HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today we:
Play recordings by musicians educated at the Berklee School ofMusic…
Answer a question about the Easter holiday…
And visit a museum show honoring three female artists.
Three Women Artists
HOST:
A show honoring three North American women artists is now at amuseum in Washington, D.C. The artists are Emily Carr of Canada,Georgia O’Keefe of the United States and Frida Kahlo of Mexico. ShepO’Neal has more.
ANNCR:
The show at the National Museum of Women in the Arts is called”Places of Their Own: Emily Carr, Georgia O’Keefe and Frida Kahlo.”The three women are considered the greatest women painters of theircountries in the Twentieth Century. The show examines the artisticand personal links among them.
Emily Carr of Canada is the first in the show because she was theoldest. She was born in Eighteen-Seventy-One. She did not becomeknown for her paintings until she was more than fifty years old.Today, Emily Carr is one of Canada’s most celebrated artists. Manyof her paintings show the trees and natural surroundings she lovedin her home province of British Columbia. She also developed apicture record of Northwest Coast Indian villages.
Georgia O’Keefe is considered bymany experts to be the most popular female American artist. Herpaintings sometimes are shown along with the pictures taken by herhusband, the famous photographer Alfred Steiglitz. Georgia O’Keefelived in Texas and New York before moving to New Mexico. Thestriking land in the southwestern United States provided manysubjects for her paintings. Many of her pictures show nature at itssimplest, with few details.
The final artist honored in themuseum show is Frida Kahlo. Nearly all of her paintings are picturesof herself. Frida Kahlo was almost killed in an accident when shewas a young girl. Her injuries remained a problem most of her life.Frida Kahlo’s work was affected by her pain and suffering. It alsoshowed her love for her husband, the artist Diego Rivera. The colorsand shapes of her paintings were influenced by Mexico’s manycultures.
All three of these women includedideas of themselves in their paintings. They also searched formeaning in their native lands and cultures. Experts say their workis important because it greatly changed the art of North America inthe Twentieth Century.
Easter
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Mongolia. AmarkhuuAyulguisaikhan asks how Americans celebrate the Easter holiday.
Christians in the United Statescelebrated Easter last Sunday, March thirty-first. Christiansbelieve Easter is the day when Jesus Christ rose from the dead abouttwo thousand years ago. Most Christians believe Jesus was sent toEarth to save humans from wrongdoing, and to give them everlastinglife.
Thousands of American churches held services outside on Eastermorning. This tradition is very old. It probably was started byMoravian Christians in the eastern state of Pennsylvania inSeventeen-Forty-Three. This Moravian service of praise is still heldtoday.
Sunrise services in the United States are usually planned toinclude members of many Christian religious groups. One of the mostfamous takes place at the Hollywood Bowl, an outdoor center in LosAngeles, California. People arrive the night before to try to attendthis event.
Many Americans also observe Easter customs not directly linked toreligious tradition. People in many cities walk through the streetson Easter morning after attending church. Each year, thousands ofpeople in New York City wear new clothes to take part in this EasterParade on Fifth Avenue.
Some families color eggs and hide them for their children tofind. Parents say a rabbit leaves the Easter eggs. The rabbit isknown as the Easter Bunny.
Here in Washington, a big celebration takes place each year onthe Monday after Easter. The President of the United States inviteschildren to play a game rolling colored Easter eggs on the groundsbehind the White House. President Rutherford Hayes and his wife Lucystarted this American tradition in Eighteen-Seventy-Eight.
This year, about forty-thousand children took part. PresidentBush and his wife Laura welcomed the children and their families tothe White House grounds. Everyone seemed to enjoy the sunny dayfilled with music and games.
Shekinah Thirteen Artists
HOST:
The world famous Berklee College of Music in Boston,Massachusetts, has trained many successful singers such as MelissaEtheridge and Diana Krall. A record has been recently released ofsome music by Berklee students who are not as well known. MaryTillotson explains.
ANNCR:
Berklee College has its own recording company to provide itsstudents with experiences in the recording business. Earlier thisyear, the college’s small recording company and a major recordingcompany, Epic/Sony Records, jointly released a record.
The project began when students inone Berklee class decided to produce a record and try to sell itnationally. They listened to tapes and chose which songs and artiststo include. All the artists were educated at Berklee. The Epicrecord company agreed to market the recording.
The name of the record is “Shekinah (shuh-KEE-nah) ThirteenArtists.” Berklee says the word honors the creative power offemales.
One artist on the record is Polina, the daughter of Russiansinger Anka. She recorded her song in her father’s studio in Moscow.It is called “Out of My Mind.”
((CUT 1: OUT OF MY MIND))
Another former Berklee student on the record is German artistAntje Zumbansen. She has already won the Vince Gill Award forSongwriting and Outstanding Musicianship. Here she sings “Without AnEnd.”
((CUT 2: WITHOUT AN END))
The last song on the Shekinah record was written and performed byAmanda Williams. She graduated from the Berklee School of Music inNineteen-Ninety-Nine. She wrote the song “Beer Run,” which GarthBrooks and George Jones recorded. We leave you now with AmandaWilliams singing her song, “Low.”
((CUT 3: LOW))
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And Ihope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC-VOA’sradio magazine in Special English.
Remember to write us with your questions about American life. Wewill try to answer them on future programs. Listeners whosequestions are chosen will receive a Random House Webster’s CollegeDictionary.
Send your questions to American Mosaic, Special English, Voice ofAmerica, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, USA. Or use acomputer to e-mail your question to mosaic@voanews.com. Pleaseinclude your name and postal address. This AMERICAN MOSAIC programwas written by Jill Moss and Nancy Steinbach. Our studio engineerwas Tom Verba. And our producer was Paul Thompson.