I promised to keep you all abreast of merengue-related events, so here you go.In conjunction with an excellent exhibit of merengue-related art at El Museo, a panel discussion on merengue is being offered. Even if you can't make the talks, try to see the exhibit, which includes great art by Dominicans and Dominican-Americans!
HEY! Is that me scheduled to talk at 2:55? Guess I better get ready...
Schedule for October 7:
2:00 Welcoming by El Museo Staff.
2:05 Introduction by Moderator:
Peter Manuel, (PhD) Professor John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY and Graduate Center, CUNY.
2:10 1st Panelist: "Merengue, Danza, and Meringue: three musical versions of the Caribbean contradanza"
Edgardo Díaz Díaz, (PhD) Professor John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
2:25 2nd Panelist: "An Impious Passion Called Merengue, The Satanizacion of Merengue in the Caribbean in century XIX"
Darío Tejeda, (PhD) Director of the Institute for Caribbean Studies (INEC).
2:40 3rd Panelist: "New Views on Merengue History"
Paul Austerlitz, (PhD) Assistant Professor, Sunderman Conservatory of Music, Gettysburg College.
2:55 4th Panelist: "Merengue Típico in New York and Santiago"
Sydney Hutchinson, PhD Candidate, NYU.
3:10 5th Panelist: "Current Trends, the influence of Hip-Hop and Reggaeton on Merengue"
Angelina Tallaj, PhD Candidate Graduate Center, CUNY.
3:25 Open dialogue moderated by Peter Manuel + Q&A .
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Leopoldo Santos at Macoris
An evening at Macoris Restaurant in East New York, Brooklyn - the best place for merengue tipico in New York.
El Prodigio and Rafaelito Mirabal
At the closing ceremony for the Feria Regional del Libro in Santiago, Dominican Republic in September 2005, accordionist El Prodigio gave this surprise performance. He joined jazz pianist Rafaelito Mirabal to play Periblues (a tune Miarbal composed and El Prodigio recorded on his 2005 album, Pambiche Meets Jazz) - the first time anyone's tried to combine jazz with merengue tipico. I've excerpted some exciting moments here: President Leonel Fernandez and his wife arriving, El Prodigio's solo, Frandy Sax's solo, and the final run through the tune.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
September 11, belatedly
So I wanted to post this last week at the appropriate moment, but I had strep throat so I slept the week away instead.
Anyway, for the 5th anniversary of September 11, I thought you all might want to hear a tipico take on the events of that day. As it happens, that day is all entwined with tipico in my own experience. At the time I was living in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. If I hadn't been up late the night before I probably would have been on my way to work at the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, which was on Church St. not far from "ground zero." Luckily, I slept in a bit and woke up to find my roommates watching the towers and the Pentagon burning on CNN. We were all in disbelief.
My first thought was of my dad. He was in Washington, DC, and I wasn't sure where his office was in relation to the Pentagon. I called up and found he was away somewhere else for a meeting - good timing.
Then the first tower fell and I realized my sister was right there, getting buried in the cloud of debris. She was a teacher at the High School for Leadership and Public Service, the closest school to the twin towers. I called her cell phone in a panic. Miraculously, I got through - the only call she actually received all day, since soon the cell phone tower would be gone. She was running with her students through the debris cloud, trying to follow a police officer she couldn't see, who wasn't sure where to take them anyway. They ended up in Battery Park. Eventually, after the second tower fell and they huddled on the lee side of a restaurant, a boat came and picked them up and took them to New Jersey. But we didn't know any of that until much later.
At least I knew she was OK. David David, who was teaching me my first few merengues on accordion at the time, went with me to Sunset Park, where we walked up the hill for a perfect view of lower Manhattan and the black cloud that hid the fact the towers were no longer there.
For the following months, no one could think of much else. David got fed up with New York and left for the DR - the day after the plane full of Dominicans that had crashed into Rockaway Beach. (A fine fall for disasters.) Other musicians stuck it out, finding different ways to commemorate their loss. For Dominicans, especially, the twin towers had been the symbol of the US and the promising future they'd thought the country offered.
I documented one of these expressions in my article on Pinto Guira. On a commission from a local guira player, he was working on an instrument featuring the twin towers and the Statue of Liberty when I photographed him at work in early 2002. Take a look:
http://www.nyfolklore.org/pubs/voic28-3-4/pinto.html
Also, Santo Gil, the bass player in the Corona, Queens - based group of Berto Reyes, wrote a song about the attacks. I just listened to it again, and it reminds me of how patriotic we all felt in those months (too bad that's all been stamped out of us with all the lies we've heard since). It's an interesting song both for the topic and for the rap that comes in at the end. Here are the lyrics (I couldn't manage to transcribe the rap, though; too fast! If any of you can figure it out, please email me...)
La Plaga Maldita
By Santo Gil, Performed by Berto Reyes y su conjunto
Si el mundo sigue el ejemplo
De las Naciones Unidas
Estuvieramos en paz
Disfrutando de la vida.
La nacion americana
Yo le juro que la quiero
Porque ellos prestan ayuda
A todito el mundo entero.
Luchemos todos unidos
A encontrar el terrorista
Para poder acabar
Con esa plaga maldita.
Cuando mi palo gemelo
Todo se vio un ahumazo
Toda la culpa la tiene
Esa cara de chivo flaco.
Yo no me puedo olvidar
Ese once de septiembre
Que murieron tantos ninos
Tambien hombres y mujeres.
Vamos a dar la mano
Sin temor, y muchas ganas
Pa’ que salga triunfadora
La nacion americana.
Que Dios bendiga mil veces
La nacion americana
Que le protega la vida
Y tambien le protege el alma.
Que Dios bendiga nuestro [seres]
Por nosotros estan luchando
Y que regresen de alla
Con ese triunfo en la mano.
Vamos todos a luchar
A encontrar el terrorista
Para poder acabar
Con esta plaga maldita.
And the English translation:
If the world followed the example
Of the United Nations
We’d be at peace
Enjoying life.
The American nation,
I swear that I love it
Because they give help
To all the world.
Let’s all fight together
To find the terrorist
To be able to end
This damn plague.
When my twin tower
Was all in smoke
The blame belonged entirely
To that skinny goat face.
I can’t forget
That September 11
So many children died
As well as men and women.
We’ll give a hand
Without fear, with all our heart
So that the American nation
Will be triumphant.
May God bless a thousand times
The American nation
Let him protect its life
And also its soul.
May God bless our [soldiers]
They are fighting for us
And may they come back
With triumph in hand.
We all will fight
To find the terrorist
In order to be done
With this damn plague.
I've put up an mp3 of the end of this song, where you can hear the last chorus and the rap. Get it on this page:
http://www.merengue-ripiao.com/blogfiles.html
Anyway, for the 5th anniversary of September 11, I thought you all might want to hear a tipico take on the events of that day. As it happens, that day is all entwined with tipico in my own experience. At the time I was living in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. If I hadn't been up late the night before I probably would have been on my way to work at the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, which was on Church St. not far from "ground zero." Luckily, I slept in a bit and woke up to find my roommates watching the towers and the Pentagon burning on CNN. We were all in disbelief.
My first thought was of my dad. He was in Washington, DC, and I wasn't sure where his office was in relation to the Pentagon. I called up and found he was away somewhere else for a meeting - good timing.
Then the first tower fell and I realized my sister was right there, getting buried in the cloud of debris. She was a teacher at the High School for Leadership and Public Service, the closest school to the twin towers. I called her cell phone in a panic. Miraculously, I got through - the only call she actually received all day, since soon the cell phone tower would be gone. She was running with her students through the debris cloud, trying to follow a police officer she couldn't see, who wasn't sure where to take them anyway. They ended up in Battery Park. Eventually, after the second tower fell and they huddled on the lee side of a restaurant, a boat came and picked them up and took them to New Jersey. But we didn't know any of that until much later.
At least I knew she was OK. David David, who was teaching me my first few merengues on accordion at the time, went with me to Sunset Park, where we walked up the hill for a perfect view of lower Manhattan and the black cloud that hid the fact the towers were no longer there.
For the following months, no one could think of much else. David got fed up with New York and left for the DR - the day after the plane full of Dominicans that had crashed into Rockaway Beach. (A fine fall for disasters.) Other musicians stuck it out, finding different ways to commemorate their loss. For Dominicans, especially, the twin towers had been the symbol of the US and the promising future they'd thought the country offered.
I documented one of these expressions in my article on Pinto Guira. On a commission from a local guira player, he was working on an instrument featuring the twin towers and the Statue of Liberty when I photographed him at work in early 2002. Take a look:
http://www.nyfolklore.org/pubs/voic28-3-4/pinto.html
Also, Santo Gil, the bass player in the Corona, Queens - based group of Berto Reyes, wrote a song about the attacks. I just listened to it again, and it reminds me of how patriotic we all felt in those months (too bad that's all been stamped out of us with all the lies we've heard since). It's an interesting song both for the topic and for the rap that comes in at the end. Here are the lyrics (I couldn't manage to transcribe the rap, though; too fast! If any of you can figure it out, please email me...)
La Plaga Maldita
By Santo Gil, Performed by Berto Reyes y su conjunto
Si el mundo sigue el ejemplo
De las Naciones Unidas
Estuvieramos en paz
Disfrutando de la vida.
La nacion americana
Yo le juro que la quiero
Porque ellos prestan ayuda
A todito el mundo entero.
Luchemos todos unidos
A encontrar el terrorista
Para poder acabar
Con esa plaga maldita.
Cuando mi palo gemelo
Todo se vio un ahumazo
Toda la culpa la tiene
Esa cara de chivo flaco.
Yo no me puedo olvidar
Ese once de septiembre
Que murieron tantos ninos
Tambien hombres y mujeres.
Vamos a dar la mano
Sin temor, y muchas ganas
Pa’ que salga triunfadora
La nacion americana.
Que Dios bendiga mil veces
La nacion americana
Que le protega la vida
Y tambien le protege el alma.
Que Dios bendiga nuestro [seres]
Por nosotros estan luchando
Y que regresen de alla
Con ese triunfo en la mano.
Vamos todos a luchar
A encontrar el terrorista
Para poder acabar
Con esta plaga maldita.
And the English translation:
If the world followed the example
Of the United Nations
We’d be at peace
Enjoying life.
The American nation,
I swear that I love it
Because they give help
To all the world.
Let’s all fight together
To find the terrorist
To be able to end
This damn plague.
When my twin tower
Was all in smoke
The blame belonged entirely
To that skinny goat face.
I can’t forget
That September 11
So many children died
As well as men and women.
We’ll give a hand
Without fear, with all our heart
So that the American nation
Will be triumphant.
May God bless a thousand times
The American nation
Let him protect its life
And also its soul.
May God bless our [soldiers]
They are fighting for us
And may they come back
With triumph in hand.
We all will fight
To find the terrorist
In order to be done
With this damn plague.
I've put up an mp3 of the end of this song, where you can hear the last chorus and the rap. Get it on this page:
http://www.merengue-ripiao.com/blogfiles.html
Friday, September 08, 2006
Long time no hear
Hi folks,
I know it's been a while since I've posted and I'm sorry about that. So here's a little update.
I've now been back home in Tucson for a couple of weeks. It's great to be home, especially since we're having an amazing monsoon season - they say it's the most rain we've had since the floods of '84, which I remember fondly. This makes for beautiful sunsets and delicious desert smells, but bad allergies. You win some, you lose some.
I've been noticing how funny it is that it's almost easier to get to know people in a foreign country than it is in your own culture. When you're a foreigner, you have a good excuse for wandering around and asking people all sorts of odd questions. Harder to get away with in your own town.
Anyway, I came home in order to write. It's been a relief to put the fieldwork to rest for a while. No more chasing around after impossible musicians! (for a while, at least - I'll be back in Santiago in January.) But writing a dissertation doesn't make for very exciting blogging. Hence the delay.
But don't give up on accordiongirl! Exciting, accordionish things will be coming soon. As I go through my field recordings I'll be putting up images, videos, and sound files for you to check out. Eventually, I'll assemble sound clips into an educational and entertaining tipico podcast. I'm also going to put up information about tipico and accordion-related events as they come up. So please keep checking back!
If you are the type of person who forgets to do things like check web pages with any regularity, don't forget that you can SUBSCRIBE to this blog by clicking on the RSS feed icon to the right or - even simpler - entering your email address in the friendly box provided and clicking "subscribe" (also in the right-hand column of this page).
TIPICO TIDBIT: The first ever Dominican-themed exhibit at the Museo del Barrio in New York opens in October. They will be showing a version of the exhibit of art related to merengue that was developed by the Centro Leon and shown there last year under the title "Que no me quiten lo pintao." The Museo del Barrio version will include a lot of new pieces by New York-area artists. And in connection with the exhibit, they will be offering merengue concerts (including at least one tipico group, TBA) and workshops for kids. There will also be a panel of academics talking about merengue, including me, accordiongirl. The exhibit opens October 5 and the panel takes place on October 7. If you are in New York please come by and check it out!
Thanks for being patient. Keep in touch and I will too.
Sydney
I know it's been a while since I've posted and I'm sorry about that. So here's a little update.
I've now been back home in Tucson for a couple of weeks. It's great to be home, especially since we're having an amazing monsoon season - they say it's the most rain we've had since the floods of '84, which I remember fondly. This makes for beautiful sunsets and delicious desert smells, but bad allergies. You win some, you lose some.
I've been noticing how funny it is that it's almost easier to get to know people in a foreign country than it is in your own culture. When you're a foreigner, you have a good excuse for wandering around and asking people all sorts of odd questions. Harder to get away with in your own town.
Anyway, I came home in order to write. It's been a relief to put the fieldwork to rest for a while. No more chasing around after impossible musicians! (for a while, at least - I'll be back in Santiago in January.) But writing a dissertation doesn't make for very exciting blogging. Hence the delay.
But don't give up on accordiongirl! Exciting, accordionish things will be coming soon. As I go through my field recordings I'll be putting up images, videos, and sound files for you to check out. Eventually, I'll assemble sound clips into an educational and entertaining tipico podcast. I'm also going to put up information about tipico and accordion-related events as they come up. So please keep checking back!
If you are the type of person who forgets to do things like check web pages with any regularity, don't forget that you can SUBSCRIBE to this blog by clicking on the RSS feed icon to the right or - even simpler - entering your email address in the friendly box provided and clicking "subscribe" (also in the right-hand column of this page).
TIPICO TIDBIT: The first ever Dominican-themed exhibit at the Museo del Barrio in New York opens in October. They will be showing a version of the exhibit of art related to merengue that was developed by the Centro Leon and shown there last year under the title "Que no me quiten lo pintao." The Museo del Barrio version will include a lot of new pieces by New York-area artists. And in connection with the exhibit, they will be offering merengue concerts (including at least one tipico group, TBA) and workshops for kids. There will also be a panel of academics talking about merengue, including me, accordiongirl. The exhibit opens October 5 and the panel takes place on October 7. If you are in New York please come by and check it out!
Thanks for being patient. Keep in touch and I will too.
Sydney
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