Choral music often consists of ancient music that has been performed thousands of times before.  So how does a modern choir distinguish itself?  By programming something new and local alongside standard cannon.  At least that's the formula applied by The Singers Minnesota Choral Artists.  Not only do they premier new works every season, but they develop these new compositions with the composers present at rehearsals.  

“To have the composer in the room ... everything is heightened,” says Matt Culloton, Artistic Director for The Singers.   

Music: "To The Evening Star" by Abbie Betinis; "O Come, O Come Emanuel" & "Amass" by Jocelyn Hagen
Photo Credit: The Singers MCA


Choir and Composer - The Singers MCA

According to creation stories, the Ojibwe settled in Minnesota guided by visions to migrate west until they came to a place where food grew upon the water.  That food of course was wild rice, but harvesting that rice, not to mention traveling across the great lakes to get here, required reliable water craft.  Their solution? Birch Bark Canoes.  

Three modern day canoe makers are keeping this tradition alive: Jim Jones Jr in Cass Lake and Ray and Christie Boessel in Big Fork. 

“Every part that went into building that canoe is a living piece, it came from a living item and so it’s a it’s living thing that we’re creating," says Jones.

Photo: a birch bark canoe built by Ray Boessel in Big Fork, MN

One Life to Another: Birch Bark Canoes

Jack Liebenberg graduated in 1916 with the University of Minnesota's School of Architecture. After serving in the military during World War I, Liebenberg started a firm in Minneapolis with former student Sieman Kaplan. Among their 4,000 commissions, Liebenberg Kaplan designed or remodeled more than 200 movie theaters across the midwest, including the NorShor in Duluth, the Fargo Theater in Fargo, plus the Varsity, the Uptown, and the Hollywood in Minneapolis.

Hollywood and Art Deco at the confluence of the Great Depression have been the topics of study for authors like Herbert Scherer and Allan Lathrop, who say Liebenberg's work epitomizes the architecture of the era. 

Music from "The Jazz Singer," 1927 

Liebenberg's Art Deco Theaters

From radio plays written in the 1940s to modern TV shows on BBC and CBS, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes have been reimagined across numerous media since he was first introduced in 1887 by writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Legions of fans belonging to the Baker Street Irregulars gather to dive into the Sherlockian cannon or ponder the latest adaptations.  Minnesota boasts a particularly active society of Irregulars known as the Norwegian Explorers.  The University of Minnesota also has the world’s largest collection of Sherlockian memorabilia.  The accessibility to original artifacts invites fans like the Norwegian Explorers to engage actively with the Sherlockian cannon, to consume and produce their own papers, fan-fiction, or lectures, and to engage in “The Game.” 

Photo credit: Illustration of "Mrs. Stapleton" from The Hound of the Baskervilles, courtesy of The Sherlock Holmes Collection at the Andersen Library, University of Minnesota


Minnesota Sherlockiana

Tomi St James Vaccine Testimonial

In the days following the alleged murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, cases of arson spread throughout the Twin Cities. The following weekend, concerned residents coordinated block watch and neighborhood patrol efforts to deter crime, boarding-up window and doors along busy thoroughfares. 

In the West Bank neighborhood near downtown Minneapolis, local residents, business owners and workers, alongside outside volunteers, organized their own neighborhood protection. They stood watch overnight, watching for suspicious activity, alerting each other via and giant instant messaging thread of pedestrians breaking curfew or vehicles with no license plates. 

Among the West Bank block watchers, a large contingent of Somali youth, numbering up to, at times, approximately 50 citizens, created their own checkpoints on 4th Ave and 6th Ave along Cedar Avenue. KFAI's Ryan Dawes spoke with three of these volunteers about their patrol efforts and how they identify with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Makeshift Checkpoint, Block Watch Organized by Local Somali Youth

Following the alleged murder of George Floyd and subsequent unrest, many Twin Cities residents have not been able to shop at their regular grocery stores or pharmacies. In response, FAME Hair Studio in North Minneapolis served as a distribution site for donated essentials where volunteers gave away water, diapers, food and more. KFAI's Ryan Dawes filed this report.

Northside Barbershop Distributes Donated Essentials

radio producer / music publicist / bird-watcher

RyanDawes

Popular tracks