ARTS
he Michigan Daily Friday, July 15, 1988 Page 9
Birthday ba
Y TODDSHANKER South Africa Coordinating
REMEMBER your birthday parties Committee will be sponsoring a
vhen you were a kid? You know, "Birthday Bash" for Mandela (the
resents, home movies, friends, former head of the ultra anti-
latives, cake, ice cream - all that apartheid African National Congress)
ood stuff. that will feature live music from the
Well on July 18th, an inspira- Trinidad Tripoli Steel Band and King
onal man by the name of Nelson David. The concert/party will dou-
dandela will be spending his 70th ble as a benefit to raise money for
irthday behind bars, just as he has the Philemon Mahlangu Freedom
or 25 consecutive years. Why? Be- College in Mazimbu, Tanzania.
ause Mandela is a Black man in The Freedom College was formed
vertly racist South Africa, where as a reaction to the cultural genocide
he mere utterance of the defiant that Botha and his Boys were in-
vords "Amandla Awethu (Power to flicting upon the indigenous Black
pe People)" could have you beaten, populations of South Africa. Forc.
etained or even killed by Afrikaaner ing Black students to learn only the
olice. cultural, educational, and historical
On Saturday night, the Free curriculum of the white man was.
nds to bash Botha
and still is, an attemp the Botha Caribbean music groups. Forget the
Botha Partridge Family! Hugh Borde's ca-
regime to dissolve the proud ethnic lypso-funk family, better know as
roots of Black South Africans. The the Trinidad Tripoli Steel Band, will
ultimate result of this racist educa- try to outdo the drought with their
tional policy was the tragic Soweto mercury-rising Afro-Latin dance
Uprising of 1976, in which at least rhythms. Shimmering West Indian
618 people (mostly Black students steel drums add a special touch to the
and children) were killed by band's reggae and soca pieces, while
Afrikaaner police. The Philemon the dunked-in-funk horn section
Mahlangu Freedom College exists as sends out continuous power blasts
a dynamic educational opportunity that will unexpectedly blow-dry your
for South African Blacks to not only halr.
learn how to read and write, but also
rejoice in the discovery of their own King David will also be on hand
rich cultural history, to supply their snake-charmer reggae
grooves, guaranteed to have you
Saturday's benefit "Birthday slithering like a python. The most
Bash" will be powered by two of the amazing aspect of King David's
Ann Arbor/Detroit area's best sound, however, is the way their
compositions unfold like timelapse
flower-buds, fusing elements of ur-
ban soul, soca, and African music to
suddenly explode into technicolor
Rasta-reggae.
Saturday night's "Birthday Bash"
benefit concert is a great opportunity
to show your solidarity with the re-
sistance movement in South Africa,
celebrate the inspiration of Nelson
Mandela, and provide aid to the
Philemon Mahlangu Freedom Col-
lege in Tanzania.
So raise your fist in the air and
shout it out loud: Amandla Awethu!
KING DAVID and the
TRINIDAD TRIPOLI STEEL
BAND will take on P.W. Botha
Saturday starting at 9 p.m. at the
Michigan Union Ballroom. Tickets
are $6 in advance.
Latest 'Qqatsi': The decline
)f non-Western civilization
BY LISA MAGNINO
THE boat sails across the blue
faters against a backdrop of gently
loping, salmon-colored hills. Its
ail billows in the wind, the faded,
agtag pieces somehow fitting per-
ectly together. The music crescen-
oes in the background as the boat
ontinues to sall proudly.
che sta k beou of the music
ccents the bounce of the Peruvian
ndian woman's black braids against
er bright blue ceremonial dress as
he gyrates in a modern, Bacchana-
ian dance.
The woman's sari rustles as she
aises her arm to check her watch.
The tick-tock of the wood blocks in
he background sound in time to her
mpatiently tapping foot as she
waits in rush hour traffic.
} These scenes become pieces in
the mosaic of images and sounds in
POWAQQATSI, the second part of
director Godfrey Reggio's "qatsi"
trilogy. "Powaqqatsi" is an ancient
Hopi Indian word that means, in
rough translation, a way of life that
consumes another way of life out of
necessity for its survival - in the
terms of the movie, Western civi-
lization becomes a carivorous ani-
al that devours the traditions of
ative cultures.
A Western audience may find
POWAQQATSI harder to identify
with than its predecessor, KOY-
ANISQQATSI because of the un-
LOOK YOUR BEST!
If your hair isn't becom-f
ing to you-You should
be coming to us!
DASCOLA STYLISTS
6i-1321 761-2733
familiar rituals and settings of the
Third World. But this is intentional.
The photography team of Graham
Berry and Leonidas Zourdoumis in-
tersperses Diet Slice commercials
and pictures of Christie Brinkley
with shots of natives. The contrast
between the artificial appearances of
Westerners and the raw, untamed
beauty of the natives is cleverly
done, but too obvious in contrast to
the film's subtle shadings.
Philip Glass' score both harms
and helps the mosaic feel of the
film. The music is inspiring at
times; in the beginning, the hosan-
nas of the Hispanic Children's Cho-
rus sanctify the trudging footsteps of
See QQATSI, P. 10
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