Introduction
This website was created in the fall of 2001 by University of Arizona students taking Mus334-Music in World Cultures taught by Janet Sturman and Connie Edwards. Our primary goal is to provide a guide that will be of use to other students, educators, arts promoters, tourists, and most importantly, residents who would like to know more about the range of music and dance activities in Tucson, Arizona.
Our class was inspired by the work of Marnie Dilling and Ellen Weller who with their students at the University of California-San Diego created a handsome guide to the world music and dance scene in San Diego in 1998. Additional inspiration came from the work of beloved folklorist Jim Griffith (professor emeritus of the University of Arizona) and the Tucson Cultural Exchange Council who are responsible for the annual Tucson Meet Yourself Festival. Dr. Griffith's dedication to sharing the city's cultural diversity with fellow Tucsonans is exemplary.
Our decision to use world cultures areas as one of the principal criteria for organizing performance traditions reflects our desire to give a better picture of the global dimension of Tucson's arts scene. The ethnicity or cultural heritage of a performer may or may not match the cultural practices emphasized in performance. In most cases, the cultural heritage of the performance practice determined placement. However, several performers blend cultural practices or perform in traditions that have international identities. In these cases we positioned the practice according to the performers' self-identifications.
Student contributors to this guide contacted presenters and organizations and met with most of the individuals listed before preparing each entry. Our long-term goal is to create a truly comprehensive guide. This first "edition" represents an initial step toward that goal and presents a representative sample of the range of music and dance options in Tucson. We expect that future classes of Mus334 will continue develop the content of this guide. Our standard template for webpage upload can be found here.
© 2001 The World of Music and Dance in Tucson, Arizona. All rights reserved.
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