Doublereed Archive - Posting 000027.txt from 2004/03

From: BSP6263@-----.com
Subj: [DR-L] Grenadilla info: show in Southern CA
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 11:14:28 -0500

MPINGO'S FRUIT
Harvesting African Blackwood: the people, the places, the process
March 25, 2004 8:00 PM
Arnold Schoenberg Institute,
University of Southern California Thornton School of Music
$10.00 Admission
Free to students attending USC

Oboes, clarinets, bagpipes, flutes, and various parts of many musical
instruments are made from mpingo wood, otherwise known as African blackwood and
grenadilla.

Brenda Schuman-Post's "Mpingo's Fruit" is a 90 minute presentation with up
to the minute information about what is really happening in Africa as regards
the
harvesting of this vulnerable and valuable wood. Brenda's ongoing research
includes interviews with environmentalists, oboe and clarinet manufacturers,
lumbermen, artists who carve the wood, individuals from Kenya and Tanzania,
support groups and philanthropic organizations, and the very person who for 30
years has been selecting trees that become musical instruments and overseeing the
mpingo harvesting process in Mozambique. "Mpingo's Fruit" includes video
footage and about 100 slides, as well as a display of museum quality Makonde
sculptures.

This show will appeal to musicians, visual artists especially sculptors,
collectors of African art, anyone interested in African studies, musical
instrument manufacture, historians, botanists, environmentalists, and the general
public. It is understandable and accessible to everyone.