From Swing to Samba: Music of the US and Brazil at Berklee School of Music

Being a journalism student at Boston University allows you access to a lot unique opportunities around Boston. When I decided that I wanted to hear what the big deal was with those talented Berklee kids, I found an event online that appealed to me, and directly contacted the girl who was performing. She was fine with it, and three days later, there I was, with my camera at a Berklee Student Recital.

Rebecca Nicole Chubay is a vocal performance major and fourth semester student at Berklee. She has an affinity for jazz and Latin rhythms, which is what her very first Berklee recital consisted of. On Thursday Oct. 25, Chubay hosted a night of Swing and Samba, a marriage of two musical genres, at Berk Recital Hall.

RebeccaNicoleChubayFINAL from Julia Ardila on Vimeo.

Here is a more in-depth interview with Chubay about why she chose to cover bossa nova and jazz for the show. The phrase bossa nova means literally "new trend," and was developed and popularized in the 1950s and 1960s. A lyrical fusion of samba and jazz, it has remained a vital part of the standard jazz repertoire. Chubay's Brazilian musical numbers included "Corcovado," "Flor de Lis," and "Alguem Cantando."

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in black communities in the Southern United States. Chubay's jazz numbers included "If I were a bell,” “All of me,” “I wish I knew,” “Center piece,” "Solitude," and "They can’t take that away from me."


With free admission, Chubay's program proved to be an accessible feast for the ears.

 

Featuring:

Voice - Rebecca Nicole Chubay

Piano - Ricardo Curto

Guitar - Amit Cohen

Sax - Zach Giberson

Flute - Milena Jancuric

Bass - HyoYoung Kim

Drums - Josue Raymond

Percussion - Zayra Ocasio

Special Guest Vocalists - Francisco Ruiz and Tracy Robertson

4 More Years for Obama

With the election last night, I of course was scouring BBC News-World for some kind of interactive media and I found this interactive map with election results.

 It is a great map that tells you how parties did in each state, dividing votes by Senate, House, and President. You can click on any state on the map and get info on each divided into 2012, 2010, 2008, and 2006.

I'd love to learn how to make a map like this, I just think it would be very useful. So much information arranged in a way that works for those who learn better visually.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20009195

Smorgasburg in Brooklyn, New York

A melding together of "smorgasbord" and "Williamsburg," "Smorgasburg" is a gigantic Saturday food market hosted by the Brooklyn Flea. The open-air food court opens from 11am to 6 pm between Kent Avenue and the East River on the Williamsburg waterfront. Ordinarily, more than 50 local vendors sell handmade food from tidy stalls next to the East River.

The hurricane didn't hit Brooklyn as hard as it did Manhattan across the river, but I was surprised at how many businesses came out so soon after Sandy, one of the biggest storms to ever hit the northeast! It was quite chilly out so sellers didn't stay for long compared to the usual, but it was still good to see New Yorkers getting back on their feet.