MuseFlashes

Compiled by BONNIE WELLS

Published on July 25, 2008

MarKamusic brings Latin beats and lore to concert series finale

MarKamusic, an Amherst-based band with its roots in the heart of Latin America, performs the finale concert in the Wednesday Folk Traditions concert series at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum in Hadley July 30.

The band's sound has been described as Pan-Andean world beat music, and each member's heritage provides a piece of the cultural puzzle. There's an Ecuadorian Andean musician; a Puerto Rican Latin jazz and classical musician; a Peruvian pop musician who's an aboriginal communications scholar; a Puerto Rican multi-instrumentalist who's a political science scholar; and one who specializes in folk and salsa; and a Guatemalan/Mayan folk musician. In addition to performing the music, the band also shares the history and evolution of the music and its people.

On tap for the evening will be interpretations of ancient Andean aboriginal melodies; songs arising from the 20th-century Latin American struggle for political peace; Musica Negroide of Peru; folk-rock protest music; and favorite Caribbean and Latin American torch songs and high-energy pop tunes designed to get audiences on their feet and dancing.

The concert begins at 6:30 p.m. in the sunken garden of the museum at 130 River Road (Rte. 47) in Hadley. Picnicking on the grounds is welcome, starting at 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $2 for children 16 and under. For more information, call the museum at (413) 584-4699.

Exhibits pay tribute to Emily Dickinson

Three upcoming Amherst art exhibits pay varied tribute to the life and work of poet Emily Dickinson. First up, now through Aug. 16, the tapestries of fiber artist Susan Hess are on view in the atrium and the Special Collections Department at the Jones Library, 43 Amity St.

Hess, who hails from Georgetown, Maine, has illustrated Dickinson's words through tapestry art in her book "I'm Nobody, A Journey of Healing." Her work emphasizes the therapeutic power of the poet's language, which enabled Hess to confront her own issues of abuse and suffering. Hess is a contributor to the recently published book "Wider Than the Sky: Essays and Meditations on the Healing Power of Emily Dickinson" and is a member of the Emily Dickinson International Society.

The society and the Emily Dickinson Museum are cosponsoring a weeklong exhibition of paintings based on Dickinson's poems by Alberto Mancini, Aug. 2-10 at the Eli Marsh Gallery at Amherst College. The exhibit is planned to coincide with annual Amherst gathering of the society, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary Aug. 1-3.

While most of the society's planned activities are private, the public is welcome to view the exhibit "I'll tell You How the Sun Rose," which includes 29 of Mancini's extraordinary abstract responses to Dickinson's verse, through Aug. 10 at the gallery in Fayerweather Hall, room 105.

Though born in the United States, Mancini returned with his Italian parents to his ancestral village in Italy, between Naples and Rome, when he was 4 years old and has lived there ever since, but for a part of each year that he spends in Easthampton.

The youngest recipient of the Golden Lion Medal, the Venice Ministry of Art and Culture's highest honor, Mancini has exhibited throughout Italy, in Saudi Arabia, and in Florida and Connecticut. "I'll Tell You..." is his first Amherst show.

Dickinson's relationship to flowers - as evidenced in her poems and letters - is key to the third exhibition in her honor. "Emily Dickinson's Brighter Garden," watercolor paintings by Victoria Dickson of Amherst, opens Aug. 1, with a reception Aug. 2, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Burnett Gallery at Jones Library.

In a statement, Dickson said that the series of paintings is inspired by the flowers that grew in the conservatory, gardens and surrounding woods and meadows of the Dickinson Homestead, where Emily grew up. The collection includes watercolor evocations of familiar flowers such as snowdrops, crocus, daffodils, tulips, foxgloves and zinnias, as well as some that have been lost since Dickinson's time - such as cardinal flowers and fringed gentian.

"Emily Dickinson's Brighter Garden" will be on view through August at the gallery on the second floor of the Jones Library.

Concert to benefit Performance Project

Magdalena Gomez, Evelyn Harris and the Alchemystics want you to support the Performance Project. Gomez, an internationally acclaimed poet, playwright and performer; Harris, a gospel singer-songwriter and founding member of the a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock; and the Alchemystics, a reggae and hip-hop group, will all be performing at the organization's benefit concert, to be held at the Edwards Church this Saturday, along with four other speakers and performers.

Proceeds from the concert go to the Performance Project's youth-oriented "First Generation" project, which starts up this fall. The project explores the experiences of young people who see themselves as first generation in some way.

Julie Lichtenberg, artistic director of the project, said the term "first generation" is used loosely to refer to youth who might be the first in their families to attend college, to graduate from high school, to be openly gay, to be incarcerated - or not - to name a few examples.

The Performance Project, now in its eighth year, seeks to connect people who have been incarcerated with their communities through their involvement in theatrical productions. Through "First Generation," the Performance Project will bring together 12 young people for a year of artistic and leadership training, culminating in a performance piece. Because so much of the content of the Performance Project's productions relies on the project's participants, Lichtenberg said that the final product is guaranteed to surprise.

"When we begin something, we don't know where it's going," she said in a recent phone interview. "What people bring gets woven in."

The Performance Project's benefit concert is slated for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Edwards Church, 297 Main St. in Northampton. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the door or in advance at Food for Thought Bookstore in Amherst or Broadside Books in Northampton. For information, call 586-4960 or visit www.performanceproject.org.

- MEGAN BURBANK