theater Wing.”
Should Pittsburgh Fest Drop Visual Art?
“One of the decisions that the principals deciding the future of the Three Rivers Arts Festival will have to make is what role the visual arts will play, and perhaps it’s time to consider whether they should be included at all… The event is as popular as ever,” but with no admission charge, it’s become harder and harder to pay for, and tough decisions may have to be made.
Gehry On Gehry: The AGO Redesign
The starchitect speaks: “Putting things on a pedestal hurts the art and I didn’t want to do that. It’s a miracle, but the galleries for [Ken Thomson’s] Canadian collection are the best I’ve ever done. Even with white cubic spaces we managed to give them soul… We did the best thing we could do on our budget; a very complicated way of interweaving things within a structure that had been remade many times.”