--New Website www.Oud
Guitar.com, upcoming revisions Andalus.com site
--Its Official: Dr. Julia Banzi (Ph.D. Ethnomusicology, University
of California Santa Barbara) Dissertation: "Flamenco Guitar
Innovation and the Circumscription of Tradition" Abstract
Also check out "Women's Andalusian Ensembles of Tetuan, Morocco"
for a fascinating look at these ensembles.
--Keep an eye out for Al-Andalus in Sevilla at Womex (October 25-29th) and in Paris performing at the Institute de Monde Arabe (November 10, 11th)
--Here is a beautiful book which just came out (August 2006). Its written by Judith Lynne Hanna of Columbia University and is called "Dancing for Health." Among many interesting and fascinating things is a picture of Julia playing while Zahra dances on water in an Andalusian palace (cool).
DANCING
FOR HEALTH Conquering and Preventing
Stress: By Judith Lynne Hanna
Throughout history and in contemporary times, people worldwide have danced to cope with the stresses of life. But how has dance helped people resist, reduce, and escape stress? What is it about dance that makes it a healing art? Can dance induce stress? What insights can we gain from learning about others' use of dance across cultures and eras? Dancing for Health addresses these questions and explains the cognitive, emotional and physical dimensions of dance within a spectrum of stress management approaches.
Designed for anyone interested in health
and healing, Dancing for Health offers lessons learned
from the experiences of people of different cultures
and historical periods, as well as scientific knowledge, on how
to cope with stress in the disquieting times of the 21st century.
Anthropologists and psychologists will benefit from the unique
theoretical and ethnographic analyses of how dance affects communities
and individuals, while dancers and therapists will take away practical
lessons on improving their (and patients') quality of life.
Judith Lynne Hanna, Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University, is a senior research scholar in the Department of Dance at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a consultant in the arts, education, health, public policy, and the First Amendment protection of dance. She interweaves multidisciplinary theory, research, and application.
August 2006 / 176 pages, ISBN 0-7591-0859-5 Paper $29.95 $24.00, AltaMira Press/Roman Littlefield, 4501 Forbes Blvd. Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706 To order, call 800.462.6420. Or at this website: http://www.altamirapress.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=%5EDB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdatarq=0759108595
--8/06
Julia's entries for "Andalusian Spain" and "Andalusian
Morocco" in the "The Ethnomusicologists Cookbook"
Routledge Press have just appeared! You may check with Routledge
Press or contact Sean Willliams, (williams (at) evergreen (dot)
edu for ordering information and this link (http://academic.evergreen.edu/w/williams/cookbook.htm)
. The book royalties go to the Society for Ethnomusicology (http://webdb.iu.edu/sem/scripts/home.cfm)
and are you being set aside for student scholarships. The book
connects food and culture in fresh and unique ways. Sean just
writes: "Two cooking shows on NPR affiliates this Saturday
the 2nd and September 23 will feature our Ethnomusicologists'
Cookbook. The first is on WHYY in Philadelphia: the show is called
"A Chef's Table," hosted by Jim Coleman, and is broadcast
at noon, EST. You will be able to hear the archived version of
it after 1 pm by going to the WHYY site: http://www.whyy.org/91FM/chef/index.html.
The second interview/discussion is on KCRW in Los Angeles: the show is called "Good Food" and is hosted by Evan Kleiman. It will be aired on the 23rd between 11 and 12 PST. You can hear the archived version, once it's up and running, by going to their website: http://www.kcrw.com/show/gf.
Besides the fact that 40% of the royalties for the book are going to the Society for Ethnomusicology, we now have the added benefit that several radio people and many, many listeners are going to be hearing the word "Ethnomusicology" for the first time, and understanding something of what it means. I hope that this is good news for all of us. [And perhaps my parents will stop having to explain what it is that I actually do!]
Cheers, Sean Williams"
--4/06 you can find Al-Andalus in Montpelier (south of France) and Brussels, Belgium (with Maria Jose Franco of Jerez, Spain). Just be sure to check our concerts page.
--3/10/06 Al-Andalus new CD 'Alchemy' will be at CD Baby (http://cdbaby.com/group/banzis) by March 10, 2006, featuring new group members, Noureddine Chekara (violin, voice) of Tetuan, Morocco and Virtudes Sanchez (voice) of Spain. Read about Noureddine & Virtudes on our Artists page here
Alchemy has a beautiful introductory text written by Ted Gioia, one of our all time favorite authors. We feel very lucky to be in such good company! Ted Gioia is a pianist / composer and the author of three highly acclaimed books on jazz. He was one of the founders of Stanford University's jazz studies program and served on the faculty of Stanford's Department of Music. His most recent book The History of Jazz was selected as one of the 20 best books of the year by The Washington Post, was honored as a notable book of the year by The New York Times and was chosen as best non-fiction book of the year by the Bay Area Book Reviewers' Association. Mr.. Gioia has two new books coming out soon "Healing Songs" and "Work Songs" which if you like reading about music you should check out. His website is: http://www.TedGioia.com and now www.Jazz.com
Just days
before sending 'Alchemy' to press I received a kind email from
Risa Getler, a calligrapher who specializes in Visigothic Versals--the
letter forms in the illuminated manuscripts of Medieval Spain.
It turns out Risa plays our music during her calligraphy workshops.
Risa writes:I have been conquered by
Spain and I am exclusively teaching Visigothic Versals Visigothic
Versals are an exclusive, distinct and independent lettering tradition
unique to 7th - 11th century Spain. This is the magnificent artistic
period, under the rule and influence of Islam, at the time when
the Ottoman Empire of the East met the Holy Roman Empire of the
West - resulting is Spain's artistic treasures, the Beatus Manuscripts.
These manuscripts are a style called Mozarabic, which offer fascinating
letter forms and combinations that are as strong as Spanish ironwork,
delicate as lace, and passionate as the music called, Flamenco!"
She couldn't have written at a more perfect time, for at that
very moment we were struggling over which font to use for the
cover text of Alchemy. Risa was able to do the perfect calligraphy
for our cd Alchemy (those are Risa's letters!) How lucky we feel
to have Risa Gettler do the calligraphy for our newest cd and
she's happy that in addition to our music, she has her artwork
on the cover to share with her students. How we love these kinds
of sincronicities. Check out more of Risa's works at: http://www.incredible.org/
Our new cd Alchemy plus all our other titles
are also now back in stock http://cdbaby.com/group/banzis
Alchemy makes perfect music
to listen to while you are reading The Alchemist: A Fable
About Following Your Dreams, a wonderful book written by Paulo
Coelho. Through our varied cd's you can listen to the soundscape
that permeates the travels of Santiago. Truly, "when you
really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires
so that your wish comes true" (quote from the old king in
The Alchemist).
3/1/06: You can find all our titles on iTunes now! Please write us a review on iTunes! and send it here, you might win a little something:-)
2/1/06 A new documentary called "Three Faiths,
One God" is making the rounds in the United States on the
PBS Stations. The director Jerry Krell has won many awards for
his work. He filmed us live for the commentary and used our music
in it--hope you have a chance to see it. Showtimes are listed
at this link :
http://www.threefaithsonegod.com
1/1/06 What is new for the new year 06? Well, for one, this website (ha)
WRITE YOUR
OWN REVIEW
Over the years, we have really enjoyed the
comments we receive from audience members. It truly inspires us
in our work!
Write your own review" is a new part of our website dedicate
to the voice of our audience. We began giving audience members
a chance to review our concerts and cd's, letting us know their
thoughts on the performance, and which pieces they enjoyed hearing
the most. On our presenters page, you can also find some comments
& reccomendations from presenters.
We have found audiences to be our most insightful resource for program and repertoire development. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to write us a comment. It also helps us whenever you write comments wherever you purchased our music (iTunes, CD Baby) etc. it really helps us as well as other folks.
So, we want to start a "Write your own Review" contest: We will be gathering comments and every few months, we will go through them and picking out the ones that moved, inspired or otherwise motivated us to keep doing our work and then giving away prizes.
So start sending those comments, reviews in and we'll start posting them and giving away some prizes. If you take pictures at any of our performances, feel free to send those along' too. It will be fun to post them.
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