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Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, Ethiopian Nun And Pianist Who Combined Traditions, 99

"The styles explored by Sister Guèbrou ... were so singular in sound and structure that music scholars often puzzled over the main source of her inspiration — seamlessly mixing forms such as jazz, chamber music and rhythms from her homeland." - Washington Post

Hollywood’s Diversity Initiatives Took A Backslide In 2022

That's what a new UCLA report says. In Hollywood, "in nearly every job category, women and people of color remain underrepresented relative to the U.S. population. They’re also still likely to receive inequitable economic opportunities compared to white men." - HuffPost

The Academy Really Screwed This One Up

"Joy, in her rage and her depression and her love, anchors the Best Picture sweep. The best goddamn film of the year, and all the leads were recognized except her." (But honestly, all of the Jobu Topakis out there knew this was going to happen.) - Tor Dot Com

In An Age Where Disinformation Is So Dangerous, Sometimes We Can’t ‘Just Have This’ One Little Fiction

It makes sense that we'd want these things. "In addition to providing the cozy fire of a feel-good story to warm your soul, these viral internet fictions can lull you into believing there's some justice in the world." And yet, no. - Wired

Why Can’t More Music Apps Be Like Apple’s Classical Music?

Bring on the metadata! "There feels like a genuine affection for the music in Apple Music Classical. ... But there are also just a lot of ways to find the music." - The Verge

Who And What Won Big At Britain’s Olivier Awards

The play Prima Facie and the adapted play My Neighbor Totoro were the biggest, but not the only, winners from London's West End. - The New York Times

Getting Los Angeles History Right For Perry Mason’s Season 2

The show had to learn "how different characters would have referred to the LAPD and FBI during in Depression-era L.A.; what words English- and Spanish-speakers would have used to protest and show dissent; what jump-rope songs would have been sung." - Los Angeles Times

Remembering Musician David Ornette Cherry

Cherry died in November after performing in London. Earlier, he said, "A lot of people think your success is how much money you make. … I feel successful because I hung in there and have integrity in what I do. The stuff I do has meaning." - Oregon ArtsWatch

What Ukraine Is Losing To The War

Art, love, brownies, people, cafés. Life. - The New York Times

The Science of Music That Makes You Happy

In a recent survey, 71% of 2,000 participants reported that music was the strongest influence on their mood and almost 75% regularly listened to music to cheer themselves up. - The Conversation

Now That All Social Media Is Blurring Together, Something New Can Grow

That is, after the earth is salted. "When all platforms index the same content, they’ll be desperate to differentiate. ... The apps will be programmers, not just builders, using human taste, judgment, and dealmaking skills." - Slate

Chicago Gets A New Theatre-Focused Bookstore

Is it like New York's Drama Book Shop? A little, but "The Understudy has rotating displays atop wheeled shop tables, curated by Chicago artists. They are also providing a new hub for itinerant theatre companies seeking space for readings and workshops." - American Theatre

The Issue Of Data Privacy, And TikTok, Goes Back To An English Victorian-Era Lawsuit

"The TikTok controversy can’t simply be chalked up to generational differences. ... It’s traceable to a watershed legal decision in 1849, when Prince Albert of England sued a printer for trying to publish a catalog about drawings he and Queen Victoria had made." - Wired

Ryuichi Sakamoto, Eclectic Composer And Electronic Pop Leader, Has Died At 71

Sakamoto's Yellow Magic Orchestra "perfected a witty robotic pop that ... influenced the sound of everything from Nintendo video game scores to the techno genre and hip-hop." He also composed music for film scores, including for The Last Emperor. - Washington Post

At Long Last, MTV’s Reality Art Show Is Paying Off, Sort Of

"This was a decent last stop before the end of an extremely niche and largely anticlimactic journey." - Hyperallergic

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