SYP Says

Tim Russert Dies at 58 :(

Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and moderator of the long-running political show, Meet the Press, died unexpectedly today from an apparent heart attack.

I have been watching "Meet the Press" for years and even had an affectionate nickname for Tim--"Big Head"--because he was really smart and, I have always suspected, had a huge brain. 

It's very sad--he was a brilliant political journalist who really seemed grounded in reality. He brought passion and dedication to his work, and clearly loved politics. So often the political pundits on TV are idiots, but he was different. I appreciated his enthusiasm and energy, but most of all, he seemed fair, logical, well-informed, and always prepared to ask the tough questions. Especially in this election year, it's a real shame he won't be part of the hullabaloo and get to see how it all turns out. We'll miss you, Tim! Sundays just won't be the same.

Andy Palacio R.I.P.

In a terrible twist of fate, Andy Palacio died on Saturday, January 19, 2008 just after having received numerous awards for his album, Watina. Here is the official obituary in the New York Times. I was stunned when I heard about this. What a tragedy. I had just learned about his wonderful music a month earlier and picked "Watina" as one of my 2007 Best Songs of the Week.

The full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/arts/music/21palacio.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries&oref=slogin

Andy Palacio, Who Saved Garifuna Music, Dies at 47

By JON PARELES

Published: January 21, 2008

Andy Palacio, a bandleader and songwriter who spearheaded a revival of the Garifuna music of Central America, died Saturday in his native Belize City, Belize. He was 47 and lived in San Ignacio, Belize.

Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos

The cause was respiratory failure after a stroke and heart attack, according to Jacob Edgar, president of his record company, Cumbancha.

In Belize, Mr. Palacio was nationally known as both a musician and an advocate for Garifuna culture. “Watina,” his album with the Garifuna Collective, was acclaimed as one of the best world music releases of 2007.

The Garifuna (pronounced ga-RI-foo-nah) are descendants of West African slaves who were shipwrecked in 1635 off the coast of what is now the island of St. Vincent and intermarried with local Arawak and Carib people. Garifuna villages arose on the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize. There are now an estimated 250,000 Garifuna people worldwide, a minority culture under pressure from assimilation and coastal development.

“I decided to use music as a medium for cultural preservation,” Mr. Palacio said in an interview with NPR last year. “At least we’d be able to use the language in the songs and keep them alive.”

Mr. Palacio grew up in a Garifuna family in the coastal village of Barranco, Belize, and soaked up local and international music. He worked as a high school teacher, and on a visit to Nicaragua with a literacy project, he met an elderly man who was one of the last Garifuna speakers in Nicaragua. He resolved to preserve the language at home and in 1981 served as host of a Garifuna program on Radio Belize.

During the 1980s, Mr. Palacio used Garifuna rhythms in punta rock, a popular Caribbean dance music, and had Central American hits, including “Bikini Panty” and “Gimme Punta Rock.” In the mid-1990s, working with the producer Ivan Duran, Mr. Palacio made albums with musicians from Belize and Cuba, and in 1999 he appeared with older Garifuna musicians on the album “Paranda.” After various government jobs, he was named director of culture at the Belize Arts Council in 2003.

Meanwhile, Mr. Palacio and Mr. Duran worked to assemble the Garifuna Collective, which brought together multiple generations of Garifuna musicians for socially conscious songs. Mr. Palacio’s album with the collective, “Watina,” uses the Afro-Caribbean lilt of vintage Garifuna styles along with modern touches like an occasional electric guitar. The songs carry messages like: “Our ancestors fought to remain Garifuna/ Why must we be the ones to lose our culture?” It stimulated a rediscovery of Garifuna music among younger musicians in Central America.

The prime minister of Belize gave Mr. Palacio the Order of Meritorious Service in September 2007, and in November, Mr. Palacio was named a Unesco Artist for Peace. “I hope that our efforts will not only preserve Garifuna culture but also re-energize a generation,” he told NPR.

Mr. Palacio is survived by his mother, Cleofa Avilez; his brother, Oswald Lopez; his sister, Jacinta Palacio; his children, Kami, Uani, Nita, Tara, Kamou; and two granddaughters.

Stanislaw Lem & Ali Farke Toure R.I.P.

Two greats of music and literature recently passed away: Stainslaw Lem and Ali Farka Touré . Lem was a Polish science-fiction author known for his dry humor and versatility and Touré was a renowed blues singer and guitarist from Mali.

Many of Lem's books have not been translated into English. I was lucky enough to find a translation of THE STAR DIARIES a collection of satiric SF tales  starring Ijon Tichy, intrepid explorer and space hero, in a rundown bookstore in New Delhi back in 1992. From that point on, I was hooked. Lem's stories are philosophical, imaginative, absurd, and comic. One of his best known works, SOLARIS, was adapted into film twice--once by Russian director Andrei Tarkovksy in 1972 (try his movie STALKER) and much more recently by Steven Soderbergh starring George Clooney (don't bother watching this version--it turns the novel into a romance in space which it's not).

Lem is one of my all-time favorites. For more about him and his work, check out this Interview with Lem and Tribute to Lem by another fan .

Ali Farka Touré was often known as the "African John Lee Hooker" and his music bridged traditional Malian music with American blues. His style was hypnotic and he often sang in one of several African languages, including Fula. My favorite album of his is THE SOURCE although all of them are great. I'm not sure where I first heard about him, but I've been listening to Touré for over a decade and it's sad to know that there won't be any new music  of his to enjoy.

For more about Ali Farka Touré, check out this BBC Obituary and Bio at World Music Central.