Hema Ramaswamy

How Hema Ramaswamy Found Healing Through Traditional Indian Dance

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In a report that may be of special interest to parents of children in our World Music in the Schools program, National Public Radio recently featured a story of healing through practice of Bharata Natyam, the traditional dance of South India . . .

Ramaswamy, who has Down syndrome, originally began dancing for health reasons. “But then it became part of her, and she really loves and enjoys it, and it took her 13 years with a lot of challenges, midway, to complete this,” explained her father, Ram. “And now today is a perfect day for her — her graduating in this art.”

Listen to, and read, the story on NPR

Mariachi

Engaging Your City’s Youth Through the Arts

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Here’s a report on an extraordinarily valuable program that supporters of traditional music–or any music–might want to be aware of. Three cheers for the City of San Fernando, with a shout out for the CAC!

The City of San Fernando invests directly in an award-winning Mariachi Master Apprentice Program. Launched in 2001 as an experiment, the program has garnered international recognition. . . . Over the past decade 100 percent of the students enrolled in the program have graduated. Typically comparable rates are less than 60 percent.

Read the full article at WesternCity.com.

CWM Receives Second Highest NEA Award in San Diego

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San Diego Union Tribune, April 16, 2014

The quality of the Center for World Music’s World Music in the Schools program has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts with the second highest award in the San Diego area.

$55,000 to support teaching artists from around the globe who will provide weekly instruction in traditional music and dance of Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe for elementary and secondary-school students in San Diego.

Significantly, of over 100 NEA education grants funded, the CWM ranked within the top 15, with the likes of Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera

Read the full story on the UT website.

 

Indian Music in Shiley Theater

Shiley Theater’s Night of Indian Music

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The Vista, October 30, 2013

Sitar master Ustad Shahid Parvez and vocalist Sudakshina Alagia, accompanied on tabla by Pandit Abhijit Banerjee, performed on October 26, 2013, in a concert jointly sponsored by the Academy of Indian Music, San Diego, the University of San Diego Music Department, and the Center for World Music.

As the musicians on the stage put down their instruments, a roar of applause echoed through the Shiley Theater. Already past the 9:30 p.m. deadline that was supposed to mark the end of the show, shouts for ‘one more song filled’ the theater.

Read the full write-up in the USD Vista.

Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble

World Music and Dance Fest at Scripps Park to Celebrate Nonprofit Milestone

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San Diego Community Newspaper Group, May 2013

A free festival to fete the Center for World Music’s 50th anniversary . . .

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 11, master performing musicians, dancers and teachers will entertain guests with live performances, host interactive demonstrations and present festival goers with a deeper understanding and appreciation of dynamic performing arts traditions from around the world at Ellen Browning Scripps Park, La Jolla.

Throughout the year, the Center for World Music presents the opportunity for K-12 students to take part in weekly, hands-on world music and dance instruction in schools throughout San Diego. The nonprofit also provides opportunities for the public to enjoy affordable, high-quality public concerts and free or inexpensive hands-on workshops to expand their cultural understanding of varied performing arts traditions.

Read the full story.

World Music Festival

World Music festival at Scripps Park in La Jolla on Saturday, May 11, 2013

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La Jolla Light, May 10, 2013

The Center for World Music will hold its 50th anniversary festival “a dazzling outdoor multicultural performing arts experience,” 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 11, 2013, in Ellen Browning Scripps Park 1133 Coast Blvd.

 “Festival-goers will find themselves surrounded by colorful dancers, exotic melodies, and exuberant rhythms. You will meet international artists, learn Peruvian dance, listen to the music of Indonesian gamelans and Iranian setar, sample a menu of international cuisines, and enjoy interactive musical instrument demonstrations in a beautiful outdoor setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean.”

Read the full article at LaJollaLight.com.

Ade Suparman

NEA Visiting Artist Ade Suparman + $50K Grant to CWM

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Good Morning San Diego, April 30, 2013

Indonesian visiting artist Ade Suparman appears on KUSI TV, celebrating the Center for World Music’s 50th Anniversary and a $50K grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

ISI Solo Gamelan

Indonesian Music, Dance, and Puppetry comes to Solana Beach

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San Diego Magazine, May 3, 2012

A nice report on our May 2012 Java concert series, cosponsored with the David Allen Collection and the Indonesian Consulate . . .

The Center for World Music presents an evening of Indonesian music, dance and puppetry. Over 20 professional musicians and dancers, a Balinese puppeteer, and a Balinese painter are traveling from Indonesia to San Diego for this event. Performances include Javanese gamelan with dance, a Balinese shadow puppet play, and a Balinese painting exhibition.

[The full article is no longer available online.]

CWM World Music in the Schools

CAC’s “Art Works!” Reports on the Center’s World Music in the Schools Program

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Art Works!, October 2011

The California Arts Council asks a question very important to the Center for World Music: “How can the traditional performing arts of cultures East and West help to promote a healthy and enriched world?”

The California Arts Council (CAC) has supported Center for World Music teaching artist residencies in K-12 schools for over 10 years. The residencies have provided thousands of San Diego students with weekly, year-round, hands-on workshops in the performing arts from six broad cultural areas of the world: South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Europe.

Read more here.

UT Article Photo Canyon Crest

CWM-Canyon Crest Program Receives Grammy Enterprise Award

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San Diego Union Tribune, June 1, 2011

Canyon Crest Academy has become the first public high school in San Diego County to receive a Grammy Signature Schools Enterprise Award. The $5,500 award was in recognition of the high quality of the school’s music program, and in particular its “border-leaping” Javanese gamelan ensemble.

Canyon Crest is the first school anywhere that ever that applied to us for funding for a gamelan ensemble. Our screening panel and blue-ribbon committee — which includes the president of Disney Music and the chairmen of the music departments at USC and UCLA — though that was really cool.

—David R. Sears, Senior Director of Education, Grammy Foundation

Canyon Crest inaugurated its gamelan classes in 2010 in cooperation with the Center for World Music’s World Music in the Schools program. The Canyon Crest gamelan is directed by World Music in the Schools artist in residence Pak Djoko Walujo.

Read the full UT article here.