real learning intelligent students creative teachers Education Education Malouma and the Sahel Hawl Blues 04 Youth 05 TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE About UMS UMS gratefully acknowledges the One of the oldest performing arts presenters in the coun- following corporations, foundations try, UMS serves diverse audiences through multi- and government agencies for their disciplinary performing arts programs in three distinct but generous support of the UMS Youth interrelated areas: presentation, creation, and education. Education Program: With a program steeped in music, dance, and theater, Ford Motor Company Fund UMS hosts approximately 80 performances and 150 free Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural educational activities each season. UMS also commissions new work, sponsors artist residencies, and organizes Affairs collaborative projects with local, national as well as many University of Michigan international partners. Arts at Michigan Arts Midwest While proudly affiliated with the University of Michigan Borders Group and housed on the Ann Arbor campus, UMS is a separate Chelsea Flowers not-for-profit organization that supports itself from ticket Community Foundation for sales, grants, contributions, and endowment income. Southeastern Michigan Doris Duke Charitable Foundation UMS Education and Heartland Arts Fund JazzNet Audience Development MASCO Corporation Department THE MOSAIC FOUNDATION (of R. & P. Heydon) UMS’s Education and Audience Development Department Margot Campos Designs seeks to deepen the relationship between audiences and Music for Little People art, as well as to increase the impact that the perform- National Dance Project of New England ing arts can have on schools and community. The pro- Foundation for the Arts gram seeks to create and present the highest quality arts National Endowment for the Arts education experience to a broad spectrum of community Office of the Senior Vice Provost for constituencies, proceeding in the spirit of partnership and Academic Affairs, University of collaboration. Michigan The Department coordinates dozens of events with over Pfizer Global Research and Development 100 partners that reach more than 50,000 people (Ann Arbor Laboratories) annually. It oversees a dynamic, comprehensive program The Power Foundation encompassing workshops, in-school visits, master classes, ProQuest Company lectures, youth and family programming, teacher Schlanderer and Sons Jeweler professional development workshops, and “meet the Savitski Design artist” opportunities, cultivating new audiences while UMS Advisory Committee engaging existing ones. Details about educational events for the 04/05 season are announced a few months prior to each event. To receive information about educational events by email, sign up for the UMS E-Mail Club at www.ums.org. For advance notice of Youth Education events, join the UMS Teachers email list by emailing umsyouth@umich. edu or visit www.ums.org/education. This Teacher Resource Guide is a product of the University Musical Society’s Youth Education Program in collaboration with ACCESS. All pictures are courtesy of the artist unless otherwise noted. Researched, written and edited by Omari Rush, Michelle Lin, Erika Nelson, Rowyn Baker and Ben Johnson. This Resource Guide is provided for educational purposes only and may be duplicated for use in the classroom. UMS Youth Education04/05 Malouma and the Sahel Hawl Blues Friday, April 8, 11am - 12 noon Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE Table of Contents Overview Lesson Plans * 6 Coming to the Show 62 Curriculum Connections * 7 The Performance at a 63 Teaching Points Glance 64 Meeting Michigan All About Malouma Standarts • 10 All About Malouma 66 Lesson One: Exploring 12 In her Own Words West African Folktales 68 Venn Diagram Chart Mauritania 69 Lesson Two:West African 14 Mauritanian History Griot Traditions Short on Time? 17 North African Culture 71 Lesson Three: African 20 Mauritania: Quick Facts Instrument Sounds We’ve starred the Mauritanian Music 72 Coloring Map of Africa most important 24 Mauritanian Style 73 Lesson Four: Where is pages. 25 Musical Instruments Mauritania? 31 Malouma’s Music 74 Basic Facts Worksheet 75 Basic Facts Answer Key Divas of the Desert 76 Lesson Five: Decoloniza 36 Oum Kalthoum tion 37 Oumou Sangare 77 Lesson Six: Take a Trip to Only Have 38 Fairuz the Land of the Sun 15 Minutes? 39 Najat Aatabou 78 Lesson Seven: People, Try pages 63 or 40 Malouma’s Influences Language and Culture 83! Arab Culture 79 Lesson Eight: Lyric Comparison 44 The Arab World 80 Vocabulary - Arab Music/ 45 Arab Religions Culture 46 Music and Islam 82 Arab Music Vocabulary 48 Language 83 Malouma Word Search 49 The Moors 85 Pre & Post Performance 51 The Berbers Ideas 53 Traditional Clothing 55 Muslim Calendar Resources 56 Islamic Holidays * 88 UMS Permission Slip 58 Arab American Timeline 89 Related Videos of Interest 60 Arab Music Festivals 90 Internet Resources 91 Recommended Readings 92 Recommended Recordings 93 Community Resources 94 Bibliography 96 Using Multimedia 97 UMS Youth Education Season 98 Evening Performance Info 4 | www.ums.org/education Mauritanian singer/songwriter, Malouma. About the Performance Coming to the Show We want you to enjoy your time in the theater, so here are some tips to make your Youth Performance experience successful and fun! Please review this page prior to attending the performance. Who will meet us when we arrive? After you exit the bus, UMS Education staff and greeters will be outside to meet you. They might have special directions for you, so be listening and follow their directions. They will take you to the theater door where ushers will meet your group. The greeters know that your group is coming, so there’s no need for you to have tickets. Who will show us where to sit? The ushers will walk your group to its seats. Please take the first seat available. (When everybody’s seated, your teacher will decide if you can rearrange yourselves.) If you need to make a trip to the restroom before the show starts, ask your teacher. How will I know that the show is starting? You will know the show is starting because the lights in the auditorium will get dim, and a member of the UMS Education staff will come out on stage to introduce the performance. What if I get lost? Please ask an usher or a UMS staff member for help. You will recognize these adults because they have name tag stickers or a name tag hanging around their neck. What should I do during the show? Everyone is expected to be a good audience member. This keeps the show fun for everyone. Good audience members... • Are good listeners • Keep their hands and feet to themselves • Do not talk or whisper during the performance • Laugh only at the parts that are funny • Do not eat gum, candy, food or drink in the theater • Stay in their seats during the performance • Do not disturb the people sitting nearby or other schools in attendance How do I show that I liked what I saw and heard? The audience shows appreciation during a performance by clapping. In a musical performance, the musicians are often greeted with applause when they first appear. It is traditional to applaud at the end of each musical selection, and sometimes after impressive solos. At the end of the show, the performers will bow and be rewarded with your applause. If you really enjoyed the show, give the performers a standing ovation by standing up and clapping during the bows. What do I do after the show ends? Please stay in your seats after the performance ends, even if there are just a few of you in your group. Someone from UMS will come onstage and announce the names of all the schools. When you hear your school’s name called, follow your teachers out of the auditorium, out of the theater and back to your buses. How can I let the performers know what I thought? We want to know what you thought of your experience at a UMS Youth Performance. After the performance, we hope that you will be able to discuss what you saw with your class. Tell us about your experiences in a letter or drawing. Please send your opinions, letters or artwork to: UMS Youth Education Program, 881 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011. 6 | www.ums.org/education The Performance at a Glance Who is Malouma? Malouma Mint Meidah is the first Mauritanian woman to introduce modern Mauritanian music to the world. Malouma’s music is unique. It is anchored in the Mauritanian musical tradition yet resolutely modern, it is inspired by the songs of the desert and it is immersed in the rhythms of the Senegal River, somewhere at the crossroads of West Africa, the Arab and Berber worlds, between the Sahel and the Savannah. Moreover, Malouma is known as a singer for the people and a spokesman for women’s rights in Muslim countries. My goal is to What kind of music will Malouma sing? Malouma’s music mixes traditional and modern sounds; Western styles are bring Mauritanian melded to the Moorish music of the Sahara, for instance through the use of both electric guitars and traditional Mauritanian instruments such as the music out of its four-stringed, lute-like tidnit. Malouma music fuses subtle, slinky blues- edged songs with other Moorish influenced beats to create a new sound; ghetto to be heard, a new desert fusion of gospel and gently driving R&B. There are musical passages that edge towards Western pop, yet the music always retains her accepted and cool style of drifting desert blues. loved throughout Where is Mauritania? Mauritania is located in northwest Africa, and is about three times the size the world. of Arizona. It is bordered by Western Sahara on the north, Algeria and Mali on the east, Senegal on the south, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west.