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jcmarchi · 5 months ago

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Two MIT films nominated for New England Emmy Awards

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Two MIT films nominated for New England Emmy Awards

Two films produced by MIT were honored with Emmy nominations by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Boston/New England Chapter. Both “We Are the Forest” and “No Drop to Spare” illustrate international conversations the MIT community is having about the environment and climate change.

“We Are the Forest,” produced by MIT Video Productions (MVP) at MIT Open Learning, was one of six nominees in the Education/Schools category. The documentary highlights the cultural and scientific exchange of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, MIT Wind Ensemble, and MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble in the Brazilian Amazon. The excursion depicted in the film was part of the ongoing work of Frederick Harris Jr., MIT director of wind and jazz ensembles and senior lecturer in music, to combine Brazilian music and environmental research.

“No Drop to Spare,” created by the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE), was nominated in the Environment/Science and Video Essayist categories. The film, produced by John Freidah, MechE senior producer and creative lead, follows a team of researchers from the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Center working in Kenya, Morocco, and Jordan to deploy affordable, user-driven smart irrigation technology.

“We Are the Forest” tells the story of 80 MIT student musicians who traveled to Manaus, Brazil in March 2023. Together with Indigenous Brazilian musicians and activists, the students played music, created instruments with found objects from the rainforest, and connected their musical practice to nature and culture. The trip and the documentary culminated with the concert “Hearing Amazônia: Art and Resistance.”

“We have an amazing team who are excited to tell the stories of so many great things that happen at MIT,” says Clayton Hainsworth, director for MVP. “It’s a true pleasure when we get to partner with the Institute’s community on these video projects — from Fred [Harris], with his desire for outreach of the music curriculum, giving students new perspectives and getting beyond the lab; to students getting to experience the world and seeing how that affects their next steps as they go out and make an impact.”

The documentary was produced by Hainsworth, directed by Jean Dunoyer, staff editor at MVP, and filmed by Myles Lowery, field production videographer at MVP. Hainsworth credits Dunoyer with refining the story’s main themes: the universality of music as a common human language, and the ways that Indigenous communities can teach and inform the rest of the globe about the environment and the challenges we are all facing.

“The film highlights the reach of how MIT touches the world and, more importantly, how the world touches MIT,” says Hainsworth, adding that the work was generously supported by A. Neil Pappalardo ’64 and Jane Pappalardo.

“No Drop to Spare” evoked a similar sentiment from Freidah. “What I liked about this story was the potential for great impact,” says Freidah, discussing the MechE film’s production process. “It was global, it was being piloted in three different places in the world, with three different end users, and had three different applications. You sort of go in with an idea in mind of what the story might be, then things bubble up. In this story, as with so many stories, what rose to the top was the students and the impact they were having on the real world and end users.”

Freidah has worked with Amos Winter SM ’05, PhD ’11, associate professor of mechanical engineering and MIT GEAR Center principal investigator, to highlight other impact global projects in the past, including producing a video in 2016. That film, “Water is Life,” explores the development of low-cost desalination systems in India.

While the phrase “it’s an honor to be nominated” might seem cliched, it remains often used because the sentiment almost always rings true. Although neither film triumphed at this year’s awards ceremony, Freidah says there’s much to be celebrated in the final product.

“Seeing the effect this piece had, and how it highlighted our students, that’s the success story — but it’s always nice also to receive recognition from outside.”

The 47th Boston/New England Emmy Awards Ceremony took place on June 8 at the Marriott Boston Copley Place. A list of nominees and winners can be found on the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Boston/New England Chapter website.

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overlanderafrica999 · 1 year ago

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davidomusicnaijavibe · 2 years ago

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Popular music Genres

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This is a listing of some of the world's popular music genre and their own definitions.

African People - Music kept to be typical on the nation or cultural group, known to just about all segments of it's society, and rescued usually by verbal tradition.

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Afro jazz - Refers to jazz music which has ended up heavily influenced just by African music. That music took portions of marabi, swing together with American jazz and additionally synthesized this to a unique fusion. The main band to really accomplish that synthesis was that South African group of musicians Jazz Maniacs.

Afro-beat - Is a blend of Yoruba music, jazz, Highlife, and funk rhythms, fused using African percussion in addition to vocal styles, popularized in Africa inside 1970s.

Afro-Pop : Afropop or Afro Pop is a words sometimes used to consult contemporary African take music. The term fails to refer to a specific trend or sound, nevertheless is used as a standard term to describe Camera popular music.

Apala - Originally produced the Yoruba most people of Nigeria. It can be a percussion-based style that will developed in the missed 1930s, when it was eventually used to wake worshippers after fasting in the Islamic holy 30 days of Ramadan.

Assiko - is a well-known dance from the Southern of Cameroon. This band is usually influenced by a singer followed with a guitar, and then a percussionnist playing this pulsating rhythm with Assiko with sheet metal knives and forks on an empty product.

Batuque - can be a music and move genre from Cape Verde.

Bend Skin color - is a types of urban Cameroonian preferred music. Kouchoum Mbada is the most well-known group associated with the sort.

Benga - Can be a musical genre involving Kenyan popular new music. It evolved relating to the late 1940s along with late 1960s, with Kenya's capital town of Nairobi.

Biguine - is a type of music that came from Martinique in the nineteenth century. By pairing the traditional bele beats with the polka, your black musicians associated with Martinique created a biguine, which consists three distinct designs, the biguine de salon, the biguine de bal along with the biguines de repent.

Bikutsi - is mostly a musical genre with Cameroon. It produced from the traditional brands of the Beti, and Ewondo, people, which live around the location of Yaounde.

Bongo Flava - there are a mix of rap, hiphop, and R&B for beginners but these brands don't do it rights. It's rap, reggae and R&B Tanzanian style: a big shedding pot of preferences, history, culture together with identity.

Cadence -- is a particular number of intervals or chords that ends some sort of phrase, section, and also piece of music.

Calypso - is a form of Afro-Caribbean music which often originated in Trinidad with about the start of the twentieth century. The beginnings of the genre set in the arrival from African slaves, that, not being permitted to speak with each other, conveyed through song.

Chaabi - is a famous music of Morocco, very similar to the Algerian Rai.

Chimurenga : is a Zimbabwean widely used music genre coined by and popularised by Thomas Mapfumo. Chimurenga is a Shona language word with regard to struggle.

Chouval Bwa - features percussion, bamboo flute, accordion, and wax-paper/comb-type kazoo. The music has come from among rural Martinicans.

Christian Rap -- is a form of rep which uses Religious themes to express that songwriter's faith.

Coladeira - is a version of music in Cape Verde. Its issue ascends to funacola which is a mixture of funanáa and coladera. Well-known coladera musicians comes with Antoninho Travadinha.

Current Christian - can be described as genre of well-known music which is lyrically focused on matters occupied with the Christian confidence.

Country - is often a blend of popular musical technology forms originally obtained in the Southern Nation and the Appalachian Mountain tops. It has roots within traditional folk audio, Celtic music, blues, gospel music, hokum, and old-time popular music and evolved immediately in the 1920s.

Move Hall - can be a type of Jamaican preferred music which engineered in the late 1970s, with exponents which include Yellowman and Shabba Ranks. It is also termed bashment. The form is characterized by some deejay singing and additionally toasting (or rapping) over raw in addition to danceable music riddims.

Disco - is mostly a genre of dance-oriented pop music that's popularized in show up clubs in the mid-1970s.

Folk - with the most basic sense in the term, is new music by and for any common people.

Freestyle - is a type of electronic music that's heavily influenced as a result of Latin American traditions.

Fuji - can be described as popular Nigerian play genre. It came into being from the improvisation Ajisari/were music tradition, the industry kind of Muslim beats performed to wake up believers before start during the Ramadan going on a fast season.

Funana : is a mixed Colonial and African audio and dance because of Santiago, Cape Verde. It is said that the reduced part of the body move is African, and also the upper part Colonial.

Funk - can be an American musical fashion that originated in this mid- to late-1960s when African American artists blended soul popular music, soul jazz along with R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new variety of music.

Gangsta gangster rap - is a subgenre of hip-hop new music which developed through the late 1980s. 'Gangsta' is a variation relating to the spelling of 'gangster'. After the popularity with Dr . Dre's Your Chronic in 1992, gangsta rap grew to be the most commercially financially rewarding subgenre of hip-hop.

Genge - is often a genre of rap music that possessed its beginnings around Nairobi, Kenya. A name was coined and popularized simply by Kenyan rapper Nonini who started off for Calif Records. This is the style that comes with hip hop, dancehall together with traditional African beats styles. It is regularly sung in Sheng(slung), Swahili or nearby dialects.

Gnawa -- is a mixture of Africa, Berber, and Persia religious songs and additionally rhythms. It unites music and acrobatic dancing. The audio is both your prayer and a gathering of life.

Gospel - is a music genre characterized by prominent vocals (often by means of strong use of harmony) referencing lyrics of an religious nature, really Christian.

Highlife : is a musical category that originated in Ghana and spread to help Sierra Leone in addition to Nigeria in the 1920s and other West Photography equipment countries.

Hip-Hop -- is a style of famous music, typically including a rhythmic, rhyming vocal style termed rapping (also identified as emceeing) over backing up beats and uncovering performed on a turntable by a DJ.

Property - is a type electronic dance popular music that was developed by creep club DJs inside Chicago in the ahead of time to mid-1980s. Dwelling music is highly influenced by aspects the late 1970s soul- and funk-infused dance music variety of disco.

Indie : is a term useful to describe genres, views, subcultures, styles and also other cultural attributes with music, characterized by ones own independence from serious commercial record product labels and their autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to taking and publishing.

A key component - An a key component is, in contrast to a good song, a audio composition or producing without lyrics or even any other sort of oral music; all of the new music is produced by musical technology instruments.

Isicathamiya -- is an a cappella singing style which originated from the Southern area African Zulus.

Jazz - is an primary American musical talent which originated in the beginning of the 20th millennium in African American towns in the Southern United states of america out of a confluence of African along with European music cultures.

Jit - can be a style of popular Zimbabwean dance music. The idea features a swift habit played on percussion and accompanied by a nylon string guitar.

Juju - is mostly a style of Nigerian widely used music, derived from standard Yoruba percussion. That evolved in the 1920s in urban irons across the countries. The pioneer jùjú recordings have been by Tunde Queen and Ojoge Daniel from the 1920s.

Kizomba - is one of the most favored genres of transfer and music coming from Angola. Sung typically in Portuguese, it can be a genre of beats with a romantic move mixed with African tempo.

Kwaito - can be described as music genre this emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa within the early 1990s. It can be based on house audio beats, but generally at a slower beat and containing melodic and percussive Cameras samples which are looped, deep basslines and frequently vocals, generally men, shouted or chanted rather than sung or simply rapped.

Kwela : is a happy, quite often pennywhistle based, streets music from northern Africa with jazzy underpinnings. It improved from the marabi tone and brought Towards the south African music to help you international prominence inside the 1950s.

Lingala -- Soukous (also named Soukous or Congo, and previously since African rumba) is often a musical genre of which originated in the two adjoining countries of Belgian Congo and The language Congo during the 1930s and early 1940s

Makossa - can be a type of music that's most popular in cities in Cameroon. It's similar to soukous, with the exception it includes strong bass sound rhythm and a well known horn section. The application originated from a type of Duala dance called kossa, with significant has impact on from jazz, ambasse bey, Latin popular music, highlife and rumba.

Malouf - an music imported so that you can Tunisia from Andalusia after the Spanish conquest in the 15th one hundred year.

Mapouka - additionally known under the identity of Macouka, is mostly a traditional dance in the south-east of the Pale yellow Coast in the area involving Dabou, sometimes implemented during religious events.

Maringa - can be described as West African play genre. It advanced among the Kru persons of Sierra Leone and Liberia, whom used Portuguese instruments brought by ocean adventurers, combining local songs and rhythms along with Trinidadian calypso.

Marrabenta - is a model of Mozambican dance new music. It was developed within Maputo, the capital area of Mozambique, earlier known as Laurenco Marques.

Mazurka - is a Gloss folk dance around triple meter which includes a lively tempo, that contain a heavy accent in the third or minute beat. It is always seen to have either a triplet, trill, dotted 8th note pair, and ordinary eighth take note pair before a few quarter notes.

Mbalax - is the domestic popular dance beats of Senegal. Sanctioned fusion of well-known dance musics with the West such as jazz, soul, Latin, together with rock blended by using sabar, the traditional drumming and dance audio of Senegal.

Mbaqanga - is a type of South African popular music with rural Zulu roots that is constantly on the influence musicians around the globe today. The type was originated in earlier 1960s.

Mbube : is a form of To the south African vocal new music, made famous by way of the South African set Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The word mbube suggests "lion" in Zulu

Merengue - is often a type of lively, pleased music and move that comes from your Dominican Republic

Morna - is a type of Cape Verdean music, related to Colonial fado, Brazilian modinha, Argentinian tango, and additionally Angolan lament.

Museve - is a preferred Zimbabwe music variety. Artists include Simon Chimbetu and Alick Macheso

Oldies -- term commonly used to explain a radio framework that usually concentrates on Prime 40 music through the '50s, '60s in addition to '70s. Oldies can even be from R&B, soda and rock beats genres.

Pop : is an ample along with imprecise category of current music not classified by artistic issues to consider but by her potential audience and also prospective market.

Quadrille - is a old dance performed by way of four couples within a square formation, some sort of precursor to classic square dancing. It is additionally a style of audio.

R&B - can be a popular music sort combining jazz, gospel, and blues impacts, first performed just by African American artists.

Rai - is a version of folk music, started in Oran, Algeria out of Bedouin shepherds, blended with Spanish, French, Camera and Arabic music forms, which goes back to the 1930s and has now been primarily grown by women inside culture.

Ragga -- is a sub-genre associated with dancehall music or even reggae, in which the instrumentation primarily consists of electronic digital music; sampling regularly serves a leading role in raggamuffin music as well.

Rep - is the rhythmic singing delivery from rhymes and wordplay, one of the elements of hiphop music and lifestyle.

Rara - is mostly a form of festival popular music used for street processions, typically during Easter Week.

Reggae : is a music category first developed inside Jamaica in the tardy 1960s. A particular new music style that all began following on the progress of ska together with rocksteady. Reggae is dependent on a rhythm trend characterized by regular chops on the off-beat, called the skank.

Reggaeton - is a type of urban music which unfortunately became popular with Latina American youth over the early 1990s. While it began with Panama, Reggaeton combines Jamaican music showing of reggae and additionally dancehall with people of Latin The united states, such as bomba, plena, merengue, and bachata as well as that of reggae and Electronica.

Small gravel - is a variety of popular music which has a prominent vocal beat accompanied by guitar, percussion, and bass. Several styles of rock beats also use keys instruments such as body, piano, synthesizers.

Rumba - is a category of music rhythms in addition to dance styles that will originated in Africa along with were introduced to be able to Cuba and the " new world " by African slaves.

Salegy - can be described as popular type of Afropop styles exported with Madagascar. This Sub-Saharan African folk audio dance originated along with the Malagasy language with Madagascar, Southern Photography equipment.

Salsa - is often a diverse and mainly Spanish Caribbean type that is popular all over Latin America together with among Latinos in foreign countries.

Samba - is among the most most popular forms of popular music in Brazil. It happens to be widely viewed as Brazil's national musical form.

Sega - is really an evolved combination of conventional Music of Seychelles, Mauritian and Réunionnais music with Western european dance music enjoy polka and quadrilles.

Seggae - can be a music genre devised in the mid 1980s by the Mauritian Rasta singer, Joseph Reginald Topize who was from time to time known as Kaya, after having a song title as a result of Bob Marley. Seggae is a fusion involving sega from the tropical island country, Mauritius, and additionally reggae.

Semba -- is a traditional version of music from the Southern-African country of Angola. Semba is the precursor to a variety of new music styles originated from Cameras, of which three of the very famous are Samba (from Brazil), Kizomba (Angolan style of beats derived directly because of Zouk music) in addition to Kuduro (or Kuduru, energetic, fast-paced Angolan Techno music, to speak).

Shona New music - is the audio of the Shona families of Zimbabwe. There are plenty of different types of traditional Shona music including mbira, singing, hosho along with drumming. Very often, the following music will be in conjunction with dancing, and response by the audience.

Ska - is a popular music genre that arose in Jamaica in the later part of the 1950s and has been a precursor to help rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined factors of Caribbean mento together with calypso with North american jazz and cycle and blues.

Impede Jam - is normally a song with the R&B-influenced melody. Poor jams are commonly R&B ballads or just downtempo songs. The term is usually most commonly reserved meant for soft-sounding songs using heavily emotional or simply romantic lyrical subject material.

Soca - is mostly a form of dance new music that originated in Trinidad from calypso. This combines the melodic lilting sound associated with calypso with insistent (usually electronic with recent music) percussion.

Soukous - can be described as musical genre which originated in the two adjoining countries of Belgian Congo and The french language Congo during the 1930s and early 1940s, and which has accomplished popularity throughout The african continent.

Soul - is often a music genre this combines rhythm and additionally blues and gospel music, originating in the country.

Taarab - can be a music genre famous in Tanzania. It truly is influenced by beats from the cultures using a historical presence within East Africa, which include music from Eastern Asia, Sub-Saharan Photography equipment, North Africa, the center East and The eu. Taarab rose to help you prominence in 1928 with the rise with the genre's first legend, Siti binti Saad.

Tango - is mostly a style of music of which originated among Eu immigrant populations from Argentina and Uruguay. It is traditionally played out by a sextet, termed the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, doublebass, in addition to two bandoneons.

Waka - is a widely used Islamic-oriented Yoruba audio genre. It was pioneered and made well-known by Alhaja Batile Alake from Ijebu, who took a genre into the well-known Nigerian music simply by playing it in concerts and people; also, she had been the first waka performer to record a great album.

Wassoulou : is a genre with West African preferred music, named following your region of Wassoulou. It is performed primarily by women, applying lyrics that home address women's issues concerning childbearing, fertility along with polygamy.

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chiseler · 3 years ago

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The Mysterious Death of a Hollywood Director

This is the tale of a very famous Hollywood mogul and a not-so-famous movie director. In May of 1933 they embarked together on a hunting trip to Canada, but only one of them came back alive. It’s an unusual tale with an uncertain ending, and to the best of my knowledge it’s never been told before.

I. The Mogul

When we consider the factors that enabled the Hollywood studio system to work as well as it did during its peak years, circa 1920 to 1950, we begin with the moguls, those larger-than-life studio chieftains who were the true stars on their respective lots. They were tough, shrewd, vital, and hard working men. Most were Jewish, first- or second-generation immigrants from Europe or Russia; physically on the small side but nonetheless formidable and – no small thing – adaptable. Despite constant evolution in popular culture, technology, and political and economic conditions in their industry and the outside world, most of the moguls who made their way to the top during the silent era held onto their power and wielded it for decades. Their names are still familiar: Zukor, Goldwyn, Mayer, Jack Warner and his brothers, and a few more. And of course, Darryl F. Zanuck. In many ways Zanuck personified the common image of the Hollywood mogul. He was an energetic, cigar-chewing, polo mallet-swinging bantam of a man, largely self-educated, with a keen aptitude for screen storytelling and a well-honed sense of what the public wanted to see. Like Charlie Chaplin he was widely assumed to be Jewish, and also like Chaplin he was not, but in every other respect Zanuck was the very embodiment of the dynamic, supremely confident Hollywood showman.

In the mid-1920s he got a job as a screenwriter at Warner Brothers, at a time when that studio was still something of a podunk operation. The young man succeeded on a grand scale, and was head of production before he was 30 years old. Ironically, the classic Warners house style, i.e. clipped, topical, and earthy, often dark and sometimes grimly funny, as in such iconic films as The Public Enemy, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, and 42nd Street, was established not by Jack, Harry, Sam, or Albert Warner, but by Darryl Zanuck, who was the driving force behind those hits and many others from the crucial early talkie period. He played a key role in launching the gangster cycle and a new wave of sassy show biz musicals. At some point during 1932-33, however, Zanuck realized he would never rise above his status as Jack Warner’s right-hand man and run the studio, no matter how successful his projects proved to be, because of two insurmountable obstacles: 1) his name was not Warner, and 2) he was a Gentile. Therefore, in order to achieve complete autonomy, Zanuck concluded that he would have to start his own company.

In mid-April of 1933 he picked a public fight with Jack Warner over a staff salary issue, then abruptly resigned. Next, he turned his attention to setting up a company in partnership with veteran producer Joseph Schenck, who was able to raise sufficient funds to launch the new concern. And then, Zanuck invited several associates from Warner Brothers to accompany him on an extended hunting trip in Canada.

Going into the wilderness and killing wild game, a pastime many Americans still regard as a routine, unremarkable form of recreation, is also of course a conspicuous show of machismo. But in this realm, as with his legendary libido, Zanuck was in a class by himself. He had been an enthusiastic hunter most of his life, dating back to his boyhood in Nebraska. Once he became a big wheel at Warners in the late ’20s he took to organizing high-style duck-hunting expeditions: the young executive and his fellow sportsmen would travel to the appointed location in private railroad cars, staffed by uniformed servants. Heavy drinking on these occasions was not uncommon. (Inevitably, film buffs will recall The Ale & Quail Club from Preston Sturges’ classic comedy The Palm Beach Story, but DFZ and his pals were not cute old character actors, and their bullets were quite real.) Members of Zanuck’s studio entourage were given to understand that participation in these outings was de rigueur if they valued their positions, and expected desirable assignments in the future. Director Michael Curtiz, who had no fondness for hunting, remembered the trips with distaste, and recalled that on one occasion he was nearly shot by a casting director who had no idea how to properly handle a gun.

But ducks were just the beginning. In 1927 Zanuck took his wife Virginia on an African safari. In Kenya Darryl bagged a rhinoceros and posed for a photo with his wife, crouched beside the rhino’s carcass. Virginia, an erstwhile Mack Sennett bathing beauty and former leading lady to Buster Keaton, appears shaken. Her husband looks exhilarated. During this safari Zanuck also killed an elephant. He kept the animal’s four feet in his office on the Warners lot, and used them as ashtrays. If any animal lover dared to express dismay, the Hollywood sportsman would retort: “It was him or me, wasn’t it?” Zanuck made several forays to Canada with his coterie in this period, gunning for grizzly bears. Director William “Wild Bill” Wellman, who was more of an outdoorsman than Curtiz, once went along, but soon became irritated with Zanuck’s bullying. The two men got into a drunken fistfight the night before the hunting had even begun. In the course of the ensuing trip the hunting party was snowbound for three days; Zanuck sprained his ankle while trailing a grizzly; the horse carrying medical supplies vanished; and Wellman got food poisoning. “It was the damnedest trip I’ve ever seen,” the director said later, “but Zanuck loved it.”

Now that Zanuck had severed his ties with the Warner clan and was on the verge of a new professional adventure, a trip to Canada with a few trusted associates would be just the ticket. This time the destination would be a hunting ground on the banks of the Canoe River, a tributary of the Columbia River, 102 miles north of Revelstoke, British Columbia, a city about 400 miles east of Vancouver. There, in a remote scenic area far from any paved roads, telephones, or other niceties of modern life, the men could discuss Zanuck’s new production company and, presumably, their own potential roles in it. Present on the expedition were screenwriter Sam Engel, director Ray Enright, 42nd Street director Lloyd Bacon, producer (and former silent film comedian) Raymond Griffith, and director John G. Adolfi, best known at the time for his work with English actor George Arliss. Adolfi, who was around 50 years old and seemingly in good health, would not return.

II. The Director

Even dedicated film buffs may draw a blank when the name John Adolfi is mentioned. Although he directed more than eighty films over a twenty-year period beginning in 1913, most of those films are now lost. He worked in every genre, with top stars, and made a successful transition from silent cinema to talkies. He seems to have been a well-respected but self-effacing man, seldom profiled in the press.

According to his tombstone Adolfi was born in New York City in 1881, but the exact date of his birth is one of several mysteries about his life. His father, Gustav Adolfi, was a popular stage comedian and singer who emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1879. Gustav performed primarily in New York and Philadelphia, and was known for such roles as Frosch the Jailer in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. But he was a troubled man, said to be a compulsive gambler, and after his wife Jennie died (possibly of scarlet fever) it appears his life fell apart. Gustav’s singing voice gave out, and then he died suddenly in Philadelphia in October 1890, leaving John and his siblings orphaned. (An obituary in the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent reported that Gustav suffered a stroke, but family legend suggests he may have committed suicide.) After a difficult period John followed in his father’s footsteps and launched a stage career, and was soon working opposite such luminaries of the day as Ethel Barrymore and Dustin Farnum. Early in the new century the young actor wed Pennsylvania native Florence Crawford; the marriage would last until his death.

When the cinema was still in its infancy stage performers tended to regard movie work as slumming, but for whatever reason John Adolfi took the plunge. He made his debut before the cameras around 1907, probably at the Vitagraph Studio in Brooklyn. There he appeared as Tybalt in J. Stuart Blackton’s 1908 Romeo and Juliet , with Paul Panzer and Florence Lawrence in the title roles. He worked at the Edison Studio for director Edwin S. Porter, and at Biograph in a 1908 short called The Kentuckian which also featured two other stage veterans, D.W. Griffith and Mack Sennett. Most of Adolfi’s work as a screen actor was for the Éclair Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the first film capital. The bulk of this company’s output was destroyed in a vault fire, but a 1912 adaptation of Robin Hood in which Adolfi appeared survives. That same year he also appeared in a famous docu-drama, as we would call it, Saved from the Titanic. This ten-minute short premiered less than a month after the Titanic disaster, and featured actress Dorothy Gibson, who actually survived the voyage, re-enacting her experience while wearing the same clothes she wore in the lifeboat. (This film, unfortunately, is among the missing.) After appearing in dozens of movies Adolfi moved behind the camera.

Much of his early work as a director was for a Los Angeles-based studio called Majestic, where he made crime dramas, Westerns, and comedies, films with titles like Texas Bill’s Last Ride and The Stolen Radium. In 1914 the company had a new supervisor: D. W. Griffith, now the top director in the business, who had just departed Biograph. Adolfi was one of the few Majestic staff directors who kept his job under the new regime. A profile in the February 1915 issue of Photoplay describes him as “a tallish, good-looking man, well-knit and vigorous, dark-haired and determined; his mouth and chin suggest that their owner expects (and intends) to have his own way unless he is convinced that the other fellow’s is better.” It was also reported that Adolfi had developed something of a following as an actor, but that he dropped out of the public eye when he became a director. Presumably, that’s what he wanted.

Adolfi left Majestic after three years, worked at Fox Films for a time as a staff director, then freelanced. During the remainder of the silent era he guided some of the screen’s legendary leading ladies: Annette Kellerman (Queen of the Sea, 1918), Marion Davies (The Burden of Proof, 1918), Mae Marsh (The Little ‘Fraid Lady, 1920), Betty Blythe (The Darling of the Rich, 1922), and Clara Bow (The Scarlet West, 1925). Not one of these films survives. A profile published in the New York World-Telegram during his stint at Fox reported that Adolfi was well-liked by his employees. He was “reticent when the conversation turned toward himself, but frank and outspoken when it concerned his work. Mr. Adolfi is not only a director who is skilled in the technique of his craft; he is also a deep student of human nature.” Asked how he felt about the cinema’s potential, he replied, with unconscious irony, “it is bound to live forever.”

III. The Talkies

In spring of 1927 Adolfi was offered a job at Warner Brothers. His debut feature for the studio What Happened to Father? (now lost) was a success, or enough of one anyway to secure him a professional foothold, and he worked primarily at WB thereafter. Thus he was fortuitously well-positioned for the talkie revolution, for although talking pictures were not invented at the studio it was Sam Warner and his brothers, more than anyone else, who sold an initially skeptical public on the new medium. After Adolfi had proven himself with three talkie features Darryl Zanuck handed him an expensive, prestige assignment, a lavish all-star revue entitled The Show of Shows which featured every Warners star from John Barrymore to Rin-Tin-Tin.

Other important assignments followed. In March of 1930 a crime melodrama called Penny Arcade opened on Broadway. It was not a success, but when Al Jolson saw it he sensed that the story had screen potential. He purchased the film rights at a bargain rate and then re-sold the property to his home studio, Warner Brothers. Adolfi was chosen to direct, but was doubtless surprised to learn that Jolson had insisted that two of the actors from the Broadway production repeat their performances before the cameras. One of the pair, Joan Blondell, had already appeared in three Vitaphone shorts to good effect, but the other, James Cagney, had never acted in a movie. Any doubts about Jolson’s instincts were quickly dispelled. Rushes of the first scenes featuring the newcomers so impressed studio brass that both were signed to five-year contracts. While Adolfi can’t be credited with discovering the duo, the film itself, re-christened Sinners’ Holiday,remains his strongest surviving claim to fame: he guided Jimmy Cagney’s screen debut.

At this point the director formed a professional relationship that would shape the rest of his career. George Arliss was a veteran stage actor who went into the movies and unexpectedly became a top box office draw. He was, frankly, an unlikely candidate for screen stardom. Already past sixty when talkies arrived, Arliss was a short, dignified man who resembled a benevolent gargoyle. But he was also a journeyman actor, a seasoned professional who knew how to command attention with a sudden sharp word or a raised eyebrow. Like Helen Hayes he was valued in Hollywood as a performer of unblemished reputation who lent the raffish film industry a touch of Class, in every sense of the word.

In 1929 Arliss appeared in a talkie version of Disraeli, a role he had played many times on stage, and became the first Englishman to take home an Academy Award for Best Actor. Thereafter he was known for stately portrayals of History’s Great Men, such as Voltaire and Alexander Hamilton, as well as fictional kings, cardinals, and other official personages. The old gentleman formed a close alliance with Darryl Zanuck, whom he admired, and was in turn granted privileges highly unusual for any actor at the time. Arliss had final approval of his scripts and authority over casting. He was also granted the right to rehearse his selected actors for two weeks before filming began. All that was left for the film’s director to do, it would seem, would be to faithfully record what his star wanted. Not many directors would accept this arrangement, but John Adolfi, who according to Photoplay “was determined to have his own way unless he is convinced that the other fellow’s is better,” clearly had no problem with it. His first film with Arliss was The Millionaire, released in May 1931; and in the two years that followed Adolfi directed eight more features, six of which were Arliss vehicles. He had found his niche in Hollywood.

One of Adolfi’s last jobs sans Arliss was a B-picture called Central Park, which reunited the director with Joan Blondell. It’s a snappy, topical, crazy quilt of a movie that packs a lot of incident into a 58-minute running time. Central Park was something of a sleeper that earned its director positive critical notices, and must have afforded him a lively holiday from those polite period pieces for the exacting Mr. Arliss.

In spring of 1933, after completing work on the Arliss vehicle Voltaire, Adolfi accompanied Darryl Zanuck and his entourage to British Columbia to hunt bears. Arliss intended to follow Zanuck to his new company, while Adolfi in turn surely expected to follow the star and continue their collaboration. Things didn’t work out that way.

IV. The Hunting Trip

It’s unclear how long the men were hunting before tragedy struck. On Sunday, May 14th, newspapers reported that film director John G. Adolfi had died the previous week – either on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on which paper one consults – at a hunting camp near the Canoe River. All accounts give the cause of death as a cerebral hemorrhage. According to the New York Herald-Tribune the news was conveyed in a long-distance phone call from Darryl Zanuck to screenwriter Lucien Hubbard in Los Angeles. Hubbard subsequently informed the press. The N.Y. Times reported that the entire hunting party (Zanuck, Engel, Enright, Bacon, and Griffith) accompanied Adolfi’s remains in a motorboat down the Columbia River to Revelstoke. From there the body was sent to Vancouver, B.C., where it was cremated. Write-ups of Adolfi’s career were brief, and tended to emphasize his work with George Arliss, though his recent success Central Park was widely noted. John’s widow Florence was mentioned in the Philadelphia City News obituary but otherwise seems to have been ignored; the couple had no children.

V. The Aftermath

Darryl F. Zanuck went on to found Twentieth Century Pictures, a name suggested by his hunting companion Sam Engel. One of the company’s biggest hits in its first year of operation was The House of Rothschild, starring George Arliss and directed by Alfred Werker. The venerable actor returned to England not long afterwards and retired from filmmaking in 1937. In his second book of memoirs, published three years later, Arliss devotes several pages of warm praise to Zanuck, but refers only fleetingly to the man who directed seven of his films, John Adolfi, and misspells his name.

In 1935 Zanuck merged his Twentieth Century Pictures with Fox Films, and created one of the most successful companies in Hollywood history. He would go on to produce many award-winning classics, including The Grapes of Wrath, Laura, and All About Eve. Zanuck’s trusted associates at Twentieth-Century Fox in the company’s best years included Sam Engel, Raymond Griffith, and Lloyd Bacon, all survivors of the Revelstoke trip. Personal difficulties and vast changes in the film industry began to affect Zanuck’s career in the 1950s. He left the U.S. for Europe but continued to make films, and sporadically managed to exercise control over the company he founded. He died in 1979.

In 1984 a onetime screenwriter and film critic named Leonard Mosley, who had known Zanuck slightly, published a biography entitled Zanuck: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Last Tycoon. Aside from his movie reviews most of Mosley’s published work concerned military matters, specifically pertaining to the Second War World. His Zanuck bio reveals a grasp of film history that is shaky at times, for the book has a number of obvious errors. Nevertheless, it was written with the cooperation of Darryl’s son Richard, his widow Virginia, and many of the mogul’s close associates, so whatever its errors in chronology or studio data the anecdotes concerning Zanuck’s personal and professional activities are unquestionably well-sourced.

When Mosley’s narrative reaches May 1933, the point when Zanuck is on the verge of founding his new company, we’re told that he and several associates decided to go on a hunting trip to Alaska. The location is not correct, but chronologically – and in one other, unmistakable respect – there can be no doubt that this refers to the Revelstoke trip. From Mosley’s book:

“There is a mystery about this trip, and no perusal of Zanuck’s papers or those of his former associates seems to elucidate it,” he writes. “Something happened that changed his whole attitude towards hunting. All that can be gathered from the thin stories that are still gossiped around was that the hunting party went on the track of a polar bear somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness [sic], and when the vital moment came it was Zanuck who stepped out to shoot down the charging, furious animal. His bullet, it is said, found its mark all right, but it did not kill. The polar bear came on, and Zanuck stood his ground, pumping away with his rifle. Only this time it was not ‘him or me,’ but ‘him’ and someone else. The wounded and enraged bear, still alive and still charging, swerved around Zanuck and swiped with his great paw at one of the men standing behind him – and only after it had killed this other man did it fall at last into the snow, and die itself. That’s the story, and no one seems to be able to confirm it nor remember the name of the man who died. The only certain thing is that when Zanuck came back, he announced to Virginia that he had given up hunting. And he never went out and shot a wild animal again, not even a jackrabbit for his supper.”

VI. The Coda

Was John Adolfi killed by a bear? It certainly seems possible, but if so, why didn’t the men in the hunting party simply report the truth? Even if their boss was indirectly responsible, having fired the shots that caused the bear to charge, he couldn’t be blamed for the actions of a dying animal. But it’s also possible the event unfolded like a recent tragedy on the Montana-Idaho border. There, in September 2011, two men named Ty Bell and Steve Stevenson were on a hunting trip. Bell shot what he believed was a black bear. When the bear, a grizzly, attacked Stevenson, Bell fired again – and killed both the bear and his friend.

That seems to be the more likely scenario. If Zanuck fired at the wounded bear, in an attempt to save Adolfi, and killed both bear and man instead, it would perhaps explain a hastily contrived false story. It would most definitely explain the prompt cremation of Adolfi’s body in Vancouver. Back in Hollywood Joe Schenck was busy raising money, and lots of it, to launch Zanuck’s new company. Any unpleasant information about the new company’s chief – certainly anything suggestive of manslaughter – could jeopardize the deal. A man hit with a cerebral hemorrhage in the prime of life is a tragedy of natural causes, but a man sprayed with bullets in a shooting, accidental or not, is something else again. That goes double if alcohol was involved, as it reportedly was on Zanuck’s earlier hunting trips.

Of course, it’s also possible that Adolfi did indeed suffer a cerebral hemorrhage. Like his father.

John G. Adolfi is a Hollywood ghost. Most of his works are lost, and his name is forgotten. (Even George Arliss couldn’t be bothered to spell it correctly.) Every now and then TCM will program one of the Arliss vehicles, or Sinners’ Holiday. Not long ago they showed Adolfi’s fascinating B-picture Central Park, that slam-bang souvenir of the early Depression years in which several plot strands are deftly inter-twined. One of the subplots involves a mentally ill man, a former zoo-keeper who escapes from an asylum and returns to the place where he used to work, the Central Park Zoo. He has a score to settle with an old nemesis, an ex-colleague who tends the big cats. As the story approaches its climax, the escaped lunatic deliberately drags his enemy into the cage of a dangerous lion and leaves him there. In the subsequent, harrowing scene, difficult to watch, the lion attacks and practically kills the poor bastard.

by William Charles Morrow

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My sources for this article, in addition to the Mosley biography cited in the text, include Stephen M. Silverman’s The Fox That Got Away: The Last Days of the Zanuck Dynasty at Twentieth-Century Fox (1988), and Marlys J. Harris’s The Zanucks of Hollywood: The Dark Legacy of an American Dynasty (1989). For material on John Adolfi I made extensive use of the files of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Special thanks to James Bigwood for his prodigious research on the Adolfi family genealogy, and to Mary Maler, John Adolfi’s great-niece, for information she provided on her family.

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blackkudos · 4 years ago

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Donny Hathaway

Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American jazz, blues, soul and gospel singer, songwriter, arranger and pianist. Hathaway signed with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto", in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music." His enduring songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", "Little Ghetto Boy", "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", signature versions of "A Song for You" and "For All We Know", and "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. "Where Is the Love" won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1973. At the height of his career Hathaway was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was known to not take his prescribed medication regularly enough to properly control his symptoms. On January 13, 1979, Hathaway's body was found outside the luxury hotel Essex House in New York City; his death was ruled a suicide.

Early life

Hathaway, the son of Drusella Huntley, was born in Chicago but raised with his grandmother, Martha Pitts, also known as Martha Crumwell, in the Carr Square housing project of St. Louis. Hathaway began singing in a church choir with his grandmother, a professional gospel singer, at the age of three and studying piano. He graduated from Vashon High School in 1963. Hathaway then studied music on a fine arts scholarship at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he met close friend Roberta Flack. At Howard, he was also a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Hathaway formed a jazz trio with drummer Ric Powell while there but during 1967 left Howard just before completing a degree, after receiving job offers in the music business.

Career

Hathaway worked as songwriter, session musician and producer for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records in Chicago. He did the arrangements for hits by the Unifics ("Court of Love" and "The Beginning of My End") and took part in projects by the Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, the Impressions and Curtis Mayfield himself. After becoming a "house producer" at Curtom, he also started recording there. Hathaway recorded his first single under his own name in 1969, a duet with singer June Conquest called "I Thank You Baby". They also recorded the duet "Just Another Reason", released as the b-side. Former Cleveland Browns president Bill Futterer, who as a college student promoted Curtom in the southeast in 1968 and 1969, was befriended by Hathaway and has cited Hathaway's influence on his later projects.

That year, Hathaway signed to Atco Records, then a division of Atlantic Records, after being spotted for the label by producer/musician King Curtis at a trade convention. He released his first single of note, "The Ghetto, Pt. 1", which he co-wrote with former Howard roommate Leroy Hutson, who became a performer, writer and producer with Curtom. The track appeared the following year on his critically acclaimed debut LP, Everything Is Everything, which he co-produced with Ric Powell while also arranging all the cuts. His second LP, Donny Hathaway, consisted mostly of covers of contemporary pop, soul, and gospel songs. His third album Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway was an album of duets with former Howard University associate and label mate Roberta Flack that established him, especially on the pop charts. The album was both a critical and commercial success, including the Ralph MacDonald-penned track "Where Is The Love", which proved to be not only an R&B success, but also scored Top Five on the pop Hot 100. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA on September 5, 1972. The album also included a number of other covers, including versions of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend", "Baby I Love You", originally a hit for Aretha Franklin, and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling".

Perhaps Hathaway's most influential recording is his 1972 album, Live, which has been termed "one of the best live albums ever recorded" by Daryl Easlea of the BBC. The album can also be found on the British online music and culture magazine The Quietus' list of "40 Favourite Live Albums". It was recorded at two concerts: side one at The Troubadour in Hollywood, and side two at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.

Donny Hathaway is also known as the co-composer and performer of the Christmas standard, "This Christmas". The song, released in 1970, has become a holiday staple and is often used in movies, television and advertising. "This Christmas" has been covered by numerous artists across diverse musical genres, including The Whispers, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Alexander O'Neal, Christina Aguilera, Chicago, Harry Connick, Jr., Dru Hill, *NSYNC, Gloria Estefan, Boney James, The Cheetah Girls, Chris Brown, Anthony Arnett (First Baptist Bracktown Christmas Celebration), Patti LaBelle and Mary J Blige (A Mary Christmas, album 2013), Seal, and Train.

Hathaway followed this flurry of work with some contributions to soundtracks, along with his recording of the theme song to the TV series Maude. He also composed and conducted music for the 1972 soundtrack of the movie Come Back Charleston Blue. In the mid-1970s, he also produced albums for other artists including Cold Blood, where he expanded the musical range of lead singer Lydia Pense.

His final studio album, Extension of a Man came out in 1973 with two tracks, "Love Love Love" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" reaching both the pop and R&B charts. However, it was probably best noted for his classic ballad, "Someday We'll All Be Free" and a six-minute symphonic-styled instrumental piece called "I Love The Lord, He Heard My Cry". He told UK music journalist David Nathan in 1973, "I always liked pretty music and I've always wanted to write it." Added the writer, "He declined to give one particular influence or inspiration but said that Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky were amongst whom he studied."

He returned to the charts in 1978 after again teaming up with Roberta Flack for a duet, "The Closer I Get to You" on her album, Blue Lights in the Basement. The song topped the R&B chart and just missed the number 1 spot on the Hot 100 (reaching #2). Atlantic then put out another solo single, "You Were Meant For Me" shortly before his sudden death.Liner notes for later releases of his final solo album explain: "Donny is no longer here, but the song "Someday We'll All Be Free" gathers momentum as part of his legacy... Donny literally sat in the studio and cried when he heard the playback of his final mix. It's pretty special when an artist can create something that wipes them out." Edward Howard, lyricist of the song, adds, "It was a spiritual thing for me... What was going through my mind at the time was Donny, because Donny was a very troubled person. I hoped that at some point he would be released from all that he was going through. There was nothing I could do but write something that might be encouraging for him. He's a good leader for young black men".

Personal life

FamilyHathaway met his wife, Eulaulah, at Howard University and they married in 1967. They had two daughters, Eulaulah Donyll (Lalah) and Kenya. Lalah has enjoyed a successful solo career, while Kenya is a session singer and one of the three backing vocalists on the hit TV program American Idol. Both daughters are graduates of the Berklee College of Music.Mental illnessDuring the best part of his career, Hathaway began to suffer from severe bouts of depression. It was found that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was known to take strong medication daily to try to control the illness. However, Eulaulah Hathaway has said that her husband was frequently less than diligent about following his prescription regimen. Donnita Hathaway has said that her mother gave her similar information about her father, saying that when he took his medication, he was generally fine, but that when he did not, it was impossible for her to deal with him. Over the course of the 1970s, Hathaway's mental instability wreaked havoc on his life and required several hospitalizations. The effects of his depression and melancholia also drove a wedge in his and Flack's friendship; they did not reconcile for several years, and did not release additional music until the successful release of "The Closer I Get To You" in 1978. Flack and Hathaway then resumed studio recording to compose a second album of duets.

Death

Sessions for another album of duets were underway in 1979. On January 13 of that year, Hathaway began a recording session at which producers/musicians Eric Mercury and James Mtume were present. Mercury and Mtume each reported that although Hathaway's voice sounded good, he began behaving irrationally, seeming to be paranoid and delusional. According to Mtume, Hathaway said that "white people" were trying to kill him and had connected his brain to a machine, for the purpose of stealing his music and his sound. Given Hathaway's behavior, Mercury said that he decided the recording session could not continue, so he aborted it and all of the musicians went home.Hours later, Hathaway was found dead on the sidewalk below the window of his 15th-floor room in New York's Essex House hotel. It was reported that he had jumped from his balcony. The glass had been neatly removed from the window and there were no signs of struggle, leading investigators to rule that Hathaway's death was a suicide. However, his friends were mystified, considering that his career had just entered a resurgence. Flack was devastated and, spurred by his death, included the few duet tracks they had finished on her next album, Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway. According to Mercury, Hathaway's final recording, included on that album, was "You Are My Heaven", a song Mercury co-wrote with Stevie Wonder.Hathaway's funeral was conducted by the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Later in 1979, the Whispers recorded the tribute song, "Song for Donny", for their self-titled breakthrough album. The song reached #21 on the R&B chart.

Legacy and influence

Hathaway has been widely praised for his voice. Justin Timberlake calls him "the best singer of all time." Raúl Midón said that Hathaway is "the strongest soul singer that ever existed" and compares his vocal technique to a classical singer. "When Donny sings any song, he owns it," David Ritz quotes Stevie Wonder as having said. Amy Winehouse called Hathaway her favorite artist of all time. She mentioned him in her hit "Rehab” and covered several of his songs. Hathaway's work including Donny Hathaway Live, which featured noted R&B musicians Willie Weeks (bass), Fred White (drums), Mike Howard (guitar), Phil Upchurch (lead guitar side 1), Cornell Dupree (lead guitar side 2) and Earl DeRouen (percussion), has been cited as an influence by numerous other artists including John Legend, D'Angelo, Mary J. Blige, Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross, R. Kelly, Alicia Keys, Jon B., Chris Brown, Nas, Common, Beyoncé, George Benson, Victor Wooten, India.Arie, Jon Gibson, Stevie Wonder, Brian McKnight, Anthony Hamilton, Usher, John Mayer, Led Zeppelin, Freddie Jackson and Frank McComb. Hathaway's use of the Rhodes Piano on his early Atco R&B recordings has also influenced many neo soul artists & producers.A second live album called In Performance, released in 1980 following his death, also included tracks recorded at venues in Los Angeles and New York between 1971 and 1973, showing Hathaway to be a fine stage performer. Later, in 2004, selected tracks from these two albums were added to previously unreleased live recordings for These Songs for You, Live!.For Record Store Day 2014, Live at the Bitter End 1971 was released on 180g vinyl as a numbered, limited edition. This album marks the first time this 1971 performance at The Bitter End has been released on vinyl, previously appearing on the CD release of the 2013 career anthology, Never My Love. The 21-minute recording of "Everything is Everything" had never been released before on any format and was an exclusive track to this release.

Discography

Studio albumsLive albumsSoundtrack albumsCompilation albumsSinglesWith Phil Upchurch

Upchurch (Cadet, 1969)

The Way I Feel (Cadet, 1970)

Tributes

On soul group the Whispers' 1980 self-titled album, the group paid homage with "Song for Donny", written by fellow soul singer Carrie Lucas. The song was set to the melody of Hathaway's "This Christmas".

In 1999 Aaron Hall recorded a brief tribute version of "Someday We'll All Be Free" on the third album for his group Guy titled Guy III, with Teddy Riley and Damion Hall.

In September 2001, Alicia Keys performed "Someday We'll All Be Free" on the 9/11 televised tribute concert America: A Tribute to Heroes.

In 2005, neo-soul singer songwriter guitarist, Raul Midón (Blue Note) worked with Hathaway's longtime producer Arif Mardin (known for collaborations with the Bee Gees, Chaka Khan, Bette Midler, Norah Jones, and Aretha Franklin) and created a tribute song to Hathaway called "Sittin' in the Middle".

In her 2006 song "Rehab", Amy Winehouse sings of learning from "Mr. Hathaway" instead of going to rehab.

In 2007, Deniece Williams covered "Someday We'll All Be Free" for her Love, Niecy Style album. Williams later shared that she broke down in tears in the studio while recording.

In 2008, Ed Pavlic published Winners Have Yet to Be Announced (University of Georgia Press), poems re-imagining the life of Donny Hathaway.

The song "What a Catch, Donnie", from Fall Out Boy's fourth studio album, Folie à Deux (2008), is named for Hathaway and mentions Roberta Flack, his writing partner.

Bizzy Bone's song entitled "A Song for You", is a track that includes an interpolation of Donny Hathaways's original recording of the same name.

In the 2013 song "Classic", band MKTO references writing songs "like Hathaway".

Wikipedia

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redcarpetview · 4 years ago

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2020 AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL WRAPS WITH CELEBRATION OF WINNING FILMS AND FILMMAKERS VIA ‘THE BEST OF THE ABFF AWARDS’

LOS ANGELES, CA, August 31, 2020 – The 24th annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF), which took place August 21 - 30 virtually via the newly launched ABFF PLAY platform, wrapped ten days of festivities with ‘The Best of the ABFF Awards,’ hosted by Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Ari Parker with a simulcast on IMDb (www.imdb.com). Presenters included: Lee Daniels (The United States vs. Billie Holiday), Laz Alonso (The Boys), Bevy Smith (BEVELATIONS), Logan Browning (Dear White People), Sinqua Walls (American Soul), La La Anthony (Power) and Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods). The ceremony closed with an emotional performance by Grammy Award-winning Gospel and R&B Artist Bebe Winans singing his new single Black Lives Matter. The full awards show and highlight reel of ‘The Best of the ABFF Awards’ is available to watch on abffplay.com and www.imdb.com/festival-central/abff/

The Festival, available online for the first time, drew a global audience from 85 countries around the world. The robust program featured 90 films representing the best in independent Black cinema, virtual networking events, studio screenings, and 30 conversations and panels featuring Stacey Abrams, Kenya Barris, Mary J. Blige, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Yara Shahidi, Tina Knowles-Lawson, Yvonne Orji, Gabrielle Union, Radha Blank, and Lena Waithe among others. Jemele Hill hosted a one-on-one conversation with Blige powered by Cadillac, who was also this year’s festival ambassador.

With a track record for recognizing Black filmmakers on the rise, this year’s competition attracted a record number of films, over half from first-time filmmakers and the most from female directors in the festival’s history. The festival’s international entries included films from more than ten foreign markets including: Belgium, Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Mozambique, Canada and the United Kingdom. It also marked the introduction of the first annual John Singleton Director Award for Best First Feature for a director of African descent.

2020 American Black Film Festival Full Winners List:

HBO Short Film Competition (presented by HBO, Prize: $10,000 for winner; $5,000 for finalists)

Dolapo Is Fine, directed by Ethosheia Hylton, screenplay by Joan Iyiola, Chibundu Onuzo

Jury Award - Best Director (presented by Cadillac, Prize: $10,000)

Hisonni Johnson, Take Out Girl

John Singleton Director Award for Best First Feature (presented by Netflix, Prize: $5,000)

Solomon Onita, Jr, Tazmanian Devil

Jury Award - Best US Narrative Feature (presented by Prudential, Prize: $2,500)

Curtis, directed and written by Chris Bailey, produced by Kimberly Hwang, Chelsea Davenport and Desi Bee Richardson

Jury Award - Best Screenplay (presented by BET, Prize: $2,500)

Addison Henderson, G.O.D - Givers of Death

Jury Award - Best International Narrative Feature (presented by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Prize: $2,500)

The New Normal (Nigeria), directed by Teniola Olatoni, written by Tunde Babalola, produced by Sourmash Stories

Jury Award - Best Documentary (presented by Amazon Studios, Prize: $2,500)

Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back, directed by John Carluccio, written by Tracy E. Hopkins

Jury Award - Best Web Series (presented by Xfinity, Prize: $2,500)

Loving in America, directed by Jason Gudasz, written by Bianca Cristovao

Fan Favorite Movie

Death of A Telemarketer, directed by Khaled Ridgeway, produced by Datari Turner, Meagan Good, James J. Yi

“We are overwhelmed by the support of the community that made this year’s festival possible,” said Jeff Friday, founder and CEO ABFF Ventures. “We were very encouraged to see a record setting number of submissions, the willingness of our corporate partners and Black talent to stand with us during these uncertain times and the response of our audience around the world. While we look forward to returning to Miami for our 25th anniversary next year, we are thrilled to have been able to reach a new audience for ABFF this year.”

Sponsors included WarnerMedia, HBO® (Founding), Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (Presenting Sponsors); Comcast NBCUniversal, Amazon Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Endeavor Content (Premier Sponsors); Cadillac, IMDb, Netflix, Motion Picture Association (MPA), Jeff Friday Media, Prudential Financial, Starz, a Lionsgate company, UMC, Verizon Media (Official Sponsors); AspireTV, BET, Facebook, Moet Hennessy, Morgan Stanley, New York University, PEACOCK, and Universal Production Music (Supporting Sponsors); Blackfilm.com, Black Information Network, Film Independent, and Variety (Marketing Partners).

For more information on ABFF and up-to-date news, go to abff.com and follow @ABFF on Twitter and @AmericanBlackFilmFestival on Instagram and Facebook. Join in on the conversation by using #ABFF20 and #ABFF.

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themusicadvocateafrica · 2 years ago

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Why Kenya needs a digital cmo for MUSIC authors, publishers, producers

WHY KENYA NEEDS A DIGITAL CMO FOR MUSIC AUTHORS, PUBLISHERS, PRODUCERS & PERFORMERS #ReformMusicBusinessinKenya It’s time to plug in a Digital CMO framework in the Kenya Copyright Market Are you someone who applies their creative talent to the creation of musical works, writing the music, and sometimes also the lyrics, usually in a popular music style (e.g., Kapuka, Genegtone, Gospel, Rap,…

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#Digital CMO #Digital CMO for Authors Producers Publishers and Performers #Digital CMO Laws in Africa #Digital Music Rights Management #Kenya Association of Music Producers #Kenya Digital CMO Law #Performance Rights Society of Kenya #The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK)

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weinger37-blog · 5 years ago

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Music Genres

This is a list of some of the world's music genre and their definitions.

African Folk - Music held to be typical of a nation or ethnic group, known to all segments of its society, and preserved usually by oral tradition.

Afro jazz - Refers to jazz music which has been heavily influenced by African music. The music took elements of marabi, swing and American jazz and synthesized this into a unique fusion. The first band to really achieve this synthesis was the South African band Jazz Maniacs.

Afro-beat - Is a combination of Yoruba music, jazz, Highlife, and funk rhythms, fused with African percussion and vocal styles, popularized in Africa in the 1970s.

Afro-Pop - Afropop or Afro Pop is a term sometimes used to refer to contemporary African pop music. The term does not refer to a specific style or sound, but is used as a general term to describe African popular music.

Apala - Originally derived from the Yoruba people of Nigeria. It is a percussion-based style that developed in the late 1930s, when it was used to wake worshippers after fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Assiko - is a popular dance from the South of Cameroon. The band is usually based on a singer accompanied with a guitar, and a percussionnist playing the pulsating rhythm of Assiko with metal knives and forks on an empty bottle.

Batuque - is a music and dance genre from Cape Verde.

Bend Skin - is a kind of urban Cameroonian popular music. Kouchoum Mbada is the most well-known group associated with the genre.

Benga - Is a musical genre of Kenyan popular music. It evolved between the late 1940s and late 1960s, in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi.

Biguine - is a style of music that originated in Martinique in the 19th century. By combining the traditional bele music with the polka, the black musicians of Martinique created the biguine, which comprises three distinct styles, the biguine de salon, the biguine de bal and the biguines de rue.

Bikutsi - is a musical genre from Cameroon. It developed from the traditional styles of the Beti, or Ewondo, people, who live around the city of Yaounde.

Bongo Flava - it has a mix of rap, hip hop, and R&B for starters but these labels don't do it justice. It's rap, hip hop and R&B Tanzanian style: a big melting pot of tastes, history, culture and identity.

Cadence - is a particular series of intervals or chords that ends a phrase, section, or piece of music.

Calypso - is a style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in Trinidad at about the start of the 20th century. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of African slaves, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song.

Chaabi - is a popular music of Morocco, very similar to the Algerian Rai.

Chimurenga - is a Zimbabwean popular music genre coined by and popularised by Thomas Mapfumo. Chimurenga is a Shona language word for struggle.

Chouval Bwa - features percussion, bamboo flute, accordion, and wax-paper/comb-type kazoo. The music originated among rural Martinicans.

Christian Rap - is a form of rap which uses Christian themes to express the songwriter's faith.

Coladeira - is a form of music in Cape Verde. Its element ascends to funacola which is a mixture of funanáa and coladera. Famous coladera musicians includes Antoninho Travadinha.

Contemporary Christian - is a genre of popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith.

Country - is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, blues, gospel music, hokum, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s.

Dance Hall - is a type of Jamaican popular music which developed in the late 1970s, with exponents such as Yellowman and Shabba Ranks. It is also known as bashment. The style is characterized by a deejay singing and toasting (or rapping) over raw and danceable music riddims.

Disco - is a genre of dance-oriented pop music that was popularized in dance clubs in the mid-1970s.

Folk - in the most basic sense of the term, is music by and for the common people.

Freestyle - is a form of electronic music that is heavily influenced by Latin American culture.

Fuji - is a popular Nigerian musical genre. It arose from the improvisation Ajisari/were music tradition, which is a kind of Muslim music performed to wake believers before dawn during the Ramadan fasting season.

Funana - is a mixed Portuguese and African music and dance from Santiago, Cape Verde. It is said that the lower part of the body movement is African, and the upper part Portuguese.

Funk - is an American musical style that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music.

Gangsta rap - is a subgenre of hip-hop music which developed during the late 1980s. 'Gangsta' is a variation on the spelling of 'gangster'. After the popularity of Dr. Dre's The Chronic in 1992, gangsta rap became the most commercially lucrative subgenre of hip-hop.

Genge - is a genre of hip hop music that had its beginnings in Nairobi, Kenya. The name was coined and popularized by Kenyan rapper Nonini who started off at Calif Records. It is a style that incorporates hip hop, dancehall and traditional African music styles. It is commonly sung in Sheng(slung),Swahili or local dialects.

Gnawa - is a mixture of African, Berber, and Arabic religious songs and rhythms. It combines music and acrobatic dancing. The music is both a prayer and a celebration of life.

Gospel - is a musical genre characterized by dominant vocals (often with strong use of harmony) referencing lyrics of a religious nature, particularly Christian.

Highlife - is a musical genre that originated in Ghana and spread to Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the 1920s and other West African countries.

Hip-Hop - is a style of popular music, typically consisting of a rhythmic, rhyming vocal style called rapping (also known as emceeing) over backing beats and scratching performed on a turntable by a DJ.

House - is a style of electronic dance music that was developed by dance club DJs in Chicago in the early to mid-1980s. House music is strongly influenced by elements of the late 1970s soul- and funk-infused dance music style of disco.

Indie - is a term used to describe genres, scenes, subcultures, styles and other cultural attributes in music, characterized by their independence from major commercial record labels and their autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing.

Instrumental - An instrumental is, in contrast to a song, a musical composition or recording without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music; all of the music is produced by musical instruments.

Isicathamiya - is an a cappella singing style that originated from the South African Zulus.

Jazz - is an original American musical art form which originated around the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States out of a confluence of African and European music traditions.

Jit - is a style of popular Zimbabwean dance music. It features a swift rhythm played on drums and accompanied by a guitar.

Juju - is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. It evolved in the 1920s in urban clubs across the countries. The first jùjú recordings were by Tunde King and Ojoge Daniel from the 1920s.

Kizomba - is one of the most popular genres of dance and music from Angola. Sung generally in Portuguese, it is a genre of music with a romantic flow mixed with African rhythm.

Kwaito - is a music genre that emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa in the early 1990s. It is based on house music beats, but typically at a slower tempo and containing melodic and percussive African samples which are looped, deep basslines and often vocals, generally male, shouted or chanted rather than sung or rapped.

Kwela - is a happy, often pennywhistle based, street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings. It evolved from the marabi sound and brought South African music to international prominence in the 1950s.

Lingala - Soukous (also known as Soukous or Congo, and previously as African rumba) is a musical genre that originated in the two neighbouring countries of Belgian Congo and French Congo during the 1930s and early 1940s

Makossa - is a type of music which is most popular in urban areas in Cameroon. It is similar to soukous, except it includes strong bass rhythm and a prominent horn section. It originated from a type of Duala dance called kossa, with significant influences from jazz, ambasse bey, Latin music, highlife and rumba.

Malouf - a kind of music imported to Tunisia from Andalusia after the Spanish conquest in the 15th century.

Mapouka - also known under the name of Macouka, is a traditional dance from the south-east of the Ivory Coast in the area of Dabou, sometimes carried out during religious ceremonies.

Maringa - is a West African musical genre. It evolved among the Kru people of Sierra Leone and Liberia, who used Portuguese guitars brought by sailors, combining local melodies and rhythms with Trinidadian calypso.

Marrabenta - is a form of Mozambican dance music. It was developed in Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique, formerly Laurenco Marques.

Mazurka - is a Polish folk dance in triple meter with a lively tempo, containing a heavy accent on the third or second beat. It is always found to have either a triplet, trill, dotted eighth note pair, or ordinary eighth note pair before two quarter notes.

Mbalax - is the national popular dance music of Senegal. It is a fusion of popular dance musics from the West such as jazz, soul, Latin, and rock blended with sabar, the traditional drumming and dance music of Senegal.

Mbaqanga - is a style of South African music with rural Zulu roots that continues to influence musicians worldwide today. The style was originated in the early 1960s.

Mbube - is a form of South African vocal music, made famous by the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The word mbube means "lion" in Zulu

Merengue - is a type of lively, joyful music and dance that comes from the Dominican Republic

Morna - is a genre of Cape Verdean music, related to Portuguese fado, Brazilian modinha, Argentinian tango, and Angolan lament.

Museve - is a popular Zimbabwe music genre. Artists include Simon Chimbetu and Alick Macheso

Oldies - term commonly used to describe a radio format that usually concentrates on Top 40 music from the '50s, '60s and '70s. Oldies are typically from R&B, pop and rock music genres.

Pop - is an ample and imprecise category of modern music not defined by artistic considerations but by its potential audience or prospective market.

Quadrille - is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music.

R&B - is a popular music genre combining jazz, gospel, and blues influences, first performed by African American artists.

Rai - is a form of folk music, originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms, which dates back to the 1930s and has been primarily evolved by women in the culture.

Ragga - is a sub-genre of dancehall music or reggae, in which the instrumentation primarily consists of electronic music; sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music as well.

Rap - is the rhythmic singing delivery of rhymes and wordplay, one of the elements of hip hop music and culture.

Rara - is a form of festival music used for street processions, typically during Easter Week.

Reggae - is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. A particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based on a rhythm style characterized by regular chops on the off-beat, known as the skank.

Reggaeton - is a form of urban music which became popular with Latin American youth during the early 1990s. Originating in Panama, Reggaeton blends Jamaican music influences of reggae and dancehall with those of Latin America, such as bomba, plena, merengue, and bachata as well as that of hip hop and Electronica.

Rock - is a form of popular music with a prominent vocal melody accompanied by guitar, drums, and bass. Many styles of rock music also use keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, synthesizers.

Rumba - is a family of music rhythms and dance styles that originated in Africa and were introduced to Cuba and the New World by African slaves.

Salegy - is a popular type of Afropop styles exported from Madagascar. This Sub-Saharan African folk music dance originated with the Malagasy language of Madagascar, Southern Africa.

Salsa - is a diverse and predominantly Spanish Caribbean genre that is popular across Latin America and among Latinos abroad.

Samba - is one of the most popular forms of music in Brazil. It is widely viewed as Brazil's national musical style.

Sega - is an evolved combination of traditional Music of Seychelles,Mauritian and Réunionnais music with European dance music like polka and quadrilles.

Seggae - is a music genre invented in the mid 1980s by the Mauritian Rasta singer, Joseph Reginald Topize who was sometimes known as Kaya, after a song title by Bob Marley. Seggae is a fusion of sega from the island country, Mauritius, and reggae.

Semba - is a traditional type of music from the Southern-African country of Angola. Semba is the predecessor to a variety of music styles originated from Africa, of which three of the most famous are Samba (from Brazil), Kizomba (Angolan style of music derived directly from Zouk music) and Kuduro (or Kuduru, energetic, fast-paced Angolan Techno music, so to speak).

Shona Music - is the music of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. There are several different types of traditional Shona music including mbira, singing, hosho and drumming. Very often, this music will be accompanied by dancing, and participation by the audience.

Ska - is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was a precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues.

Slow Jam - is typically a song with an R&B-influenced melody. Slow jams are commonly R&B ballads or just downtempo songs. The term is most commonly reserved for soft-sounding songs with heavily emotional or romantic lyrical content.

Soca - is a form of dance music that originated in Trinidad from calypso. It combines the melodic lilting sound of calypso with insistent (usually electronic in recent music) percussion.

Soukous - is a musical genre that originated in the two neighbouring countries of Belgian Congo and French Congo during the 1930s and early 1940s, and which has gained popularity throughout Africa.

Soul - is a music genre that combines rhythm and blues and gospel music, originating in the United States.

Taarab - is a music genre popular in Tanzania. It is influenced by music from the cultures with a historical presence in East Africa, including music from East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Taarab rose to prominence in 1928 with the rise of the genre's first star, Siti binti Saad.

Tango - is a style of music that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay. It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, doublebass, and two bandoneons.

Waka - is a popular Islamic-oriented Yoruba musical genre. It was pioneered and made popular by Alhaja Batile Alake from Ijebu, who took the genre into the mainstream Nigerian music by playing it at concerts and parties; also, she was the first waka singer to record an album.

Wassoulou - is a genre of West African popular music, named after the region of Wassoulou. It is performed mostly by women, using lyrics that address women's issues regarding childbearing, fertility and polygamy.

Ziglibithy - is a style of Ivorian popular music that developed in the 1970s. It was the first major genre of music from the Ivory Coast. The first major pioneer of the style was Ernesto Djedje.

Zouglou - is a dance oriented style of music from the Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) that first evolved in the 1990s. It started with students (les parents du Campus) from the University of Abidjan HasenChat Music.

Zouk - is a style of rhythmic music originating from the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. It has its roots in kompa music from Haiti, cadence music from Dominica, as popularised by Grammacks and Exile One.

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pennstateuniversitypress · 5 years ago

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Kenyan Prayer for Decriminalizing Homosexuality

by Adriaan van Klinken, author of Kenyan, Christian, Queer: Religion, LGBT Activism, and Arts of Resistance in Africa, forthcoming in August.

This Friday, May 24, the High Court in Nairobi, Kenya, is supposed to issue a ruling about the decriminalization of homosexuality in the country. If favorable, this ruling will be widely seen as a landmark in the history of LGBT activism in Kenya and would follow a recently emerging trend across the continent with Angola decriminalizing homosexuality in January this year and Mozambique a few years earlier.

In 2016, Kenyan LGBT organizations filed two petitions, asking the High Court to declare that Sections 162 a and c and 165 of the Kenyan Penal Code are unconstitutional. The Penal Code, which dates back to the British colonial period, holds liable to imprisonment any person involved in “unnatural offenses” or “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” (up to fourteen years), and any males involved in “indecent practices” (up to five years).

The Court is taking considerable time to reach a decision. Submitted in April 2016, the petitions were first heard in February and March of 2018. The ruling was originally supposed to be made on February 22 this year, but was postponed until May. In the meantime, Kenyan LGBT activists, with local and international allies, have built a strong campaign, using the hashtag #Repeal162 to create visibility and mobilize support for their cause.

The opposition to LGBT rights in Africa is often associated with religion, in particular with Christian churches and organizations. Indeed, in the Kenyan context, religious bodies such as the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, and the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum have been very vocal on the issue. These organizations also hold significant political influence in a country where the great majority of the population is Christian. Deputy President William Ruto, while speaking in a church a few years ago, stated that “homosexuality is against the plan of God” and that “we will defend our country Kenya, we will stand for our faith and our country.”

However, it would be a mistake to only see Christianity as fueling the campaign against LGBT rights. In fact, many members of the LGBT community are religious themselves, and several LGBT organizations and activists actively engage with religious bodies and make creative use of religion as a resource. For instance, the Same Love music video, produced in 2016 by the Kenyan band Art Attack, quotes the Bible and closes with the statement “Love is God and God is love”. The organization NYARWEK, in the city Kisumu, has actively worked with religious leaders to promote the acceptance of LGBT people, through a “training manual on religious inclusion for Christians at the periphery”. Another organization, PEMA Kenya, in Mombasa, has initiated a “religious dialogue partner process” on issues of sexual and gender diversity. In Nairobi, Cosmopolitan Affirming Church (CAC) is an LGBT-affirming Christian faith community that has become an important hub of Christian LGBT activism.

On the Sunday before the original ruling date of February 22, CAC held an inter-denominational prayer service, in order to pray for, the impending decriminalization ruling. The CAC choir performed the gospel song, “We are a rainbow”, with the following chorus:

We are a rainbow, sign of covenant and peace,

For the flood of tears will finally cease to be,

Come shine your rainbow, splash your hues across the sky,

Paint the world in colors proud and bold and free.

The intercessory prayers during the service passionately called upon God to make the promise of the rainbow come true in Kenya, while various speakers called upon the congregation to keep hope and be part of God’s movement for social change towards freedom for all.

For these Kenyan LGBT Christians and their allies, prayer and worship is a major “art of resistance” and a form of political mobilization. Let’s hope that the ruling on Friday can be seen as an answer to their prayers!

Adriaan van Klinken is Associate Professor of Religion and African Studies at the University of Leeds. He is the author of Transforming Masculinities in African Christianity: Gender Controversies in Times of AIDS and coeditor of several books, including Public Religion and the Politics of Homosexuality in Africa and Christianity and Controversies Over Homosexuality in Contemporary Africa.

The latest book in our Africana Religions series, Kenyan, Christian, Queer presents four case studies of grassroots LGBT activism through artistic and creative expressions—including the literary and cultural work of Binyavanga Wainaina, the “Same Love” music video produced by gay gospel musician George Barasa, the Stories of Our Lives anthology project, and the LGBT-affirming Cosmopolitan Affirming Church. Through these case studies, van Klinken demonstrates how Kenyan traditions, black African identities, and Christian beliefs and practices are being navigated, appropriated, and transformed in order to allow for queer Kenyan Christian imaginations. Learn more, read a sample chapter, and sign up to be notified when the book is published here.

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kylorenjyn-blog · 5 years ago

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Use Your Tech From Anywhere: 25 Cool Apps for Digital Wanderers, Corporate Geeks, and Loony Travelers

In the previous 3 years, I have just maintained my business from Lebanon, Indonesia, Morocco, Iran, Kenya, and South Africa. Continuously on the chase after a steady Wi-Fi association, however free of fixed working hours.

My office can be my bed just as my preferred neighborhood bistro. My solitary apparatuses are a PC, a cell phone, and a couple of earphones to detach myself from the clamors of the external world. Obviously, I'm 100% subject to innovation to have the option to work from anyplace the word.

Innovation some of the time comes up short me. There's no Internet. My PC solidifies up. The telephone is dead.

Be that as it may, more often than not, it is innovation what makes it conceivable to keep my fantasy of time and area opportunity alive. Both quality equipment and convenient programming. That is the reason I've chosen a rundown of extremely valuable applications that will enable you to remain associated, gainful, or more all loose.

1. Docady

Snap a photograph of all the significant records you would prefer not to bear. The application will enable you to mastermind the desk work into important classes and securely store all that you may require on your movements.

2. PandaDoc

There's no compelling reason to send your proposition or contracts by means of snail mail. You can without much of a stretch make, offer, and sign archives with lawfully restricting electronic mark programming.

3. Docracy

There's likewise no hurry to search for a legal advisor each time you need a basic contract. Utilize this stunning open database of authoritative archives.

4. CrashPlan

Ensure your information and back up the entirety of your important records (music, photographs, reports) to an outside drive or cloud. You can get to them from anyplace, whenever.

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5. Hola

In certain nations, your prominent sites (for example Facebook, Twitter, YouTube… ) might be blocked. For such cases, it's great to have a strong VPN introduced before you cross the outskirts, so you can peruse the Internet without restriction.

6. Dawn

Plan your days with a logbook that interfaces with your most loved applications, including Facebook, Evernote, or Trello.

7. Trello

Monitor your every day assignments and work together with your group on any task with this free and basic board-like application. Not any more interminable email strings or missed due dates.

8. Wunderlist

Arrange your to-dos, set due dates, and updates. You can likewise impart your rundowns to other individuals and perhaps dole out the assignments to another person.

9. Solo

In the event that you function as a consultant, most undertaking administration applications likely don't address your particular needs. Solo won't just assistance you complete stuff, it will likewise help with checking your exhibition, following your time and costs, producing solicitations, or overseeing customers.

10. WudaTime

Effectively track the time you go through on individual assignments with the assistance of this free program based device.

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11. Gorgias

Spare a few minutes each time you send an email. This application will enable you to make clever layouts and alternate ways so you fly through your inbox excessively quick.

12. Energy

Self-restraint is the principle challenge while working for yourself. This application will enable you to make new propensities, track your every day advance, and accomplish your objectives.

13. Opportunity

Square diverting sites and applications to soar your efficiency.

14. ClearChat

Remain associated with your remote colleagues through a scrambled group visit application. Your discussions and records will be perused just by the planned beneficiaries.

15. Talkative

The individuals who want to talk eye to eye can supplement visiting with group video calls. No downloads, information exchange, or installment required.

16. Clearness

Timetable a call with an accomplished business visionary and get master counsel on your business regardless of where on the planet you are.

17. Meetup

Meet new individuals at occasions sorted out by neighborhood networks everywhere throughout the globe.

18. Visionary

On the off chance that you wish to join work, travel, and making the world a superior spot, check one of many volunteer open doors here.

19. Entrain

The individuals who frequently experience the ill effects of fly slacks will utilize this free application. It will disclose to you when to look for dull or light to modify quicker to new time zones.

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20. PackPoint

This shrewd pressing rundown application will check the climate, note the length of your remain, and think about the reason for your outing, so you remember anything significant.

21. Dollarbird

Control your spending limit on your cell phone. Perceive the amount you've spent, plan your future uses, and watch your ways of managing money.

22. Silvrback

Try not to squander your time setting up another site. Catch your undertakings in a lean, diversion free blog.

23. Canva

Introductions, infographics, blog entry pictures, business cards, web pennants, publications, solicitations… any plan related stuff is simple notwithstanding for non-fashioners with this free, simplified application.

24. CodersClan

Complete your littler coding errands by expert coders in a matter of seconds.

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25. SuperTasker

Do you have to fix your WordPress site, make another logo, or compose an official statement? A wide range of computerized assignments can be conveyed inside hours through this site.

#apps #travel #security #free apps #movie apps

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