Aurelia Butler

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    The Harp Needs More Modern Music. That’s Easier Said Than Done.

    Expanding my instrument’s repertoire takes months of practicing, experimentation and personal sacrifices. But it has made me believe in possibility.I once asked a colleague who runs a concert series what came to mind when he thought of harp music. “A nothingburger,” he replied. I laughed, not because I was shocked but because I agreed.Sure, I’m a professional harpist. So is my mother. Some of my earliest exposure to music was through classics of our repertoire, and while learning the instrument, I had my steady diet of Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Fauré and Ravel. Frankly, though, all those composers wrote more interesting works for the piano, which is better suited to quick modulations and coloristic variety.The harp has its hindrances, and a lot of composers are terrified of writing solo music for it. This instrument has 47 strings, each tuned like the white notes of a piano, with the player’s feet delegated the task of engaging flats and sharps using seven pedals. It’s an ingenious design, but only up to a point. Tuning is relatively unstable. The sound is boomy, with metal bass strings that are woofy and indistinct, like organ pedals.Why bother? Well, I can’t imagine playing the harp without interrogating its potential. If there’s anything I want for my instrument, it’s for there to be a new repertoire worthy of presenting to audiences like that of the piano or the violin. I want the harp to be a site of ingenuity. I don’t want Debussy or Ravel to be the latest composers to have written canonical works for it. Composers and harpists keep trying, but more work still has to be done for the story has to continue.The harpists who have inspired me traversed new paths. Andrew Lawrence King’s freakishly colorful and delicate recordings on period harps was a game changer in understanding the boundaries of expression in early repertoire. We owe a huge amount to Ursula Holliger, who was responsible for incredible commissions from the likes of Toru Takemitsu, Elliott Carter and Harrison Birtwistle. Take some time and listen to Zeena Parkins’s “Three Harps, Tuning Forks and Electronics,” in which a panoply of extended techniques (a flurry of scratches, fluxes and beatings on the soundboard) are organized into a beautiful and cohesive essay on form.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    13 Best Coachella Looks: Lady Gaga, Jennie, Bernie Sanders & More

    Nearly naked gowns, glow-in-the-dark bodices, metal armor and more.In the decades since the first Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival took place in Southern California in 1999, its cultural footprint has grown to encompass way more than music. This year’s event, which kicked off over the weekend, reflected that evolution: It was a days-long concert, but also a “White Lotus” reunion, a political rally and, as in years past, a fashion spectacle.Sets by Jennie and Lisa, the Blackpink members turned solo acts, and Lady Gaga had people buzzing about the singers’ outfits almost as much as their musical performances. Lisa’s set also had people talking about its crowd, after some of her “White Lotus” Season 3 co-stars like Patrick Schwarzenegger and Tayme Thapthimthong were spotted in the audience. Other celebrities who mingled with the festival-going masses included Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner, as well as Justin and Hailey Bieber.While certain famous Coachella attendees tried their best to blend in, wearing anodyne T-shirts or trucker hats, there were plenty whose outfits glaringly stood out. Most times that came across as intentional, but in certain cases it did not — for example, when Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont took the stage to introduce the singer Clairo in his typical ensemble of blazer and button-down shirt. While usual for him, the look was atypical for the festival and one that, like the others on this list, will be hard to forget.Lady Gaga: Most Presto Changeo!Kevin Mazur/Getty ImagesThere were almost as many outfits as songs in the singer’s Coachella set. While not as over-the-top as her theatrical red costume involving the massive skirt, an ensemble incorporating metal crutches and armor made by Manuel Albarrán struck a chord with many viewers who saw it as a throwback to attire she wore in the video for her song “Paparazzi.”Lisa: Most Electric!Elia BerthoudWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Musicians Who Knew Amadou Bagayoko Pay Tribute With Their Songs

    African music lost one of its titans last week with the death of Amadou Bagayoko, a guitarist who recorded with American rock stars, performed at the Nobel concert for Barack Obama, and became a national icon in his home, Mali.With his wife, the singer Mariam Doumbia, Mr. Bagayoko composed the duo Amadou & Mariam, which rose to international fame in the 2000s and 2010s with hits like “Beautiful Sundays.”Mr. Bagayoko was 70 when he died last week, of complications from a malaria infection. He and his wife, who is 66, were scheduled to perform across Europe next month. And while their fame has faded in the United States since the peak of their global success, they remained huge celebrities in Europe and in West Africa, where their music inspired generations of artists.We asked relatives and friends of Mr. Bagayoko for their favorite songs by Amadou & Mariam, and the significance of the guitarist and his music — a blend of blues riffs, guitar solos, and djembe — to them.‘Toubala Kono’Cheick Tidiane Seck, a keyboard player who knew Mr. Bagayoko since the guitarist was 14, was in neighboring Ivory Coast for a concert last week when Mr. Bagayoko died.Mr. Seck opened the concert with “Toubala Kono,” a song he wrote with Mr. Bagayoko, whom he called a “brother.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Nicky Katt, Actor Known For ‘Dazed And Confused,’ Dies at 54

    He began his career as a child actor and later played tough guys and henchmen. He was best known for “Boston Public” and “Dazed and Confused.”Nicky Katt, an actor known for playing wild cards and tough guys on TV shows like “Boston Public” and in films like “Boiler Room” and “Dazed and Confused,” has died. He was 54.His death was confirmed by his lawyer, John Sloss, who did not provide any further details.Mr. Katt began his career as a child actor and later became a character actor specializing in unsympathetic henchmen, working with acclaimed directors like Richard Linklater, Christopher Nolan and Steven Soderbergh.Mr. Katt was regularly cast as a pushy, temperamental man whose virtues, if any, were not immediately self-evident.In “Dazed and Confused,” he is a nerd-shoving high school taunter who grits his teeth while pummeling a fellow teen. “I only came here to do two things, man: kick some ass and drink some beer,” Mr. Katt, as Clint Bruno, said with cocky bravado. “Looks like we’re almost out of beer.”In “Boston Public” (Fox, 2000-2004), a show about an urban high school, Mr. Katt played Harry Senate, a geology teacher and charismatic rule breaker who brings his class to attention by firing blanks out of a pistol, but who also successfully disarms a student threatening another teacher with a gun.Mr. Katt, third from left, with the cast of the television show “Boston Public.”Everett CollectionIn a 2002 interview with The Los Angeles Times, Mr. Soderbergh described Mr. Katt’s performances as “dangerously out of control” but rigorously studied.“He’s absolutely fearless,” Mr. Soderbergh said. “No idea is too outrageous. He’ll try anything.”Nicky Katt was born in May 1970 in South Dakota. He appeared on several TV shows, including “Fantasy Island” and “CHiPs,” as a preteen.Complete information about his family and survivors was not immediately available.Talking to The Los Angeles Times, Mr. Katt said he found most actors to be either desperate or frustrated. To cope with the vagaries of the profession, Mr. Katt amassed a wide repertoire of quotes and anecdotes from celebrated figures of the past.One piece of advice: “You should never name-drop,” he said. “De Niro told me that.” More

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    Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Incarcerated: Bed Checks, Monotony and Jailhouse Lasagna

    Sean Combs’s hair and beard, once jet black, are gray now. Hair dye is not allowed at the Metropolitan Detention Center.Breakfast is at 7 a.m. The exercise room has yoga mats and a small basketball hoop. The communal space in the dorm-style housing he’s been assigned has pingpong and television. There is phone access that has allowed him to speak to the rapper Ye and also to his children who, on his 55th birthday, serenaded him on speakerphone.“Thank y’all for being strong and thank y’all for being by my side,” Mr. Combs said in a video released by his family.The Brooklyn jail has drawn complaints over the years as a place filled with mold, vermin and neglect, which the Federal Bureau of Prisons has pledged to address. For nearly seven months, its most famous tenant has been Mr. Combs, who is awaiting trial in circumstances far removed from the life of personal chefs and enormous mansions he once enjoyed.He is facing years in prison if convicted on the racketeering and sex trafficking charges he faces when his trial begins next month. His lawyers argued strenuously after his arrest last September that Mr. Combs should be free until trial.Motion after motion, and three hearings, were devoted to arguments over whether he posed too much of a threat to the community — and of witness tampering — to be released on bail.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘The Interview’: Ramy Youssef Is Just Trying to Be ‘Emotionally Correct’

    In the trailer for the new animated series “#1 Happy Family USA,” which premieres on Prime Video on April 17, there is a tag line that reads: “From the childhood nightmares of Ramy Youssef.” That might seem like a warning, but the show, which tells the story of the fictional Hussein family as they try to fit into a changing America in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, is actually very funny. There are big musical numbers and irreverent “South Park”-esque humor (Youssef’s co-creator, Pam Brady, was a “South Park” writer), and the characters’ appearances change depending on whether they are inside their home or out trying to navigate the world.Youssef was 10, growing up in New Jersey in an Egyptian American family, when Al Qaeda attacked in 2001. He often refers to the dislocation and fear he experienced as a child in his stand-up comedy, and it has come up in “Ramy,” the Hulu show he created and stars in about a young first-generation Muslim American guy figuring things out in New Jersey. (Youssef told me he makes work about his own life because “it’s the only thing I can actually account for with genuine insight.”) This new series, though, is his most ambitious attempt yet to examine past events that are still very much with us. Again, it’s a really funny show.Though much of Youssef’s work is rooted in his own experiences and worldview, he has lately been taking on roles in other people’s projects too. He had a part in Yorgos Lanthimos’s 2023 film, “Poor Things”; directed a memorable, dreamy episode of “The Bear” (the one set in Copenhagen); and when we spoke, he was in Utah filming “Mountainhead,” the first movie directed by the “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong, in which he plays a billionaire during a financial crisis. (He couldn’t tell me much about the project, but he did say that “what’s happening and what we’re portraying — it’s been so surreal.”) Our conversation, like much of his work, ranged from the personal to the universal.The creator and comedian discusses his penchant for self-reflection, how politics fits into his work and why he’s not interested in representing anyone but himself.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | iHeart | NYT Audio AppYour new animated project is called “#1 Happy Family USA,” which is a great name. I found it almost hopeful, that something like this can now be made: a comedy about one of the most terrible days in American history from the perspective of a Muslim American family. Why did you want to make this show now? The thing that compelled me is: The family in this show, they already have a lot going on before 9/11 happens. Pretty much the entire pilot, it’s just this family comedy about a family you’ve never really seen in an animated space. To bring in the events of the early 2000s felt important in the sense that it’s something we talk about all the time. It’s part of what we’re currently experiencing. It’s never gone away. And when I think about how long these themes have been directly a part of my life and the lives of people that I know — to get to step into a period of time that I don’t think has escaped us in any way, unfortunately, and to do it in a style that is familiar in terms of trodding on political things that can feel a little difficult, and undercuts them and doesn’t make them feel so volatile — to give this kind of family that treatment is really exciting. And to go at this through a totally unexpected and very silly lens — maybe that’s where that hope feeling comes from, because it’s so unfiltered. It’s one of the most inappropriate things I’ve gotten to be a part of. Yet there’s a lot of love and care for the subjects involved.Listen to the Conversation With Ramy YoussefThe creator and comedian discusses his penchant for self-reflection, how politics fits into his work and why he’s not interested in representing anyone but himself. More

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    Alex Garland Pairs With a Veteran to Engage in Realistic ‘Warfare’

    The filmmaker directed his latest picture with Ray Mendoza, a U.S. Navy veteran of the Iraq War. They wanted to depict, with a sense of urgency, war as it is really experienced.The climactic sequence in last year’s “Civil War,” a movie about an imagined military conflict in the United States, was unusual — and not only because it depicted insurgents storming the White House, breaching the Oval Office and assassinating the president.It was also action shown in a way that films do not often depict. The gun-toting fighters communicate constantly about needing to reload. They awkwardly trade off shooting down hallways. Their rhythm is observably different than what moviegoers are used to.The movie’s writer and director, Alex Garland, whose previous work includes “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation,” had given the scene’s reins to Ray Mendoza, a U.S. Navy veteran of the Iraq War turned Hollywood military consultant. Mendoza had used combat veterans as extras.“When you saw veterans, in effect, directed by a veteran, something came out of it, which was something that I hadn’t really seen in cinema,” Garland said in a recent interview.It gave Garland an idea. What if, he proposed to Mendoza late into the postproduction of “Civil War,” the two men made a film together, this one entirely depicting combat without typical cinematic trappings like compressed time, character study or traditional plot structure? What if the movie were just 90 minutes of war?Charles Melton, center, is one of the marquee actors in the film.Murray Close/A24We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Soulja Boy Is Ordered to Pay $4 Million in Sexual Assault Case

    The rapper, known for songs like “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” was found liable of assaulting a woman who said she was his assistant over two years.A jury in Los Angeles found the rapper Soulja Boy liable for sexual battery and assault, ordering him to pay $4 million to a woman who said that he became violent toward her as their once-professional relationship turned romantic, the woman’s lawyer said.The decision on Thursday, which was also reported by The Associated Press, came after a nearly monthlong trial, in which the woman said that she had started as the rapper’s assistant.She accused him of physically and sexually assaulting her over two years. Soulja Boy — known for songs like “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” and “Pretty Boy Swag” — denied the claims during the trial.“Our client is pleased with and vindicated by the verdict,” Neama Rahmani, a lawyer for the woman, whose name was not revealed in the proceedings, said in a statement. “Yesterday’s verdict is just the beginning of justice for Soulja Boy’s victims and a reckoning for the entire music industry.”Reading a statement on his phone, Soulja Boy, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, criticized the verdict outside the Superior Court in Los Angeles County after the verdict.“I believe this entire process has been tainted by a system that is not designed to protect the rights of the accused,” Mr. Way said. “I want to make it clear that I am innocent.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More