Nigerians Celebrate Obama’s Victory

Hundreds of Nigerians who gathered at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, for an all night vigil on the outcome of the US presidential election, this morning, broke down in tears as Barack Obama was pronounced the president-elect of the United States of America.

Renowned Folk Singer Odetta Dies at 77

ptitle/titleimg width=125 height=150 class=floatleft src=http://worldmusiccentral.org/images/articles/odetta_dies_at_77_2008_1.jpg alt= /Odetta, one of the most respected in American folk music died Tuesday, December 2, 2008, of heart disease.nbsp;nbsp; span class=maintextOdetta was born on New Year's Eve in 1930 as the United States of America entered the second year of the Great Depression, segregation and disfranchisement remained in place, and the droughts of the Dust Bowl forced poor families off the land. As a child in Alabama and then California, she knew difficult times and for a time cleaned houses. But her singing talent was spotted early on and led to formal voice lessons at 14. She joined an ensemble cast headed by Elsa Lancaster at Hollywood's Turnabout Theatre and then, at age 19, became a member of the chorus for West Coast productions of Finian's Rainbow and Guys and Dolls. /span/p ptitle/title/pptitle/titleThere's a video on the American legacy website of her singing quot;House of the Rising Sunquot; in 2005. a href=http://www.americanlegacymag.com/thisissue_summer2008.shtmlhttp://www.americanlegacymag.com/thisissue_summer2008.shtml/a span class=maintextOdetta found her way into the folk music scene in the early 1950s, singing at the famed Hungry i and the Tin Angel in San Francisco and the Blue Angel in New York City, where her appearances caused Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte to become champions of her remarkable talent. She recorded her first album, appropriately titled /span a target=_blank href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000000XZ5?ie=UTF8amp;tag=worldmusicpor-20amp;linkCode=xm2amp;camp=1789amp;creativeASIN=B000000XZ5 span class=titleTin Angel/span/aspan class=maintext in 1954, and subsequently cut many albums including two vastly influential live LPs in the 1960s, Odetta at Carnegie Hall and Odetta at Town Hall, followed by the studio album /span a target=_blank href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004W1DY?ie=UTF8amp;tag=worldmusicpor-20amp;linkCode=xm2amp;camp=1789amp;creativeASIN=B00004W1DY span class=titleOdetta Sings Dylan/span/aspan class=maintext ndash; the first completely dedicated to his songs. The relationship between Odetta and Dylan dates back to 1960 when it is said she advised the young Minnesotan, even before he reached New York City, that if he stayed with music he would most likely succeed. Her most recent CDs are /span a target=_blank href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000K0TT?ie=UTF8amp;tag=worldmusicpor-20amp;linkCode=xm2amp;camp=1789amp;creativeASIN=B00000K0TT span class=titleBlues Everywhere I Go/span/aspan class=maintext (1999), /span a target=_blank href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005N6QB?ie=UTF8amp;tag=worldmusicpor-20amp;linkCode=xm2amp;camp=1789amp;creativeASIN=B00005N6QB span class=titleLooking for a Home/span/aspan class=maintext (2001), and /span a target=_blank href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AV2GFG?ie=UTF8amp;tag=worldmusicpor-20amp;linkCode=xm2amp;camp=1789amp;creativeASIN=B000AV2GFG span class=titleGonna Let It Shine/span/aspan class=maintext (2005)./span/ppspan class=maintextAt White House ceremonies in 1999, President Clinton presented her with the National Medal of Arts amp; Humanities. In addition, Odetta was among the initial group of select artists to be honored with the first Duke Ellington Fellowship Award from Yale University, she's a recipient of both the International Folk Alliance and World Folk Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Awards and a holder of honorary doctorates from Bennett College, Johnson C. Smith University and Colby College./span/ppquot;iI last saw Odetta in June, when the African American history magazine American Legacy had a party to celebrate their music issue, in which Odetta was featured in an article by Audrey Peterson/i,quot; says musician and journalist Ned Sublette. quot;iThe Carolina Chocolate Drops played a fine unamplified mini-set. there was this beautiful, tiny woman in a wheelchair taking it all in, smiling broadly, loving it, radiating joy, thoroughly happy to be alive. Constance wound up sitting next to her. it took me a while to realize it was Odetta, much different than the last time I'd seen her, years before, on stage with a guitar in her hands. she was skin and bones, but she was beautifully dressed and had a glass of wine in her hands. unlike her body, her mind was completely alive. Odetta and Constance chatted and did the terrorist fist-bump. the last thing i heard about Odetta, from a mutual friend, was what this story confirms, that she knew she was dying but was trying to hang on long enough to sing at Barack Obama's inauguration/i.quot;span class=maintextbr /nbsp;/span/ppnbsp;/p
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