HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today, we:
play some music by Ryan Adams …
answer a question about Hanukkah …
and report about an unusual museum in the state of Texas.
Chinati Museum
HOST:
Most museums that show art and historical objects are in largebuildings in the center of cities. Yet other non-traditional museumsexist. One of them is Chinati (Chin-AH-tee) in a desert area of westTexas. It is the permanent home of some unusual large works of art.Jim Tedder tells us about it.
ANNCR:
Donald Judd was an artist who believed art should be shown in apermanent space designed for it. He created large, simple forms thatneeded a lot of space. He is considered part of the art movementcalled minimalism.
In the early Nineteen-Seventies, Judd visited the town of Marfain the dry unpopulated area of west Texas. He was looking for apermanent setting for his pieces. Within a few years he had foundmany buildings for his work and the work of other artists he liked.More than thirty buildings on an unused army base near Marfa joinedthe houses, stores and a bank Judd bought in town. He called hisproject Chinati, the name of nearby mountains.
About ten-thousand art lovers from around the world have beenmaking the long trip to Chinati each year. Most fly to El Paso,Texas. Then they drive for almost three hours through the brownempty land to see this unusual art in its unusual setting.
On the former army base, two huge military storage buildings withrounded roofs shelter Donald Judd’s best known work. It is a seriesof one-hundred aluminum boxes. The grey metal boxes are all the samesize outside, about one meter tall, one meter wide and almost twometers long. But the space inside each box is divided differently.Visitors enjoy watching the changing natural light soften the hardshapes and sharp edges of the shiny metal boxes.
Donald Judd died in Nineteen-Ninety-Four, but more art that heliked continues to find a home in Chinati. Six U-shaped buildingsonce filled with sleeping soldiers now are filled with light.
Dan Flavin, a light artist who died five years ago, used tubes offlorescent light to create his art. His design for the six formerarmy buildings was made years ago but the work was not finisheduntil last year. Combinations of pink, yellow, blue and green lightnow flood the empty spaces. Visitors can experience the reactionbetween light and space in this new addition to the unusual artspace in the hills of west Texas.
Hanukkah
HOST:
Our VOA question this week comes from listeners in Vietnam andNigeria. Nguyen Thanh Duc in Ho Chi Minh City and Ibrahim UmarAbdulkarim in Kano both ask about the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah.
Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration of the first successfulbattle in history for religious freedom. The story goes back morethan two-thousand years, to the land that is now Israel. The rulingGreek-Syrian King had attempted to suppress the Jewish religion. Heplaced statues of Greek gods in the Jewish temple and tried to forceJews to accept them.
A man called Judah Maccabee led a small group of Jews againsttheir Greek-Syrian rulers. The Jews won the battle and the freedomto observe their religion. They began to clean the temple of allGreek influence.
The story says they found only enough oil to light the holytemple lamp for one day. But the small amount of oil burned foreight days instead. It lasted until the Jews could bring new oil tothe temple. This “miracle” is the reason Hanukkah is celebrated foreight days.
The first night of Hanukkah this year is Sunday, December ninth.On that night Jews will say Hebrew prayers and light special candlesin a lamp called a Hanukkah menorah. A menorah holds nine candles.One candle is used to light the other candles. It is called theshamus (SHAH-muss).
The shamus lights only one candleon the first night of Hanukkah. It lights one more on each of thefollowing nights. On the last night of the holiday, all nine candlesburn brightly.
On each night of Hanukkah, parents tell the holiday story tochildren and guests. They play special games and eat special foods.Everyone exchanges gifts. And they sing songs of joy. Listen to oneof these, “Hannukah Oh Hanukkah”.
((CUT 1: HANUKKAH OH HANUKKAH))
Jews do not consider Hanukkah a major religious holiday. ButJewish leaders say it is important because it is a time when Jewsgive thanks for the freedom to worship God in their own way.
Ryan Adams
HOST:
Twenty-six year old rock musician Ryan Adams has released threealbums in one year. The latest album, “Gold,” was released Septembertwenty-fifth. Shirley Griffith tells about Adams and plays some ofhis songs.
ANNCR:
“New York, New York” is the first song on the album “Gold.” RyanAdams filmed the video for the song on September seventh – four daysbefore the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D-C.In the video, Adams plays his guitar and sings near the BrooklynBridge. Just over his shoulder, across the East River, are the twobuildings of the World Trade Center that were destroyed in theattacks. At the end of the song, he turns quickly and looks acrossthe river. Listen now to “New York, New York.”
(CUT 1- NEW YORK, NEW YORK)
Ryan Adams says he loves both New York and Los Angeles, where helives now. The album has songs about both places. One song is abouta famous street in Los Angeles. Here is “La Cienega Just Smiled.”
(CUT 2- LA CIENEGA JUST SMILED)
Adams is now working on the first album with his new band, thePinkhearts. He used to be leader of the alternative country bandcalled Whiskeytown. It released its final album, “Pneumonia”, inMay. Ryan wrote or helped write all the songs on the collection. Onesong is about his hometown in North Carolina. We leave you now with”Jacksonville.”
(CUT 2-JACKSONVILLE)
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 at V-O-A news dot com.”Please include your name and postal address. This AMERICAN MOSAICprogram was written by Marilyn Christiano, Nancy Steinbach, and CatyWeaver. Our studio engineer was Tom Verba. And our producer was PaulThompson.