Fulbright-mtvU Blogs
The Power of Music
2010-2011 Fulbright-mtvU Fellows (from left to right): Akesha Horton, Lynne Stillings, Yessica Hernandez and Karima Daoudi
U.S. Fulbright students in Australia, Brazil, France, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Peru, Senegal and Uganda have been sharing their experiences as part of the Fulbright-mtvU Fellowships. Through a partnership with mtvU, MTV’s 24-hour college network, the Fulbright-mtvU program promotes “the power of music” as a global force for mutual understanding. Recipients were chosen through a multi-tiered, merit-based selection process beginning with field and discipline merit review by U.S. and overseas academic leaders and area experts. mtvU and musical icons B.o.B., Diplo, Foster the People and J.Cole (for the 2011 students), Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips, Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine fame and Beth Ditto lead singer for the indie rock band Gossip (for the 2010 students), and Serj Tankian, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, Wyclef Jean, and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (for the 2008 students) and Vampire Weekend, Santigold, Death Cab For Cutie and Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance (for the 2009 students) reviewed and nominated candidates. Final selection was made by the Presidentially appointed Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Winners share their experiences during their Fulbright year via video reports, blogs and podcasts as showcased on mtvU and mtvU.com. See their lastest entries below.
2011-2012 Fellows:
2010-2011 Fellows:
2009-2010 Fellows:
2008-2009 Fellows:
Kyle Inmann, Northern Ireland
The Lovely Irish Beastie: Introducing the Uilleann Pipes
Posted Monday, March 5, 2012 by Kyle Inman
- in Northern Ireland, Fulbright-mtvU Fellow
From the first moment I came across this instrument in its natural habitat and country of origin I was enthralled by it. I recognized the sound from listening to Irish traditional music in the U.S., but I had never in my life dreamed of the true complexity of the instrument itself. It looked like a cross between an octopus and a pipe organ, had an unruly disposition and altogether seemed the type of creature that only a warrior of a musician could tame. Years of classical music training told me to be weary of the beastie instrument, but after many encounters I have developed a fondness for its particular sound and distinctively beautiful music.
Uilleann Pipes: The Lovely Irish Beastie from Kyle Inman on Vimeo.
I sought out some of the Uilleann Pipe tamers (pronounced ‘ill-yin' pipes) for some basic knowledge about the instrument and Kieran Brady, long time Uilleann piper, came to my rescue with information on how the instrument functioned. It consists of a bellows, a bag, a chanter, three drones, and three regulators. The air is pumped, not blown, from the bellows, held under the right arm, into the bag, held under the left arm, which supplies air to the chanter, drones and regulator. The regulators and drones provide the underlying tones for continuous accompaniment in tenor, baritone and bass tones, and the chanter plays the melody. There are four double reeds, one for the chanter and three for the regulators, and three single reeds for each of the drones making seven total reeds (woodwind players stop complaining), which makes tuning the instrument incredibly difficult. The chanter rests on the knee and lifting it controls the length of the notes, long or short. It can play in two octaves, and there is a rumor that it can reach one note higher than the highest octave if you hold every inch of your body just so and think really happy thoughts. To make a long story short, this is not an instrument for the faint hearted and I have the greatest admiration for those who have mastered the temperamental creature.
The Irish pipes, as we know them today, came into being around the early 18th century and got their name from the Irish word for elbow, ‘uille'. They were most popularly used in pre-famine Ireland, but gave way to instruments such as the concertina when the dance styles began to shift to set-dancing. However, they made a powerful come-back during the Gaelic Revival in the late 19th century alongside many other Irish cultural traditions and the Irish language itself. Piping clubs started springing up around the country and competitions encouraged old and young pipers to continue the tradition. Today there are several organizations that promote the training of the instrument and traditional music in general such as the Armagh Pipers' Club in Armagh city and the Na Píobairí Uilleann in Dublin. Pipers can be found in pubs around Belfast such as Maddens Bar, where I met piper Jarlath McTernan who plays at the Bar occasionally and allowed me to record some of his performance to provide a visual example of how the instrument works. Jarlath plays session gigs around the country and is joined in the clip by Ruairí Cunnane on Bouzouki.
For those of you familiar with the Uilleann Pipes I hope you continue to enjoy their unique and wonderful sound, and for those of you as intrigued by this post as I was when I first encountered the instrument, I hope you will seek out its music and develop your own fondness for this lovely Irish beastie.
About Kyle
School: DePauw University
Major: Music and English Literature
Host Country: United Kingdom, Northern Ireland
Kyle Inman, who obtained her Bachelor's degree in music and English Literature from DePauw University in Indiana, will work with Queen's University of Belfast and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to highlight the powerful artistic steps Northern Ireland is taking to move past its troubled history and towards a more harmonious future. During her academic career at DePauw, she spread increased awareness of Northern Ireland's culture and history through her acclaimed Northern Ireland Awareness Week and the presentation of her thesis, Portals of Truth: Musical and Literary Responses to the "Troubles" of Northern Ireland.
Lauren Knapp, Mongolia
Posted Tuesday, December 6, 2011 by Lauren Knapp - in Mongolia, Fulbright-mtvU Fellow
Hello from Ulaanbaatar! I arrived in the capital city of Mongolia at the end of October and have spent the last few weeks getting settled, starting to learn the language, and familiarizing myself with the music scene here.
For my first post, I'd like to give you a general overview of Ulaanbaatar and my initial impressions of the popular music scene.
Timelapse: Ulaanbaatar 4-Way from Lauren Knapp on Vimeo.
From Genghis Khan to Louis Vuitton
Many Americans' knowledge of Mongolia is limited to what they learned in their 9th grade world history course, which is to say most of Americans' knowledge of Mongolia is almost exclusively Genghis Khan related. And it's understandable. Ghengis Khan (here he's known as Chinggis) was one of the world's greatest conquerors. He united the warring tribes in the region of what is now Mongolia in the early 13th Century and then led them to create what became the largest contiguous empire in history. At its height, Mongol rule stretched from present-day Korea in the East to Poland and Iran in the West, Vietnam in the South and Siberia in the North.
Indeed, Chinggis Khan is more than a national hero here in Mongolia. His image is everywhere: he's seated in Ulaanbaatar's city center (Sukhbaatar Square), he's mounted on a large metal horse about 50 km from the city, his face is depicted on the side of a mountain to the south, and you can't escape a supermarket without seeing dozens of Chinggis products including vodka.
But despite his omnipresence, Mongolia is so much more than a distant memory of a once great conqueror. In fact, Mongolia, and especially Ulaanbaatar, is going through some interesting changes that are getting more and more attention from the rest of the world. Vice President Joe Biden spent a few days in Mongolia this past summer praising the country's successful 20 year-old democracy. The rapidly growing mining industry (copper, coal, gold, and precious minerals) is bringing foreign investment to Mongolia at a pace previously unseen. Environmental challenges to the traditional nomadic lifestyle are forcing more people to move to the capital each year. This rapid overpopulation is one of the contributing factors to Ulaanbaatar's place as one of the world's most polluted cities.
In 2009, Louis Vuitton opened their first store in Mongolia. Located just west of Sukhbaatar Square (the city's center), it seems to serve as both a beacon of hope for Mongolia's rising economy, and a symbol of economic stratification that is only growing.
About Lauren
School: Grinell College
Major: Anthropology
Host Country: Mongolia
Lauren Knapp, who graduated from Grinnell College in 2006 with a Bachelor's degree in anthropology and global development studies, will document how popular Mongolian female musicians in Ulaanbaatar are using hip-hop to address the issues of a rapidly urbanizing society in the young democracy. She will also work with the Mongolian Arts Council to establish a series of music camps for young women and girls. Since graduation, Lauren has taught in Nanjing, China and worked for the "PBS NewsHour", where she contributed to the arts and music coverage.