'It is very difficult for anybody to say no to the fame and fancies that come along.''But I was courageous and had the strength to say no.'

'We are so busy in our lives, there is never any time.'

'Everyone's going to come out on few kilos (heavier).'

'Fire and Water are the two opposing elements.''One can destroy the other.''But if they come together and create steam, the force generated can run the motor of the world.'

'What you do today defines what you are going to be tomorrow.'

'The timing of the lockdown was such that Kriti was at home after more than a month of shooting.''So we are getting good family time.'

'Prayers are magic that can help you pull through anything.'

'I'd love to do more roles. But I will only accept parts keeping in mind my image as Sita.'

'I will not take anything for granted now.'

'We don't know when things will get back to normal, even if the lockdown gets over.'

'When you're an outsider, the journey to make it to your first film is a movie by itself.''It has struggle, pain, rejection, transformation...'

'... the restaurant industry, our industry... Everyone is in the same boat.'

'The entertainment industry is on the verge of a big, big, change over the next few months and years.'

'I meet him recently.''He was his usual cheerful, boisterous, self.''You didn't even get an iota of feeling about what he had gone through or may be going through internally.'

Please Join us for our next Homegrown Concert:

2019 NEA National Heritage Fellows: Las Tesoros de San Antonio: Tejano Singers from San Antonio, TX

Beatriz "La Paloma del Norte" Llamas
Blanquita "Blanca Rosa" Rodríguez

Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Coolidge Auditorium, Ground Floor
Thomas Jefferson Building
The Library of Congress

A conversation with two NEA fellows, accompanied by music from Mariachi Esperanza: Henry Gomez (Director), virhuela, Moises Perez, trumpet, Jose Luis Vaca, violin, and Rafael Aguirre, guitarron

Las Tesoros de San Antonio are a group of elder women performers who teamed up to preserve Mexican and bicultural musical expressions through their singing and storytelling. Janet “Perla Tapatia” Cortez, Beatriz “La Paloma del Norte” Llamas, Blanquita “Blanca Rosa” Rodríguez, and Rita “La Calandria” Vidaurri each had impressive singing careers that soared both locally and internationally from the 1940s to the1960s before tapering off in later years. Through the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center in San Antonio, these women reemerged and teamed up as the group Las Tesoros in the 2000s. Although Janet “Perla Tapatia” Cortez and Rita “La Calandria” Vidaurri passed away in recent years, Llamas and Rodríguez continue to perform and maintain the legacy of the group.

All four women grew up in the West Side of San Antonio, Texas. Each singer, with her personal style and grace, forms part of this unique ensemble that represents the important sound of the Mexico/Texas border. They were all inspired by and connected to many other important Tejana singers, including the great Lydia Mendoza (1982 NEA National Heritage Fellow) and the internationally renowned Eva Garza.

Request ADA accommodations five days in advance at 202-707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov

More information is at this link!

Homegrown Concerts from the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress

Les Filles de Illighadad
Tuareg Music and Song from Niger 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019, 12:00 PM, No Tickets Required
Coolidge Auditorium, Thomas Jefferson Building

Fatou Seidi Ghali, lead vocalist and guitarist of Les Filles de Illighadad, is one of the only Tuareg female guitarists in Niger. Sneaking away with her older brother's guitar, she taught herself to play. While Fatou's role as the first female Tuareg guitarist is groundbreaking, it is just as interesting for her musical direction. In Tuareg society, woman have traditionally been musicians, but not guitarists. They have been deeply involved with tende, a form of music centered on a drum traditionally made out of a mortar and pestles. Tende rhythms also deeply informed the development of Tuareg guitar music, which is mostly the province of men. In a place where gender norms have created these two divergent musics, Fatou and Les Filles de Illighadad are reasserting the role of tende in Tuareg guitar. In lieu of the djembe or the drum kit, so popular in contemporary Tuareg rock bands, Les Filles de Illighadad incorporate the traditional drum and the pounding calabash, half buried in water. They are thus reclaiming the importance of this forgotten inspiration of Tuareg guitar and asserting the power of women to innovate using the roots of traditional Tuareg music.

Fatou Seidi Ghali, Alamnou Akirwini, Fitimata Ahmadelher, and Abdoulay Madassane Alkika are from Illighadad, a secluded commune in central Niger, far off in the scrubland deserts at the edge of the Sahara. The village is only accessible via a grueling drive through the open desert and there is little infrastructure, no electricity, and no running water. But what the nomadic zone lacks in material wealth it makes up for deep and strong identity and tradition. The surrounding countryside supports hundreds of pastoral families, living with and among their herds, as their families have done for centuries.

Visit the concert page at this link for more information.

Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov

You're receiving this email because you subscribed to the American Folklife Center's "News and Events" updates.  But did you know there other ways of keeping in touch? In addition to this list, we have the Folklife Today blog, the Folklife Today podcast, and a facebook page, with more podcast series on the way. Now that our heavy event season is slowing down, we thought we'd use the list to alert you to some of these other ways to learn about folklife and the mission of the AFC. 

Let's begin with the Folklife Today Podcast, since a new episode was released today for Halloween! Folklife Today tells stories about the cultural traditions and folklore of diverse communities, combining brand-new interviews and narration with songs, stories, music, and oral history from the collections of the Library of Congress's American Folklife Center. The new episode features scary stories for Halloween, including Jackie Torrence's "The Golden Arm," Mary Celestia Parler's "The Witch who Kept a Hotel," and Connie Regan-Blake's "Mr. Fox." The very first episode, from a year ago, featured spooky songs. In between, there was a whole year filled with audio goodies!  Find it all at the link.

Click here for the Podcast homepage.

Please join us for an afternoon symposium:

James Hogg: Scotland's Shepherd Poet
February 21, 2020 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Whittall Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

This symposium will explore the work of James Hogg, “The Ettrick Shepherd” (1770-1835), an influential Scottish song-maker, folklore collector, novelist, and poet. Inspired by Robert Burns, colleague of Walter Scott, and friend of Lord Byron, Hogg played a major role in creating and promoting Scottish culture, within Scotland and internationally.

This free event, which is open to the public, will compare his work with that of more recent American performers and collectors, who also served as intermediaries between the worlds of folk, popular, and literary culture for the first time. Speakers will explore issues around field collecting, song transmission and creation over the past three centuries. An afternoon of presentations and discussions will be capped by a performance featuring renowned singer Sheena Wellington, who has recorded and performed some of Hogg’s best known songs.

Request ADA accommodations five days in advance at 202-707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov

Find further information at the link!

L'affaire Papon reveals the dark underbelly of talent hunts on TV

Barker Library - TA439.C366 2012

A gang of non-conformists

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Power rests in the hands of a corrupt military and political oligarchy that denies people the right to self-determination, reports Hamza Hamouchene.

Kim Jong-un's headline grabbing aggressive irrationalism takes some beating (though he might have met his match in recent times...)

He puts his life on the line to protect the Democratic Republic of Congo's national parks.

In today's world if the diamond is over one carat in size it will usually come with a certificate from the laboratory specifying the inclusions, color and size. The carat itself is made of one hundred particular parts called points. While it is possible to estimate the weight of a mounted diamond, the lab uses ultrasensitive scales to achieve an exact weight, measured 3 decimal places, although the third decimal place is not usually mentioned at the retail level.

The Indian government on Tuesday released the report from a Committee that studied the impact of futures trading on agricultural commodity prices. The Committee under chairmanship of Prof. Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission was appointed on 2nd March, 2007.

Last year, India's food consumption increased almost 5 per cent considering that it had 7 plus GDP growth. India consumes more edible oil than any other country in the world. Most of the staple diet of many countries are soybeans, maize, rice, wheat etc. Many readers have complained that Rice's statement was taken out of context to sensationalize. Here is what happened.

In a recent call to Filipinos, president Arroyo said they should boil rice with sweet potatoes or they should go for cheaper cereals to avoid going hungry as rice prices soared to record levels. "This is a once-a-millennium global crisis. We have an action plan," Arroyo said, noting that residents of the central island of Cebu are already using cheap sweet potatoes to beat the crisis.

The deposit base of the private sector lender stood at Rs 11.46 trillion in Q4FY20 compared to Rs 9.23 trillion in the same period last year

Among large banks, the brokerage sees ICICI Bank's PAT declining 49 per cent QoQ to Rs 2,100 crore in Q4FY20, followed by a 68 per cent sequential decline in Axis Bank's PAT at Rs 564.6 crore.

It had reported a pre-tax profit of Rs 8,954.38 crore in the same period last financial year (Q4FY19).

Net profit for January-March was $376 million, far below than expectations

Mindtree posted a net profit of Rs 198.4 crore in the same period last year

According to analysts at ICICI Securities, the Rs 8,800 crore-exposure to the telecom sector may cast shadow over the bank's asset quality.

Analysts at MOFSL believe the Mumbai-based bank's credit cost may stay elevated led by higher slippages. Besides, asset quality could witness some pressure along with modest loan growth.

To cushion against the uncertainties arising due to the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the bank has provided for Rs 260 crore under the provisions and contigencies segment

the bank reported a 17 per cent increase in its operating profit at Rs 5,851 crore in the March quarter

The company looks to raise Rs 53,125 crore through this rights issue, which will be the first by RIL in three decades

The Pune-headquartered company reported Rs 804 crore in consolidated net profit for the March quarter (Q4FY20), a decline of 29.1 per cent on year-on-year (YoY) basis

Underwriting losses narrowed down to Rs 29.42 crore in Q4FY20, from Rs 49.70 crore a year ago