A Brief Report from Nicaragua, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old IX

A Report from Nicaragua

I'm in Nicaragua with my mother and Sandy, the youngest of my two sisters, reliving the past. My mother and sister live in Fresno, California and because of the difficultly of travel more than likely this will be my mother's last visit to her homeland. It's been a pleasant experience revisiting with fond nostalgia places and people that impacted our lives.

I've also been taking plenty of notes of personal impressions gathered during this visit that will certainly become future postings.

An Invitation to Revisit an Obsession of Old

The question of cultural preservation and the evolution of culture intrigues me. At what point does cultural preservation become stagnation? And what facets of life should a society fight to preserve? These questions, I believe, are at the heart of the conflict between the Western world and Islam.

But, locally (in Panamá, that is), the question arose on a far less troublesome arena after the tragic deaths of several notable Panamanian musicians. Listening to their funeral over the radio so impressed me that I was moved to write an article that received a warm response from several readers, including one from D. A. Sonneborn, Ph.D., the Assistant Director of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings division.

I invite you to read, or reread, "Honoring the Lost Songs."