Exploring AMERICA'S COURTYARD
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Cedric Hampton, Northside College Prep

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Hello/Bom Dia! from Northside College Prep. Chicago’s newest high school! We are a lively and diverse community of learners in one of America’s most culturally exciting cities, Chicago! We are Americans of many ethnic backgrounds including Korean, Anglo, African, African-American, Hindi, Latino, Arabic, Pakistani, Japanese, Jewish, Filipino, Muslim, Christian, Vietnamese and Agnostic. We are all (for the most part) ninth-graders (ages 13,14 & 15) interested in the same sorts of topics as ninth-graders are worldwide (i.e., what is the latest music, the hottest fashion as well as life’s adventures like dealing with homework and parents, as well as finding and keeping girlfriends and boyfriends!). And yes! We have a soccer team!!! Tudo bem?

 NCPHS students Having Fun with Balloons

The Center for Arts and Humanities is serving as the gateway for this project. The NCPHS/Brazil Internet Arts Project will be overseen by the Center’s Director, Cedric L. Hampton. In addition to his responsibilities at NCPHS, Mr. Hampton is an ethno-musicologist/conductor/pianist with a deep personal interest in music of the African Diaspora, particularly North Africa, Spain and into the Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico) as well as along the coasts of Central and South America. NCPHS students will study the intersection of Brazilian music and religion. Call it Santería, candomblé/macumba, the source remains in Benin, Africa and NCPHS students will look forward to learning more of Mestre DiDi’s work. Mr. Hampton is the resident NCPHS salsero/timbero/sambeiro and has been introducing NCPHS students to the treasure-chest of styles of music from Brazil, starting with samba, of course! In addition there’s also Villa-Lobos, Carlos Nobre and Carmargo-Guarneri, from the classical tradition, not to mention Jobim and Vinicius Cantuária! Mr. Hampton has served as conductor for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and has led them on concert tours of Japan and Italy. He is a member of the faculty at The University of Illinois at Chicago, National-Louis University and The MERIT Music Program, an award-winning community music school serving disadvantaged youth. Music, art and architecture are at the center of his life! Axé!, Axé!

For our Brazilian counterparts, you will be communicating/discussing with a general music class here at NCPHS. In general music class, students study the history of Western music, as well as significant and important world music and visual arts as well as the the cultures that create it. The NCPHS general music class is interested in what types of music are current in Brazil as well as the youth fashion scene. Music and fashion have long been linked in American popular culture and we are curious to see if the same is true elsewhere. With music channels MTV and VH-1 having a global presence, we are sure there will be plenty to discuss and exchange on this topic alone! The coordinator is particularly interested in what types of music spawn a particular fashion ethic, how those music/fashion ethics are similar and different between and among students, regardless of global location. The students at Northside are similarly curious about what life is like south of the equator in South America’s largest country.