Arts

Sister Deborah and Ghana Jollof: Tasty Rice

This is a culinary tale–or rather competition–West African style. Last Sunday morning, I heard a story and song on NPR’s Weekend Edition about a rice rivalry in West Africa, particularly Ghana vs. Nigeria, surrounding a ubiquitous rice dish in the

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Musical DNA Goes Everywhere Today

February 25th, 2016 James Brown’s 1968 hit “Say it Out Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” not only became a #1 R&B hit, the anthem for the Black Power movement, but also inspired new pride among countless Africans in newly-independent

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Apollonian v. Dionysian Music Experience

January 28th, 2016 The other day, while listening to KCRW’s weekday program, Morning Becomes Eclectic, I was listening to a new Coldplay song called “Major Minus”, a big and absorbing musical tapestry that you can get lost in. I also thought

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Time Traveling with Music

February 26th, 2015 In just the past couple of weeks, here at ACEI, we have been suddenly blessed by a flow of credentials from individuals with degrees in music. Holders of these degrees are from all corners of the world

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Tinariwen, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer

November 13th, 2014 Tinariwen’s Emmaar (2014) Tinariwen, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer sounds like a gruesome scene from the Kel Tamashek uprising of 1963 in northern Mali that saw the death of messianic Tinarwen frontman Ibrahim Ag Alhabib’s parents

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Walter Benjamin: Why Is Art Worth More Than Music?

August 21st, 2014 German Philosopher Walter Benjamin: 1892-1940 Walter Benjamin was a German philosopher (1892-1940) whose most famous work from 1936 was called The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. You can read here. In his famous

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Fourth Of July Fun Facts

July 4th, 2014 The Fourth of July: The day Americans celebrate their country’s independence. It’s a day you probably know well, and one that you anticipate with pleasure; but there are probably a lot of fun facts about the nation’s

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RIP: Maya Angelou

June 26th, 2014 Last month we lost the great Maya Angelou. Our guest blogger, Tom Schnabel, had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Angelou in 1995 when he hosted the radio show Cafe LA at KCRW, the public station housed at

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