On April 22nd, KUNM Music Director invited this semester’s members of the UNM Honky Tonk Ensemble, an ensemble that teaches students how to play in a band and that emphasizes the style of classic country music from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, to come into KUNM’s Studio A to do a studio session of songs they’ve performed over the course of the semester. Students and community members in the Ensemble performed their songs, and then did an interview, afterward, together with ensemble founder and co-facilitator, UNM Music faculty member Dr. Kristina Jacobsen. Here, they discussed their experiences learning to more deeply appreciate this genre of working-class verbal art through the performance of it, describing their experiences learning to sing, and play, in a “country” style throughout the course of the semester.” This show will be featured in hour-long broadcast on KUNM’s “Ear to the Ground” on Saturday 5/11 from 7-8 pm, and will be streamable through on their two-week archive after it airs, as well as on the KUNM Studio Sessions page. This semester’s ensemble includes: Seirra McDowell-Nardine, Nathan Lesiak, Aubrie Powell, Eric Schaller, and co-facilitator Alex McMahon. The Ensemble is open to UNM students, staff, and Albuquerque musicians, and begins again in August 2019. Please contact Kristina Jacobsen (kmj23@unm.edu) or Paula Corbin-Swalin (pcswalin@unm.edu) for more information.
The Cruelty of Jazz: Toward a Hemispheric Politics of Sound
Rooted in concepts of affect and Empire, this paper argues that jazz operated in various 20th century Latin American settings as a vital touchstone bearing the risks and benefits of urban modernization, hemispheric geopolitics, and transnational cultural production, “cruelly” echoing the United States’ cultural, political, and economic dominance in the hemisphere and beyond.
Music from the Americas presents Versus 8
Percussion music in the Americas is one of the most exotic, visually attractive, and antique forms of expression since pre-hispanic times. Preserving, promoting and creating music for the percussion family of instruments is at the core of Versus 8’s mission through international collaboration with composers, performers, students, and cultural centers that contribute with their resources to the cycle of music, namely: creation, performance, and listening..
A Day in the Life of the Bosavi People
A 90 minute, 4K, 7.1 surround sound eco-rockumentary concert of a day in the life of the Bosavi people and their rainforest home in Papua New Guinea, directed and produced by Steven Feld and based on recordings and images from 1976-2018.