VOA慢速英语2011--Making Music Together

THIS IS AMERICA - Making Music Together

BARBARA KLEIN: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.
STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. This week, we explore music through the eyes of two married couples. One of them produces recordings² of traditional Hawaiian music. The other husband and wife combine music with poetry from their Irish and Sri Lankan Tamil ancestries³.
And, later in our program, we learn how an American composer created an online choir⁴ of more than two thousand singers from all over the world.
(MUSIC)
BARBARA KLEIN: Laurie and Jake Rohrer live near the small town of Ha'iku on the Hawaiian island of Maui. They have a recording¹ studio in their home. They are helping⁵ to support the music of artists who they say are extremely talented yet largely unknown.
Laurie discovered Hawaiian music at the age of eight. She came from a military family stationed at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu.
LAURIE ROHRER: "I fell passionately⁶ in love with Hawaii and its expression through music."
At the same time, Jake was growing up in El Cerrito, California. He was friends with John Fogerty and some of the other musicians who later formed Creedence Clearwater Revival⁷. Jake traveled with the band as a manager. Forty years later, he looks back on those days as a great opportunity.
STEVE EMBER: Laurie's family settled in El Cerrito. She and Jake met there and were married, both for the second time.
By nineteen ninety-six their children were out of college. Laurie and Jake decided⁸ to retire to Maui. Laurie immediately rediscovered her passion for Hawaiian music.
LAURIE ROHRER: "Traditional Hawaiian music is my teacher. It tells me the legends of the places in Hawaii. It tells me what these places mean to Hawaiian people, and so it connects me to these places and this culture."
Jake also fell in love with Hawaiian music. The rhythms that the singers use were new to him.
JAKE ROHRER: "This rich vein⁹ of cultural heritage seems to run through them, especially in families. If one guy’s got the gift, almost the whole family does."
Jake built a recording studio in their garage. The couple produced a CD with a singer named Ata.
(MUSIC)
BARBARA KLEIN: The Rohrers wanted to continue producing music, so they established their own record label. They chose the name that one of their artists had given to their home -- Ululoa.
LAURIE ROHRER: "It has many meanings, many layers of meanings. But it means abundant growth, and not just plants, but spiritual growth, creative growth, and it has come to represent exactly what happens here in people growing their music in our studio."
The Rohrers decided to invite only native singers they liked to record with them. They say they give their artists freedom of expression and cultural respect. They also give them half the profits once sales have paid back the cost of producing a CD.
There are no contracts. Jake Rohrer says everything is settled with a handshake based on the Hawaiian tradition of pono.
JAKE ROHRER: "You do the right thing with your artists, with anybody you do business with. It’s a matter of being pono and when everybody is pono with one another, lawyers aren’t needed."
(MUSIC: Hula Honeys)
STEVE EMBER: The Hula Honeys are one of the groups that the Rohrers invited to record on their label. Their CD "Girl Talk" won an award from the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts for best Hawaiian jazz album of two thousand ten.
The Hula Honeys, Robin¹⁰ Kneubuhl and Ginger¹¹ Johnson, say the couple took a chance on them.
ROBIN KNEUBUHL AND GINGER JOHNSON: "We weren't professionals in the beginning. They just took us in and we've gotten to watch not only what we have done with them but what they've done with a lot of other fabulous¹² performers and musicians here on Maui. They're great supporters.
"We're tremendously lucky to have Ululoa because they're coming from the heart. The bottom line is heart with them, and they're only recording music they really believe in. That's rare.”
BARBARA KLEIN: In Hawaiian culture, stories are passed down from generation to generation through songs. Many artists say the Rohrers are helping to save this oral tradition. But Laurie Rohrer says they are just trying to produce good music.
LAURIE ROHRER: "It cannot be said that we are doing what we do to preserve Hawaiian culture. But if by recording Hawaiian people and their music has that as an end result, we would be very happy."
Laurie and Jake Rohrer are already watching the next generation of Hawaiian singers. When the best of them are ready, they will be invited to record on the Ululoa label.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: Colm O’Riain is an Irish violinist. His wife, Pireeni Sundaralingam, is a Sri Lankan Tamil poet.
BARBARA KLEIN: Perhaps the best way to introduce this San Francisco, California, couple is to hear about the first time their parents met.
PIREENI SUNDARALINGAM: "We initially¹³ were rather concerned as how our parents would react, as we came from different religions, different backgrounds, two different parts of the planet.
"When they did meet, they found they had many stories in common, stories of colonialism, of resistance, also of poetry and literature and the music that springs out of that. My father said, 'I don’t know what you were so worried about, they’re just like our people.'"
The British declared the island of Sri Lanka a crown colony in eighteen two. That was one year after the union of Ireland with England and Scotland to form the United Kingdom. These actions, say Colm and Pireeni, led to the suppression of the Gaelic language in Ireland and the Tamil language in Sri Lanka.
COLM O’RIAIN: "If caught speaking Irish, you could be sent to jail. If caught teaching it, you could be deported¹⁴."
PIREENI SUNDARALINGAM: "Tamil language could no longer be used in law courts and schools."
STEVE EMBER: From this history comes a song and poem in Tamil, Gaelic and English called Celtic Raag.
(SOUND)
“If I could choose the language in which I spoke¹⁵ to you,
I would chose the dark, red tongue of the Tamil Lands,
The yearning¹⁶ notes, the desert drone,
The heated hum of the monsoon¹⁷ rising.
If I could choose the language in which I spoke to you,
I would choose to speak in Gaelic,
the sliding scale, the sussuration of breath,
The sound of water beating between us.”
BARBARA KLEIN: Colm and Pireeni have something else in common.
COLM O’RIAIN: "We both come from small islands surrounded by large oceans."
PIREENI SUNDARALINGAM: "I’m sure that the sounds of both Gaelic and Tamil were influenced by the fact they evolved right there beside the ocean."
COLM O’RIAIN: "And then the language affects the music and vice¹⁸ versa, the constant back and fro."
(MUSIC)
“But we lost our words
when we left our land,
when we crossed over that ocean
that tastes of tears."
COLM O’RIAIN: "Pireeni’s poetry is naturally lyrical, and the basis of all lyrical poetry is music. And I grew up in Ireland where there’s a very strong poetry movement."
SUNDARALINGAM: "It was once said that every poet lives as an exile within his own language, and to write poetry that you have to look at the world sideways on, to feel slightly at odds¹⁹ with the world, to look at things with fresh eyes."
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: Eric Whitacre is an American composer. His music is performed by choirs²⁰, including groups that perform only in cyberspace²¹. His Virtual Choir 2.0 brought together more than two thousand singers from around the world on YouTube. So where did the idea come from?
ERIC WHITACRE: "Well, it all started with this video. A young girl named Britlin Losee, who was seventeen at the time, posted to YouTube a video of herself singing the soprano part to a piece of mine called 'Sleep.'"
(SOUND: Britlin Losee)
ERIC WHITACRE: "I was just so moved by the way she was singing and the look on her face. She looked directly into the camera. And she had such a pure and sweet tone. And it struck me: I thought, God, if I can get fifty people to do this all at the same time, from around the world, post their videos and then we could cut them together, we could make a virtual choir.”
BARBARA KLEIN: Eric Whitacre experimented. He gathered singers and had them sing individually into webcams while listening to one of his pieces on headphones. Then he had someone cut the videos together. The experiment was a success. Virtual Choir 1.0 was born.
(MUSIC: "Lux Arumque"/Virtual Choir 1.0)
In last year's video, one hundred eighty-five singers from twelve countries sang Eric Whitacre’s "Lux Arumque."
STEVE EMBER: The video had almost two million views on YouTube when Eric Whitacre started on Virtual Choir 2.0. People from around the world began recording themselves on video. There were instructions like making sure their face was well-lit and dressing²² only in black.
ERIC WHITACRE: "There's this incredible leap of faith, on the part of the singer, where you’re just hoping, sort of, beyond hope, that somehow this works, right? That you’ll do your little bit for this and then months later find out, oh, OK, that I helped make this happen."
(MUSIC)
BARBARA KLEIN: Virtual Choir 2.0 features images of singers in more than two thousand videos from fifty-eight countries. Britlin Losee, the young woman whose video started it all, was more than pleased with the result uploaded in April.
BRITLIN LOSEE: "Amazing! I still can’t even explain it. What I just learned from the entire experience is that when you do something really pure out of your heart, you know, not wanting anything in return, you know, miraculous²³ things can happen."
STEVE EMBER: Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 2.0 singing "Sleep" is on YouTube. You can find a link at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also download transcripts²⁴ and MP3s of our programs and try the English teaching activities in The Classroom.
(MUSIC)
BARBARA KLEIN: Our program was written and produced by Brianna Blake, with reporting by Jan Sluizer, Lonny Shavelson and Jeff Lunden. I’m Barbara Klein.
STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 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。

2 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

3 ancestries   

n.祖先，世系( ancestry的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All patients and control ancestries were measured ABO blood type. 所有的患者和对照组个体均进行ABO血型检测。 来自互联网
• Our point here is that all ancestries have all experiences therein. 这里我们的重点是，其中所有祖先都经历了所有事件。 来自互联网

4 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

7 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

8 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。

9 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

10 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

11 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

12 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

13 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

14 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

16 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

17 monsoon   

n.季雨，季风，大雨

参考例句：

• The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
• The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。

18 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

19 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

20 choirs   

n.教堂的唱诗班( choir的名词复数 )；唱诗队；公开表演的合唱团；（教堂）唱经楼

参考例句：

• They ran the three churches to which they belonged, the clergy, the choirs and the parishioners. 她们管理着自己所属的那三家教堂、牧师、唱诗班和教区居民。 来自飘（部分）
• Since 1935, several village choirs skilled in this music have been created. 1935以来，数支熟练掌握这种音乐的乡村唱诗班相继建立起来。 来自互联网

21 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

22 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

23 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

24 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句