Who We Are
About The Museum
Vision & Mission
Family Friendly
What's Happening
Calendar
Upcoming Events
Get Involved
Make a Gift
Become a Member
Volunteer
Donate an Artifact
Things to See
Current Exhibit
Recent Exhibits
YouTube
Explore the Museum
Explore the World
Education
Booking a Tour
School Teachers
Summer Camp
How We Work
Board
Partners
Grantors
Executive Director Opening
Contact Us
Hours & Directions
Contact
E-News Signup
Site Map
Home
|
|
QR Codes | Grass | Silk Road | Lykeion Ellinidon | Lykeion Ellinidon | Dünya | Sebastian Lockwood | Ranbyoshi | The Human Planet | Dance Philippines & Leyte | The Iskewelahang Pilipino Rondalla Ensemble | Angkor Dance Troupe | Sebastian Lockwood | The Maine Kanteles | Sir Jeremy Bell | Norman Kennedy | Folklore from Scandinavia | Highland Pipes | Abou Sylla | Akwaaba Ensemble | Drepung Goman Monks | Wedding Fashions | Mariposa Slideshow
QR Codes to the Silk Road
Mariposa now offers you a view of the Silk Road through QR codes, a bar code that when scanned by your Smart Phone, takes you to a website. Augusta Thomson has assembled an impressive list of websites on the Silk Road, past and present, which you can access at the museum or by Clicking here to download a PDF
Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life
Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925) is a silent documentary film which follows a branch of the Bakhtiari tribe of Persia (today Iran) as they and their herds make their seasonal journey to better pastures. It is considered one of the earliest ethnographic documentary films. It was written by Richard Carver and Terry Ramsaye. [taken from Wikipedia]
These are large files and may take some time to download.
Silk Road Slideshows
In 1988 Jean Rosenthal traveled the Silk Road for one month north from Islamabad, Pakistan, over the Karakoram and around the Taklamakan Desert in western China to Kashgar and the fabulous Buddhist caves at Dunhuang. This slide show takes you through spectacular landscapes to the famous market in Kashgar, where just about everything is sold: goats, wool, food, fabric, herbs and spices, animal parts for traditional medicine. Jean takes us inside a silk factory and to a family in Khotan who produce silk at home, cooking the cocoons to unreel the silk, then spinning it and warping it on a long loom with patterns marked for ikat dyeing. Everywhere she captures the faces of the Silk Road, from the Turkmen, Uigur and many other peoples who live along this ancient trade route. Jean is not only a traveler but a pediatrician and her love for children shows in these photos.
These pictures were taken in the spring of 2011 at a silk weaving center outside Siem Reap in Cambodia. They show the production of silk from mulberry leaves and worms to the finished fabric.
Assembling a Yurt in Kyrgyzstan - June, 2011
Ray Bollerud took photos of a child's yurt being assembled in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan in June 2011. He talked about his travels on the Silk Road at 7PM on Friday, September 9, 2011. Click here for Powerpoint slideshow.
Boston Lykeion Ellinidon Performance
Irene Savas's Boston Lykeion Ellinidon performed at the Mariposa on April 3, 2011.
Dünya
The dynamic Boston ensemble Dünya presented "An Ottoman Musical Tapestry" on Saturday, March 19, 2011. To see them perform, go to www.dunyainc.org and click on the video link at the bottom of the page!
Sebastian Lockwood
|
|
|
Sebastian Lockwood performed The Odyssey at Mariposa on Friday, April 9, 2011. The video above shows Sebastian telling The Monkey King at Mariposa in September, 2010.
|
Ranbyoshi—Japanese Folk Art and Taiko Drumming Benefit
|
|
|
|
Ranbyoshi—Japanese Folk Art and Taiko drumming group from Hokkaido Japan that performed at the Mariposa on April 3, 2011.
|
Human Planet
|
|
|
A remarkable clip from BBC that shows the diversity of the human family and the places we inhabit…
|
Dance Philippines and Leyte, performing "tinikling" and "singkil"
Dance Philippines from Boston performed Filipino dances at Mariposa. They presented dances from four regions: tribal dances from the Northern Cordillera, folk from central Luzon, Spanish from the Visayan Islands and Muslim from Mindanao. The first clip shows two dances, "sakuting" and the national dance called "tinikling". The second clip shows "singkil", a spectacular dance from Mindanao, performed here by the Leyte Dance Theater.
The Iskewelahang Pilipino Rondalla Ensemble
|
|
|
On Saturday, November 20th, 2010 the Iskwelshang Pilipino Rondalla Ensemble of Boston performed at the Mariposa Museum as part of the Museum's ongoing celebration of Philippine culture including the Gallery Exhibit of textiles from the Philippines and traditional costumes on display throughout the museum.
The Ensemble was established in 1986 by Cristina Castro under the musical direction of classical/folk guitarist, Michael Dadap. Since its founding, the Ensemble has completed three international tours and performed at numerous colleges and folk festivals throughout the Eastern United States. In 1990 their Philippine tour was highlighted by a special performance before then-President Corazon Aquino at Malacañang Palace. In April 1993, the group gave a special tribute performance in honor of Nitoy Gonzales, the beloved Filipino rondalla maestro, composer, and songwriter. In November that same year, the group took part in a special performance at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York in honor of the visiting Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos. The Ensemble released their first CD "Crossing Over" in 1995.
Listen to a clip from the CD of this outstanding mandolin, guitar and bass ensemble! Visit their web site at: www.ipbahay.org/rondalla.html
|
Angkor Dance Troupe Monkey Dance
|
|
|
The Angkor Dance Troupe of Lowell, MA performs folk and classical dance from Cambodia including the Troupe's superb Monkey Dance! Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.
|
Sebastian Lockwood performs 'The Monkey King'
|
|
|
Sebastian Lockwood performed The Monkey King at the opening of our Regional Exhibition Southeast Asia. For more on Sebastian's work, visit www.odysseylive.org
|
The Maine Kanteles
|
|
|
The Maine Kanteles performed at Mariposa to close our Regional Exhibition, Peoples of the North. They performed not only traditional Finnish music but a tango and an excerpt from Carmen! Visit their web site at: kantelelaulu.com
|
Slide show of our festive evening of Scottish frivolity hosted by Sir Jeremy Bell
|
|
|
Toastmaster and Humorist, Sir Jeremy Bell hosted our spring fundraiser "A Taste of Scotland" at the Mariposa Museum. The festive event revolved around a single-malt Scotch tasting and included Scotch toasting, Scottish music, sabering a Champagne bottle and other frivolity. A light fare wase served during the tasting and fabulous desserts followed. There was also be a raffle of Scottish items including golf balls from St. Andrews and a bottle of Talisker. Scottish attire was encouraged.
|
Waulking with Norman Kennedy
|
|
|
On Saturday, May 15, 2010 the Mariposa Museum hosted a program of traditional songs and stories from Scotland and the Outer Hebrides with internationally known Scottish Singer and Storyteller Norman Kennedy and Kathy Torrey.
A highlight of the evening was a demonstration by Norman and Kathy of a "waulking" accompanied by Gaelic waulking songs. Traditionally when tweed was made, it needed to be "fulled" to increase its ability to keep out the wind. Waulking is a process of repeatedly beating the cloth to "full it" and prepare it for use. Waulking songs are a musical form unknown elsewhere in Western Europe. They are very rhythmic and were composed to keep the beat when the cloth was being waulked. The session often begins with slow-paced songs, with the tempo increasing as the cloth becomes softer.
Norman Kennedy one of Scotland's finest traditional singers, introduced waulking and many Scottish ancestral work songs to the United States. Growing up in the traditional life of Aberdeen, where his family has lived since the end of the 1200s, Norman learned an older way of life, with its stories and songs: the life of the croft (the small self-sufficient farms of the region) and later of the Western Isles, a region with a different language and culture. Norman learned the work songs of weavers and crofters from people who were singing these songs when Victoria was Queen and he has performed these ancient Scottish an Gaelic ballads at festivals around the world.
In 1965 Norman was invited to the Newport Folk Festival to explore the roots of the American ballad tradition. He stayed and worked as master weaver at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. In 1975 he founded the Marshfield School of Weaving, using wooden looms from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Kathy Torrey, who lives in Alstead, was drawn into a study of the music and life of the Hebrides by a family friendship between her grandmother and Margaret Fay Shaw Campbell and John Lourne Campbell. The Campbells devoted their lives to preserving traditional music of the western islands, and encouraged Kathy on a "wanderyear" where she explored Gaelic work songs. She is currently an educator and dance caller, and enjoys passing along simple traditional songs to the next generations.
|
Bringing in the Light—Music, Dance & Folklore from Scandinavia, Andrea Larson & Henriette Isene
The Mariposa presented Bringing in the Light-Music, Dance & Folklore from Scandinavia with Andrea Larson, Henriette Isene, Lydia Levins and Gideon and Joanna Morse. Video by Aaron Derman.
Scots Highlands Pipes and Drums at the Mariposa Museum
|
|
|
The Mariposa celebrated the opening of its new Regional Exhibition, Peoples of the North—Scotland, Ireland, French Canada and Scandinavia with a reception followed by a performance by the Scots Highlands Pipes and Drums. Video by Aaron Derman.
|
Abou Sylla, A Guinean Musician's Fabulous Balafon Perfomance at the Mariposa Museum
|
|
|
Born in Kindia, a village in Guinea, West Africa, Abou Sylla comes from a Djeli family of musicians, singers, and storytellers through whom African history is told. His primary instrument is the balafon (a wooden xylophone), and he is considered one of the world's best players.
Abou traveled around the world with the internationally acclaimed Les Ballets Africains, the Guinean national dance troupe, and the To Kouyate Company, a traditional music ensemble. In 1995 he moved to New York, where he co-founded Feraba-African Rhythm Tap, a music and dance company based on the fusion of Tap Dance, Jazz and African Dance & Music. He was Artist in Residence at the University of Florida in 1998 and presently holds an assistant professorship at the University, teaching African Music & Culture. In 2000, he received the Artists' Fellowship in Music Composition from the New York Foundation of the Arts.
He currently performs with the award winning group Les Merveilles d'Afrique a company created by Mohamed Kemoko Sano, choreographer of Les Ballets Africains, as well as with several contemporary and traditional music groups: among them, DeBlatt, Super Mandeng, African Blue Note Band, & Sekouba Kandia Kouyate Band.
|
Akwaaba Ensemble at Mariposa Museum
The videos above show case a series of work by the Akwaaba Ensemble at the Mariposa Museum, including an Akwaaba performance, community drumming workshop and a community performance which was completed during the week of April 10, 2009.
Energized drumming and dancing blended with Highlife music makes them unique! The Akwaaba Traditional African Drum and Dance Ensemble was formed in 2002 by Theo Nii Martey during a tour with Brekete Ensemble in London. It brings together a group of friends who have been playing music together for many years in Ghana and the UK. The group includes past members of the National Dance Ensemble, Brekete Ensemble and the Shidaa cultural troupe.
The Akwaaba Ensemble's energetic and engaging performances are a reflection of their name, which means ‘welcome’ in the Twi language of the Ashanti tribe of Ghana. At each performance the Ensemble brings Highlife music, West African drumming and dance to vivid life.
Audiences agree that their performances are “overwhelmingly positive. Once you hear their music, you can’t resist to move”.
Each Ensemble member teaches and leads workshops. Together they have connected with students at dozens of schools around the globe. Parents and teachers praise their work: “These guys are energetic, enthusiastic. They’re really knowledgeable about what they are doing, and they seem to really enjoy working with kids.”
For the past six years, the Ensemble has toured internationally and performed on many stages in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. They perform at theaters, fairs, festivals, weddings, school settings, Drumming and Dancing workshops in the community, and often collaborate with other musicians. The goal of the group is to produce extraordinary music and great performances that enlighten the audience about African Culture and Music. They recently dubbed their new album “Akwaaba Welcome Home”.
For more information about the Akwaaba Ensemble please visit us on our website at www.akwaabaensemble.com
Drepung Goman Monks at Mariposa Museum
|
|
|
Monks visiting Mariposa Museum in the Fall of 2009
|
Wedding Fashion Show at Mariposa Museum
|
|
|
“You are invited to a wedding…fashion show” was the title of the spring 2009 fundraising event to benefit educational programs at the Mariposa Museum. On Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 3:00pm, brides dressed in ornately beautiful brocades, silks, and native fibers from around the world, were featured on the “runway” at the Mariposa. The celebratory costumes, modeled by volunteers, are from the museum collection as well as on loan from various friends of the Mariposa.
|
Slideshow of the Mariposa
When children are raised with respect and curiosity towards
other cultures, the world will know more peace and less war.
Who We Are | What's Happening | Things to See | Tours | How We Work | Admin | Home | Contact
© 2011 Mariposa Museum & World Culture Center. All rights reserved.
Top
|
|
