Summary: Historically, the arts in Africa were largely communal and unrecorded. But much has changed over the past century, and this program takes a look at art in sub-Saharan Africa as it exists today through profiles of Senegalese rap groups Alif and Wageble and the rap collective Fight and Forget, who use their music as a form of political activism; Senegalese sculptor Babacar Niang, whose workshop...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: As life among the aristocracy in Damascus and Baghdad attained its zenith of refinement, another important cultural center was developing in Islamic Cordoba. This program focuses on the remarkable cultural contributions of Ziryab, a talented young musician who fled the East for Andalusia and became the era's preeminent arbiter of style and taste. After creating a popular new form of music and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In sub-Saharan Africa, traditionally minded people view everything as being touched by the supernatural-including what might seem, to Western eyes, to be simply athletic or recreational activities. This program explains the deeper meaning of the donga, ritualized stick-fighting bouts of the Surma culture; sacred Senegalese wrestling, an ancient village tradition that has met with immense...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Deeply rooted in African rhythms, the first gospel music, as sung on southern plantations, expressed the collective sorrow of American slaves, and the history of their diaspora. Using narration and thrilling performance footage, these programs trace the 200-year history of gospel music from black churches, to the civil rights movement, to its influence on modern jazz, blues, and rock and roll....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: In this program, Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of the musical group Sweet Honey in the Rock, and curator of the Community Life Division of the Smithsonian Institution, discusses with Bill Moyers how black music has shaped the African-American experience and identity. Reagon traces the role of early spirituals rooted in the black church to their inspirational use in the early Civil Rights...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: The opening program is concerned with the development of the Middle-European tradition of conducting, from the origin of the conductor's job as time-keeper to the (though it now seems absurd) startling concept that the conductor should seek to convey the composer's intentions. With silent footage of the father of modern conducting, Arthur Nikisch-the only visual record of Nikisch in action; ...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Africans listen to the silence and use it as a dimension in which they can improvise, observes John Collins, an English musician and host of this program. Taking off from the peace of nature, the singing cicadas, and the simple routines of the workday, this program explores a kaleidoscope of musical examples from Ghana: children's games and their musical bands; traditional drums; sensual...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Dagbon, a 500-year-old kingdom located in northern Ghana, has an elaborate royal hierarchy in which each member has his own orchestra of "talking drums. This program, filmed on location in a group of villages surrounding Dagbon's regional capital, explores the ritual use of drum music at every milestone of life. The roles of the master drummers-born into their calling and rigorously trained...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005