AMERICAN MOSAIC - 'Souls Alike': Bonnie Raitt's 18th Album I

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - 'Souls Alike': Bonnie Raitt's 18th Album Is First She Produced Herself
By Dana Demange, Karen Leggett and Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Friday, October 21, 2005

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HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

We hear some music from Bonnie Raitt …

Answer a question about Muslims in the United States …

And report about the death of a famous American writer.

August Wilson

 
August Wilson performs his one-man act ''How I Learned What I Learned,'' at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, in March 2004
African-American writer August Wilson died of liver cancer earlier this month. He was sixty years old. August Wilson won many awards for writing stage plays about the African-American experience in this country. Faith Lapidus has more about him and his work.

FAITH LAPIDUS: August Wilson was born in nineteen forty-five in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Almost all of the plays he wrote take place in the area of Pittsburgh where most of its black people lived.

August Wilson showed his skill at writing as a teenager. When he was fifteen years old, a teacher accused him of turning in a paper written by someone else. She told him that no black child could write that well. So he left school and instead went to the local public library every day. There, he read great writers and began writing poetry and plays.

August Wilson later said that he dropped out of school but not out of life. Others have called that moment a historic² one in the history of American theater. It started Wilson on a path that led to winning two Pulitzer Prizes, a Tony award and many others.

August Wilson decided³ to write ten plays about the African-American experience in the United States. Each play takes place in a different part of the twentieth century. The first play produced on Broadway in New York City was "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom". It is about African-American blues⁴ music entertainers during the nineteen twenties. In the play, the musicians discuss the problems of being black in America. One character offers his own idea about African-Americans. Shep O'Neal reads the words in the play:

SHEP O'NEAL: "Everybody come from different places in Africa, right? Come from different tribes⁵ and things. Soonawhile they began to make one big stew⁶. You had the carrots, the peas, and potatoes and whatnot over here. And over there you had the meat, the nuts, the okra, corn…and then you mix it up and let it cook right through to get the flavors flowing together… then you got one thing. You got a stew."

FAITH LAPIDUS: August Wilson's other plays include "Fences", "Joe Turner's Come and Gone", "The Piano Lesson" and "Two Trains Running". The last play in the series is called "Radio Golf". It will be produced in New York next year.

Last month, theater officials announced that a Broadway theater would be named for August Wilson. At the time of the announcement, Mister Wilson knew he was dying. Sadly, he did not live to attend the theater-naming ceremony last Sunday, October sixteenth. Theater experts say the August Wilson Theater will permanently⁷ recognize one of the greatest American playwrights⁸.

Muslim Girls in the United States

 
 
HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from Iran. Monire Farhangnia asks about Muslim girls in the United States. She wants to know if they are free to wear head coverings.

It is easy to tell which girls in American schools are Muslim. That is because a hijab cloth covers their hair. Some girls say it is easier to follow Muslim rules about boys and girls when they wear the hijab. These rules limit social relationships between girls and boys. The girls say the scarf lets boys know that they do not go on dates.

In some schools, religious rules about dress can sometimes conflict with administrative⁹ rules. An eleven-year old Muslim girl faced this kind of rule a few years ago at her school in the state of Oklahoma. She was told not to wear her scarf because schools in her city ban all head coverings for boys and girls.

Her family brought legal action in court. They said the school was treating her unfairly because of her religion. The court agreed. Now school officials must permit students to wear religious head coverings.

One modern Muslim woman says she wears hijab only when she prays at a mosque¹⁰. Asma Gull¹¹ Hasan is thirty years old. She works as a lawyer in the state of California. Her parents are from Pakistan, but she grew up in the state of Colorado. She has written two books, "American Muslim" and "Why I Am A Muslim".

Asma Hasan believes Muslim women and girls should wear clothes that do not show too much skin. But she agrees that it can be difficult to resist popular culture. She has a Web site where Muslim girls can ask questions. Some ask about problems they may be having. Others ask about personal relationships or how to deal with their parents.

Older Muslim women answer the questions. They often tell young people to try to understand the differences between growing up in the United States and growing up in their parents' countries. The Web site is asmahasan.com. To ask a question, click on "Ask The Aunties."

Bonnie Raitt's New Album

 
 
Bonnie Raitt recently released her eighteenth record album. It is called "Souls Alike." It has some of the same New Orleans rock and blues sounds of her earlier records. But it also has some new sounds and represents a "first" for this famous singer. Pat Bodnar tells us more.

PAT BODNAR: Bonnie Raitt's new album is a celebration of both American songwriting and the abilities of her musicians. Miz Raitt spends a great deal of time listening to current music in order to find new songs. She says she connected very deeply with the songwriters she discovered for this album.

Miz Raitt recorded these songs with the band she has been playing with for many years. They know each other so well that they were able to record many of the songs on the first or second try. Miz Raitt says that using the first recording¹² can help keep the music fresh and alive. The song "Crooked¹³ Crown" was recorded on the first attempt.

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"Souls Alike" is also the first album that Bonnie Raitt produced herself. Being a producer as well as the lead singer allowed Miz Raitt to push herself in new directions. She sings about holding on to love in the song "I Don't Want Anything to Change".

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Bonnie Raitt faced several family crises¹⁴ at the time she was recording the album. Both of her parents died within a few months of one another. And her brother became very sick. We close with a song from the album that expresses how she faced such difficult and sad situations. It is called "I Will Not Be Broken."

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HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program.

Our show was written by Dana Demange, Karen Leggett and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver¹⁵ was our producer.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

5 tribes   

n.部落( tribe的名词复数 )；（动、植物的）族；（一）帮；大群

参考例句：

• tribes living in remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest 居住在亚马孙河雨林偏远地区的部落
• In Africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 非洲许多部落仍认为蛇是不可冒犯的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

7 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

8 playwrights   

n.剧作家( playwright的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We're studying dramatic texts by sixteenth century playwrights. 我们正在研究16 世纪戏剧作家的戏剧文本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hung-chien asked who the playwrights were. 鸿渐问谁写的剧本。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

9 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

10 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

11 gull   

n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈

参考例句：

• The ivory gull often follows polar bears to feed on the remains of seal kills.象牙海鸥经常跟在北极熊的后面吃剩下的海豹尸体。
• You are not supposed to gull your friends.你不应该欺骗你的朋友。

12 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

13 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

14 crises   

n. 危机；危险期

参考例句：

• Economic crises recur periodically. 经济危机周期性地发生。
• Great crises often call forth gifted leaders. 危急存亡之际常能产生天才的领袖。

15 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。