Cultural Gift Giving for the
2003-04 Holiday Season
This holiday season, as you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, and the New Year in January or February with many different cultures, please support principles of peace and diversity. Remember to buy local, support community organizations and artists, value education and care about the people of the world. With that in mind, we offer some great gift suggestions.
ORGANIZATIONS
Peace
Kids
Culture
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Local
Region
TRAVEL & MEDIA
Travel
Film
Music
SUPPORT PEACE
Give a $20 Membership to theHouston Peace and Justice Center in the name of a loved one. Includes a subscription to the Peace News. Call 713-522-9850.
Or, support our neighbors' valuable work for peace:
Give a Membership to theEsperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio. The Eseranza Center works on international issues, from indigenous concerns and migrant labor, to the crisis of violence against women of Juarez.
SUPPORT KIDS
SupportMECA (Multicultural Education and Counseling through Arts) by donating in the name of a loved one.
Provide a child's scholarship toCamp Dos Cabezas , a cultural education camp for at-risk youth. Contact info@houstonculture.org to find out what it takes to be a mentor and scholarship provider. Contribution to this effort will be recognized in the name of your family.
FOR THE KIDS
Give a membership toThe Cildren's Museum of Houston .
SUPPORT CULTURE
Give a Subscription toCultural Survival , a quarterly publication promoting the rights, voices and visions of indigenous peoples. Student or senior: $25; Individual: $45; Family: $70
CRITICAL THINKING
SupportVoices Breaking Boundaries in the name of a good friend.
Or, supportAurora Picture Show in the name of an aspiring film or video artist.
FOR THE READER
West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story by Mir Tamim Ansary. Published by Farrar Straus & Giroux.
Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast by Mike Tidwell. Published by Pantheon Books.
LOCAL INTEREST
Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues Written by Roger Wood. Photographed by James Fraher. Published by University of Texas Press.
REGIONAL INTEREST
Give a Subscription toLouisiana Cultural Vistas , a quarterly publication of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Annual Subscription: $12; Endowment Membership: $35.
THE TRAVELER
Give a Membership to theMuseum of New Mexico , including admission to all units of the museum and a subscription to the quarterly publication, El Palacio.
Give an annualNational Parks Pass , including admission to America's National Parks. $50 (Check with the local REI store about discounted passes)
THE FILM BUFF
Great international films to give on DVD:
The Road Home, China, 2001
A successful man, returning to the small village where he was born for his father's funeral, remembers the story of how his parents met, and the affecting details of their romance during China's Cultural Revolution.
Yi ge dou bu neng shao (Not One Less), China, 1999
In a remote Chinese mountain village, a teacher is forced to hire a 13-year-old girl to be the class substitute for a month. She is left with 30 sticks of chalk and a promise of an extra 10 yuan if not one student is missing when the teacher comes back. Shortly thereafter, one of the students is forced by poverty to head off to the city. The 13-year-old begins her quest to retrieve the boy, enlisting the help of the remaining students. Through her determination to keep the class together, she not only becomes the salvation of the lost boy but of the whole village school as well.
Rang-e Khada (The Color of Paradise), Iran, 1999
Mohammad is an eight-year old student who is studying in a school for the blind in Tehran. After one year, he returns to his birthplace, a village in the northern heights of Iran, along with his father. This returning is a beginning for his contemplations in whole nature and being. The mediations of which his father is totally unaware...
Badkonak-E Sefid (The White Balloon), Iran, 1995
A young girl's desire for a pretty goldfish her family cannot afford sparks an adventure in this wonderfully charming film, which won the Camera d'Or (best first film) at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. With the shops about to close for the New Year holiday in Tehran, seven-year-old Razieh pleads with her mother to buy a big goldfish she has seen at the pet store. Razieh's brother Ali persuades their mother to give in and, with the family's last bank note in hand, Razieh gleefully sets out to buy her fish. But along the way, she meets up with snake charmers, a balloon salesman and a dry cleaner and loses her money. With the help of her brother, Razieh, she desperately tries to retrieve her money, buy the fish and get home before her parents find out what's happened. Co-winner of the International Critics' Prize at Cannes, The White Balloon was acclaimed by audiences and critics at film festivals worldwide.
Whale Rider, New Zealand, 2002
In a small New Zealand coastal village, Maori claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider. In every generation for more than 1000 years, a male heir born to the Chief succeeds to the title. The Chief's eldest son, Porourangi, fathers twins - a boy and a girl. But the boy and his mother die in childbirth. The surviving girl is named Pai. Grief-stricken, her father leaves her to be raised by her grandparents. Koro, her grandfather who is the Chief, refuses to acknowledge Pai as the inheritor of the tradition and claims she is of no use to him. But her grandmother, Flowers, sees more than a broken line, she sees a child in desperate need of love.
Bend It Like Beckham, U.K., 2002
A young Sikh woman in England, child of Indian immigrants, permits her love of soccer to push her into stretching the cultural roles of a Sikh woman and facing her fear of rejection by her parents for doing so.
Hable con ella (Talk to Her), Spain, 2001
Pedro Almodovar returns with the follow-up to his Oscar-winning hit All About My Mother. With a hospital waiting room as its nexus, an intricate drama-part soap opera, part morality tale-unfolds. Javier Camara is a lonely male nurse infatuated with a beautiful, comatose ballerina (Leonor Watling). He befriends a writer (Dario Grandinetti) who unrequitedly loves an injured female bullfighter (Rosario Flores), also in a coma. Weaving lucid melodrama and dark wit, fetishes and philosophies, Almodóvar presents a careful exploration of human emotions and actions, romance and remorse. Academy Award Winner for Best Original Screenplay.
THE MUSIC LOVER
CDs to suit almost all tastes make great stocking stuffers:
Africa Asia Australia Caribbean Europe Indian Subcontinent KlezmerLatin America Middle East Native American Global Voices American Modern Compilations
Africa
• Healing Session by Babatunde Olatunji on Narada World Select (the legendary African percussionist, Babatunde Olatunji, 1927-2003)
• South African Gospel by various artists on World Music Network
• Oumou by Oumou Sangare on World Circuit (a 2-disc retrospective on the legendary singer from Mali)
• Festival in the Desert by various artists on World Village (a nomadic celebration of traditional and pop msic in Mali, with Ali Farka Toure, Oumou Sanagre, and yes, Robert Plant)
• Tunula Eno by Samite on Triloka/Artemis Records
• Espace by Tama on Realworld
• Kassi Kasse by Kasse Mady Biabate on Narada World
• Hookah Cafe by various artists on Triloka
• African Groove by various artists on Putumayo World Music
Asia
• The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan by various artists on Sithsonian Folkways
• Japanese Drums by Wadaiko Matsuriza on ARC Music
• Yol Bolsin by Sevara Nazarkhan (Uzbekistan) on Realworld
Australia
• Primal Resonance by Martin and Scott on Nightengale Music (Australian-inspired Didgeridoo from Arkansas)
Caribbean
• Rock On: Greatest Hits from the Observer Label by various artists on Heartbeat (legend Niney the Observer's hit-making friends)
• Dub/Original Bass Culture by various artists on Metro/Union Square Music
• Chutney Soca Monarch 2002 by various artists on Mohabir Records (Indian Soca from Trinidad)
Europe
• Boban I Marko by Boban Markovic Orkestar on Piranha (Serbian brass)
• Hungarian Music by various artists on World Music Network
• Kluster by Kimmo Pohjonen on Rockadillo Records (Experimental Accordion from Finland)
• Live by Les Yeux Noirs on World Village (French-Gypsy music)
• Sjofn by Gjallarhorn on NorthSide
• Prospect by Cuig on Green Linnet Records
Indian Subcontinent
• Radio Kaboul by Ustad Mahwash and Ensemble on Accords-Croises (classical music of Afghanistan)
• Capitol Hill Secret Tracks by James Whetzel on olin place (Indian-influenced Western music)
• Asha Bhoosle: The Rough Guide to Bollywood Legends by Asha Bhoosle on World Music Network
• Compilasian - the World of Indipop by various artists on Narada World (Western-influenced Indian music)
• Krishna Lila by DJ Cheb i Sabbah on Six Degrees Records
• Bombay the Hard Way (Guns, Cars & Sitars) by various artists on Motel Records
Klezmer
• Brotherhood of Brass by Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars on Piranha (features Boban Markovic Orkestar and Hasaballa Brass Band)
• Shvaygn=Toyt by The Klezmatics (with Les Miserables Brass Band) on Rounder
• Shteyt Oyf! (Rise Up!) by The Klezmatics on Rounder
Latin America
• Days in Mar Del Plata by Vinicius de Moraes, Maria Bethania and Toquinho on Circular Moves (a re-release of the classic 1970 Latin Jazz recording)
• Ojo de Tiburon by Michele Greene on Appleseed Recordings
• Piazzolla Forever by Richard Galliano Septet on Dreyfus Jazz
• Frida Soundtrack by various artists on Universal
• Border by Lila Downs on Narada
Middle East
• Turath by Simon Shaheen on Times Square Records/Silva Screen
• Qanun el Tarab by Maged Serour and Hossam Ramzy on ARC Music
• Youm Wara Youm by Samira Said on EMI Arabia
• Sabla Tolo 2 by Hossam Ramzy on ARC Music
• Republic of Love by Atash on Ars Mundi Productions (from Austin, TX)
Native American
• Seed of Life by Radmilla Cody on Canyon Records
• Northern Cree and Friends Round Dance Songs Recorded Live by various artists on Canyon Records
Global Voices
• Come September by Arundhati Roy on AK Press (A recorded speech by the author of "The God of Small Things")
Regional Sound
• Everybody's Dancin' by Geno Delafose on Times Square Records
• Zydeco: The Essential Collection by various artists on Rounder Heritage
• 30 Years... and Still Wild by Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias on label
• Bury the Hatchet by Anders Osborne and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux on Shanachie
Funk and R&B
• Wati by Amadou and Mariam on Circular Moves
• Ruckus by Galactic on Sanctuary
• I'm Home by Oliver Morgan on NYNO Music (If James Brown were born in New Orleans...)
Americana
• The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash on American (the fourth in the series)
• My Favorite Record by Asylum Street Spankers on Bloodshot Records
• All Over Creation by Jason Ringenberg on Yep Roc Records/Courageous Chicken
• St Mary of the Woods by James McMurtry on Sugar Hill Records
Modern Sound
• Cibelle by Cibelle on Six Degrees Records
• Parts of the Process by Morcheeba on WB
• The Richest Man in Babylon by Thievery Corporation on ESL Records
• Love Trap by Susheela Raman on Narada World
Calm and Innovative
• Natural by Celso Fonseca on Six Degrees Records
• Past Forward by Grazyna Auguscik on GMA Records
• Songs from the Tin by Da Lata on Palm Pictures
• North and South by Luciana Souza on Sunnyside
• Sepia by Coco Mbassi on Tinder Records
Lively and Innovative
• Neguinha Te Amo by Daude on Realworld
• Dellali by Cheb Mami on Mondo Melodia
• As Far As - a dj mix by DJ Cheb i Sabbah on Six Degrees Records
• Arabian Travels 2 by various artists on Six Degrees Records
Compilations
• Global Soul by various artists on Putumayo World Music
• Zen and the Art of Chilling by various artists on Mondo Rhythmica/Ark 21
• Hookah Cafe by various artists on Triloka
• African Groove by various artists on Putumayo World Music
• Zydeco: The Essential Collection by various artists on Rounder Heritage
• The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan by various artists on Sithsonian Folkways
HOUSTON INSTITUTE FOR CULTURE info@houstonculture.org