Verna Gillis

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Verna Gillis (born June 14, 1942 in New York City ) is an ethnomusicologist who has emerged primarily as a music producer of traditional music.

Live and act

Gillis taught after a doctorate in ethnomusicology as an assistant professor at Brooklyn College from 1974 to 1980 and at Carnegie Mellon University from 1988 to 1990.

Between 1972 and 1978 Gillis recorded traditional music in Afghanistan , Iran , Kashmir , Haiti , the Dominican Republic , Peru , Suriname , Ghana and the USA, which she published mainly on Smithsonian Folkways and Lyrichord Discs. Since 1976 she has organized poetry in public places together with the sculptor Bradford Graves (1939–1998) . In 1979 she opened the multicultural Soundscape venue in Manhattan , which she operated until 1987. Some productions from there appeared on the Japanese label DIW as Live from Soundscape ; There she also published a large tribute concert Interpretations of Monk , which included four CDs and took place shortly before his death in November 1981. Then she supported the careers of Youssou N'Dour , Yomo Toro , Salif Keita , Habib Faye and Carlinhos Brown as a manager , also produced albums by Daniel Ponce and L. Subramaniam and recorded traditional music in Cuba and Mali .

In 2000 she was nominated for a Grammy in the producer category for the album Live in New York by Archie Shepp / Roswell Rudd , the following year for the production of Roswell Rudd's MALIcool .

Gilles was also an actress, performing her one-person play Tales from Gerriassic Park - On the Verge of Extinction . She wrote several songs, such as I Look in the Mirror , which Roswell Rudd performed with Fay Victor . She can be heard as the singer on Don Cherry's album Brown Rice . She also wrote two books of humoresques.

Discographic notes

  • 1973 Folk Music from Afghanistan: In Kabul (Lyrichord LLST 7259)
  • 1973 Folk Music from Kashmir: On Lake Dal (Lyrichord LLST 7260)
  • 1973 Folk Music from Iran: Luristan and Fars Provinces (Lyrichord LLST 7261)
  • 1976 The Island of Quisqueya - Dominican Republic - Vol. I (Folkways FE 4281)
  • 1976 The Island of Española - Dominican Republic - Vol. II (Folkways FE 4281)
  • 1976 Cradle of the New World - Dominican Republic - Vol. III (Folkways FE 4283)
  • 1976 Peru: Music from the Land of Macchu Picchu (Lyrichord LLST 7294)
  • 1976 Vodun: Radad Rite for Erzulie - Haiti (Folkways FE 4491)
  • 1977 Suriname - Javanese Music (Lyrichord LLST 7317)
  • 1978 Songs from the North - Dominican Republic - Vol.LV (Folkways FE 4284)
  • 1978 Rara in Haiti - Gaga in the Dominican Republic (Folkways 4531)
  • 1978 Kora Music from the Gambia - Foday Music Suso (Folkways FW 8510)
  • 1978 Anpao - An American Indian Odyssey (Folkways FC 7776)
  • 1978 Ghana - Music of the Northern Tribes (Lyrichord LLST 7321)
  • 1978 Music of the Dagomba from Ghana (Folkways FTS 32425)
  • 1979 Comanche Flute Music Played by Doc Tate Nevaquaya (Folkways FE 4328)
  • 1979 Music of the Ashanti of Ghana (Folkways FE 4240)
  • 1979 David Honeyboy Edwards - Mississippi Delta Blues Singer (Folkways FTS 32425)
  • 1979 Rev. Audrey Bronson - Are You Ready for Christmas? (Folkways FS 32425)
  • 1980 African, New York - Drum Masterpieces with Ladji Camara (Lyrichord LLST 7345)
  • 1981 South Indian Strings - L. Subramaniam (Lyrichord LLST 7350)
  • 1981 Merengues from the Dominican Republic (Lyrichord LLST 7351)
  • 1981 Traditional Women's Music from Ghana (Folkways FE 4257)
  • 1981 From Slavery to Freedom - Music of the Saramaka Maroons of Suriname (Lyrichord - List 7354)
  • 1982 Nicholas Guillen - Poet Laureate of Revolutionary Cuba (Folkways FI 9941)
  • 1985 Music of Cuba (Folkways FE 4064)
  • 2019 Tales from Gerriassic Park - On the Verge of Extinction (Author's Republic)

Fonts

  • I Just Want to be Invited - I Promise Not to Come 2012
  • I'll Never Know If I Would Have Gotten The Same Results if I'd Been Nice 2015; ISBN 978-0692492048

literature

  • Interview with Verna Gillis , Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas, 23:40 (1989) 24-29, DOI: 10.1080 / 08905768908594274

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andy Gregory (Ed.): The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002 . London, 2002 (4th edition), p. 192
  2. ^ The Soundscape of Verna Gillis
  3. ^ Book review
personal data
SURNAME Gillis, Verna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ethnomusicologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City