Program Descriptions
Week of January 4, 2004
Kalevala
The great national epic of Finland known as the Kalevala is a
huge tapestry of stories of love and heroism, family struggles and magical
adventures. The music it has inspired ranges from the chants of ancient
Finnish folksingers to the lush classical compositions of Sibelius. Hear
all this, plus a stirring new feminist interpretation by contemporary singer
Ruth MacKenzie, as Ellen Kushner explores the music and magic of Finland's
Kalevala.
Week of January 11, 2004
Out of Finland
Finland - a small country with a huge tradition of music and
myth. Join Ellen Kushner to discover the roots of today's
exciting Finnish music, from pagan magical chants to 19th century classical
sounds...including the Arctic people known as the Sami, whose compelling
music, called joikking, has preserved their extraordinary spirit from
the deepest past into the modern age.
Week of January 18, 2004
Out of Africa: The Spirit of Mbira
A land of many sounds and cultures, Africa is the cradle of some of the world's most spirited
and spiritual music. Beginning with the complex sound and meaning of the mbira ("thumb piano"), Ellen Kushner engages in a fascinating dialogue with Zimbabwean mbira player and religious leader Stella Chiweshe about her life, music and beliefs... We'll also hear from contemporary non-Africans whose music has been influenced by mbira, including the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Steve Tibbetts, and the Kronos Quartet.
Week of January 25, 2004
Home Cooking
Everyone has some food that reminds them of home - of childhood, family, and special moments
in the kitchen... Ellen Kushner invites you into the Sound & Spirit
kitchen for a tribute to the songs and stories of home cooking! From Romania to Lebanon, the
Caribbean to Italy, explore challah and tapioca, soup and soul food - and
maybe some of your favorite home-cooked foods.
Week of February 1, 2004
Storytelling
Around the world and through the ages, people have turned to music to tell
their stories. Whether it's an old Irish ballad of love and death that goes on
for dozens of verses, or three pithy lines from a Tex-Mex corrido
about politics on the border; an African story of family pride, or a
contemporary American tale of self-examination; there's something about the
way words and music intertwine that makes a whole greater than the sum of its
parts.
Week of February 8, 2004
My Better Half
From Edvard and Nina Grieg to Gala and Salvador Dalí, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears to Lotte Lenya and Kurt Weill, Sound & Spirit explores the intimate, extraordinary, sometimes
unusual relationships crafted by two people in love. Hear words and music by and about significant others, and sample the sweet fruits of conjugal affection and creative partnership.
Week of February 15, 2004
Breakups
Like the beginning of a relationship, the breakup of a romance is a time brimming
with possibilities and questions. Questions about the future: Who am I now? How
can I live without you? What will I do with my freedom? Will I ever love again?
Questions about the past: What was it that we had together? Is it gone now? Did I
waste those years? In this award-winningprogram, Ellen Kushner looks for answers, with the help of poets and musicians from around the world.
Week of February 22, 2004
Rumi
Scholar, poet, saint... The 13th century Persian mystic Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi (known as Rumi) gave his name to the Sufi sect called the Mevlevi, whose traditions include whirling dervishes, inspirational stories, and music of surpassing beauty. Ellen Kushner delves into the
spirit and poetry of this remarkable man, with a look at brand-new translations of his verse that are touching a chord across America, and new releases of music inspired by his life and work.
Week of February 29, 2004
The World Turned Upside Down
Around the world and through the ages there have been people and traditions that take our everyday, hum-drum reality... and turn it on its head! From the British surrender at Yorktown to Brazilian Carnival celebrations, from Victorian nonsense poetry to the Hindu Festival of Colors, people have been turning the World Upside Down for millennia, and learning something about ourselves and how we see reality. Ellen Kushner explores how we flip reality through music and story.
Week of March 7, 2004
Esther: The Feast of Masks
This Sound & Spirit program is a unique performance piece made up of story and music, written and narrated by Ellen Kushner with music recorded live in the studio! Experience the Biblical story of Esther, juxtaposed with the stories of four modern characters: Rita, a New York wife, defies her husband... Ida, a quiet schoolteacher, struggles with questions of "passing" in America... Natalie, an American diplomat in Rwanda, views a mounting tragedy and must make a difficult choice... Nate, a high school student, must stand up to his homophobic friend. With original arrangements of music ranging from African anthems to blues, folk and 50's
pop songs, performed by Ellen and three of Boston's finest musicians.
Week of March 14, 2004
Sisterhood
Sisterhood is beautiful...and complicated...and sometimes
just a little murderous! It's also a model for the deepest kind of
friendship. Ellen Kushner joins the sorority of
the Brontes, the Andrews, the McGarrigles - we'll learn from the wisdom of the
African American Delany Sisters, taste the inspired silliness of the Roches and
more - in a celebration of the inescapable intimacy of sisters.
Week of March 21, 2004
Mourning & Loss
The shock of losing someone is devastating. How do we cope
with that loss? We mourn. Ellen Kushner looks at the rituals, the language, and most of all the music that has helped people all over the world to express their loss, and to move
from hurting to healing. We'll hear a Latin Requiem and a jazz solo,
Irish keening and Gypsy flamenco, African harping and an Albanian lament, as
well as modern poetry and the stories of people who have recently survived a
difficult loss.
Week of March 28, 2004
Tricksters
This week on Sound & Spirit we'll discover why the
trickster lives to play tricks, and plays tricks to live! From male culture
heroes to prodigal daughters, Bugs Bunny to Dennis Rodman, the Native American
Coyote to the West African Spider, host Ellen Kushner explores global traditions
of the trickster. We'll hear music from Spike Jones and Richard Strauss, and
talk with storyteller Bill Harley about how trickster sneaks into our own lives
everyday!
Week of April 4, 2004
Psalms
The Book of Psalms - a hundred and fifty pieces of
beloved devotional poetry - originally in Hebrew but
now translated into practically every language on earth:
From the beginning it seems that they were created to
be sung. This week on Sound & Spirit join host Ellen
Kushner to hear how the Psalms have inspired people
around the world and through the ages - from the chanting
of monks and cantors, to the complex layerings of Mozart
and Vivaldi, to the contemporary singer-songwriters of
Africa and the Americas.
Week of April 11, 2004
Easter
The divine mysteries of Easter have been the keystone of Christian worship for centuries
- but the Easter story doesn't belong only to church. In this special Sound & Spirit
Easter presentation, host Ellen Kushner examines how the story of the Easter resurrection
and renewal is played out in music and stories around the world and through the ages,
from the plains of Hungary to the mountains of Peru...medieval mystics to Spanish
flamenco...American blues to Bulgarian chant... Join Ellen Kushner as Sound &
Spirit celebrates "The People's Passion."
Week of April 18, 2004
Borderlands
Sound & Spirit invites you to walk the Borderlands: a shared space between two worlds, a place where they meet and combine to make something new and vital. Explore the lively music and blend of traditions of the Tex/Mex border, the misty border between myth and reality where dreams are born, and the borders in our lives when we pass from one stage of life to the next. Join Ellen Kushner for life on the border on Sound & Spirit.
Week of April 25, 2004
Riddles
At the heart of humanity lies the question--Why? Ever
seeking answers, we turn this painful query into a story, a game: from the
Riddle of the Sphinx to Zen Koans, the Riddle has been a venerable way to
pursue our quest for meaning. Take a musical journey through the lore and wonder of Riddles, including English folksongs about testing wits with the Devil and African riddles designed to test our knowledge of who we are and where we come from.
Week of May 2, 2004
From Canterbury to Graceland
Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" told of a band of medieval pilgrims making their way to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Over the centuries not just poetry but reams of wonderful music were written to honor the saint. The Canterbury pilgrimages are all but ended, but people still travel long distances to the graves of persons invested with mythic power. Some say that ELVIS is the new King of American Pilgrimage! Join Ellen Kushner as she examines the evidence and plays music from the Middle Ages to Memphis!
Week of May 9, 2004
Motherhood
Mothers give life and they give music - from the lullabies they sing to
the compositions they inspire. Join Ellen Kushner for a worldwide
musical celebration of motherhood, with insights on parenting from guest
Rosalie Sorrels - including her famous "Hostile Baby-rocking Song".
Week of May 16, 2004
Childhood
This week on Sound & Spirit, it's music and musings of Childhood.
Explore "kid culture" from the playground to the classroom, as well
as adult views on childhood, from Rousseau's philosophies to
modern-day grownups looking back at their own childhoods. Literature,
fantasy and music capture the essence of what it means to be a child...
from Wordsworth to Pete Seeger, Peter Pan to Caribbean kids'
songs. Join Ellen Kushner for an hour in the world of Childhood on
Sound & Spirit.
Week of May 23, 2004
Dreams
Prophecies, solutions to pressing problems, windows to the soul... Dreams are
wellsprings of creativity, a place where our life and the shadowlands meet.
Join Ellen Kushner for a conversation with the Sandman graphic
novel author Neil Gaiman; and hear music written about or even received in
dreams by Alan Hovhaness, David Maslanka (based on work of Carl Jung) and
world artists from Hawaii to Australia.
Week of May 30, 2004
Surviving Survival
Every day we hear about survivors - survivors of horror, of domestic violence or poverty. But how do we survive our own survival? "Surviving Survival" is this week's special broadcast of Sound & Spirit, and focuses on the survivor's search for solace and purpose, and the art, music, and faith that helps them on that journey. From the Cambodian refugee experience to survivors of Auschwitz to those who've experienced the loss of a child, "Surviving Survival" celebrates the enduring human spirit in the face of human suffering and loss.
Week of June 6, 2004
Harps
How can a few strings on a triangular frame touch the soul of so many people? From Africa to France, Scotland to Peru, harps are found the world over - and beyond (dare we mention Heaven?)! Ellen Kushner explores the magic of the harp - friend to Irish bards, muse to the orchestra and biblical companion to the voice of God - and reads an excerpt from her novel Thomas the Rhymer.
Week of June 13, 2004
Cities
Cities - an endless candybox of possibility and excitement, with unexpected turns every which way, and for some, a carnival haunted house, with grotesque distortions. Join Ellen Kushner on the time-traveling A train this week as Sound & Spirit explores the heart, soul and sounds of the City, from Johannesburg to Damascus to New York's Lenox Avenue in the '30s.
Week of June 20, 2004
Fatherhood
Ellen Kushner hosts a Sound & Spirit Fathers' Day special about what our fathers mean to us. Music and poetry, myths and stories from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia combine to show what it is to have and to be a father.
Week of June 27, 2004
Romani Voices
This week on Sound & Spirit, host Ellen Kushner explores the
1,000 year-old culture of the Roma, a remarkable
people often known as the Gypsies. We'll learn about their
origins in India, be introduced to some of their cultural wisdom,
and hear from contemporary Romani poets. And we'll
hear lots of great Gypsy music: from India and Turkey, from
Macedonia and Romania, from Spain and France, and more!
Week of July 4, 2004
Outlaws
From Robin Hood and Milton's Satan, to India's Bandit Queen and Gangsta Rap, people have been fascinated by those who live by their own rules, outside the law. Join Ellen Kushner for music about outlaws from the Hungarian group Muszikas and the urban Greek tavernas; and songs about Pretty Boy Floyd, Pancho Villa and some modern outlaws of song and story.
Week of July 11, 2004
Stuff
Too much Stuff--but can't seem to get rid of it?!? Sound & Spirit explores our relationship to the objects of daily life, their emotional and spiritual pull. Ellen Kushner looks at spiritual disciplines of East and West that seek to dissolve our attachment to Stuff, explores cultures that venerate certain physical objects and holy relics, considers the personal and community spirit that goes into creating practical works of art such as quilts, and looks at what makes musical
instruments around the world appear to have a spirit all their own.
Week of July 18, 2004
Riddles
At the heart of humanity lies the question--Why? Ever
seeking answers, we turn this painful query into a story, a game: from the
Riddle of the Sphinx to Zen Koans, the Riddle has been a venerable way to
pursue our quest for meaning. Take a musical journey through the lore and wonder of Riddles, including English folksongs about testing wits with the Devil and African riddles designed to test our knowledge of who we are and where we come from.
Week of July 25, 2004
Santería
Look closely at the rich tapestry of Cuban music and everywhere
you'll find the Afro-Cuban religion known as Santería. A vibrant
tradition with deep connections to music, Santería rhythms and rituals
have popped up all over the musical map. Ellen Kushner looks at
Santería and the powerful music tied to its history and practices, from
ancient Africa to modern Cuba and beyond.
Week of August 1, 2004
Joan of Arc
What did this medieval warrior's courage, and her visions, mean? Join Ellen Kushner to explore the legend of Joan of Arc through poetry and music--from the glorious polyphonic music of Joan's own day to Richard Einhorn's multimedia interpretation of Joan's spirit, "Voices of Light".
Week of August 8, 2004
Storytelling
Around the world and through the ages, people have turned to music to tell
their stories. Whether it's an old Irish ballad of love and death that goes on
for dozens of verses, or three pithy lines from a Tex-Mex corrido
about politics on the border; an African story of family pride, or a
contemporary American tale of self-examination; there's something about the
way words and music intertwine that makes a whole greater than the sum of its
parts.
Week of August 15, 2004
Singing
Singing sustains, comforts and liberates the human spirit everywhere. A song may blossom as a communal expression or as the soul-searing journey of a solitary singer. Join Ellen Kushner -- and a vast array of voices from different times and places -- as they explore the power of singing for healing, high art and happiness.
Week of August 22, 2004
Musical Battles
It's a basic human impulse: to fight with another person to see who's the best or the bravest. But some human battles are not fought with weapons of destruction. They're fought with music. On this week's Sound & Spirit, host Ellen Kushner takes us into the world of these musical battles, from American jazz "cutting contests" to ancient Indian drumming competitions to modern Rap artists and Caribbean calypso. From the Inuit of the Arctic Circle to Beethoven and his friends, musicians just can't resist it - and neither will you!
Week of August 29, 2004
Spiritual Resistance
Ellen Kushner explores our own quiet, internal resistance, a stubborn survival skill that brings us strength to keep from going under. We'll hear how music helps to resist the oppression imposed by silence, from the cantata of a baroque nun to the cabaret music of the Warsaw Ghetto. And we'll talk with a modern Tai Chi master about how this Eastern physical and spiritual discipline teaches resistance through suppleness and yielding.
Week of September 5, 2004
Borders: the Debatable Lands
For hundreds of years on the border between Scotland and Northern England, violence was a part of everyday life - and valiant deeds were celebrated in some of the most powerful story songs in the English language. Ellen Kushner explores the unique music and traditions of the
Anglo-Scottish borderlands, and follows the way this rich and violent tradition helped shape the culture of America today.
Week of September 12, 2004
Homesickness
Join host Ellen Kushner for beautiful music that has been written around the world and through the ages to express the longing for home. Hear music from Ireland, Finland, Israel and Tibet; hear West African musicians trying to make a living abroad and singing out for a heavenly
home.
Week of September 19, 2004
Jonah
Every year on Yom Kippur, Jews read aloud the famous story of a man running from God who is swallowed by a whale. Join Ellen Kushner for a deeper look at the Book of Jonah, with the help of artists as diverse as comedian Lord Buckley and composer Alan Hovhaness, as she explores the music and meaning of the Biblical tale, and consider the implications of ignoring responsibility and one's inner voice.
Week of September 26, 2004
Ageing
Parents lose their parents and become the oldest generation...Kid
geniuses cry on their 25th birthdays...Chic young things find they need
bifocals... And music understands. Join Ellen Kushner for an excursion into
the way humans deal with ageing and the aged in words and music. Hear African
songs of respect for elders and Biblical psalms of age, a psychotherapist's
discussion of the painful reversal of roles as adults become the nurturers and
caretakers of their own ageing parents, and finish up with Mel Brooks' "The
2000 Year Old Man."
Week of October 3, 2004
Friendship
They say: "You can choose your friends, but not your family!" And so we choose friends to love us and support us, to share our closest moments and our darkest secrets. Join host Ellen Kushner for an award-winning celebration of friendship around the world and through the ages, in words and music.
Week of October 10, 2004
When Musics Meet
Whenever people meet, their separate worlds join for a while - and each can learn something from the other. Ellen Kushner explores the music that happens when cultures meet: Join her for some glorious sounds as an Afghani caravan collides with a Pakistani trader's music; Tahitians discover Christian hymns; and American jazz man Warren Senders teams up with classical musicians from India.
Week of October 17, 2004
Rome
The "Eternal City" conjures up many images - from triumphant Roman legions to the splendors of the Vatican, the pomp and power of the papacy, and the liveliness of the daily streets. Join host Ellen Kushner on an award-winning musical journey to the city of gods and popes. Whether it's early Christian chant, Palestrina's glorious choral work for the Sistine Chapel, or Respighi's magical tone poems, the Eternal City is also a city of exquisite sounds.
Week of October 24, 2004
The Devil's Trill
While some believe that the beauty of music is actually denied to the
great enemy of humankind, others credit the Devil as inspiration, or even
author of particular music. Hear diabolical pieces by Tartini, Liszt,
Robert Johnson; and consider with Ellen Kushner's guest, Dr. Elaine Pagels
(author of The Origin of Satan) if the Devil is an expression of our
fear of the evil in ourselves and others.
Week of October 31, 2004
Hope
"Hope is the thing with feathers/that perches in the soul," Emily Dickinson wrote. Ellen Kushner explores the many things that give us hope, and plays the music that keeps us going in times of deepest need. From the Greek myth of Pandora to a modern American woman's hope for children, the stories are many and varied. We'll hear from American poets and Irish singers, African bards and gospel wailers, all with the same message: "Don't lose hope. Everything's gonna be all right."
Week of November 7, 2004
To End All War
More than 80 years after the end of World War I, the stories and
images of the Great War continue to inspire and move us to a
greater understanding of our century and of ourselves. Ellen
Kushner examines the "War to End All Wars" through some of the
rich and moving poetry and music of its artists, including
English poets Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke, German novelist
Erich Maria Remarque and composer Benjamin Britten.
Week of November 14, 2004
Monkey
From Hanuman the Hindu monkey god and other divinely associated simians in Egyptian, Greek and Chinese Buddhist lore, to Taoist and Jewish fables and negative depictions of monkeys in Christian and Islamic tradition - Sound & Spirit explores the fascinating myth, legend and folklore about monkeys. Join Ellen Kushner for a look at the animal whose uncanny resemblance to humans has given rise to a wide range of stories, images and music, a range that reflects our ambivalence towards a creature so like and yet so unlike us.
Harvest Home
Food, sustenance, abundance and life - celebrate the harvest with music! Join host Ellen Kushner for harvest songs from the fields of Africa and the Georgian Caucasus to
the mountains of Ladakh and Provence; for ebullient celebrations
of Sukkot in ancient Israel and of Harvest Home in the British
Isles; and for a look at what harvests, good and bad, mean to
the faith of the American farmer.
Native Americans
Native Americans have always cherished music as one of life's great gifts. As a kind of spiritual language that unites people with nature, music holds a place of honor in every kind of Native ritual, ceremony, and celebration. Ellen Kushner explores the sacred sounds of traditional and contemporary music from Native American artists throughout the country including Kevin Locke, Ulali and Jerry Alfred.
Week of December 5, 2004
Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer Nutcracker for Chanukah, The
"The Golden Dreydl" is an award-winning family entertainment featuring the music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as interpreted by Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, with original story and narration by Ellen Kushner. Together, they have created a brand-new retelling of an old tale: Sara is a little girl with a problem: she hates the annual family Chanukah party! But when a mysterious party guest gives her the gift of a golden dreydl, Sara is catapulted into a magical world of demons and fools, sorcerers and sages.
Week of December 12, 2004
Harps
How can a few strings on a triangular frame touch the soul of so many people? From Africa to France, Scotland to Peru, harps are found the world over - and beyond (dare we mention Heaven?)! Ellen Kushner explores the magic of the harp - friend to Irish bards, muse to the orchestra and biblical companion to the voice of God - and reads an excerpt from her novel Thomas the Rhymer.
Week of December 19, 2004
Chant
A Gregorian Kyrie from a Spanish monastery...an Orthodox vespers in a Byzantine basilica...Native American song in an all-night healing ceremony... Buddhist mantra on a Tibetan hillside... There is something about the sound of the human voice raised in chant that has seized the ears and gripped the imaginations of contemporary music-lovers. But chant was not designed as background music for brunch-time stereos; it is the sound of the human soul reaching out to the divine. Join Ellen Kushner for an exploration of the sound, and the meaning of Chant around the world.
Week of December 26, 2004
A Ring of Bells
Ringing, pealing or tolling, bells strike both ears and souls. Explore the music, myth and poetry of bells with Ellen Kushner, from change-ringing in English country churches, to the singing bowls of Tibet...from the majesty of a Russian Easter, to healing services deep in the
Indonesian forests.
Week of January 2, 2005
Cities
Cities - for some, they're an endless candybox of possibility and excitement! But for others, cities can frightening and alienating. Join Ellen Kushner this week as Sound & Spirit explores the heart, soul and sounds of the City, from the thrill of making it in New York to the mysteries of ancient Damascus; the loneliness of the immigrant looking for work to the romance of a night on the town with the tango in Buenos Aires.
Next Year - 2005
