“World Music in film” Panel
Friday, November 4, 7 PM AC Raymund Room
The Ojai Film Festival is excited to present this initial program designed to bring attention to the presentation of world cultures through the music incorporated into film. Sponsored by the Barbara Bernard Smith Fund for World Musics – Ventura County Community Foundation.
Music is a universal language. No other medium evokes an emotional response like music. It helps create our communal self-identity because the culture we identify with defines our musical likes and dislikes. Choosing to embrace multiculturalism requires us to look at music and culture from many perspectives, instead of only one. This diversity enriches our lives, broadens our understanding of the world we live in, and deepens our appreciation for the music of our own culture.
Panelists
Moderator: Judith Piazza has explored sound, music, rhythm, and song since a young age. She has a decades-long, multi-faceted background in music therapy and education as workshop presenter, facilitator, community organizer, producer, performer, artist-in-residence, teacher, and keynote speaker in places around the country and on other continents. Most recently in Ojai, she was Program Director for The Ojai Foundation, worked with the Ojai Music Festival to help coordinate special events, performed in CA and in Egypt with the UCSB MidEast Ensemble, and gathered groups for drumming, Soul Songs, and ceremonies. She has travelled the world to experience and study first nation peoples’ use of rhythm and song for health, vitality, and for supporting community. Now a resident of Colorado, she is thrilled to come back to Ojai for the Film Festival and to support the World Music in Film project.
Fatiq Nadeem is a Pakistani musician and will talk about the tradition of Sufi poetry, spirituality, and its relationship to classical Indian music. Fatiq is a Dhrupad singer connected to the Talwandi Gharana and has learned dhrupad singing from Ayesha Nadir Ali and Labraiz Afzal Talwandi. He currently trains under Professor Scott Marcus and plays the sitar with the Indian Music Ensemble at UC Santa Barbara. He is a PhD student in Environmental Science and works on the role of religious institutions to reduce the effects of climate change.
Menghe Jing, a singer, composer, performing artist, and voice teacher based in Los Angeles, specializes in rock, metal, pop, musical theater, opera, and experimental vocal arts. With intensive performances, she is active as a solo singer in both China and the United States with rich experience of working with bands on recitals, tours, ceremonies, and music festivals. As a multi-disciplinary vocal artist, Menghe has explored diverse art works of vocal performance with art, film, photography, etc. She is currently a MFA student and teaching assistant in California Institute of the Arts.
Jesse Marks is an audio engineer, sound designer, and composer for film and television. Aside from his professional work, Jesse travels to different ends of the world whenever possible to collect authentic sound recordings for his website gallery The Touch of Sound. For the 2022 Ojai film festival, Jesse will present and participate in the World Music in Film panel, which will include live drumming, a world tour of authentic music recordings, and examples of world music used in film and television projects to support the discussion.