[Candace
Allen]
Sergio
Mims sends a press release for a non-fiction book by novelist Candace
Allen:
Why
has music got such a powerful hold over our thoughts, particularly
when race is involved?
Veteran
of (or foot soldier in) one of the many cultural wars of the late
20th century, Candace Allen finds grounds for hope in the, for her,
unlikely realm of Western classical music.
After
charting her progress into Black Cultural Nationalism and out again,
Allen set out to find if the pitched battles between "our"
music and "their" music persisted among young people
engaged in serious music study in Palestine, Venezuela, Scotland, the
streets of London and Kinshasa.
In
all cases, the unexpected answer she discovered was no. Tribal
multiculturalism is a 20th century artefact counter-productive to the
global realities of the 21st century and that without the lingering
prejudices of 20th century cultural warriors, coming generations
would cross
boundaries
and embrace others with unfettered curiosity and often abandon.
Candace
Allen published her first novel, Valaida, with Virago (Little
Brown). This is her first work of non-fiction. She has written for
the Guardian and
Independent and has appeared on various radio programmes such as
the Today Programme in relation to her work for the Obama campaign.
She was the first black female Assistant Director to join the
Director's Guild of America, currently
she
lives in Islington, London.
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