Friday, February 14, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

BITS & BYTES: Samir LanGus at Bennington College; They Dance for Rain interactive fundraiser; Springfield Museums flower festival; Taylor Mali at American Mural Project; Cynthea J. Bogel at The Clark; Hoffman Bird Club presents Peru travelogue

Gnawa music is the ritual trance music of Morocco’s black communities, originally descended from the enslaved people and soldiers once brought to Morocco from Northern Mali and Mauritania.

Bennington College Carriage Barn Concert Series presents Moroccan Gnawa fusion with Samir LanGus

Bennington, V.T.— On Wednesday, April 3rd from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., Bennington College Carriage Barn Concert Series presents Moroccan Gnawa fusion with Samir LanGus. 

Gnawa music is the ritual trance music of Morocco’s black communities, originally descended from the enslaved people and soldiers once brought to Morocco from Northern Mali and Mauritania. Often called “The Moroccan Blues,” Gnawa music has a raw, hypnotic power that fascinated outsiders like Jimi Hendrix. The music is believed to heal people possessed by jinn, or spirits, in all night ceremonies called lila.

Samir LanGus. Photo courtesy of Bennington College.

Grammy-nominated Moroccan musician Samir LanGus plays the electric guimbri, a three-string North African instrument. His sextet will present a program fusing Gnawa with jazz, blues, and pop.

The concert is on Wednesday, April 3rd from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Deane Carriage Barn on Bennington College’s campus on College Drive in Bennington, V.T. It is free and open to the public. More information can be found online. 

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‘Soft Shoe Boom Boom Spin Blue!’, an interactive fundraiser for They Dance for Rain

West Stockbridge— On Thursday, April 4th at 7 p.m., They Dance For Rain, a collaborative and cross-cultural dance-making project in Nairobi, Kenya, will hold their third fundraiser at The Foundry, “Soft Shoe Boom Boom Spin Blue!”

This interactive event includes an un-silent auction, tap dancers, a myriad of musical players, and live painting all composed and arranged by you! The evening will open with the original tragicomedy performance of “Civil Motions: Scenes of the Familiar and the Absurd” by JoJo McDonald and Stefanie Weber. Artist Joe Wheaton will return to fill The Foundry with his extraordinary immersive projections. There will be live painting by Mike Carty and Diane Firtell, projected photography by Monika Pizzichemi and Ogden Gigli, and performances by Beth Craig, Justin Geyer, Jenny Herzog, Conor Meehan, JoJo McDonald, Elaine Morel, Adriana Tampasis, Charlie Torkaz, and Stefanie Weber. 

‘Soft Shoe Boom Boom Spin Blue!’ Photo by Ogden Gigli.

The fundraiser is on Thursday, April 4th at 7 p.m. at The Foundry on Harris Street in West Stockbridge. The doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $28. Tickets and more information can be found online. More information about They Dance For Rain may be found online. Parking is limited at the venue so please utilize the three public parking lots in Town. To avoid a parking ticket, visit the Foundry online for further details.

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11th Annual Festival of Flowers at The Springfield Museums

Springfield— From April 4th through April 7th, The Springfield Museums welcome spring with the 11th Annual Festival of Flowers.

With a vast array of floral arrangements planned to grace the galleries of art, history, and science, the Springfield Museums will burst with color. Celebrate spring with this floral tradition and see the many ways in which these talented florists and community members utilize flowers to interpret a wide range of pieces across the Museums. There will be related programming through the festival such “Festival of Flowers After Hours,” “Festival of Flowers Family Day,” and more. 

Springfield Museums Festival of Flowers.

“We are thrilled to host the 11th annual Festival of Flowers! Seeing the galleries transform, filling with beautiful and creative floral arrangements, is a highlight of our year,” said Director of Education and Festival of Flowers organizer Larissa Murray.

The festival is April 4th through April 7th at The Springfield Museums on Edwards Street in Springfield. It is free with museum admission. Parking is free. More information including the full schedule of events can be found online. 

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American Mural Project kicks off their National Poetry Month celebration with slam-poet celebrity Taylor Mali

Winsted, C.T.— The American Mural Project (AMP) is celebrating National Poetry Month this April with events throughout the month including a poetry exhibit, two writing workshops, and a headline performance by poet Taylor Mali on Saturday, April 20th.

The month-long poetry celebration kicks off on Friday, April 5th with “The Mural as Muse” poetry exhibit. Poet Ed Lent, who is also the exhibit curator, will draw from ekphrastic poetry selections inspired by AMP’s mural and composed by workshop participants.

The poetry celebration continues on Friday, April 19th with two writing workshops led by slam-poet celebrity Taylor Mali, “The Humanity of Metaphor” for high school and college writers and “Restocking Your Quiver,” a professional development offering for writing teachers. Mali will share his fun, interactive writing prompts and tools such as Metaphor Dice, Slam Poem Mad Lib, and Rhyme Time. More information about the workshops can be found online.

Slam poet Taylor Mali. Photo courtesy of AMP.

On Saturday April 20th at 8 p.m., National Poetry Month at AMP culminates with the headlining “LIVE @AMP” performance by poet Taylor Mali. Mali is a stand-out performer who emerged from the poetry slam movement. He has appeared in the HBO series “Def Poetry Jam,” Slam Planet, SlamNation, and the Peabody Award-winning “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.” Mali has performed with such poet icons as Billy Collins and Allen Ginsberg and is a four-time National Poetry Slam champion. He is perhaps best known for his viral YouTube performance of “What Teachers Make.”

With AMP’s “art of work” mural as the backdrop to Mali’s performance and three tiers for viewing and mingling, attendees will have an extraordinary experience that fuses spoken word performance with collaborative art. The doors open at 7 p.m. with pre-show live music by the Ed Fast Trio, a cash/credit bar, and light refreshments available for purchase. This special pre-performance hour offers guests time to mingle and explore the mural gallery to music before the performance. Tickets are $20 in advance. Tickets and more information can be found online.

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The Clark Art Institute presents a lecture by Cynthea J. Bogel examining motifs related to iconic Buddha sculpture

Williamstown— On Tuesday, April 2nd at 5:30 p.m., the Clark Art Institute’s Research and Academic Program presents a lecture by Clark Fellow Cynthea J. Bogel who will explore motifs on the pedestal of a key eighth-century sculpture: a colossal gilt-bronze Buddha (Nara period, 710–784) and the main icon of the temple Yakushiji.

Medicine Master Buddha Statue Pedestal (detail), north face. Bronze, first half of the eighth century. Kondō (Main Hall), Yakushiji, Nara.

Scholars interpret the pedestal motifs as a pastiche of Sinitic symbols inconsistent with Buddhist representation. Bogel understands the pedestals of important seventh and early-eighth century icons as presenting motif programs, which she names “cosmoscapes” and demonstrates that the pedestals in tandem with the icons represent complex belief systems and cosmologies experienced as concomitant with Buddhist praxis. Through fresh interpretations, Bogel situates these icons as unedited and overlooked evidence for beliefs and ideologies during a decisive period of Japanese history.

Cynthea J. Bogel was professor of Japanese art and Buddhist visual culture in East Asia at Kyushu University (Japan) from 2012–2023 and associate professor at the University of Washington from 1999–2012. She was director of the International Research Center for the Humanities at Kyushu University and founded the peer-reviewed Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University, serving as its chief editor until 2023. At the Clark, she will continue writing a book on cosmologies and Buddhist icons in ancient Japan.

The free talk is on Tuesday, April 2nd at 5:30 p.m. in the Manton Research Center auditorium at The Clark Art Institute on South Street in Williamstown. A pre-talk reception will be held at 5 p.m. in the Manton Research Center reading room. More information can be found online. 

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Hoffmann Bird Club presents ‘A Peru Travelogue’ by Jonathan Pierce and Rene Wendell

Pittsfield— On Monday, April 1st at 7 p.m., Hoffmann Bird Club presents ‘A Peru Travelogue’ by Jonathan Pierce and Rene Wendell, Hoffmann Bird Club Past Presidents and trip leaders. 

Jonathan Pierce and Rene Wendell. Photo courtesy of Hoffman Bird Club.

Birds, Butterflies, and Bromeliads, oh my! Pierce and Wendell will present a photographic adventure to the heart of the Peruvian Amazon River and talk about Berkshire Community College’s expedition to explore the abundant biodiversity along this amazing river and its surrounding jungle.

The hybrid event is on Monday, April 1st at 7 p.m. at Guardian Life Insurance Company on South Street in Pittsfield and on Zoom. For more information and the zoom link, email hoffmannbirdclub@gmail.com. 

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