“Do we share musicality with other animals on account of the ‘common physiological nature of [our] nervous systems,’ as Darwin suspected? To understand the evolution of music and musicality, we have to establish what the components of music are and how they demonstrate their presence in animals and humans.” Music cognition researcher Henkjan Honing takes on the challenge. – Nautilus
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The Hard-Working Little Publisher Keeping Local History Books Alive
“Arcadia’s business turns the traditional publishing model on its head. Big New York publishers are looking for the next blockbuster to sell 2 million copies across the English-speaking world in a month. Arcadia wants to find a book that will sell 1,000 copies this year in, say, McMullen Valley, Ariz.” Says the company’s CEO, “The books are completely evergreen. Once you publish them, they sell forever. So even though the initial numbers are modest, you’re creating a kind of annuity.” – The Washington Post
What Exactly Constitutes ‘Cultural Democracy’? And Should State Arts Funding Be Paying For It?
Nan van Houte: “This is not an attempt to discredit cultural democracy; I am convinced that access to the arts and the stimulus towards personal creativity are basic human rights and needs. This is, instead, an attempt to analyze my growing uneasiness when I read yet another arts fund, council, or ministry in Western Europe is opening a strand for ‘everyday creativity.’ … Why? I am afraid that soon we will no longer have to fear for the instrumentalization of the arts, because the artists themselves will be instrumentalized.” – HowlRound
‘Theater That Gets In The Way’ — A Company Puts Itself On The Front Lines Of Poland’s Culture Wars
Two years ago, the actors of the Powszechny Theater in Warsaw had to barricade themselves inside their building against conservative Catholic protesters angry about their production The Curse, about the suxual abuse of children by priests. This year, the company is following up with a staging of Mein Kampf. No wonder its slogan is “Theater that gets in the way.” – The New York Times
Big Money Is Now Flowing Into Podcasting— Is It Inflating A Bubble?
Just since the beginning of this year, Spotify has bought podcast producer-distributor Gimlet Media for $230 million and a $100 million startup called Luminary is developing a paid-subscription-only lineup of 40 new podcasts. As one exec said, “The capitalists are here!” Yet, asks Boris Kachka, “What distinguishes a boom from a blip — the beginning of a golden age from a spike of irrational exuberance?” – New York Magazine
How Podcasts Went From Like-Radio-But-More-Amateurish To The Hot New Medium
Adam Sternbergh: “When you first heard about podcasts, do you remember how excited you weren’t? Do you recall the first person who said, ‘Did you know you can now download audio files of people talking?’ … They’ve spent a decade in a state of perpetual arrival, [but] they’re here. What’s more, these humble chunks of audio have emerged as the most significant and exciting cultural innovation of the new century.” – New York Magazine
Rachel Ingalls, Author Of ‘Mrs. Caliban’, Dead At 78
The daughter of a Harvard Sanskrit professor, Ingalls settled in England as a young adult “and began to publish short stories; her editor at Faber’s, Charles Monteith, said she was ‘a genius – not a word I use lightly’. In 1982 she published her masterpiece, Mrs Caliban, the tale of an unhappy housewife who gives shelter – and more – to a handsome sea creature who has escaped from a research institute. … [The novel,] largely ignored at the time, was republished in 2017 to huge acclaim and she was rediscovered in her late seventies.” – The Telegraph (UK)
Novelist Writes New Narnia Book With Out C.S. Lewis Estate’s Permission
Francis Spufford, who won a Costa Book Award and an Ondaatje Prize for his 2016 book Golden Hill, has spent 3½ years working on a Narnia prequel he’s titled The Stone Table. “After finishing the novel, Spufford made a ‘tentative’ approach to ask the Lewis estate if they might agree to publication, but did not receive a reply. Eventually he printed up 75 copies and started giving them to friends” — who are praising it to the skies. – The Guardian
Actors, Politicians, Even Nancy Pelosi Speak Up In Support Of Striking Chicago Symphony Musicians
As negotiations over a new contract drag on and concerts get cancelled, members of Chicago’s acting community have joined musicians on the picket line, both candidates for mayor in the city’s runoff election have come out in the strikers’ favor, and the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has issued a statement of support. – Chicago Tribune
What’s With All The Enormous Statues Going Up In India?
The “Statue of Unity,” which is actually of independence leader Vallabhbhai Patel and is currently the world’s tallest statue, was completed last fall, and more are on the way: a statue of the 17th-century warrior-king Shivaji in Mumbai, and enormous images of the Hindu god Rama and the 19th-century holy man Swami Vivekananda in Ayodhya. Why? A desire to stand out on the world stage, sure, but even more because of the Hindu nationalism of Narendra Modi’s government. – Apollo