“The British music industry is in the midst of yet another crisis. As ever, the wounds are mostly self-inflicted. Against a backdrop of falling sales, the industry has undermined the singles chart to the point where few know or care what the current Number One is. The short-termism that led to the explosion of manufactured pop acts is coming home to roost.”
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Thai Film Without History
“Though the last few seasons have witnessed unprecedented international circulation and acclaim for Thai cinema, Thai films have not traditionally been stamped for export. Indeed, though film production in Thailand reached an all-time high of more than 200 features a year in the mid-70s, most of them were made with a kind of haplessly self-engendered expiration date: shot without synchronised sound on 16mm colour reversal stock, there was never an original negative to hold on to, let alone archive. Thai Film Archive director Dome Sukwong today suggests that 75% of all Thai films ever made are already lost; no wonder a comprehensive history of Thai cinema – in Thai or any other language – has yet to be written.”
Berio – A Composer Who Will Be Remembered
“Although of a completely different sensibility, Luciano Berio was like a musical David Hockney in at least this respect: he was fascinated both by tradition and the old masters as well as by new technology and ideas, and was for ever working both into his own music. If it were not for this curiosity and a profoundly human and lyrical vein, Berio might have become trapped by the dogmas and overtly cerebral ideas that put paid to many less enlightened talents in the 1950s. Instead, Berio marched joyously in his own direction, absorbing a knowledge and love for electronic music but always marrying it to a powerfully emotional message.”
Examining The Turner Prize Shortlist
“All this year’s artists are extremely well-known, and in their 30s or early 40s. Sir Nicholas Serota, Tate director and chairman of the judges, conceded: ‘This is not a Turner Prize devoted to the newest of the new or the youngest of the young’. The artists were chosen from 150 names, nominated by members of the public and the jury, of which 25 were seriously debated. Sir Nicholas described it as ‘a wonderful, strong, diverse shortlist’.”
The Singing Pianists
What’s with all these pianists who can’t seem to play without humming along? Vocalising obviously helps with articulation – and is part of the profound relationship between piano-playing and singing, part of the alchemy whereby a series of hammer-blows on steel strings can be made to sound like bel canto. But humming can be even more than that. ‘When I play, I am making love to the audience,’ said Arthur Rubinstein; well into his 80s the Polish virtuoso maintained an aristocratic composure at the keyboard that excluded any audible manifestation of pleasure. But if pianists, especially more mature ones, start to hum, and if there is an amorous quality to that humming, should we be embarrassed?”
Thinking About Berio
Richard Dyer remembers composer Luciano Berio, who died this week at the age of 77: “While Berio was fond of generic titles – ‘Chorus,’ ‘Symphony,’ ‘Opera’ – his work was anything but generic as he reinvented and revitalized old forms. His music appealed to traditionalists because it carried the past within it; it appealed to the young because of its theatricality and its political conviction; it appealed to the avant-garde because of its tough, original thinking – which always emerged with an Italianate glow.”
Killing Florida Arts Funding
Florida takes a slice-o-matic to its state arts budget. “The Florida Legislature approved a budget that slices annual cash for the state’s arts facilities from $29 million to $8.7 million.”
Pasadena Shakeseare Takes A Break
The Pasadena Shakespeare Company is closing up shop for awhile. “In the last week things finally came to a head where I realized that unless something really changes in the near future there is no way the money is going to be there to get through the rest of the year,”
NEA Shakespeare Tour – A Good Idea?
NEA chairman Dana Gioia’s most visible initiative so far is a plan to tour Shakespeare around America. The plan would be “the largest theatrical tour of Shakespeare in American history. Indeed, no fewer than six American theatre companies would be funded to bring forth the Bard in over 100 small and midsized communities in every state. Yet not everyone in the regional theatre scene appears pleased with Gioia’s plans, and they’re speaking out.”
Is There Really A Harlem Renaissance?
“In the past few years, fueled by a real-estate boom and the $300 million budget of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), a community-development organization, the arts as well as the neighborhood have been revived in Harlem. ‘Harlem is the new Greenwich Village. People are rediscovering it. It is what I remember the Village being in the ’70s – a little edgy with an element of danger, but exciting, full of life and soul’.”