The Signal

Friday 7-8pm
Saturday 1-2pm

The Signal, a weekly radio magazine produced by WYPR, is devoted to exploring Maryland's thriving artistic and cultural scene.

The Signal, hosted by veteran WYPR personality Andy Bienstock, promises to transport listeners to the region's cultural back roads: the studios, recital halls and basement workshops where art is conceived and brought to life.

The minds behind The Signal senior producers Aaron Henkin and Lisa Morgan, as well as Bienstock -- share an abiding love for the tradition of radio storytelling. Every program is crafted like a book of short stories, a radio quilt sewn together with thoughtful narrative transitions and embroidered with contemplative musical interludes.

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Program Days:

Friday

Saturday

Short Program:

Only Archive

The Legacy of the Singing and Praying Bands

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June 8th & 9th, 2012, on The Signal:

Two centuries ago, in the tidewater regions of Maryland, traditional African worship practices merged with the beckoning Christianity of the Methodist Church. Born of that cultural intersection was a new hybrid of spiritual and musical devotion, a movement that came to be known as The Singing and Praying Bands.

We dedicate this episode to the story of the Singing and Praying Bands – how they began, what they mean to their surviving members, and whether or not they’ll still be around a decade or two into the future.

Producer Aaron Henkin is joined by folklorist Cliff Murphy, and they share field recordings of the Singing and Praying Bands and interviews with band captain Reverend Jerry Colbert, longtime band member Mary Allen, and cultural historian Jonathan C. David.

This episode of The Signal is produced in collaboration with Maryland Traditions.

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African Griots in America – Three Generations, Three Stories

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June 1st & 2nd, 2012, on The Signal:

PHOTO CREDIT: SHANE CARPENTER

Baba Baile McKnight, Cheick Hamala Diabate, and Amadou Kouyate

Imagine you’re keeper of a family tradition that goes back 800 years. You and your kin are tellers of history, spiritual counselors, and you do your work through the medium of music. You’ve learned your art from your father – your father from his father before him. You’re respected. You’re venerated. You’re essential.

And then you pack up and travel 4000 miles away. You land in a country where you don’t speak the language. You’re anonymous and utterly out of your element. This is what happened to West African griot Cheick Hamala Diabate, and this week on the program we hear his story. We also meet Baba Baile McKnight, an African-American who embraced the Black Power Movement and traveled to Africa in search of his roots. And we’ll visit with Amadou Kouyate, the American-born son of a Senegalese griot, a child literally of two worlds.

…The legacy of the griot in America, through the lens of three generations, on a special episode of The Signal coproduced with Maryland Traditions folklorist Cliff Murphy.

LINKS:

More photos of our guests at photographer Shane Carpenter's site: www.thesharer.com/post/23677088227

Learn more about the Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival 2012 at: www.marylandtraditions.org/festival

Baile’s African Drum Works: http://www.bailesadw.com and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tu_UHaJWL8

Memory of African Culture (the Kouyate Family’s cultural organization): http://www.memoryofafricanculture.org/

Amadou Kouyate: http://www.reverbnation.com/amadoukouyate and http://www.memoryofafricanculture.org/amk.htm

Cheick Hamala Diabate: http://www.cheickhamala.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX21ZLVvVDE

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OUT OF THE BLOCKS – 3300 GREENMOUNT

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May 25th & 26th, 2012, on The Signal

A special rebroadcast of OUT OF THE BLOCKS, an original coproduction of radio producer Aaron Henkin and electronic musician Wendel Patrick. The concept is simple: one hour of radio - one city block - everybody’s story.

(Check out a special photo/video gallery from this project at: www.wendelpatrick.com)

Between 33rd and 34th Streets in Baltimore’s Waverly neighborhood, there’s a block of Greenmount Avenue that’s as intricate as it is invisible. You can drive past it a dozen times and never think twice about the King’s Fried Chicken carry-out on the corner, Christine’s Discount Mart up the street, the Dreams Boutique fashion emporium, Kat’s Cuts barbershop, the Maryland Tag & Title outlet, Momma’s Grocery, Thai Restaurant, the Mayflower Buffet, the Shear Intensity Hair Salon, the Stereo & Jewelry Exchange, The Stadium Lounge, or any of the idle ranks sitting on stoops and bus benches, watching the traffic roll by.

Inconspicuousness is in the nature of a block like this. But under its camouflage of anonymity, there’s a buzzing microcosm of humanity here, a honeycomb of lives playing themselves out simultaneously. The people on this block are from here, and everywhere: Pakistan, Mali, Korea, China, Thailand, Eritrea, and the Ukraine. They are a one-of-a-kind tapestry of hopes, fears, and dreams.

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A visit to Pennsylvania Avenue’s ‘Resurrection Intersection’; jazz players Todd Marcus and Bennie Maupin on the mystery of the bass clarinet; and the daughter of artist Amalie Rothschild on her mother’s legacy

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May 18th & 19th, 2012, on The Signal:

We pay a visit to “Resurrection Intersection” at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Presstman Street, where the pushers, pimps and prostitutes have been replaced by gardens, murals, and the transformative community programs at the Harris-Marcus Center.

We get a lesson on the finer points of Baltimore jazz history and the magic of the bass clarinet when we talk with local bandleader Todd Marcus and visiting jazz legend Bennie Maupin.

Plus: Amalie R. Rothschild has just published a book about her mother, the artist Amalie Rothschild, and she reflects on her mother’s extraordinary life and legacy.

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Love and the Art of Translation, the 2012 Transmodern Festival, and the Baltimore Rock Opera Society’s ‘Valhella’

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May 11th & 12th, 2012, on The Signal…

A daughter’s love and the art of translation – bilingual poet Danuta Kosk-Kosicka has lived in Maryland for 30 years, but her mother, poet Lidia Kosk, still lives in their home-country of Poland. Danuta has lovingly translated her mother’s Polish verse into English, and both mother and daughter join us to share their special bond and their poetry.

A preview of the 2012 Transmodern Festival. Now in its 9th year, the festival showcases avant-garde artists and performers from Baltimore - and around the world.

Plus: The end of the gods is nigh – and the apocalypse shall rock. The Baltimore Rock Opera Society, BROS, is about to unleash its epic production, “Valhella,” and we get an all-access pass to the mayhem on the eve of the premiere.

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Mina Cheon’s “Polipop & Paintings,” Pierce’s Park, fiction from Eric D Goodman, and a Stoop story from Susan Kim

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May 4th & 5th, 2012, on The Signal… Pop Art collides with politics at a new Maryland Art Place exhibition of digital paintings by Mina Cheon. We talk with the artist about her unlikely blend of fanciful imagery and serious geopolitical content. We pay a visit to Pierce’s Park, a new public green space and memorial garden located on the Baltimore waterfront. Fiction writer Eric D Goodman joins us with another radio installment of his novel-in-stories, “Tracks,” a peek into the private lives of passengers on a train-ride from Baltimore to Chicago. Plus: A Stoop story from Susan Kim about the embarrassment of leaping before you look at the local swimming pool.

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The Signal, 4.27.12 & 4.28.12, Ugandan musician Kinobe, John Waters and Josh Slates on the MD Film Festival, and the purple prose of Groupon

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April 27th & 28th, 2012, on The Signal…

Ugandan multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Kinobe has toured the world, but he comes from a country where there’s no word for ‘music’ in the vocabulary. We talk with Kinobe about the beauty of that paradox, and we hear the ancient sounds of the kora, the ndongo, and the akogo.

John Waters unveils his annual special-screening pick for the 2012 Maryland Film Festival, and Signal film critic Josh Slates drops in with an overview of the festival’s upcoming cinematic highlights.

Plus: Internet ad offers aren’t necessarily known for their literary quality, but middle school English teacher Matthew Byars has found some inspired prose in the unlikeliest of places – the online bargain site, Groupon.

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The Signal, 4.20.12 & 4.21.12, World of Warcraft, “It Can Be Solved by Walking,” and “Summer of ‘68”

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The massively multiplayer online roleplaying game “World of Warcraft” is inhabited by the avatars of more than ten million dedicated gamers worldwide. The master of that alternate universe is Blizzard Entertainment’s system designer Greg Street, and he joins us to talk about the ups and downs of being a virtual god.

We stroll around Bolton Hill with poet Jennifer Wallace. Her book, “It Can Be Solved by Walking,’ explores the balance between nature, man, and the built environment. It’s also a celebration of the simple pleasure of walking.

Plus: a conversation with Tim Wendel, author of “Summer of ’68: The Season that Changed Baseball – and America – Forever”

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The Signal, 4.13.12 & 4.14.12, Scenic Routes Records, Telesma's "Action in Inaction," Deborah Keene at The Stoop, and punk documentary "From the Back of the Room"

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We'll meet Alex Champagne and Dan Cohan of Scenic Route Records, a new label that combines old-fashioned ideals with a modern approach to making and sharing music.

We profile Baltimore psychedelic super-group, Telesma, whose new album, “Action in Inaction,” blends progressive rock, Buddhist chants, and the drone of the didgeridoo.

From the Stoop Storytelling Series, Deborah Keene recalls an ill-fated skinny-dipping outing - she and her friends made it back to Baltimore, but their clothes didn't.

Plus: Amy Oden discusses her new film, From the Back of the Room, a 30-year look at the role of women in punk music and the DIY scene.

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The Signal, 04.06.12 & 04.07.12, art and music where you least expect it - some favorite stories...

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Art historian Kerr Houston explores the history of music as a weapon, from the drone of Scottish bagpipes to the screaming guitar assault of Metallica

Philosopher Crispin Sartwell takes to the streets of Baltimore on an aesthetic tour of the mundane, looking for beauty in the forms that surround us every day

Photo developer Lev Bar Av shares his thoughts about our life as he sees it, in an endless stream of freshly printed snapshots

Plus, a spoken-word collaboration from Native Son and Femi the Drifish

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