In Memoriam: Ilias Kementzides, 1926-2006
By Martin Koenig
| November 12, 2006
It is with great sadness that we bring you the news of the death of Ilias Kementzides. Ilias died in his home on November 11, 2006 at the age of 80, surrounded by his children, grandchildren and close friends. In these times of few heroes and role models, Ilias certainly was one of ours. He …
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Abdoulaye Diabate and Super Manden: West African Troubadours in New York
By Tom Van Buren, Ph. D.
| July 22, 2007
An 800-Year Tradition Super Manden is a collective of musicians based in New York City, who are dedicated to the performance and teaching of the Malinke oral tradition of Central West Africa known as Jaliya. Passed from generation to generation of hereditary musicians and storytellers, this tradition forms the basis for the larger Mandinka, or Manden …
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A Bridge of Hope: Sidiki Conde
By Nadav Remez
| November 3, 2007
If you have been following the work of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD), you probably know of Sidiki Conde, the dancer from Guinea and leader of the African music and dance troupe called Tokounou. If you have seen him perform, you won’t soon forget the marvel of his dancing on his hands. What …
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Remembering Giovanni Coffarelli: High Priest of Neapolitan Music
By Anna Lomax Wood, Ph.D.
| September 1, 2010
Giovanni Coffarelli, ‘high priest of an uninterrupted tradition’ and a star in the firmament of Neapolitan music, died on August 31, 2010 at 1:15 p.m. in Somma Vesuviana, Naples, Italy, after a long illness. Giovanni was an internationally known ambassador and teacher of the folk traditions of his native region of Campania, particularly of the …
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Brian Cherwick: Dulcimer on the Prairie
By Peter Rushefsky
| October 4, 2007
As a fellow dulcimer player, I’ve been aware of Brian Cherwick for many years. He’s a multi-instrumentalist and one of the leading researchers and practitioners of the tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer) tradition of the Canadian-Ukrainian immigrants who settled the prairies of Western Canada. Holding a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology/folklore studies, Brian is used to playing the role of the ethnographer, so …
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Tamara Chernyakhovska : Encircled by Friends CTMD Master Artist Profile Interview: February 2009
By Eileen Condon, Ph.D.
| February 1, 2009
Beginnings Tamara Zaika Chernyakhovska was born just after the Second World War in southeastern Ukraine, in the city of Dnipropetrovsk, in Ukraine’s industrial center, then under Soviet rule. Tamara’s mother, Anastasiya Rubanenko, grew up in Diivka-Kodaky, the oldest part of the Katerinaslav district. In the early 1930s, as a young woman, she found work in …