HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play music by Raphael Saadiq …
We answer a listener’s question about the native people who livein the state of Alaska …
And, we report about a new Emmy Award winner.
Emmy Winner Oprah Winfrey
HOST:
Each year, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presentsEmmy Awards for excellent work in American television. The Academyhonors programs, actors, directors and writers. This year, theAcademy presented a new award. Shep O’Neal has more.
ANNCR:
The first Bob Hope HumanitarianAward was presented at the Emmy Award show last month. Bob Hope hadhis own television show for many years. Academy officials created anaward in his name to honor his work in television and his workhelping people around the world. The winner of the special award wasOprah Winfrey. Television experts say she is one of the mostinfluential people in the American television industry.
Oprah Winfrey is the producer and host of “The Oprah WinfreyShow.” It is broadcast every afternoon, Monday through Friday.People on the show talk about different issues.
Twenty-six-million people a week watch the show in the UnitedStates. It is also broadcast in more than one-hundred othercountries. It has won thirty-five Emmy Awards and is the mostpopular talk show in television history. Oprah Winfrey also is anactor and producer who has appeared in movies and in dramatic playson television.
Oprah Winfrey has used her great success to help people in needaround the world. In nineteen-ninety-seven, she created Oprah’sAngel Network, a campaign to urge people to help those in need.Oprah’s Angel Network has gained more than twelve-million dollars.The money helps poor students pay for their college educations. Italso is used to build homes for poor people. The money also has beenused to build thirty-four schools in ten countries.
Two years ago, Oprah’s Angel Network began honoring people withthe “Use Your Life Award”. The network gives money to people who areusing their lives to improve the lives of others. At least fifty ofthese awards have been given.
Oprah Winfrey said she is honored to receive the first Bob HopeHumanitarian Award. She said she will continue to give back to theworld what it has given to her so that she might be worthy of thehonor.
Natives of Alaska
HOST:
Our VOA listener question thisweek comes from Vietnam. It concerns the Native people who live inthe northern American state of Alaska.
Three racially different groups of Native people live in Alaska– the Aleuts, Inuits and Indians. Experts say the presence of thesedifferent Native people shows Alaska’s position between Asia and theAmericas. Experts say that modern Native Americans developed fromAsiatic people who traveled to Alaska about twelve-thousand yearsago. Some of those people settled in Alaska. Others traveled toother parts of North America and to South America.
Today, about six-hundred-twenty-thousand people live in the stateof Alaska. Fewer than half the people who live in Alaska were bornthere. About sixteen percent of the state’s population are Nativepeople.
The largest group of Native people in Alaska are the Inuit. Somepeople still call the Inuit people Eskimos. Many Inuit reject thisname. They want to be called Inuit, which means “the people” or”real people” in their own language.
Inuit culture developed more than one-thousand years ago. MostInuit have always lived near the sea which provided much of theirfood. They also hunted animals and used their skins to make theirclothes and homes.
Most Inuit people in Alaska today live in small settlements. Theystill hunt and fish for their food. Yet much of their traditionalway of life has ended. The Inuit live in wooden houses instead ofthe traditional ones. They wear modern clothing. They speak English.And Christianity has taken the place of traditional beliefs.
Alaska’s Native people have long claimed much of the land in thestate. In nineteen-seventy-one, the United States Congress approveda law in response to these claims. The law gave almostone-thousand-million dollars and rights to about ten percent ofAlaska to the state’s Native people.
Raphael Saadiq
HOST:
Singer Raphael Saadiq (SAH-dik) has been a member of two verypopular rhythm and blues groups. Now he performs on his own. MaryTillotson tells us about him.
ANNCR:
Raphael Saadiq is best known as a founder, producer and member ofthe soul band Tony! Toni! Tone! (pronounced tony, tony, tony) Thegroup recorded three successful albums between nineteen-eighty-eightand nineteen-ninety-seven. Their hit songs include “Little Walter,””Whatever You Want,” and this one, “It Never Rains.”
(MUSIC)
In nineteen-ninety-nine, Raphael Saadiq formed the group LucyPearl. Dawn Robinson and Ali Shaheed Muhammad joined him. Dawn andAli each had been members of other popular music groups. DawnRobinson had recently left the singing group En Vogue. Ali ShaheedMuhammad had performed with the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest.
Music critics called Lucy Pearl a supergroup. Two years ago, thegroup released an album called “Lucy Pearl.” Here is a song fromthat record, “Everyday.”
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Raphael Saadiq released a newalbum recently. It is called “Instant Vintage.” This is the firsttime he has recorded an album on his own. He mixes the sounds ofsoul, hip-hop, funk, rock, and jazz. We leave you now with a songfrom “Instant Vintage.” Here Raphael Saadiq sings “Tick Tock.”
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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.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Lawan Davis and NancySteinbach. Our studio engineer was Jim Sleeman. And our producer wasPaul Thompson.