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HARVEST RITUAL PROGRAM
TAMBOR FOR ORISHA-OKO: A traditional
Afro-Cuban harvest ritual for Not A Cornfield.
An except from the ritual:
"Among the orishas who came down
to earth were Aganyu, Orisha-Oko, Osain and Babalu- Aye.
At first they did not receive any special powers from Olofi.
But with time, Olofi decided to divide His powers among them.
He gave Aganyu the power to melt stones with his breath,
thus creating the volcano. He gave Orisha-Oko the secret
of the harvest, thus creating the four seasons and all growing
things. To Osain He gave the secrets of the herbs and plants,
thus creating the woods. And to Babalu Aye He gave the power
to cure illnesses."
Odó Oló Ilú Iré Bata procession,
oro and guiro, palo, makuta and rumba with the Afrocuban
Folk Master Juan Calvo Flores, Craig Ramos, Luca Brandoli,
Pedro “Muñeco” Aguilar,
Melissa Blanco, Mark Mc Craney and Eddy Turner.
MUSIC PROGRAM
Son De La Tierra includes Jose Caridad "Perico" Hernandez, vocalist and percussion; Esteban Adame, piano; Rigoberto Lopez, bass; Carlos Lopez, congas; Raul Pineda, timbales; and Raumundo Somayan, trumpet.
FILM PROGRAM
HYBRID: ONE MAN’S PASSION FOR CORN
Monteith McCollum, 2002, B&W, 92 minutes
In a rather unusual form, where animations of crawling and mating corncobs alternate with meditative nature scenes, “Hybrid” tells the story of one man’s obsession for hybrid corn. Using dry Midwestern wit, the film describes the sexuality of corn and delves deep into one family’s complex relationships with an eccentric man who finds solace in the whispers of rustling cornfields. This poetic opus says as much about the pragmatic spiritual values and emotional inhibitions of the American hinterland as it does about the archetypal Midwesterner, Milford Beeghly. [more]
ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHTS @ NOT A CORNFIELD
Friday Nights @ Not A Cornfield brings people together in order to share, engage, energize, and enhance the organic nexus that is this project.
ABOUT THE NOT A CORNFIELD ART PROJECT
Growing in the historic center of Los Angeles, the Not Cornfield project transforms an industrial brownfield site into a cornfield for one agricultural cycle. Now the Los Angeles Historic State Park, the site popularly known as 'The Cornfield' had remained derelict for more than a decade. The project serves as a potent metaphor that provides a focus for reflection and action in a city unclear about the location of its energetic and historic center.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
José Caridad Hernández Pérez (better known as "Perico" Hernández) was born in 1938 in San Vicente, a village near the Cuyaguateje River in Pinar del Río, Cuba's westernmost province. At the age of 12, his family moved to the outskirts of the Havanese neighborhood of El Cerro, where he was known to hang out with Lazaro Cinco-Tumbas, Platanito (Patato's cousin) and other legendary tumbadores (conga players) at El 23, a musically rich solar located next to Havana's former 7-Up factory. Inspired by the televised performances of Carlos "Patato" Valdés and Armando Peraza in the early 1950s, Perico decided to become a percussionist. Back then, he never imagined that a few years later he would occupy the historic position previously held by Patato and Jabuco in the influential Conjunto Casino. (Latin Beat Magazine, by Luis Tamargo)
ABOUT THE CURATORS
Echo Park Film Center is a volunteer-run, non-profit media arts center committed to providing equal and affordable access to film and video education and resources for all members of our diverse and vibrant community via a community microcinema space, free and nominal cost media arts education programs, a comprehensive film equipment and service department, and a touring film festival showcasing local established and student filmmakers. For more information on EPFC programs and services: www.echoparkfilmcenter.org
ABOUT LAUREN BON, NOT A CORNFIELD ARTIST
Not a Cornfield artist, Lauren Bon resides in Los Angeles and holds a Masters of Architecture degree from MIT and a BA from Princeton. Ms. Bon is a trustee of the Annenberg Foundation and President of Not A Cornfield, LLC. Her recent urban, public and land art projects in the U.S., Hong Kong, Belfast and Northern Ireland, as well as her role as a trustee, make her uniquely poised to build the capacity of the Foundation in the area of site based philanthropy, serving communities through education, civic, health, artistic initiatives and programs. Not a Cornfield art project is being developed through a grant by Annenberg Foundation.
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