HERBIE HANCOCK TEAMS WITH UN TO BOOST CULTURE

Herbie Hancock at UNESCO

PARIS - Herbie Hancock is a musician on a mission.

The jazz legend, who was appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador last July, says he wants to use his art for the good of humanity.

“In recent years I have become conscious of a different perception of myself in this world which goes beyond being a musician,” Hancock said prior to a special concert in Paris Monday night at the headquarters of UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency.

“That might sound crazy. But I now see myself in terms of my potential value as a human being. In fact I’m more interested in the real value of being a musician … which is to serve humanity,” he told the audience, who had come to see him perform with musical friends Corinne Bailey Rae, Esperanza Spalding, Manu Katché and Stephen Brown.

Hancock’s projects include establishing an international day of jazz, to “promote a month of learning and the celebration of jazz in 195 countries around the world”. (UNESCO has approved this proposal, and the first International Jazz Day will be celebrated globally on April 30, with its official kick-off at UNESCO headquarters on April 27.)

The day will introduce jazz education and appreciation worldwide “as a way to encourage intercultural understanding, dialogue and respect, especially among youth”, the award-winning pianist and composer said.  

His concert in Paris celebrated the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, which was drawn up in 1972 to protect cultural and natural heritage. So far, 188 countries have ratified the agreement, and 936 properties have been inscribed on the World Heritage List. These include iconic structures such as India’s Taj Mahal, Cambodia’s Angkor temples and the United Kingdom’s Tower of London.

Esperanza Spalding performs with Hancock

But also included are national parks, archaeological sites, and historic town centres such as Camaguey in Cuba, Bruges in Belgium and Timbuktu in Mali.  The famed “pirate city” of Port Royal in Jamaica will soon be a candidate for the list as well.

Hancock has proposed that the locations where blues and jazz began be inscribed on the World Heritage List too: “from farms in the Mississippi Delta to New Orleans to Chicago to New York”. And he would like to see jazz music engraved on another UNESCO list (the Intangible Heritage List) alongside already recognized cultural contributions like French gastronomy.

UNESCO experts say that the protection and promotion of World Heritage sites can create jobs and give an economic boost to countries, and they have designated sustainable development as the theme of the anniversary celebrations taking place globally throughout 2012.

“The World Heritage sites have indeed contributed to sustainable and economic development but this is little known,” Kishore Rao, director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, told SWAN in an interview.

“People think that these are just iconic sites, but they generate jobs, they generate revenue and they promote tourism,” he added.

Despite the inclusion on the World Heritage List of a growing number of sites from less developed regions of the world and the progress made in strengthening the Convention’s policies and practices, “much remains to be done to ensure a full representation on the List of the world’s outstanding natural and cultural diversity”, UNESCO says.

Corinne Bailey Rae and Esperanza Spalding

“The most formidable challenge that the Convention will have to face over the coming years are related to global phenomena such as population explosion, diminishing financial resources and climate change,”  the organisation says. “These are responsible for a wide range of environmental and socio-economic pressures that pose a serious threat to World Heritage properties.”

For his part, Hancock said that when he recently visited some of the sites, he’d had an “eye-opening, incredibly inspiring and uplifting experience”.

“In Cambodia, I became aware not only of the beauty and the importance of World Heritage sites - it was the extent to which the establishment of this site impacted the local community, the city and the entire country by fostering tourism which has a very positive effect on the revenues of the country,”  Hancock said

He added that the places were also significant for “passing down the history of a people” and for “providing a record” of traditions that might otherwise have been lost because of wars and other calamities.

Hancock’s speech was rousing, but it was his music that hundreds of Parisian residents and UNESCO staffers had come to hear. And he didn’t disappoint. He played fresh and funky versions of his famous compositions “Cantaloupe Island” and “Watermelon Man”, cruised beautifully on “River” with Bailey Rae and accompanied Spalding on a special song she had composed for the evening.

That song, which featured Bailey Rae and Spalding doing a clapping, “patty cake” routine, drew the loudest applause of the evening. The two young women, looking like sisters on stage, showed that jazz, art and culture are alive and well, despite what Hancock called this “rapidly changing world”. - A.M.

COMIC BOOK GIVES HAITI’S VIEW OF THE QUAKE

"Tents Beyond Tents" by P. Jerome and C. Pierre

Two years after the earthquake in Haiti, journalists and cartoonists have come together to produce a comic book that gives the Haitian perspective of the devastating event and its consequences.

The first chapter in this 75-page "comics journalism project" is being published today. It focuses on daily life in Haiti and the survivors’ battle to recover from the deaths of loved ones and the destruction of livelihood and property since Jan. 12, 2010.

Launched by Cartoon Movement, an international publishing platform for editorial cartoons and comics journalism,  the venture emphasizes that the Haitian viewpoint  is important, against the backdrop of often skewed international reporting.

“There is not a lot of media attention any more in Haiti, but there are still so many problems that remain, and we thought it was very important for Haitian people to tell their own story,” said Tjeerd Royaards, a Dutch cartoonist who is a member of Cartoon Movement’s editorial team.

“We also wanted to do this project because we believe that comics journalism and using graphic images to convey a story and a message is a really powerful way to shed some light in a different manner on important issues,” he told SWAN.

In July of 2011, Royaards and U.S cartoonist Matt Bors spent a month in Haiti searching for a cartoonist and a team of journalists to produce a long-running series of non-fiction comics that would delve into the issues facing the country. The initial result is “Tents Beyond Tents”, a first chapter describing life in the tent camps that still dominate much of Port-au-Prince. Some half a million people still live in temporary shelters despite the many pledges of aid.

The story is by Pharés Jerome, a reporter for the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste, and subsequent chapters will be done by other journalists within their areas of expertise.

Cartoon Movement’s editors say that in addition to telling Haiti's story through comics, the organization is “one of the rare outlets” providing Haitian journalists access to an international audience.

“Most of the news about Haiti is through the eyes of Western journalists,” said Royaards. “It makes a difference when people tell things from their own perspective and this is what this project wants to do.”

The entire series will be drawn by Chevelin Pierre,  considered one of the most  talented comic artists working in Haiti. He says that the project is an opportunity to express his frustrations. and those of his countrymen.

Comics journalism “lends itself perfectly to the subject” of venting unhappiness with the current situation, according to Pierre.

Cartoon Movement said it will keep a spotlight on Haiti after the anniversary of the earthquake has passed, publishing multiple pieces in 2012 that will focus on such issues as Haitian politics, the role of NGO's, and "what exactly happened with all the relief money that came flooding in after the disaster". The comics will be published in English, French, and Creole.

Royaards told SWAN that the editors will try to find a publisher to produce the book in hard cover, and that all proceeds will go to the Haitian writers and artists taking part. - A.M.

For more information:  http://www.cartoonmovement.com/comic/29

And for an article (by O. Snaije) about a renewed Haitian literary festival, see: http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/01/reborn-haiti-lit-fest-promises-post-quake-reading-revival/