Pep

(Via)

Guajira Guantanamera

I am told that the most recorded song in the world is the Beatles' "Yesterday."

But among the top 10 most recorded songs in the world, and also the most recorded Spanish language song in history is the Guantanamera (real title is Guajira Guantanamera or the "Peasant Girl from Guantanamo").

Even if you don't know it yet, you've heard this song a million times. And yet, there is fierce debate as to who is the author of the Guajira Guantanamera? Who is the author of the musical introduction? and where does its chorus come from?

Most of this because originally in Cuba, the song was, other than the chorus part, an improvisational song, where the words to the song would be improvised by the singer as he/she sang it. There are no words to the Guantanamera!

In the 1960s Peter Seeger added the verses from Cuban poet Jose Marti in a performance at Radio City Music Hall in NYC and thus now the most common version of Guantanamera is the one with the Marti verses.

But this amazing song has no real written words - one just sings it and improvises as one goes.

Three versions below - The Sandpipers, Celia Cruz, Pete Seeger... and in Japanese.

Dawson on DMV

The WaPo's Jessica Dawson covered a wide range of the DMV art scene in this review(s): She covered shows at McLean Project for the Arts, Thomas Drymon Selects at the Studio Gallery, Carroll Square Gallery, Amy Lin's exhibit at Addison Ripley, and Andrew Wodzianski's Pop-Up living space in 100 sq. ft. performance.

Think about this: in order to cover all those shows, Dawson had to travel all over the DMV - and I'm sure that she visited a lot more spaces than those that she wrote about.

That is why writing art criticism is so time consuming: it takes a lot of gallery hopping just to produce a good round-up article like this one. Good job!

Andrew Wodzianski: 24/7

Click here or watch below:

Andrew Wodzianski Live from his 100 sqft home

Paneling

I'm part of the panel Special Seminar: Social Networking and Marketing Your Art, which is is today Saturday April 24, from 1-3PM. All the details are here.

Why not the visual arts?

A while back I was told by a writer (and later by a photographer) from the Gazette newspapers (which are owned by the Washington Post), that the WaPo has been using articles originally published/done for the Gazette to augment its coverage.

Years ago I suggested to the WaPo Arts Editor exactly the same thing: that they augment their visual arts coverage by publishing the reviews from the Gazette in their Style section, especially during the Dawson/Gopnik off weeks.

It made sense to me; they own the articles, so why not re-use them as needed. Like the Post has done with all of my constructive criticism and improvement ideas, they filed it in the round file and I've never heard back from them.

But apparently this "re-use" has been happening with some Gazette articles recently - but not the visual arts. I don't know which articles, and I don't know how to find out, and I am told that the Style section co-editor/editor (I'm not sure what he is) Scott Vogel doesn't answer emails, and I don't know who to ask.

However, it still makes sense to me. The Gazette has two really good writers in their employ to this end: Dr. Claudia Rousseau and Jordan Edwards.

Rousseau is a highly educated art critic and scholar with an impeccable pedigree and highly respected not only in our area, but also in Latin America, where she wrote art criticism in Spanish for many years before returning to the US. Read some of her recent reviews here.

Edwards is a journalist with a taste for the fine arts. Since I've been back living in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County, I've been following his writing in the Gazette and he has earned my respect for the mind-boggling diverse genres of art that he covers for them. Check him out here.

How about it WaPo? If you don't get it, you don't get it...

Congrats!

The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) has announced the 2010-2011 Creative Communities Fund (CCF) grantees. Just over $50,000 will be awarded to 25 outstanding artists working in the DC-metro area. Grants will be given to artists participating in the Flashpoint Gallery, Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint and Source Festival programs.

Grantees include a wide range of visual, literary and performance artists; funds will support the creation of 12 new works for the stage and five exhibitions from visual artists.

“We are thrilled to provide cash grants to artists along with the space and support we offer through the Flashpoint and Source programs. The Creative Communities Fund enables Cultural Development Corporation to provide artists with the nurturing environment necessary to develop outstanding new work,” says CuDC Executive Director Anne Corbett.

Launched in 2005 by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, CCF seeks to improve the ability of artists to live, work and flourish in the DC-metro area. In 2008, CuDC was selected to be the Fund’s lead agency and entered into a two year partnership with The Community Foundation for the program’s transition.

The visual arts grantees are:

* Patrick McDonough, media: installation
* Adam Griffiths, media: drawing, installation, mixed-media and painting
* Adam de Boer, media: painting
* Alexa Meade, media: installation, mixed-media, new media, painting, photography, sculpture, video and performance art
* Michael Dax Iacovone, media: photography, installation

Also my good friend Kristina Bilonick for the Source Festival | Artistic Blind Dates.