The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Residents invited to take part in oral history project
By Sheila Pursglove, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: February 28, 2008
The fifth annual "Chelsea Reads Together" program - with the theme "Immigration: The Shaping of America" -continues Saturday when local residents are invited to take part in "The Road to Chelsea: an Oral History Project."
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If you've ever wanted to leave a legacy and share your story about how you and your family came to Chelsea - whether it was generations ago or recently - you can speak on camera or contribute to a scrapbook. Stories will be archived in the library's permanent collection.
There are two opportunities to take part: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday, both times at the McKune Memorial Library at 221 S. Main St. in Chelsea. No registration is required.
On Sunday, the second in the Food & Music series takes the Middle East as its theme. The 2 p.m. event at McKune features Armenian-American musician Ara Topouzian on the kanun, a trapezoidal laptop harp played with mizrabs (plectrums), a popular instrument in Armenia, Greece, Turkey and throughout the Middle East.
Topouzian and a percussionist will play traditional Armenian and Middle Eastern music. The food will be prepared by Ahmo's Deli in Ann Arbor.
Topouzian, a musician since childhood, began studying Armenian and Middle Eastern classical and folk music as a college student. After performing with a local Armenian band, he went on to perform as a solo and ensemble artist throughout the Midwest and East Coast.
In 1991, he formed American Recording Productions and has produced more than 30 recordings of Armenian and Middle Eastern music.
He has performed at several Armenian weddings and social events, world music concerts, nightclubs, and folk festivals throughout the country, and his music has been featured in several PBS documentaries.
Along with his Detroit-based world music ensemble, Eastern Winds, he has performed with several Armenian, Greek, and Middle Eastern performers and ensembles throughout the country.
The award-winning musician plays an array of Armenian and Middle Eastern instruments including: kanun (laptop harp), duduk (Armenian oboe), metal G-clarinet, dumbek (Middle Eastern hand drum), def (Middle Eastern tambourine), and a variety of Middle Eastern frame drums.
He has taught workshops for children and adults demonstrating various Armenian and Middle Eastern instruments and folk music.
He has appeared on TV and has performed at many area venues including the Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit Art Space, Detroit Institute of Arts, East Dearborn Arab International Festival, Detroit Festival of the Arts, and the University of Michigan.
Children get their turn Wednesday at the library, when those aged 6 to 12 can create crafts from the old country, with the help of the Chelsea Center for the Arts. Registration is required.
The teen photography contest ends today. Prizes will be announced during the March 19 book discussion about the teen book selection, "First Crossing: Stories about Teen Immigrants," edited by Donald Gallo.
Chelsea Reads Together continues through March 26. For more information on the various activities, call the McKune Memorial Library at 475-8732 or visit www.chelsea.lib.mi.us.
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