BARE FOOTED AND “BLACK” FOOTED

Daniel Rothman is a Classical Music Composer, Video/Sound Installation Artist and ART ACTIVIST. He has written a score for a synthesized harp that expresses his concerns about today’s social justice issues. He has found that there is a discomfort and resistance, these days, to those very complex and  difficult themes in the classical music milieu. The piece that has received a PFW award is composed for a solo harp. The harp is a beautiful instrument with a lovely tone; its mechanism for changing pitch involves pedaling and this score has  an intricate pedal pattern that creates a kind of dance, much like in minstrelsy.  The music is composed of many   pitch slides that create  a “dance rhythm”  reminiscent or characteristic of the denigrating clichés and stereotypes that have persisted through forms of entertainment, such as blackface, used in Minstrel shows. You may recall that PFW provided a grant to Professor Lester of Arizona State last year who gave a program about appropriation and part of the discuss was about “black face” performances. Daniel Rothman has chosen the harp for this piece to reflect the treatment of some Black Americans and  he sees the harpist on stage as  bare footed and “black” footed. This piece will integrate theatre, performance art and video.   Please visit  the many  websites that talk about this creative man’s achievements and passions  and  to learn more about his desire to pioneer an area of socially relevant art into mainstream consciousness.  http://www.actuellecd.com/en/bio/rothman_da/