Uganda: Ryan Cohan Quartet Rewrites Jazz Appreciation Rules

Uganda: Ryan Cohan Quartet Rewrites Jazz Appreciation Rules

The Monitor (Kampala)

OPINION
29 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008

Moses Serugo

Is smooth jazz authentic jazz music or just instrumental R&B? That was one of the contentious musical issues that arose when the US-based Ryan Cohan Jazz Quartet came visiting last month.

The musical foursome was in town for two concerts held at the US Ambassador's residence and Club Obliggato. All the four were impressive in their grasp of the music form.

Front man Ryan Cohan was on the piano while Geof Bradfield gladly blew the air from his lungs into a shiny saxophone creating breezy tunes.

Lorin Cohen carefully balanced an upright double bass, plucking its thick strings to create deep sounds while Kobie Watkins was in his element, striking cymbals and manipulating the snare as the ever-jolly drummer. They capped their tour with two marathon workshops at the National Theatre for musicians and music students from Makerere University.

Jazz purists, those with a disdain for modern day adulterations that include smooth jazz basked in the quartet's repertoire that included works from luminaries like Duke Wellington, Victor Feldman, Kenny Barron and front man Ryan Cohan's own compositions.

There was much to be gained from the two music workshops over and above the free The Rhythm Road - American Music Abroad CDs. For the jazz enthusiast wishing to be weaned from smooth jazz "Cerelac" and begin biting on some solid food, the Jazz 101 pamphlets (available at www.jalc.org/theroad) the quartet handed out are a good way to find one's way around appreciating jazz better.

The seven fundamentals start with the "melody" which is the part of the song that you hum along to. Melody is the succession of notes that form a complete musical statement. "Harmony" is the foundation of the melody.

The harmonies of a song consist of several notes called chords played simultaneously and it is these that provide musicians with a road map for improvisation. It is the harmonies of a piece of music that help create the mood.

When you describe a song as dark and mysterious or bright and happy, you are often responding to the harmonies. In a typical jazz band, the harmonies are played by the piano or guitar, and bass.

"Rhythm" is the pulse or heartbeat of the music. It is that part of the music that makes you want to tap your feet and snap your fingers. In jazz, the pulse is usually maintained by the bass and drums who "keep time" for the rest of the band.

"Improvisation" is another aspect of jazz appreciation and this is the spontaneous creation of music. When a musician improvises, he or she invents music at the moment of performance, building on the existing theme and structure of the song, something the quartet demonstrated over and over again for the overly inquisitive Makerere University music students. "Blues" in jazz appreciation is a feeling, whether happy or, sad or somewhere in between whose intention is to make you feel better, not worse; to cheer you up, not bring you down.

One other thing to look out for while appreciating jazz is "swing" which is the basic rhythmic attitude of jazz. It is so important to the music that if a band cannot swing, then it cannot simply play jazz well.

Swing depends on strong coordination between the musicians and the style and energy with which they play. Lastly, there is "syncopation" which is the rhythmic equivalent of surprise. It is the shifting of emphasis from what we hear as strong beats to weak, i.e., accenting unexpected beats. It is essential to a strong swing feeling.

With these guides, working one's way around appreciating seemingly complex classical jazz works should be easy.

Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison

Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison

By JODY ROSEN

Published: March 27, 2008

For more than a century, since he captured the spoken words “Mary had a little lamb” on a sheet of tinfoil, Thomas Edison has been considered the father of recorded sound. But researchers say they have unearthed a recording of the human voice, made by a little-known Frenchman, that predates Edison’s invention of the phonograph by nearly two decades.

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Isabelle Trocheris

The audio historian David Giovannoni with a recently discovered phonautogram that is among the earliest sound recordings.

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Courtesy of David Giovannoni

The 19th-century phonautograph, which captured sounds visually but did not play them back, has yielded a discovery with help from modern technology.

The 10-second recording of a singer crooning the folk song “Au Clair de la Lune” was discovered earlier this month in an archive in Paris by a group of American audio historians. It was made, the researchers say, on April 9, 1860, on a phonautograph, a machine designed to record sounds visually, not to play them back. But the phonautograph recording, or phonautogram, was made playable — converted from squiggles on paper to sound — by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.

“This is a historic find, the earliest known recording of sound,” said Samuel Brylawski, the former head of the recorded-sound division of the Library of Congress, who is not affiliated with the research group but who was familiar with its findings. The audio excavation could givea new primacy to the phonautograph, once considered a curio, and its inventor, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, a Parisian typesetter and tinkerer who went to his grave convinced that credit for his breakthroughs had been improperly bestowed on Edison.

Scott’s device had a barrel-shaped horn attached to a stylus, which etched sound waves onto sheets of paper blackened by smoke from an oil lamp. The recordings were not intended for listening; the idea of audio playback had not been conceived. Rather, Scott sought to create a paper record of human speech that could later be deciphered.

But the Lawrence Berkeley scientists used optical imaging and a “virtual stylus” on high-resolution scans of the phonautogram, deploying modern technology to extract sound from patterns inscribed on the soot-blackened paper almost a century and a half ago. The scientists belong to an informal collaborative called First Sounds that also includes audio historians and sound engineers.

David Giovannoni, an American audio historian who led the research effort, will present the findings and play the recording in public on Friday at the annual conference of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

Scott’s 1860 phonautogram was made 17 years before Edison received a patent for the phonograph and 28 years before an Edison associate captured a snippet of a Handel oratorio on a wax cylinder, a recording that until now was widely regarded by experts as the oldest that could be played back.

Mr. Giovannoni’s presentation on Friday will showcase additional Scott phonautograms discovered in Paris, including recordings made in 1853 and 1854. Those first experiments included attempts to capture the sounds of a human voice and a guitar, but Scott’s machine was at that time imperfectly calibrated.

“We got the early phonautograms to squawk, that’s about it,” Mr. Giovannoni said.

But the April 1860 phonautogram is more than a squawk. On a digital copy of the recording provided to The New York Times, the anonymous vocalist, probably female, can be heard against a hissing, crackling background din. The voice, muffled but audible, sings, “Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit” in a lilting 11-note melody — a ghostly tune, drifting out of the sonic murk.

The hunt for this audio holy grail was begun in the fall by Mr. Giovannoni and three associates: Patrick Feaster, an expert in the history of the phonograph who teaches at Indiana University, and Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey, owners of Archeophone Records, a label specializing in early sound recordings. They had collaborated on the Archeophone album “Actionable Offenses,” a collection of obscene 19th-century records that received two Grammy nominations. When Mr. Giovannoni raised the possibility of compiling an anthology of the world’s oldest recorded sounds, Mr. Feaster suggested they go digging for Scott’s phonautograms.

Historians have long been aware of Scott’s work. But the American researchers believe they are the first to make a concerted search for Scott’s phonautograms or attempt to play them back.

In December Mr. Giovannoni and a research assistant traveled to a patent office in Paris, the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle. There he found recordings from 1857 and 1859 that were included by Scott in his phonautograph patent application. Mr. Giovannoni said that he worked with the archive staff there to make high-resolution, preservation-grade digital scans of these recordings.

Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison

Published: March 27, 2008

(Page 2 of 2)

A trail of clues, including a cryptic reference in Scott’s writings to phonautogram deposits made at “the Academy,” led the researchers to another Paris institution, the French Academy of Sciences, where several more of Scott’s recordings were stored. Mr. Giovannoni said that his eureka moment came when he laid eyes on the April 1860 phonautogram, an immaculately preserved sheet of rag paper 9 inches by 25 inches.

“It was pristine,” Mr. Giovannoni said. “The sound waves were remarkably clear and clean.”

His scans were sent to the Lawrence Berkeley lab, where they were converted into sound by the scientists Carl Haber and Earl Cornell. They used a technology developed several years ago in collaboration with the Library of Congress, in which high-resolution “maps” of grooved records are played on a computer using a digital stylus. The 1860 phonautogram was separated into 16 tracks, which Mr. Giovannoni, Mr. Feaster and Mr. Martin meticulously stitched back together, making adjustmentsfor variations in the speed of Scott’s hand-cranked recording.

Listeners are now left to ponder the oddity of hearing a recording made before the idea of audio playback was even imagined.

“There is a yawning epistemic gap between us and Léon Scott, because he thought that the way one gets to the truth of sound is by looking at it,” said Jonathan Sterne, a professor at McGill University in Montreal and the author of “The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction.”

Scott is in many ways an unlikely hero of recorded sound. Born in Paris in 1817, he was a man of letters, not a scientist, who worked in the printing trade and as a librarian. He published a book on the history of shorthand, and evidently viewed sound recording as an extension of stenography. In a self-published memoir in 1878, he railed against Edison for “appropriating” his methods and misconstruing the purpose of recording technology. The goal, Scott argued, was not sound reproduction, but “writing speech, which is what the word phonograph means.”

In fact, Edison arrived at his advances on his own. There is no evidence that Edison drew on knowledge of Scott’s work to create his phonograph, and he retains the distinction of being the first to reproduce sound.

“Edison is not diminished whatsoever by this discovery,” Mr. Giovannoni said.

Paul Israel, director of the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J., praised the discovery as a “tremendous achievement,” but called Edison’s phonograph a more significant technological feat.

“What made Edison different from Scott was that he was trying to reproduce sound and he succeeded,” Mr. Israel said.

But history is finally catching up with Scott.

Mr. Sterne, the McGill professor, said: “We are in a period that is more similar to the 1860s than the 1880s. With computers, there is an unprecedented visualization of sound.”

The acclaim Scott sought may turn out to have been assured by the very sonic reproduction he disdained. And it took a group of American researchers to rescue Scott’s work from the musty vaults of his home city. In his memoir, Scott scorned his American rival Edison and made brazen appeals to French nationalism. “What are the rights of the discoverer versus the improver?” he wrote less than a year before his death in 1879. “Come, Parisians, don’t let them take our prize.”

We Pray on a leash

We Pray on a leash while patience, obedience and humility gets shorter and shorter

Mambo Pioneer Israel 'Cachao' Lopez Dies

Mambo Pioneer Israel 'Cachao' Lopez Dies

 

 

Saul Loeb, AFP / Getty Images

AP

Posted: 2008-03-22 18:05:59

Filed Under: Star Obituaries, Music News

MIAMI (March 22) - Cuban bassist and composer Israel "Cachao" Lopez, who is credited with pioneering the mambo style of music, died Saturday. He was 89.

Known simply as Cachao, the Grammy-winning musician had fallen ill in the past week and died surrounded by family members at Coral Gables Hospital, spokesman Nelson Albareda said.

Cachao left communist Cuba and came to the United States in the early 1960s. He continued to perform into his late 80s, including a performance after the death of trombonist Generoso Jimenez in September 2007.

Cuban-American actor Andy Garcia, who made a 1993 documentary about the bassist's career, credited Cachao with being a major influence in Cuban musical history and said his passing marked the end of an era.

"Cachao is our musical father. He is revered by all who have come in contact with him and his music," Garcia said in a statement Saturday. "Maestro ... you have been my teacher, and you took me in like a son. So I will continue to rejoice with your music and carry our traditions wherever I go, in your honor."

Cachao was born in Havana in 1918 to a family of musicians. A classically trained bassist, he began performing with the Havana symphony orchestra as a teenager, working under the baton of visiting guest conductors, such as Herbert von Karajan, Igor Stravinsky and Heitor Villa-Lobos, during his nearly 30-year career with the orchestra.

He also wrote hundreds of songs in Cuba for bands and orchestras, many based on the classic Cuban music style known as son.

He and his late brother, multi-instrumentalist Orestes Lopez, created the mambo in the late 1930s. The mambo emerged from their improvisational work with the danzon, an elegant musical style that lends itself to slow dancing.

"The origins of `mambo' happened in 1937," Cachao said in a 2004 interview with The San Francisco Chronicle. "My brother and I were trying to add something new to our music and came up with a section that we called danzon mambo. It made an impact and stirred up people. At that time our music needed that type of enrichment."

The mambo was embraced early on and Cuban composers and jazz musicians have tweaked it over the years. It also influenced the development of salsa music.

In the 1950s, Cachao and his friends began popularizing the descarga ("discharge" in Spanish), a raucous jam session incorporating elements of jazz and Afro-Cuban musical approaches.

Cachao left Cuba in 1962, relocating first to Spain and soon afterward to New York, where he was hired to perform at the Palladium nightclub with the leading Latin bands.

In the United States, he collaborated with such Latin music stars as Tito Puente, Tito Rodrigues, Machito, Chico O'Farrill, Eddie Palmieri and Gloria Estefan.

He fell into obscurity during the 1980s after he moved to Miami, where he ended up playing in small clubs and at weddings.

But his career enjoyed a revival in the 1990s with the help of Garcia's documentary "Cachao ... Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos" (Like His Rhythm There Is No Other) and the release of several albums, including the Grammy-winning album "Ahora Si!" in 2004.

In 2006, Cachao was honored at two Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts with the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra paying tribute to the Latin bass tradition. Cachao also led a mambo all-star band at a JVC Jazz Festival program at Carnegie Hall that year.

Cuban-born reed player and composer Paquito D'Rivera said Cachao made friends everywhere he went with his affable personality and good sense of humor. D'Rivera said he was working on a piece he had written for the multiple Grammy winner when he heard about the death.

"He was what a great musician should be. He represented what true versatility in music is all about," D'Rivera told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Cachao's wake was set for Wednesday, and his burial was set for Thursday, Albareda said.

Israel Cachao López, the Cuban bassist and composer who was a pioneer of the mambo, died on Saturday in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 89 and lived in Coral Gables.

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Cachao, Mambo’s Inventor, Dies at 89

JON PARELES

Published: March 24, 2008

Cachao playing at the JVC Jazz Festival in New York in 2006.

The cause was complications resulting from kidney failure, said Nelson Albareda, whose company, Eventus, was his manager.

Cachao, as he was universally known, transformed the rhythm of Cuban music when he and his brother, the pianist and cellist Orestes López, extended and accelerated the final section of the stately Cuban danzón into the mambo. “My brother and I would say to each other, ‘Mambea, mambea ahí,’ which meant to add swing to that part,” he said in a 2006 interview with The Miami Herald. The springy mambo bass lines Cachao created in the late 1930’s — simultaneously driving and playful — became a foundation of modern Cuban music, of the salsa that grew out of it, and also of Latin-influenced rock ’n’ roll and rhythm-and-blues. For much of the 20th century, Cachao’s innovations set the world dancing.

In the late 1950’s, he brought another breakthrough to Latin music with descargas: late-night Havana jam sessions that merged Afro-Cuban rhythms, Cuban songs and the convolutions of jazz. The mixture of propulsion and exploration in those recordings has influenced salsa and jazz musicians ever since.

Cachao’s 80-year performing career dated back to the silent movie era. Born in Havana in 1918, he came from a family of musicians and studied classical music. He began his public career at 8 years old, playing bongos in a children’s group. A year later, he had stood on a crate to play bass for the Cuban pianist and singer, Bola de Nieve, accompanying silent films. At 13, he became the bassist of the Havana Philharmonic, and he performed with the orchestra from 1930 to 1960. But he also played Havana clubs with his brother Orestes, working with a noted Cuban dance orchestra, Arcaño y Sus Maravillas, and with their own groups.

“His phrasing and his attack and how he functioned in the orchestra was unique to Cachao,” the actor Andy Garcia, who reinvigorated Cachao’s career by producing albums and documentaries in the 1990’s, said in a telephone interview on Sunday. “He always played bass with the bow in his hand. He would go back and forth. And as he was strumming with his fingers, he always had the bow in his hand and the bow would strike the bass percussively.”

It has been estimated that the López brothers wrote thousands of songs. They worked in established Cuban forms, like the elegant charanga and danzón, while testing new ideas. In 1937, they came up with the first mambo. It was a failure. “It was too fast for dancing, and we were six months without any work,” Cachao told The Miami Herald in 1995. “People didn’t like it. When we slowed it down, then it became danceable.”

The original mambos were for the string ensembles that played dances at the time. But big-band leaders picked up the rhythm and applied it to more aggressive brass arrangements — notably Dámaso Pérez Prado, who popularized the mambo worldwide. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, the mambo filled dance floors at New York City’s famous Palladium club and nationwide. In Havana, Cachao gathered top Cuban musicians for jam sessions or descargas, and a handful of recordings by Cachao y Su Ritmo Caliente — beginning with an after-midnight studio session in Havana in 1957 — became cornerstones of salsa.

Cachao left Cuba in 1962. He spent two years in Spain, then came to New York City, where he performed with mambo bands led by Tito Rodríguez, José Fajardo and Eddie Palmieri. For decades, he worked almost entirely as a sideman. He moved to Las Vegas — where he lived until he became, he said, a compulsive gambler — and then to Miami. Cachao made only three albums as a leader between 1970 and 1990. In Miami, he played at clubs, bar mitzvahs and airport hotel lounges, although he hadn’t been forgotten. Mr. Garcia said, quoting the Cuban saxophonist Paquito d’Rivera, “All the people who needed to know who Cachao was, knew.”

In 1990, Mr. Garcia — a longtime fan of Cachao’s music — organized recording sessions with leading Cuban musicians and a tribute concert for Cachao in Miami. “Master Sessions Volume I” and “Master Sessions Volume II” were made in five days; Volume I won a Grammy Award. The concert was also the basis for a documentary, “Cachao, Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos.”

Mr. Garcia went on to produce two more albums for Cachao, “Cuba Linda” (2000) and the Grammy-winning “Ahora Sí” (2004). Another documentary, “Cachao, Ahora Sí,” will be released next month. During one recording session, Mr. Garcia recalled, he suggested that Cachao write a descarga that started with a fugue. “He said, ‘Tell the musicians to go and take a break and bring me a sheet of paper and a pencil,’ ” Mr. Garcia recalled. Using a conga drum as a desk and whistling the melodies, Cachao wrote a four-part fugue during the break, and recorded it immediately.

With renewed recognition, Cachao spent the 1990’s and 2000’s touring and recording worldwide and collecting awards. He performed with younger admirers and with his Cuban contemporaries, including the pianist Bebo Valdés, joining Mr. Valdés on a Grammy-winning trio album “El Arte del Sabor.”

He received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Before he grew ill in early March, Cachao had planned a European tour and new recording sessions. His manager, Mr. Albareda, said that Cachao told him: “You’ve got years. I’ve got minutes.”

He is survived by a daughter, María Elena López and a grandson, Hector Luis Vega. Orestes López’s son, Orlando López, is nicknamed Cachaito, and has been the bassist with important Cuban groups including the Buena Vista Social Club.

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Aretha Franklin’s Evening

Aretha Franklin’s Evening

By NATE CHINEN

An announcer hailed Aretha Franklin as the Empress of Music at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday night before reverting to her usual title, the Queen of Soul.

Rahav Segev for The New York Times

Aretha Franklin performing at Radio City Music Hall in a concert that included soul, pop, jazz, gospel and her son’s Christian rap.

 

Aretha Franklin’s Evening

By NATE CHINEN

Published: March 24, 2008

An announcer hailed Aretha Franklin as the Empress of Music at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday night before reverting to her usual title, the Queen of Soul. Then the large assemblage of musicians wrapped up the opening medley and started into “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.” And out came Ms. Franklin, moving at a processional pace, in an abundance of glitter and black chiffon. It was a manifest vision of music royalty, whatever sobriquet you choose.

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Rahav Segev for The New York Times

Aretha Franklin performing at Radio City Music Hall in a concert that included soul, pop, jazz, gospel and her son’s Christian rap.

Related Times Topics: Aretha Franklin

Like any sovereign Ms. Franklin has her pride. She adopted the empress moniker after publicly taking umbrage after this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony (specifically, the part where Beyoncé saluted Tina Turner as “the Queen”). But indignation is the least intriguing thing about her new title, which forsakes the specificity of genre. Ms. Franklin really does have designs on an empire, as the concert intermittently proved.

The second song was “My Funny Valentine,” by Rodgers and Hart. She sang it in a stately cadence over a simmering groove, with plenty of drawn-out vowels and some stuttering hard consonants. Later she figure-skated through “Moody’s Mood for Love,” another ballad with a jazz history, in a way that felt more faithful than fanciful.

Of course she sang “Respect.” But it came so early that it seemed humbled, as if Ms. Franklin had a point to make about the rightful place of a singer in relation to a song. And immediately after the closing note, she enlisted her band conductor, H. B. Barnum, to fix a problem with her shoes. (To do so, he had to kneel at her feet.)

Ms. Franklin then welcomed Ali-Ollie Woodson, formerly the lead singer of the Temptations, to join her for a plaintive slow jam: Keyshia Cole’s “I Remember,” currently the No. 1 single on Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop chart. Ms. Franklin gave Mr. Woodson the bridge, the song’s lyrical and musical peak. This didn’t seem like avoidance of responsibility; it was generosity, and delegation.

Those motives, among others, probably drove Ms. Franklin to what she called her next surprise: an interlude featuring her son Kecalf Cunningham, a Christian rapper, who came with a backpack, a hoodie and some cheap-sounding recorded tracks. After what felt like ages, it was a reliefto have Ms. Franklin return, energies renewed, to belt out “Chain of Fools.”

There were a few other soul throwbacks in the concert, but its greater substance was gospel music. On “Precious Memories,” which involved a powerful blend of several background singers, and “Ain’t No Way,” which featured Cissy Houston (though not in her original soprano role), Ms. Franklin sang with conviction, gravity and fire. It was here that her voice sounded most miraculous, and here that she dug in deepest with the band.

Ms. Franklin made a point of acknowledging not only her birthday — she turns 66 on Tuesday — but also Easter. For an encore she sat at the piano and offered a serene rendition of the Irving Berlin song “Easter Parade.” It was hardly the classic that her fans were clamoring for, but it was appropriate. And it was what had been decreed.

Big Momma's Easter celebration a big success

Big Momma's Easter celebration a big success

 

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- After suffering a major theft of donated presents just days before Easter, Essie "Big Momma" Reed and her non-profit organization, Team of Life, were able to brighten the lives of children in need in time for the holiday.

Thanks to last-minute donations, her organization gave out about 2,500 gifts including Easter baskets, cakes and shoes to children at Lincoln Park Saturday.

After Reed's van containing Easter goods was stolen Tuesday while parked in front of her organization, churches, businesses and organizations donated everything from baskets to stuffed animals.

The van was later discovered in Miami-Dade County but all the presents inside were gone. James Touchstone, 41, was arrested and charged with grand theft auto and is being held in the Miami-Dade County Jail. He claims he only meant to borrow the van and that an unidentified man just gave him the keys to the van. The vehicle was donated to her by Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga.

On Friday, Miami Dolphins players Dan Stevenson, Travis Daniels and Vonnie Holiday donated Easter baskets to replace those that were recently stolen from the Team of Life organization. Rebecca's Closet also donated 50 dresses for girls who may not have had any.

Big Momma allowed the children to select their choice of gifts and  gave out gift bags. "They have food bunny bags," said Reed.

Big Momma credits the grace of God for bringing members of the community to her aid. "And then the community coming together, we all here are together."

Reed has been on a mission to better her Fort Lauderdale community for almost 30 years. She operates out of 2136 NW 8 St. in Fort Lauderdale, which serves as an office for the charity, but also as a community center with computer and study rooms as well as sleeping quarters for the kids Reed shelters. "And I worked hard, begging people to help me to help my children, to help my community because I want to see our kids and our community successful," Reed said.

Kenya: New Music Displaces Hymns

Kenya: New Music Displaces Hymns

The East African Standard (Nairobi)

21 March 2008
Posted to the web 21 March 2008

Margaret Oganda
Nairobi

Horatio G Spafford, the author of the song It is well with my soul planned a trip to Europe from Chicago with his family.

His wife and four daughters; Anna, 11, Maggie, nine; Bessie, seven; and Tanetta, two, were looking forward to time together that November in 1873.

But suddenly, Spafford had to stay behind in Chicago to attend to urgent business concerns.

Trying not to disappoint his family, Spafford decided to send them ahead aboard the SS Ville du Harve, promising to join them as soon as he was done with the business.

But that was not to be. Tragedy struck mid-way through their voyage across the Atlantic.

An English ship, Loch Earn, struck the ship and it capsized, leaving 226 people, among them Spafford's four daughters, dead.

His wife, one of the few survivors, sent a telegram with the words "Saved alone", which prompted Spafford to follow immediately.

It is said that when his ship passed the place where his daughters had drowned, Spafford, who was a devout Christian, was inspired to compose the hymn.

Profound, painful, joyful and dramatic experiences have been the backdrop against which many hymn writers wrote their music.

John H Newton Jr, who wrote Amazing Grace, had contemplated suicide after being a servant.

His experience of a slave trader, who abused him aboard a ship bound for West Africa in the 1740s, was an inspiration.

While aboard the ship in the Atlantic, it encountered a terrible storm. But after saying a prayer, Newton survived.

This marked his conversion as he later renounced slave trade.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748), who wrote more than 697 hymns including the Easter favourite, When I survey the wondrous Cross, was criticised by some of his contemporaries, who said his hymns were too worldly.

This Easter may not be marked by some of the hymns that many felt best captured the spirit of the season.

Easter hymns such as Christ the Lord is risen today, Lift high the cross, Up from the grave he arose, The old rugged cross and When christ arose, have gradually been edged out of the repertoire of many congregations and replaced with contemporary worship songs and choruses, which some faithful have dismissed as shallow, uninspired and repetitive.

Instead of reflecting the true Easter spirit, some say these praise songs have vibrant catchy tunes, but lack theological content.

Mrs Florence Wanyoike, a school director and a Christian, says: "Choruses are fun, but it is sad that they have phased out hymns, which have deep doctrine and are the basis of our faith. We must try too keep hymns because they teach and help us to reflect."

Pastor Paul Wegulo from Thika Community Church says: "Church music has turned from the 'Rock of Ages' into an age of rock."

Marcy Muhia, a worship leader, says hymns should not be phased out, but integrated with modern worship.

"There is a time and place for choruses, which should be added to the hymns," she says.

One Dr Warurua, a pediatrician, says he has made an effort to incorporate hymn singing into family devotions.

"We have lost a valuable treasure as the hymns disappear," he says.

Hymns are songs written in the style of a lyrical poem, expressing the worshipper's attitude towards God.

They are simple, metrical, literary in style and direct, yet they carry a message that unifies a congregation. Alfred Lord Tennyson, a poet, said: "A good hymn is the most difficult thing to write and must express a religious truth. Choruses are musically and lyrically designed so that they can be repeated."

When at the turn of the century Christianity spread in parts of East Africa, the music favoured by members of the mainstream churches as a means of worship also did.

Converts adopted the trend and hymns, as missionaries discouraged the use of African music.

However, lately, the renaissance of African music has taken centre stage among younger generations seeking to reclaim its place in worship.

Kenya: New Music Displaces Hymns

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Hymnals have been replaced with song lists and often a software-based overhead projection system.

Choirs have been replaced with praise bands, worship bands or worship teams, and soft organ music has become scarce as worship sessions are marked by electric guitars, modern drum sets, electric keyboards and stage effects.

More conservative believers seeking more traditional worship settings are often edged out for being uncomfortable with the rapid change.

Christian Rock, Jazz, gospel afro fusion, hip hop, rap or reggae, lingala and other music forms have been favoured by younger generations unfamiliar with some of the hymns.

But is there a right or wrong way to worship?

In seeking to find a balance, Pastor Gowi Odera from Nairobi Chapel, says hymns were part of a revival in Europe and it is time Africans acquired their hymnology.

"I see the shift away from hymns as a positive thing because Africans are beginning to own their worship experience," he says.

Odera says it was unfortunate that missionaries looked down upon African music, but notes that we have a generation that appreciates its African identity.

Admitting that there is conflict between generations, Odera says the only shortcoming of emerging choruses is that they lack depth.

"However, now we have many genres of music. So long as it is scriptural, let all express themselves as they may this Easter," he says.

Kenya: When Music Sought to Heal a Nation

Kenya: When Music Sought to Heal a Nation

The East African Standard (Nairobi)

22 March 2008
Posted to the web 21 March 2008

Emmanuel Mwendwa
Nairobi

Music is said to be food for the soul. It also serves as a vehicle to convey messages. For those seeking spiritual fulfilment, it is a precious gift from God, designed to uplift feelings and inspire positive thoughts.

But early this year, local musicians found themselves at a crossroads. The country was under siege owing to the post-election skirmishes. Deeply entrenched ethnic and tribal divisions threatened to tear apart existing tenets of nationalism.

But in an unprecedented show of solidarity, a group of local musicians drawn from the gospel and secular divide overcame their differences in concerted efforts to rally Kenyans together through music.

They forged a hastily co-ordinated non-violent movement to protest against perceived electoral malpractices, which triggered bloodshed, wanton destruction of property and displacement of people.

Over two-dozen musicians recorded a plaintive Kiswahili song, Wakenya Pamoja, seeking to unite different ethnic groups.

"It was a cry to Kenyans to stop fighting and embrace unity despite their ethnic backgrounds," says gospel musicproducer, Robert Kamanzi, who composed the song's lyrics.

It would later be aired constantly on virtually all FM radio stations while its video clip featured regularly on the television channels. Kamanzi was able bring the musicians together, who, too, hailed from various communities.

"The lyrics raised pressing questions like why the great people of Kenya were fighting each other, why a people who previously lived together suddenly turned against each other, shedding the blood of women, children and the elderly," he adds.

There were no tangible indicators on the impact of this song in stemming the level of violence. But it is indisputable that Wakenya Pamoja, alongside other peace songs - like retired world track champion Douglas Wakihuri's bouncy track Kumekucha Amani Kenya - composed during Kenya's darkest days, helped cool tempers.

Music inspires change

"One major lesson we learnt as artistes is that music can be used positively to transform and stir communities towards progressive development. On the other hand, it can have negative influence and destroy the moral fibre of a society, ultimately leading to degeneration and ruin," says guitarist George Mutinda.

Since time immemorial, musicians have been at the forefront of various socio-political revolutions, by channelling their artistic output to influence the masses.

Wakenya Pamoja, for instance, emerged as part of a wider movement of alternative opposition that quietly sprung up in response to the Government ban on street protests when violence erupted.

For Kamanzi, who witnessed political conflict in his birthplace, Burundi, and later in neighbouring Rwanda, the opportunity to tap into the power of music as a tool for effective communication was timely.

"I have witnessed war first-hand, but in Rwanda, we never had a chance to rally warring communities together using music. This was the reason I was determined to bring local musicians together - to sing and speak out in one voice for peace," he said in an interview.

The Wakenya Pamoja peace concert, held at Uhuru Gardens in January, also served as an avenueto raise funds and other donations. They included food, sanitary towels, clothes, which were distributed to victims of the violence.

Artistes in the initiative were Suzanna Owiyo, Pete Odera, Kanji Mbugua, Abbi Nyinza, Eunice Njeri, Mbuvi and Kamanzi, among others. Others were upcoming all girl-group Taji, reggae band Heart n Soul and gospel singers Ben Githae, Sarah Kiarie, Esther Wahome, Jemimah Thiong'o, SK Blue, Wangeci Mbogo, Maximum Melodies, Rufftone and Men of God (MoG).

A truckload of food was donated by hundreds of enthusiastic Kenyans who attended the peace concert

Among the international artists merging jazz and their native cultures is the Beninese guitarist Lio

Among the international artists merging jazz and their native cultures is the Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke.

 

A Hybridist Jamming With the World

By NATE CHINEN

Published: March 23, 2008

LIONEL LOUEKE, a guitarist from the West African country of Benin, was a spellbinding presence at Joe’s Pub a couple of months ago as he started into the title track of “Karibu,” his exceptional major-label debut. His long fingers flickered across the strings, eliciting not just a syncopated groove but also a shifting undergrowth of chords. He was just as busy vocally, clicking his tongue in percussive counterpoint, singing phrases in a floating cadence. It all felt rooted in African folk traditions but also cosmopolitan, progressive, harmonically fluid.

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 Nate Chinen Interviews Lionel Loueke (mp3)

Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos

The Panamanian pianist Danilo Pérez.

Mr. Loueke, 34, has quickly earned a reputation in jazz circles as a startlingly original voice, the kind of player who gets others talking. He made a splash five years ago as a sideman with the trumpeter Terence Blanchard, and now he tours and records with the pianist Herbie Hancock. When Blue Note signed him last year, it confirmed what many already knew: He’s one of the most striking jazz artists to emerge in some time.

“Among the young musicians I’ve heard recently, he is the one that stands out for me,” Mr. Hancock said. Mr. Hancock appears on “Karibu,” which is out on Tuesday, along with another jazz legend, the saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter.

Over the last decade or so there has been a proliferation of international artists dealing seriously with jazz without tuning out their native cultures. Consider Mr. Loueke’s band mates, who performed with him at Joe’s Pub: the bassist Massimo Biolcati grew up in Sweden and Italy, and the drummer Ferenc Nemeth is from Hungary. A short list of others would include the Cuban drummers Dafnis Prieto and Francisco Mela, the Puerto Rican saxophonists David Sánchez and Miguel Zenón, and the Israeli clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen. What’s striking about these musicians is the elasticity of their approaches. They have shown that jazz can assume a range of dialects without losing its essence.

“There’s a line of thought that is growing,” said Danilo Pérez, a Panamanian pianist and composer whose 2000 album, “Motherland,” can rightly be considered a touchstone for the current generation of jazz hybridists. “People are coming to jazz with open ears and a perspective from their own place.”

Those variegated perspectives have already had an impact on the sound of jazz. To be a capable young jazz musician today is to be comfortable with virtually any groove, however complex or asymmetrical, and conversant in folk and pop dialects from several continents. Remarkably, for a genre so frequently described as America’s indigenous art form, jazz is now unmistakably a global proposition, in terms of aesthetics as well as audience.

Jazz has always been a polyglot music, informed not only by the folkloric music of Africa and the Caribbean but also by the pluralism of places where such traditions commingle. (Havana had a formative influence on the music, along with New Orleans, Chicago and New York.) Latin jazz essentially proposes its own rich history, running parallel to the mainstream jazz lineage, with which it often intersects.

Mr. Loueke engages with the jazz tradition itself, in his own fashion. “Jazz is a language,” he said at a cafe near Union Square a couple of months ago, after his most recent trip to Benin, where he goes once a year to visit family. “I have my accent, I have my way to choose different words. But most important for me is to understand that language.”

Many of his peers have a similar mind-set. “The people who have been most successful in these cross-cultural combinations are as rooted in the jazz tradition as they are in their own traditions,” said Mr. Zenón, whose fourth album, “Awake,” is due out on Marsalis Music next week. “There’s all this stuff that’s already there, that you don’t have to think about. Then you’re adding all the stuff that you’ve learned.”

That was certainly the case for Mr. Loueke, who now lives in North Bergen, N.J., with his wife, Benedicta, and their two small children. He grew up in an intellectual middle-class household — his father was a mathematics professor, his mother a grade-school teacher — and he played in traditional Beninese percussion groups from an early age.

He also absorbed both Afro-pop, owing to the influence of a guitar-playing older brother, and sambas, owing to the vestigial Portuguese-Brazilian presence in his mother’s coastal village. (Benin, now home to one of Africa’s more stable democracies, figured prominently in the Atlantic slave trade.) A Hybridist Jamming With the World

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He didn’t pick up the guitar until he was 17. “Benin has no native guitar style,” he said. “We have some distinct rhythms, and the traditional singing is unique. But the guitar, it all comes from Nigeria, Mali, Congo, Zaire.”

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Erin Baiano for The New York Times

The Israeli clarinetist Anat Cohen.

 Nate Chinen Interviews Lionel Loueke (mp3)

As an aspiring guitarist, he was voracious in his tastes: “I really checked out music from the whole continent.”

After hearing a George Benson CD, he developed a similar curiosity about jazz. It didn’t take him long to draw a parallel between jazz soloing and the improvised vocalization of West African griots. He also heard in jazz an elusive groove that animates African music: “There are things you can’t write on the paper, how it feels.”

So the nuance of swing is no less subtle than, say, the lilt of Malian kora music. And just as impossible to notate.

In 1990 Mr. Loueke left Benin to study music in Ivory Coast, but jazz was not a part of his training there. That really began a few years later, when he moved to Paris to attend an American-affiliated conservatory. There he first heard albums by contemporary guitarists like Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell, studying them closely. And after graduating, he received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where his teachers soon began telling him he was unique.

There is no way to assess the globalization of jazz without acknowledging the influence of an institution like Berklee, which directs resources toward recruiting and scholarships abroad.

“Domestic Caucasian students are a distinct minority at Berklee,” Roger Brown, the school’s president, said. “Our students can’t leave here without having been exposed to what an Argentine musician or a Norwegian musician or a Malaysian musician brings to the equation.” (When Mr. Pérez, who is on the faculty at Berklee and the New England Conservatory, recorded his composition “Panama Suite” recently with a group of students from both schools, he counted musicians from 11 countries among them.)

Mr. Loueke met Mr. Biolcati and Mr. Nemeth at Berklee, and they struck an immediate rapport, partly because all three were engrossed in African music. They formed an African-infected collective trio called Gilfema, and in 2001 they separately auditioned for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, a postgraduate program then based in Los Angeles that selects a handful of students every other year.

All of them were accepted. The admission panel included Mr. Blanchard (the program’s artistic director), Mr. Hancock (the institute’s chairman) and Mr. Shorter.

“My first impression was, I’ve never heard anybody play the guitar like that,” Mr. Hancock recalled. Mr. Blanchard was just as impressed; within a year, he brought Mr. Loueke into his band.

The jazz world was then in the process of becoming especially receptive to cross-pollination, thanks partly to a surge of interest among artists born and raised in the United States. Some of these, like the pianists Myra Melford and Jason Lindner, have pushed beyond eclecticism toward some kind of authority. Others, like the alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and the pianist Vijay Iyer, both of Indian descent, and the trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, who is Iraqi-American, have used jazz as a means of exploring their heritage.

Audiences and consumers, meanwhile, were growing steadily more accustomed to global influences. And grant-bestowing organizations were rewarding work with a multicultural bent.

Against this backdrop the new crop of international artists has received perhaps an unprecedented degree of support. Ms. Cohen, the Israeli clarinetist, reflected recently that the jazz musicians of a generation ago faced more rigid expectations: “You had to cut it. And all the other people making music that is more today’s norm, they were really outsiders.”

Ms. Cohen, whose profile in New York includes prewar swing as well as Brazilian choro and her own material, added that in Israel she played mostly Dixieland and big band jazz; her world-music pursuits really began after she arrived at Berklee.

Mr. Loueke’s last album — “Virgin Forest,” released on ObliqSound in 2006 — was a whirlwind tour through his world, featuring the singer Gretchen Parlato (another Monk Institute peer) and a percussion ensemble recorded in Benin. “Karibu” stakes a stronger claim as a jazz record (as opposed to a “world-jazz” record), with its abstraction of the John Coltrane ballad “Naima” and a reinvention of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark.”

Both of those tracks reflect Mr. Loueke’s cultural vantage, notably with respect to rhythm. But any jazz fan with a modern inclination will recognize the searching spirit behind the music. That impulse has been jazz’s perpetual challenge and great constant, from the very beginning.

In this sense the greater pull of artists like Mr. Loueke can be understood in the jazz realm not only as transformative but also as true to the tradition. Not everyone will see it this way — jazz has an avid and well-informed conservative constituency — but Mr. Hancock does.

“His scope is so broad,” he said of Mr. Loueke. “He draws on his African heritage. He’s comfortable in the area of electronics, with a more acoustic style of playing, with a Spanish style, a Brazilian style. But he brings new things to the table.”

He added: “If what Lionel is showing is a reflection of a growing trend of musicians to be open and influenced by a broader palette of cultures, it’s a very healthy one, and one that will continue to keep jazz alive into the future.”

Colin Powell: 15 Tips on Leadership

Colin Powell: 15 Tips on Leadership

A general's tips on leadership principles might be worth bearing in mind as church leaders.

Matt Branaugh

I remembered the value of cleaning the office desk recently as I happened upon my notes from Willow Creek's 2007 Leadership Summit. During the conference, I made a specific point not to capture every single word possible, which I am prone to do, thanks to my background as a journalist. Instead, I attempted to listen and soak up what I could from the summit's impressive list of speakers.

But I broke that self-prescribed rule when I listened to Pastor Bill Hybels' pre-recorded interview with General Colin Powell. Looking back on those notes, I'm glad I did.

Powell, the former U.S. Secretary of State for President George W. Bush, provided his thoughts on leadership. I counted no less than 15 tips he offered, some of the obvious nature, some not. And while I recall feeling somewhat disappointed at the time that the interview didn't cover any leadership lessons Powell drew from his experiences in the events leading up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, I was pleased with the rest of the ground he and Hybels covered.

In particular, Powell emphasized the power and importance of conflict done well. In a culture where conflict often gets viewed in negative terms, I found this advice particularly wise for leaders. Some of his other tips can be a bit unnerving--"Be prepared to disappoint and/or anger some people," and "Prepare to be lonely." Others were of the refreshing variety ("Check your ego at the door," and "Remember that perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.")

So, in the order Powell gave them, here's a quick summary of leadership principles through his eyes:

1. Promote a clash of ideas. Allow subordinates to argue and clash with you. Once you've heard enough, make your decision,and then count on your team to execute it with full passion,

2. Encourage a noisy system. Put people at ease by listening to them; genuinely desire to want what people know.

3. Remember that only people get things done. A leader must give followers an environment to get things done. Take a third of the time to plan, and give two-thirds of the time for people to execute.

4. Maintain an open-door policy. Let people see you when you're there, and be sure to give special access to those closest to you.

5. Probe the organization. Walk the "grounds" everyday, allowing people access to you. If you uncover something affecting your organization or team that requires attention, close the loop and let those involved know the outcome.

6. Reward your best performers and get rid of your non-performers. You must constantly prune. Otherwise, the leader who doesn't prune out the bad risks watching the good turn bad.

7. Be prepared to anger and/or disappoint some people.

8. Check your ego at the door. Don't tie ego to title.

9. Have fun in your role. Maintain hobbies outside of work that can settle your mind.

10. Fit no stereotypes.

11. Remember that perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. Always assure those around you that the team will make it, that the problem will be solved. At the same time, don't do so with false statements.

12. Things always look better in the morning. Be optimistic of the day ahead.

13. Avoid war if at all possible. But when battles erupt, use your same processes to make decisions, then accept the fact your decisions will have to come faster.

14. Trust the element of instinct.

15. Prepare to be lonely.

Matt Branaugh is director of editorial and special projects for Christianity Today International’s Your Church Media Group. Prior to this role, he led Christianity Today’s Ministry Team, which includes BuildingChurchLeaders.com and FaithVisuals.com.

He is passionate about equipping and energizing church leaders with the principles and tools that help them more effectively serve the kingdom of God.

Top Christian Artists Write Songs to Benefit Poor Countries

Top Christian Artists Write Songs to Benefit Poor Countries

By

Katherine T. Phan

Christian Post Reporter

Fri, Jan. 11 2008 03:50 PM ETTop Christian music artists who gathered for a retreat in Scotland this week to compose songs for charity are surprised yet exhilarated that they have written almost double the number of songs they initially set as a goal.

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(Photo: Compassionart)

Compassionart songwriters work on a song in one of the writer's rooms in Scotland. Pictured (l-r) are: Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Darlene Zschech, Michael W. Smith and Israel Houghton.

The plan for the Compassionart songwriter's retreat was to gather internationally recognized songwriters – including Martin Smith of Delirious?, Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman and Darlene Zschech – and write 10-12 songs to raise money for those suffering in the poorest countries.

Songwriters participating in the historic gathering, which began Jan. 7 and ended Friday, are amazed at the achievement. Through small break-up teams, the talented group cumulatively produced over 21 strong songs, according to Delirious? frontman Smith, who founded Compassionart.

"We've done it. We just need to record these songs now. It's been awesome," Smith said on the band's website Friday. "I'm proud, in awe, exhilarated and tired. Good days, great days."

He compared the retreat as one of the times in "history when people join together to do something great and lay down their own agenda, their own territory."

"Unbelievable" was the word Michael W. Smith used to describe the experience. Although some of them had written songs together before, it was the first time they did it together with dozens of award-winning artists.

“It’s been especially touching to see everyone be themselves and be vulnerable in front of each other. Yet when a group plays its song, the whole room erupts. It’s just pure Christianity. It’s a team thing of people lifting each other up," said the three-time Grammy Award winner and American Music Award recipient.

"It’s incredible to be working with all of these artists for a worthy cause. Laying down your own agenda really frees you in so many ways, and this week has been a pure joy," he added.

In addition to putting aside record label affiliations, the Christian music artists also waived their claims to royalties from the songs and copyrights to the songs.

All proceeds derived from the songs written during the retreat will go directly to charity. Half will go to the charity of the songwriters' choice and the other half will go toward a charitable program later to be selected by the songwriters.

Royalties will go directly to copyright holder Compassionart – based in Littlehampton, England – which will then distribute the money to the charities of choice.

Other participating artists were Paul Baloche, Stu Garrard (Delirious?), Israel Houghton, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Andy Park and Matt Redman.

Chris Tomlin, who canceled plans to attend due to a short-term illness, called on Wednesday to express his disappointment for not making the retreat but said he was "excited" to hear about the event's fruits.

Renowned Christian speaker Joyce Meyer had joined gathering, leading a morning devotional.

Baloche, author of the worship favorite "Open the Eyes of My Heart," said one of the most memorable aspects of the retreat was the deep friendships he formed.

“I can’t even tell you how rewarding it was to hang out people who really get you and what you’re about,” he said.

“It’s a great way to start a new year, that’s for sure. That deep connection has made all the difference in collaborating together.”

On the Web: More on Compassionart

Paterson Becomes Governor of New York

Paterson Becomes Governor of New York

By VALERIE BAUMAN,

AP

Posted: 2008-03-17 13:35:08

Filed Under: Nation News

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 17) - David Paterson has become New York's first black governor. The Harlem Democrat took the oath of office just after 1 p.m. Monday in a ceremony at the state Capitol in Albany. Lawmakers in attendance cheered and chanted his name as he prepared to give his inaugural address.

David Karp, AP

New Leader
Emerges From Scandal

1 of 5    

David Paterson, here at a dinner Friday night, was sworn in Monday as New York's 55th governor, taking over from Eliot Spitzer, who has been implicated in a prostitution ring.

Paterson rose from lieutenant governor to the chief executive's office following Eliot Spitzer's stunning resignation amid a prostitution scandal. Spitzer's departure from office became official at noon.

At his swearing-in as the state's 55th governor, Paterson plans to use his inaugural speech to project confidence and optimism, while relating his own personal struggles to New York's ability to overcome challenges, an aide said.

Paterson will become the state's first black governor — and would be the nation's first legally blind chief executive to serve more than a few days.

President Bush gave Paterson a congratulatory call Monday morning.

"He said that his friends in New York had told him that while it's a big job, that you can handle it," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. Bush said he "knows that Lt. Gov. Paterson will be able to do a great job, and that he looks forward to meeting him soon."

After acknowledging what a difficult week it has been for the state, Paterson plans to talk about the need for Republicans and his fellow Democrats to work together to address pressing issues, including the state budget.

Paterson spent much of last week meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders in preparation for his unexpected transition.

The new governor was Spitzer's lieutenant for just 14 months. Paterson has been a Democratic state senator since 1985, representing parts of Harlem and Manhattan's Upper West Side.

He graduated from Columbia University and Hofstra School of Law.

His father, Basil, a former state senator representing Harlem and later New York's first black secretary of state, was part of a political fraternity that included fellow Democrats U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, former New York City Mayor David Dinkins — the city's first black mayor — and former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton.

"It's very daunting" Paterson said Friday. "I definitely feel anxiety ... but in the end, we have a job to do. And we're here to do that job."

Federal prosecutors must still decide whether to pursue charges against Spitzer. The married father of three teenage girls was accused of spending tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes — including a call girl known as "Kristen" in Washington the night before Valentine's Day.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2008-03-17 07:51:23

Spitzer forgot he was in a country where illicit adult sex is more sinful that the CEOs who have claimed millions in salary and stock options at the same time their predatory lenders were causing the housing industry to hit bottom harm millions of Americans, and more reprehensible than an administration that deliberately manipulated intelligence to put our duty-bound military in harm's way, and more egregious than a government that bleeds the coffers and charges a national debt of more than $9 trillion to our children and grandchildren. Strange priorities!

 

NOT ONLY SHOULD SPITZER BE CHARGED BUT SO SHOULD THAT WOMAN ASHLEY ,SHES NOT A KID AND KNOWS RIGHT FROM WRONG SELLING ONE'S BODY IS A NO-NO.

Spitzer should be prosecuted and so should Senator Vitter - he did the very same thing yet continues to be a senator.

 

Paterson rose from lieutenant governor to the chief executive's office following Eliot Spitzer's stunning resignation amid a prostitution scandal. Spitzer's departure from office became official at noon.

At his swearing-in as the state's 55th governor, Paterson plans to use his inaugural speech to project confidence and optimism, while relating his own personal struggles to New York's ability to overcome challenges, an aide said.

Paterson will become the state's first black governor — and would be the nation's first legally blind chief executive to serve more than a few days.

President Bush gave Paterson a congratulatory call Monday morning.

"He said that his friends in New York had told him that while it's a big job, that you can handle it," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. Bush said he "knows that Lt. Gov. Paterson will be able to do a great job, and that he looks forward to meeting him soon."

After acknowledging what a difficult week it has been for the state, Paterson plans to talk about the need for Republicans and his fellow Democrats to work together to address pressing issues, including the state budget.

Paterson spent much of last week meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders in preparation for his unexpected transition.

The new governor was Spitzer's lieutenant for just 14 months. Paterson has been a Democratic state senator since 1985, representing parts of Harlem and Manhattan's Upper West Side.

He graduated from Columbia University and Hofstra School of Law.

His father, Basil, a former state senator representing Harlem and later New York's first black secretary of state, was part of a political fraternity that included fellow Democrats U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, former New York City Mayor David Dinkins — the city's first black mayor — and former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton.

"It's very daunting" Paterson said Friday. "I definitely feel anxiety ... but in the end, we have a job to do. And we're here to do that job."

Federal prosecutors must still decide whether to pursue charges against Spitzer. The married father of three teenage girls was accused of spending tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes — including a call girl known as "Kristen" in Washington the night before Valentine's Day.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2008-03-17 07:51:23

Southwest Festival Wraps Up Its 2,000-Course Feast

Southwest Festival Wraps Up Its 2,000-Course Feast

By JON PARELES

Published: March 17, 2008

AUSTIN, Tex. — Adam Elliott, the drummer and singer of Times New Viking, summed up the South by Southwest Music festival between the frenetic songs by his band, a three-piece from Columbus, Ohio. Even if Times New Viking were no good, he said, “there’s a thousand other bands.” He added, “Those odds are pretty good.”

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White Denim: from left, Steve Terebecki on bass, the drummer Joshua Block, and James Petralli on guitar. More Photos »

South by Southwest

Times critics and reporters post — in words and video — from the annual music festival in Austin, Tex.

• Go to ArtsBeat

Multimedia

Slide Show SXSW

Slide Show South by Southwest

Related South by Southwest, Shot by Shot (March 15, 2008) 1,700 Bands, Rocking as the CD Industry Reels (March 15, 2008)

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The rapper David Banner on Saturday afternoon, when he danced with audience members and sprayed them with beer and water. More Photos >

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Katie White, who is one half of the British duo the Ting Tings. More Photos >

Richard Perry/The New York Times

Morgan Quaintance, guitarist of Does It Offend You, Yeah? More Photos >

He underestimated both his band and the choices. South by Southwest, known as SXSW, presented 1,775 bands in its official showcases, and with unofficial shows there were easily more than 2,000 bands performing in Austin during the festival’s four busy days, Wednesday through Saturday, along with a few stragglers on Sunday.

So this is not exactly an overview of SXSW, where showcases and daytime symposiums are well organized and what surrounds them is a ruckus of business and pleasure. One person could attend only a small percentage of the music.

There were about 12,500 registered participants at the convention, as well as the members of those 1,775 bands. Unofficial events — parties, promotions, and concerts like the 10-hour “Mess With Texas 2” show on Saturday — have swarmed around the official festival, providing additional chances to hear groups as word-of-mouth spreads.

White Denim, the Austin band that was the supercharged finale for my own SXSW — a power trio with a rocketing, punk-speed take on twangy Texas garage-rock — played seven shows from March 11 to 15. Lykke Li, a Swedish singer who delivered pop love songs with a cutting voice and wily acoustic arrangments, performed in four places on Friday alone.

SXSW Music takes place after the SXSW conventions on film and digital media, and the music festival is thoroughly Internet-savvy. Hundreds of songs from bands performing at the festival are available as free mp3’s at sxsw.com, along with video of presentations and performances.

Although SXSW is well adapted to the digital era, in some ways it is firmly old-fashioned. While it is a showcase for young bands, it’s an all-ages event. Lou Reed, whose keynote for the convention was an onstage interview, also dropped by to perform with younger groups paying him tribute. Daniel Lanois, who has produced albums for U2 and Bob Dylan, showed his new in-the-studio documentary, “Here Is What Is,” and performed his own songs and guitar pieces around town in duets with the drummer Brian Blade that moved between serenity and clangor. The Minimalist composer Steve Reich was also at SXSW to speak and to play host for performances of his compositions.

Lesser-known bits of rock history resurfaced, including a revival of the Homosexuals, a punk-era British band that made only one album of its jumpy, idiosyncratically structured songs. Its 57-year-old leader, Bruno Wizard, cackled and mocked the music business during a set at Spiro’s.

SXSW is a bastion of that endangered artistic unit, the album. The Lemonheads played through “It’s a Shame About Ray,” a 1992 album being rereleased this year.

Van Morrison, R.E.M. and My Morning Jacket built nearly their entire concerts on material from their new or coming albums, and each one played a committed, enthralling set. Mr. Morrison’s new songs held the sting of the blues; R.E.M. has reinvigorated its old guitar-band style for an album aptly titled “Accelerate”; and My Morning Jacket’s new songs put a streak of R&B — from funk riffs to falsetto vocals — in its ringing, expansive Southern rock. (R.E.M., My Morning Jacket and many other bands, including the perky collegiate New York City rockers Vampire Weekend, had their SXSW performances broadcast on NPR, where they can still be heard at npr.org/music.)

The most pervasive old-school choice at SXSW is gearing the festival toward live performance far more than recording. While recording companies (mostly independent ones) are well represented, SXSW also draws the booking agents, managers and club owners who provide more immediate support for musicians. In an era of plummeting CD sales and free downloads, most musicians survive on live performances, as the ancient model of the troubadour returns in the digital age.

At SXSW concert promoters can sample bands that are being, in essence, battle tested: playing abbreviated sets on hastily assembled equipment to unfamiliar audiences in Austin’s peculiarly shaped clubs. It’s a good test too for longtime rock stars who are, for the moment, not entirely in control, choosing to prove themselves against the energy of younger bands.

Another model for a musician’s career is to sell rights to songs as background music for soundtracks and commercials. That encourages exactly what live performance does not: reticence and generality rather than the vividness and specificity of a performance. Yael Naim, whose song “New Souls” grew popular through an Apple commercial, played a set determined to show she has more than 60 seconds of worthwhile music; she poured her rich voice into songs about loneliness and longing, and got a tent full of music-business professionals to sing along.

But some of my favorite bands at the festival were those that made their impact on the spot. Times New Viking merged guitar-rock and the keyboard drive of German rock; the Dodos, from San Francisco, worked up to manic propulsion with hard-strummed acoustic guitar and plinking toy piano. Atlas Sounds filled a club with guitar drone; then one member proffered an amplifier to audience members for knob-turning and extra feedback.

There were also gentler performers, like Laura Marling, a British teenager who writes folky, haunted songs, and Hanne Hukkelberg, a Norwegian songwriter who sang (in English) about the forces of nature in complex, odd-meter songs that sometimes had a tuba for their foundation.

With so many bands, SXSW encompassed genres from art-rock to zydeco. Although SXSW started in 1987 as a showcase for regional Southwestern music and independent bands and is still a vital stop for roots-rockers, it has also recognized that hip-hop entrepreneurship is every bit as do-it-yourself as indie-rock’s. Top-tier rappers including Ice Cube performed at this year’s festival, along with acts like David Banner, Clipse, Del the Funky Homosapien, the Cool Kids, and Cadence Weapon.

The festival is also treated as a gateway to the American market by foreign governments, which subsidize delegations of musicians. Britain had its own “embassy,” with a full schedule of bands through the convention. And it sent bands that have already been winnowed at home, including the irresistibly catchy Ting Tings, a duo who now have a major-label contract in the United States. They pump out danceable riffs echoing the 1960’s and 1970’s, while Katie White gets worked up with complaints like, “That’s not my name.”

Two other British bands also played fiercely kinetic groves: Does It Offend You, Yeah?, which ran on the dance-rock beats and synthesizer buzz of the late 1970’s, and These New Puritans, whose dissonant stomp and dark lyrics reached back to Public Image Limited and the Fall.

Yet South by Southwest is more than a marathon audition. It’s a chance for social networking in real time and space. The exhilaration of so many performances in such a short time is a morale booster for both business people and fans, and an annual reminder that the fortunes and misfortunes of the recording business don’t stop the music.

Character: 7 Secret Issues in the Confession Booth Cliff Notes #17

 

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The Music Ministry apology will make it possible for God to forgive you (Matthew 6:14-15,

 7 Secret Issues in the Confession Booth

1. Apology to God, others , and yourself

   1. Upward apology

   2. Apology to others

                                                             i.      musician

                                                          ii.      family

3. Apologize and forgive yourself

4. An apology

                                                             i.      stops further prosecution

                                                          ii.       is asking for forgiveness

                                                        iii.       effectual apology will prepare a statement of regret

                                                        iv.       is a request for acceptance

                                                           v.       is a regret over past conduct or behavior

                                                        vi.      Sustains honorable relationships

                                                      vii.      Shows your vulnerability

                                                   viii.      Demonstrate your guilt

                                                        ix.      Says that you made a mistake

                                                           x.      Is a golden bride to restoration

                                                        xi.      Authentic feelings from the heart

                                                      xii.      Says that I brought you hurt

                                                   xiii.      Is an admission of failure

                                                    xiv.      Recovery and restoration

                                                      xv.      Confession is apology

2. Take responsibility for the situation

   1. acknowledgement of the hurt or damage done

   2. make a detailed account of the situation

   3. make a statement of regret

   4. recognition of your role in the event

   5. make a promise that it won't happen again

3. Prepare a form of restitution whenever possible

   1. Prepare a restitution and Payment schedule

4. Build a bridge to possible Negotiations

   1. Golden bridge to restoration

5. Articulate an Effectual apology

   1.  then stop discussing what you want others to forget

6. Be Humble

   1. Be ready to apologize

   2. We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love, to remember each one in prayer, to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation, and mindful of the rules of our Savior, to secure it without delay.

7. An apology is a investment to a renewed friendship or music business relationship

   1. Apology is a request for reentry into a relationship or business

   2. Renews transactions of business arrangement

   3. a request for mercy

   4. Silences further prosecutions further murmuring

   5. You may have to reestablish new credibility

   6. Purpose of Friendship removes discomfort

   7. Seed command cooperate with offer

   8. Confession of need with relation ship

   9. Show mercy

   10. An apology stops further persecution, ridicule, murmuring