Dancers have told stories of Shiva and Kali for hundreds of years, and on a summer night, Mythili Prakash will embody them both … as Jacobs Pillow asks what it means to be American.
Read articleTerrance Simien swings with Zydeco on Junteenth
The washboard is flicking a quick carrying beat that shakes through you and pulls you to your feet — the accordion is rocking warm, and a low voice coasts over it, laughing …
Read articleMemorial Day brings Solid Sound and fluid color
The world is warming up this week, in some ways. Summer seasons are opening, and the Solid Sound festival is coming to Mass MoCA …
Read articleExploring Chatham N.Y. in a thunderstorm
There’s something mysterious and unexpected about walking into a greenhouse in a thunderstorm. … I came through a door in Chatham Berry Farm and felt as though I’d walked into another universe.
Read articleFootloose challenges a small town to grow
He’s the minister in a midwestern town where dancing is illegal, and his daughter is becoming friends with the new kid who wants to change the law. Now his wife is looking him in the eye, trying to call out the man she used to recognize.
Read articleLive music converges from across the world
The flute holds a long tone and turns it, and the sound flexes like a dancer. Two traditions are meeting here tonight from thousands of miles away.
Read articleClose your eyes and feel the music
Glad rhythms — how can I describe the sound for you? Eight marimbas are cascading tones like summer rain. Within a few beats, most of the audience is on their feet.
Read articleSol y Canto will bring improvisational music
On a summer day, Rosi and Brian Amador were walking together on the pilgrim’s way, the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain, and they were singing …
Read articleWe’re thawing into winter festivals
The crowd was spilling onto the sidewalk, and a young man I’d never met came up to tell me how to say the name of the Polish poet I’d just been reading aloud …
Read articleAfricana Studies grow at Williams across 50 years
Today students read graphic novels and James Baldwin. They follow the music in his novels, and then they write their own songs. They dance to marimba and jembe drums …
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