Vermont Traditional Artists - Staying Connected During Covid
As summer arrives the 2019-2020 cycle of the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP) is winding down. Now in its 28th year, VTAAP pairs a community recognized master artist in some traditional cultural expression with an individual or group of people interested in keeping that art form vital and relevant to the community that practices it. In this most recent cycle we supported 15 apprenticeships with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Serena Foundation. 10 of those 15 apprenticeships support artists in rural or refugee communities.
Normally during late spring and early summer VFC staff would be traveling around the state visiting VTAAP participants and learning about their work over the past year. Of course this year those plans were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. A few site visits had already happened pre-COVID-19, but for the rest we decided to conduct them virtually over video conference. Though it wasn’t quite the same as getting to see a whole troupe of students moving in unison to Nepali folk songs or feeling the heat of a blacksmith’s fire, it was nothing short of inspiring to connect with artists and students all finding ways to carry on with their projects and stay connected to their communities.
Below we share a few highlights from some of our pre- and post-COVID-19 site visits and stay tuned for more field reports in the near future. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
The application process for the upcoming 2020-2021 cycle of VTAAP will open in mid-July. Check our website for updates and for more information on how to apply.
Nepali Sarangi
Master artist: Shyam Nepali
Apprentices: Sajal Dahal and Brian Perkins
Shyam Nepali and Sajal Dahal. Photo by Mary Rizos
The Sarangi is a four-stringed traditional Nepali instrument played with a bow. It is one of the most iconic instruments played in Nepal, especially among Nepali folk musicians.
Shyam Nepali currently lives in Boston, and is considered the most sought-after sarangi player in Nepal today. Shyam has had a connection with the Nepali community in Vermont but recognizes that while there is a very active traditional Nepali dance group in the Burlington area, there are currently no sarangi players. Shyam, Sajal and Brian aim to change this.
Photo by Mary Rizos
With the help of his parents and grandparents Sajal has been surrounded by Nepali song, music and dance his whole life. He has participated in a strings program at his elementary school, but until meeting Shyam, most of his exposure to the sarangi had come through YouTube.
Brian Perkins is a longtime player and teacher of New England folk music. He works with young music learners locally through school and community music programs and through his own neighborhood project, the Old North End Community Band. He began studying the sarangi as well as learning some songs in the Nepali language in order to connect with and support local students from Nepali families. By learning about Shyam’s approach to sarangi instruction, Brian will learn to support students in Burlington as they learn to play.
Tibetan Dranyen, dance and song
Master artist: Migmar Tsering
Apprentices: Students of Rolyang Lobling music school
Migmar Tsering, an accomplished singer and player of dranyen - a long-necked, seven-stringed traditional Tibetan instrument. Migmar has lived in Vermont since 2011 and has been dedicated to teaching and passing on Tibetan cultural expressions in his community, mainly through music and dance. In 2017 he formally established a music school called Rolyang Lobling, which meets regularly with 15-20 students in community spaces around Burlington.
Since the onset of COVID-19, Migmar’s classes have not been able to gather together in person. He has been hesitant to switch to online lessons but has stayed in touch with students and their families as best he can, sometimes sending videos to inspire them to practice and play their instruments. He’s also stayed connected with his own music and has even composed a song about COVID-19, which you can hear below.
Migmar Tsering performs a song about Corona Virus
Lyrics:
Social distancing is something that we need to consider seriously
So is washing hands very often.
Besides these, be keenly responsible for your good health and others too.
NEVER LET your dirty hands touch the beautiful face you have.
This invisible Pathogen; CORONA, is spread all over the world.
If this is someone’s doing, they killed millions of people
Without having to use even a single bullet.
We the people are so lost in this uncertain time
That it has confused people to perceive and to respond.
It is a disaster to see the living world turn into hell.
‘Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum’
Prayers for all by reciting the Mantra on compassion
Traditional English Ballad Singing
Master Artist: Tony Barrand
Apprentice: Amanda Witman
Tony is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University and a prolific musician and performer. He’s best known for his musical collaboration with John Roberts in their duo “Roberts and Barrand,” who recorded ten albums together between 1971 and 2003. A longtime Brattleboro resident, Tony has been teaching English folk song for years through the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) and other local events.
After several successful one-off pub sings at the BMC’s Northern Roots Festival, Amanda, a local folk song enthusiast, asked if Tony would help her make pub singing a regular occurrence. Now the two have been running the Brattleboro Pub Sing since 2011 and are in their 2nd year of an apprenticeship project exploring the roots and history of English ballad singing.
If you’re wondering what a pub sing sounds like you can check out this episode of VT Untapped, recorded pre-COVID-19, when it was still possible to gather and sing together with a large group in an enclosed space. Since the pandemic, singing is reported to be a very high-risk activity because of the amount of aerosols a person generates when they’re belting out a song (the pub-singing tradition is always unamplified, which means ‘belting’ is a must).
We talked with Tony & Amanda via remote video conference to commiserate in the temporary loss of their pub sing events and hear how they’ve been carrying on. They have been able to continue exploring the history and background of the songs and repertoire Amanda is learning through the apprenticeship, but for now they are hesitant to take their music-making into an online space.
Hear Amanda’s thoughts on the subject in this audio clip (you’ll hear Tony chime in too!):
The application process for the upcoming 2020-2021 cycle of VTAAP will open in mid-July. Check our website for updates and for more information on how to apply.