MIA In Globalized Nation's Capital: Lou Harrison And Dozens Of Outstanding, Asia-Influenced American Classical Composers (Paging Sharon Rockefeller)

Qingdao Symphony Orchestra

Feb 1, 2009 at 3:00 PM
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Concert Hall
2 hours
$15.00 - $60.00

Yongyan HU, conductor

Hongyan Zhang, pipa
Sa Chen, piano
Janice Chandler-Eteme, soprano
Alvy Powell, baritone
The Choral Arts Society of Washington
Norman Scribner, artistic director

China Arts and Entertainment Group, in collaboration with IMG Artists and The Choral Arts Society of Washington, presents Image China, a concert of dazzling variety to celebrate Chinese New Year 2009.

BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Xiaogang YE Pipa Concerto
CHEN Yi Fiddle Concerto
GERSHWIN Porgy & Bess (Concert Version) (arr. R.R. Bennett)

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Sharon Percy Rockefeller's Classical WETA-FM, so-called "public radio" in the Nation's Capital, celebrated the long Inauguration Weekend by broadcasting virtually no American classical music.

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The Metropolitan Museum has an outstanding collection of Asmat art, the majority of which was collected in 1961 by Michael C. Rockefeller



















Body Mask (Det), mid-20th century
Asmat people, Ambisu village, New Guinea, Papua (Irian Jaya) Province, Indonesia
Wood, fiber, leaves, paint; H. 64 in. (162.6 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller and Mrs. Mary C. Rockefeller, 1965 (1978.412.1282a)

Photo credit: (c) Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.

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Cogito's Believe It Or Not

" After we had finished our meal, the priest began to tell me the true story of what had happened to Michael Rockefeller nearly 20 years before.

Rockefeller and Wassing had been trading with the Asmat people of the village of Fos on the Eilanden River. He had landed upriver on the evening of November 18. Rockefeller had done a deal with the son of one of the tribal elders to buy a relic of great tribal significance, a sort of totem pole adorned with skulls.

The priest explained to me that the Asmats believed that spirits lived alongside the living, and that killing another person entailed an obligation to look after the spirit's physical remains – the skull. Trading this pole was a huge no-no. Selling it would get the spirits angry and bring doom to the tribe.

What Father Peters told me was that Rockefeller had taken this sacred skull pole in the middle of the night and was on his way with it to the catamaran when other warriors came upon him. Rockefeller was dragged out of his boat. The pole went overboard, the engine was flooded as Wassing tried to get away, and the guides ran off to save their own skins. This account meant that the other, official, story was a complete fabrication.

After his capture, Rockefeller was taken alive back to the village of Fos, where he was kept hidden while the tribe determined his fate...."

Source

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Papua New Guinea Women Performing Infanticide to End Tribal War, Women in Papua New Guinea's Highland region are killing their male babies ...

FoxNews.com December 2, 2008