Eve Werner Gets Out There
Local artist Eve Werner is now showing her artwork at two local galleries. Vista Gallery, at 7081 North Lake Blvd in Tahoe Vista, is displaying a number of her paintings of California native trees. You can preview them online at Vistagallery.com. Several of Eve’s horse paintings are hanging at Made In Tahoe, at 22 Hwy 28 in Crystal Bay (directly across from the Biltmore). Eve has also just started a new service as well – portraits on commission, see photo. For information about her commissioned portraits or to see more of her work, visit EveWerner.com or call 530-582-8464.
Winter Online Art Auction
Thru Dec. 18
United Way of Nevada County has crafted a unique fundraiser – an online art auction. At uwnc.org, view and bid on an eclectic collection of wonderful works of art donated by some very generous and talented local artists. The auction, which started on Dec. 9, runs through Dec. 18. The art will also be on display in store windows in downtown Nevada City during Victorian Christmas. All proceeds will go to United Way of Nevada County and its 19 Partner Agencies. Join the fun and bid on some beautiful works of art. Giving is a work of art.
In Loving Memory Of ‘Mama Africa’
Miriam Makeba
On November 10, the world lost a beautiful and powerful voice that can only be described as legendary. Miriam Zenzi Makeba, who died from cardiac arrest in Italy at age 76, was known as ‘Mama Africa and the Empress of African Song,’ for her incredible singing voice and for her outspoken voice against apartheid. In both of these realms, indeed in her entire life, she was brave, righteous, sweet, and playful. Her grace and talent was natural and consummate.
I first heard her voice in 2000 in a house by the Truckee River, listening to a vinyl record, a compilation album titled ‘Africa.’ Her voice, clear and dynamic, pulled at me. I felt joyous. I felt moved. I felt was awe. This record brought Mama Africa into our living room and she seemed so close I felt I could lay my head in her lap. This was her gift; a stirring call to unity to which the whole world responded.
Makeba was born in 1932, in a suburb of Johannesburg. Early in life, she noticed that ‘music was a type of magic’ which could raise her from the poverty that surrounded her. When apartheid was introduced to South Africa in 1948, she was old enough to see the devastating and limiting effects it had on black people. Still, her musical career progressed, and she ended up traveling the globe. Her success in America included a 1966 Grammy with Harry Belafonte, her own 1967 hit ‘Pata Pata’ (the first song by an African artist to break the Top 20), and working with Paul Simon on his 1987 Graceland tour. Makeba even found herself at the famous birthday celebration for John F. Kennedy.
She shared the culture and music of South Africa with the world, becoming ‘Mama Africa.’ She also publicly denounced the institutionalized racism of apartheid, which led to becoming an exile from her home country for three decades. Also suffering criticism that she was a racist, she responded in 1985: ‘People have accused me of being a racist, but I am just a person for justice and humanity. People say I sing politics, but what I sing is not politics, it is the truth. I’m going to go on singing, telling the truth.’
~ Mayumi Elegado
~ For a great account of Mama Africa’s life, read Graeme Ewens’ obituary in The Guardian, U.K., published Nov. 11, at guardian.co.uk. Better yet, check out her autobiography, ‘Makeba: My Story’ (1988), written with James Hall.
