VOA慢速英语2013 穆斯林艺术家打破成见

 

AS IT IS 2013-12-14 Muslim Artists Break Down Stereotypes¹ 穆斯林艺术家打破成见

Hello again and welcome back.  This is As It Is from VOA Learning English.  I’m June Simms in Washington. Music piracy² is a big problem in Malawi.  Today Mario Ritter tells what some artists are doing to deal with the problem.

But first, we hear about some of the issues affecting Muslim performers in the United States. Muslim Artists Perform To Break StereotypesMuslim performers represent only a small minority of the United States entertainment industry.  Those who openly proclaim their religion are an even rarer find.  Many  of them are trying to use their talent to discredit³ negative ideas about Muslims.  Several showed their work at a recent gathering⁴ of American Muslims in Los Angeles. Dean Obeidallah is not just an American comedian⁵.

“My ethnicity and my faith make me a little different than many other comedians⁶.”

He is a Muslim with Palestinian roots.  He says his identity has not created barriers for him.  But he says stereotypes about what he represents do exist in the United  States. Obeidallah uses comedy to talk about some of these misunderstandings about what it means to be Muslim.  He has co-directed a comedy documentary called “The Muslims  Are Coming!”

Obeidallah says he has received positive reviews from both Muslims and non-Muslims.  But, he says sometimes non-Muslims do not know how to react to his jokes.

“It can make audiences a little uncomfortable because they’re not sure what’s politically correct to laugh at and what’s politically incorrect to laugh at.”

American Muslim poet Amir Sulaiman says some Muslims also feel uncomfortable listening to him perform.

“Some things I say they are not politically correct.  They are not fashioned and perfected in a political kind of way.  And so some people say we don’t want you to  say this or we don’t want you to say that as a Muslim person.  When you are an artist or a public figure many times you automatically become a spokesperson for  millions of people.  All these people have different points of view and different ways that they want to be portrayed⁷, but every artist can’t be responsible for  everyone.”

Sulaiman says being a minority also presents challenges. “So I’m sure there are some walls or hurdles⁸ because I’m Muslim, or because I’m black, or because of the type of things I talk about.  But the most important thing  is for me to be sincere and heartfelt and from that it always works.”

Singing from her heart has worked very well for Yuna, the first artist from Malaysia to break into the United States market.  Abeer Khan is a fan.  But she says some  Muslims will not be able to accept a Muslim woman as a performer.

“I think it’s something so new that it’s going to take time for people to fully⁹ understand it, maybe come to grasp that there are very talented Muslim women out  there.  So she’s a trailblazer and that’s what we need.”

Whether it is through music, poetry or comedy, Dean Obeidallah says it is important for Muslim artists and entertainers to appear in the United States media. “In the United States, only one to two percent of the country is Muslim.  We can’t reach the other 98% unless we go in mainstream¹⁰ media.”

He says the more visible Muslim artists are, the more they will be able to change anti-Islamic beliefs and stereotypes. Thanks to VOA’s Elizabeth Lee for her reporting on this story.  I’m June Simms and you are listening to As It Is.

Malawi Performers Forced to Sell Their Own Music Music piracy is a big problem in Malawi.  As a result, more and more musicians in Malawi are taking their products directly to the street to cut out the middle man.   City officials, however, are expressing concern about noise pollution as the musicians use loudspeakers to advertise their music.  Mario Ritter has more.

Many musicians in Malawi are living far below their fame.  Although their music is enjoying widespread airplay on radio stations and in dance clubs, the artists are  not earning very much money for their work.  So says gospel artist Thocco Katimba.

“The main problem here in Malawi is piracy.  Honestly, it has been a very tough journey for us, the musicians.  Because one comes up with a very good album, you will  find that it is almost everywhere in the country and the neighboring countries.  But you look at yourself -- what have you achieved by doing that, you will find that  it’s literally¹¹ nothing.”

The musicians blame music suppliers who sell music for the artists.  They accuse the distributors of making copies of the music for personal gain.  The distributors  have denied the accusations¹².

Thocco Katimba has cut ties with the distributors and is going into the street to sell his own music.  Musician Lloyd Phiri has done the same.

“Basically I would say I have sold around 17,000 CDs from the new album.  Whilst previously¹³ I was selling like two thousand copies and I was not getting the monies,  cash.  It is like these vendors¹⁴ were making more copies, selling them.  If I go to them they would say, ‘ah no, tomorrow, bra, bra, bra.’  This time around to be  precise, we are making money.”

Officials of the Copyright Society of Malawi, or COSOMA, say the musicians risk being charged and fined because they do not put copyright stickers on their products.   COSOMA says this violates the 1989 Copyright Act.

But, musician Lloyd Phiri questions COSOMA’s policies.

“They want money, simple.  Because if they put their hologram on our music, it’s like we are telling them to go out and protect our music but basically I haven’t  enjoyed their services to be precise.”

City officials also accuse the musicians of violating laws on noise pollution.  They say business operators have complained about the use of loudspeakers along city  streets.

Critics say city officials are likely to lose the battle against noise pollution.  They say the laws do not establish specific sound level limits for different areas.

Matini-Nkhoma also told VOA that the city council does not have equipment to measure sound levels.  He says this will likely affect the government’s ability to  enforce the laws on noise pollution.  I’m Mario Ritter.

And I’m June Simms.  That is As It Is.  Have a question or comment about this show?  We would love to hear from you.  Email us at [email protected].

1 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

3 discredit   

vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑

参考例句：

• Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
• They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

6 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

7 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

13 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

14 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓