MEMETERIA by Thomas May

As an antidote to the poison from the occupant of the White House and his lickspittle enablers, here is music by the courageous Mehdi Rajabian and colleagues.

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From Ed Yong, this assessment of the devastating losses in the aftermath of the conflagration that destroyed the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro:

The museum’s archeological collection had frescoes from Pompeii, and hundreds of Egyptian artifacts, including a 2,700-year-old painted sarcophagus. It housed art and ceramics from indigenous Brazilian cultures, some of whose populations number only in their thousands. It contained audio recordings of indigenous languages, some of which are no longer spoken; entire tongues went up in flames. It carried about 1,800 South American artifacts that dated back to precolonial times, including urns, statues, weapons, and a Chilean mummy that was at least 3,500 years old.

Owen Burdick reports this in a Facebook post:

Incalculable loss:
“There’s nothing left from the Linguistics division. We lost all the indigenous languages collection: the recordings since 1958, the chants in all the languages for which there are no native speakers alive anymore, the Curt Niemuendaju archives: papers, photos, negatives, the original ethnic-historic-linguistic map localizing all the ethnic groups in Brazil, the only record that we had from 1945. The ethnological and archeological references of all ethnic groups in Brazil since the 16th century… An irreparable loss of our historic memory. It just hurts so much to see all in ashes.”

Cinda Gonda, translated by Diogo Almeida, about the fire at Brazil’s National Museum.

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Local readers please note this concert scheduled for Saturday 10 December, 3-4 pm, by the musicians of Madrona to benefit their neighborhood’s homeless shelter, Julia’s Place.

From the announcement: “These local performers, including accomplished professionals and aspiring young artists, present a holiday extravaganza that covers everything from Mozart and Schubert to Stevie Wonder and Leonard Cohen. Guests of all ages are welcome at this free community concert, and every donation collected goes directly to Julia’s Place to assist vulnerable families!”

Madrona Makes Music is presented by local violin studio Suzuki by the Sound. 

Performer lineup:

–Distilled, Seattle University alumni a cappella choir
-Aaron Grad, electric theorbo
-Tracy Hagen, cello
-Jen Kovarovic, violin
-Lizzie and Aimee
-Nelda & Clif’s little BIG band
-Rabbi David Basior
-Lewis Thompson, piano
-Violin students of Suzuki by the Sound

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