ethnomusi-traveling: belize @ethnobelize-blog - Tumblr Blog

"i am a storyteller. i'm a qualitative researcher, and i collect stories. maybe stories are just data with a soul."

-brene brown

Last night the sound of live Dixieland jazz began wafting in my window… it lured me the half-block to Oakland Tech High School, where their jazz band was playing outside, beckoning people to attend the evening performance of their fall play “Voices from the Storm.”

The play was written by Oakland Tech students, and tells the true stories of people who survived Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The depth of these students’ consciousness, emotion, and sensitivity was so inspiring. These teenagers have a fuller sense of justice and truth and equality, have more awareness of suffering and more respect for the value of all human life, than many adults I’ve encountered.

These kids gave me so much hope for the future of our nation and our world. They made me proud to have a career in the arts and to be living in this town. They gave me a renewed hope that our future can be different than our past. AND, they were selling delicious bowls of creole food. Thank you, Oakland Tech!

If you’re around Oakland today, "Voices from the Storm" is being performed at 2pm and 7pm. Go support our youth and public school arts programs!

https://oaklandtech.com/staff/blog/2015/11/oaktechrep-presents-voices-from-the-storm-november-19th-21st/

#oakland #soulofoakland #oaklandtech

Last week I presented a paper at the Biennial ASWAD Conference (Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora) in Charleston, SC. It was an inter-discplinary conference with presentations by historians, artists, anthropologists, and of course, the occasional ethnomusicologist! I learned a ton and met all kinds of interesting people.

On my first day there, I went on a tour of Drayton Hall plantation with a group of fellow conference-goers. This was my first time on a plantation and it was certainly an experience. Our tour guide gave balanced explanations of the land/architecture, the Drayton family, and the lives of the enslaved laborers who built the Drayton home and worked on the plantation. It was an added bonus to be there with a group of scholars, many of whom are experts on the history of the South Carolina Lowcountry, its plantation economy, and the lives and culture of enslaved Africans brought to this region.

I had organized a panel called "Space, Sound, and Spirit in the Garifuna Experience" which featured presentations by myself, filmmaker Andrea Leland, and UCLA PhD Candidate Amy Frishkey.

My paper was titled "Keepin the Culcha Alive: Redefining Space and Sound in a Globalizing Garifuna Village." I talked about the ways that the musicians at the Lebeha Drumming Center in Hopkins, BZ-- the place I've lived and studied since 2009--have shifted their cultural & musical priorities and changed the community functions of the drumming center as tourism has boomed.

As an added bonus, my beloved sister and brother-in-law live in Charleston, so I got to stay with them all week. On Saturday, the sun finally broke through the clouds and we went boating around Charleston Harbor all afternoon!

#ethnomusicology

I went to Cuba this summer. It blew our minds and ears and hearts wide open. More to come....

I played this song for my class last night. It silenced them for a few minutes afterwards, and then we spent two hours talking about race and gender and power and music in America. People--of all backgrounds, ages, genders, colors, political leanings-- want to talk about these things. We've ignored injustice, inequality and flaws in the American system for too long; it's time to throw off the taboo of talking about race in America and have some honest discussions. How can we possibly evolve and grow if we can't even lovingly, respectfully talk about our nation's collective issues? One of my students' conclusions was that we need a person, someone to unite and rally the American people to stand up for justice and change in a positive, peaceful way. Is this true? In this age of social media, do we still need a point person? A Martin Luther King, Jr. A Pete Seeger. A Bob Marley. Is there anybody out there now, in the public eye, that can unite and inspire and love in the way that those artists did?

#ethnomusicology #blacklivesmatter

On Music & Michael Brown

Last week, as so many of us were reeling from the ruling on Michael Brown's death, it so happened that I was scheduled to give a lecture on hip hop to my class at the College of Marin. This included talking about NWA and listening to the song “Fuck tha Police” as we read along with the lyrics. My students were struck by the anger and frustration that pours out of the song, and the fact that although it was written in 1988--well over two decades ago--it could very well have been written in response to any number of recent events in this country. That song led us to a discussion of Rodney King and the 1992 LA riots, which led us directly into Michael Brown, Ferguson and last Monday’s ruling. My students engaged in a thoughtful, sensitive discussion about all the larger issues that the Brown ruling is bringing to light, including the US justice system, race, class, and culture in America. They (mostly-white kids from Marin) were so open, compassionate, and grateful to have a space in which to discuss, because they realize that this affects ALL OF US. Approaching issues of race, privilege, power and inequality through music is so powerful and effective — and a real testament to music’s power to open doors into higher consciousness, compassion and knowledge. I encourage my fellow ethnomusicologists and educators to make the time to discuss these recent events—-because if we don't talk about it in the classroom, what’s the point of what we’re doing? THIS is why we teach. THIS is why music matters. THIS is why our jobs are important. As educators and musicians, I really believe that we are responsible for imparting knowledge and raising consciousness and being agents of positive change within the world.

#blacklivesmatter #ethnomusicology

laurenofthelake

ethnobelize-blog

This is the spotify playlist for the "Rock, Pop and Jazz" course I teach at the College of Marin... there are some musical gems in here... take a listen!

#ethnomusicology

I like the word “gumption” because it’s so lonely and so forlorn and so out of style it looks as if it needs a friend and isn’t likely to reject anyone who comes along… I like it also because it describes exactly what happens to someone who connects with Quality. He gets filled with gumption. The Greeks called it enthousiasmos, the root of “enthusiasm,” which means literally “filled with theos,” or God, or Quality. See how that fits? The gumption-filling process occurs when one is quiet long enough to see and hear and feel the real universe, not just one’s own stale opinions about it. But it’s nothing exotic. That’s why I like the word.

r.pirsig

Look at it this way. If we have everything already, then there can be no desire, for there is nothing left to want. I think that what the Buddha may have been trying to tell us is that we have it all, each of us, all the time; therefore, desire is simply unnecessary." She stopped to catch her breath. "To eliminate the agitation and disappointment of desire, we need but awaken to the fact that we have everything we want and need right now."

t.robbins, jitterbug perfume

Take a few moments to read this eloquent & brutally honest discussion of misogyny in India (and elsewhere), by my dear friend Amalia. Having lived in a place where machismo and misogyny are the norm, and the desire for the "white [tourist] woman" and "clear" [light] skin exists, I find her closing remarks especially pertinent and poignant: "When I hear Western women talking about the horrors of Indian misogyny, I can relate. But I know that the picture being painted often lacks perspective. There is an ethical responsibility to make it three-dimensional. To try and understand why we get particular attention as white or foreign women. It is our ethical responsibility to listen to the stories of how Indian women suffer, of how they get the same or worse or a different kind of attention. And it is our ethical responsibility to try and understand how and why women experience misogyny not just in India, but the world over. To learn the histories, the tragedies, the psychologies. To scrutinize our own homes and our own brothers, teachers, friends, nieces. To ask ourselves, how are we complicit in all of this, how do we participate? This is the ethical responsibility of being someone who travels, whether it is down the street or to another country."

#Ethnomusicology #Gender #India #Caribbean

I'm glad to see the NGC in Belize has already spoken against this ridiculous idea. Unfortunately, it looks as though Hugh Darley, Belize Project Director, views Garifuna people and culture as nothing more than quaint, entertaining, money-making attractions for his cruise line. In proposing that the Dugu, the most sacred, profound, meaningful ceremony in Garifuna culture/spirituality, be turned into a daily event for tourists, Darley is embodying all the worst parts of the international cultural tourism industry. In his words, "And at three o’clock every afternoon, we are going to tell the guests guess what, we are going to do the dance called the Dügu. Why? Because nobody ever gets the chance to see that. It’s like the festival every day." There's a reason "nobody" sees it, man! It's not a product- it's not for sale. And it's not for tourists. Is nothing sacred anymore? I exhort you to do a little research on the business practices of cruise lines or resorts you may be thinking of booking a trip with. And if something seems shady, find another, more socially conscious, environmentally responsible, sustainable business with whom to plan your travels. Learn how to be aware of cultural exploitation in Central America, and anywhere else you may travel. And please don't take part in it. Be a conscious, ethical tourist.

#Garifuna #ethical tourism #ethnomusicology #Belize

TGC + DM, San Francisco

Garifuna Collective + Danny Michel

Last week I saw the Garifuna Collective at Brick & Mortar in San Francisco, and oh... it was so wonderful. That same day, we had flown back to Oakland from Minneapolis and had a ridiculous travel day involving cancelled flights and baseball-sized hail, crazy winds, plus an hour-long aerial tour of the Grand Canyon as our plane waited for President Obama to leave Los Angeles so we could land for a layover.... But no matter. Once the Garifuna Collective took the stage around 9:30pm, all the stress and soreness of travel melted away and I was transported back to my sweet Hopkins as the rhythms of the garawoun and lilting guitar melodies started my tired bones a-swaying and filled all the Belize-shaped holes in my soul. And also, Danny Michel (a Canadian singer/songwriter who produced a beautiful album in collaboration with the Garifuna Collective has a voice and a rhythmic sensibility very similar to Paul Simon, who I also reeeally love. Not only was the concert musically excellent and uplifting, but I was able to speak with several members of the band (the lead singer, Lloyd Augustine, is from Hopkins, so of course he knows all my teachers and friends there), and met Andrea Leland, the filmmaker of the important and affecting documentary "The Garifuna Journey." (!!!) Here's what I love about studying Garifuna music & culture: This community is so small, and so tightly knit, that every new Garifuna or Garifuna-related person, artist, scholar, or musician I meet knows Hopkins, and knows my friends, teachers, mentors. There's an instant sense of encouragement and excitement that exists within this tiny community--especially here in the States--that comes from knowing we all share a passion for the same beautiful culture and people. I didn't expect this when I embarked on my study of Garifuna music, but now that I've started to get plugged into the transnational Garifuna Nation, I can't imagine a more vibrant, exciting, interesting community of people to be working with. Bless up!

#Garifuna Collective #Danny Michel #Brick & Mortar SF #ethnomusicology

Please join us for the very first screening of "Garifuna in Peril" in San Francisco, California, presented by Beulah N. Stanley and Culture Productions. I've got my ticket! Do you??

#Garifuna #San francisco #Film #Documentary

The Garifuna Collective are performing August 7 at Brick & Mortar in San Francisco and I. Cannot. Wait.

I love my sea-shell of a house. I wish I could live in it always. I wish I could transport it home. But I cannot.

a.m. lindbergh

my seashell house

#Belize #simple living #caribbean sea #Central America

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