19 DecCelebrating the Solstice With an African Beat
By Rik Fairlie ETHEL will mark the winter solstice on Dec. 21 with a polyrhythmic nod to Africa. The group will bring TruckStop®: Themba, a collaborative show that features Ron Kunene and his South African choral group, Themba, to the Winter Garden at New York’s World Financial Center. The free performance, one of ETHEL’s signature [...]
Read More ...21 SepA NACAP Graduate Goes on the Road With ETHEL
By Rik Fairlie If you wanted an example of how ETHEL and the Grand Canyon Music Festival’s annual NACAP tour can inspire Native American youth, you only needed to look in the back seat of the band’s rental car this year. There you would have found Russell Goodluck, a freshly minted high school graduate who [...]
Read More ...09 SepReaching Out to the Kids on the Reservation
By Rik Fairlie Over the next few days, ETHEL will wrap up its annual visits to Native American elementary and high schools in Arizona and Utah, drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and premiere the students’ compositions at the Grand Canyon Music Festival. For ETHEL, helping these young composers fine-tune their compositions [...]
Read More ...08 SepBehind the Scenes at ‘Oshtali’ Recording Sessions
By Rik Fairlie For three days last January, ETHEL joined 11 young Native American composers, their teacher, and a producer in Oklahoma City to create something entirely new: The first professional classical recording of works composed by Native American students. The project was, as ETHEL’s Mary Rowell recalls, “a really wonderful exchange.” You can hear [...]
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