AMERICAN MOSAIC - Berklee School of Music album / A question

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ -April 5, 2002: Berklee School of Music album / A question about Easter / A museum
show honoring three female artists

HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC
—
VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today we:
Play recordings³ by musicians educated at the Berklee School of Music..
.
Answer a question about the Easter holiday..
.
And visit a museum show honoring three female artists.

Three Women Artists

HOST:

A show honoring three North American women artists is now at a museum in Washington, D.C. The artists are
Emily Carr of Canada, Georgia O’Keefe of the United States and Frida Kahlo of Mexico. Shep O ’Neal has
more.

ANNCR:

The show at the National Museum of Women in the Arts is called “Places of Their Own: Emily Carr, Georgia
O’Keefe and Frida Kahlo.
”
The three women are considered the greatest women painters of their countries in
the Twentieth Century. The show examines the artistic⁴ and personal links among them.

Emily Carr of Canada is the first in the show because she was the oldest. She was born in Eighteen-Seventy-One.
She did not become known for her paintings until she was more than fifty years old. Today, Emily Carr is one of
Canada’s most celebrated⁵ artists. Many of her paintings show the trees and natural surroundings she loved in

her home province of British Columbia. She also developed a picture record of Northwest Coast Indian villages.

Georgia O’Keefe is considered by many experts to be the most popular female
American artist. Her paintings sometimes are shown along with the pictures taken
by her husband, the famous photographer Alfred Steiglitz. Georgia O’Keefe lived
in Texas and New York before moving to New Mexico. The striking⁶ land in the
southwestern United States provided many subjects for her paintings. Many of her
pictures show nature at its simplest, with few details.

The final artist honored in the museum show is Frida

Kahlo. Nearly all of her paintings are pictures of
herself. Frida Kahlo was almost killed in an accident when she was a young girl.
Her injuries remained a problem most of her life. Frida Kahlo’s work was affected⁷
by her pain and suffering. It also showed her love for her husband, the artist Diego
Rivera. The colors and shapes of her paintings were influenced by Mexico’
s many
cultures.

Emily Carr, ''Big Raven,''
1931
(Images -nmwa.org)
Georgia O'Keeffe, ''Red Hills
with the Pedernal,'' 1936
All three of these women included ideas of themselves in their
paintings. They also searched for meaning in their native lands and cultures. Experts say
their work is important because it greatly changed the art of North America in the Twentieth
Century.


Frida Kahlo, ''Self-
Portrait with
Monkey,'' 1938
Easter

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Mongolia. Amarkhuu Ayulguisaikhan
asks how Americans celebrate the Easter holiday.

Christians⁹ in the United States celebrated Easter last Sunday, March
thirty-first. Christians believe Easter is the day when Jesus Christ rose
from the dead about two thousand years ago. Most Christians believe
Jesus was sent to Earth to save humans from wrongdoing, and to give
them everlasting¹⁰ life.

Thousands of American churches held services outside on Easter morning. This tradition is
very old. It probably was started by Moravian Christians in the eastern state of Pennsylvania
in Seventeen-Forty-Three. This Moravian service of praise is still held today.

Sunrise services in the United States are usually planned to include members of many
Christian⁸ religious groups. One of the most famous takes place at the Hollywood Bowl, an
outdoor center in Los Angeles, California. People arrive the night before to try to attend this
event.

Many Americans also observe Easter customs not directly linked to religious tradition. People in many cities
walk through the streets on Easter morning after attending church. Each year, thousands of people in New York
City wear new clothes to take part in this Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue.

Some families color eggs and hide them for their children to find. Parents say a rabbit leaves the Easter eggs. The
rabbit is known as the Easter Bunny.

Here in Washington, a big celebration takes place each year on the Monday after Easter. The President of the
United States invites children to play a game rolling colored Easter eggs on the grounds behind the White House.
President Rutherford Hayes and his wife Lucy started this American tradition in Eighteen-Seventy-Eight.

This year, about forty -thousand children took part. President Bush and his wife Laura welcomed the children and
their families to the White House grounds. Everyone seemed to enjoy the sunny day filled with music and games.

Shekinah Thirteen Artists

HOST:

The world famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, has trained many successful singers such
as Melissa Etheridge and Diana Krall. A record has been recently released of some music by Berklee students
who are not as well known. Mary Tillotson explains.

ANNCR:

Berklee College has its own recording² company to provide its students with experiences in the recording
business. Earlier this year, the college ’s small recording company and a major recording company, Epic¹¹/Sony
Records, jointly¹² released a record.

Easter Cross, 1877
(Image -Library of
Congress)
The project began when students in one Berklee class decided¹³ to produce a record
and try to sell it nationally. They listened to tapes and chose which songs and artists
to include. All the artists were educated at Berklee. The Epic record company
agreed to market the recording.

The name of the record is “Shekinah (shuh-KEE-nah) Thirteen Artists.
”
Berklee
says the word honors the creative power of females.

One artist on the record is Polina, the daughter of Russian singer Anka. She
recorded her song in her father’s studio in Moscow. It is called “Out of My


Mind.
”
((CUT 1: OUT OF MY MIND))

Another former Berklee student on the record is German artist Antje Zumbansen. She has already won the Vince
Gill Award for Songwriting and Outstanding Musicianship. Here she sings “Without An End.
”
((CUT 2: WITHOUT AN END)
)
The last song on the Shekinah record was written and performed by Amanda Williams. She graduated from the

Berklee School of Music in Nineteen-Ninety-Nine. She wrote the song “Beer Run,
”
which Garth Brooks¹⁴ and
George Jones recorded. We leave you now with Amanda Williams singing her song, “Low.
”
((CUT 3: LOW)
)

HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And I hope you will join us again next week for
AMERICAN MOSAIC—VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

Remember to write us with your questions about American life. We will try to answer them on future programs.

Listeners whose questions are chosen will receive a Random¹⁵ House Webster’s College Dictionary.
Send your questions to American Mosaic, Special English, Voice of America, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-
three-seven, USA. Or use a computer to e-mail your question to [email protected]. Please include your
name and postal¹⁶ address. This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Jill Moss¹⁷ and Nancy Steinbach.
Our studio engineer was Tom Verba. And our producer was Paul Thompson.

 

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1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

3 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

4 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

5 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

6 striking   

adj.显著的，惹人注目的，容貌出众的

参考例句：

• There is a striking difference between Jane and Mary.简和玛丽之间有显著的差异。
• What is immediately striking is how resourceful the children are.最令人注目的是孩子们的机智聪明。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

9 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

10 everlasting   

adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的

参考例句：

• These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
• He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。

11 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

12 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

16 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

17 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。