Nebraskan
Monday, April 4, 1994
ArtscoEntertainment
Musician teaches importance of creativity
By Pauia Lavigne
Senior Reporter_
Dressed in his homemade ward
robe of native African attire, 42-ycar
oldKahil El’Zabar stretched with ease
to grasp his right foot while chatting
about his recent studies in Africa.
He writes poetry. He makes cloth
ing. He lobbies Congress. He sings,
dances and plays a variety of instru
ments—amajorityofwhichEI’Zabar
made with his own hands.
If given a form with a blank that
said “Occupation,” El’Zabarsaid he’d
fill it m with “creative artist” or, spe
cifically, “musician.”
El’Zabar will be working at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln on a
variety of creative projects involving
students and faculty. The projects will
be presented throughout the week.
“Everything I do is connected to
the ccnterof my art form. It allows me
to adapt to other areas and develop my
skills,” he said.
El’Zabar’s work focuses individu
al creativity and nurtures that creativ
ity in society while promoting various
foreign cultures.
m caui ui us anu our oiesscu
genius, we just have lo take a chance
on ourselves and our infinite capaci
ties.’’ El’Zabar said. “Lots of times,
we allow experiences that we’ve had
stifle our creativity.
“We are all creative. Everything
you see on this earth has creative
genius within it,” he said. “Some
times it’s misdirected, and sometimes
it's held in.”
Children, he said, should be made
aware of this great personal resource
early in life. He said they had to realize
everyone was special. and people could
benefit from one another’s unique
qualities.
“Picasso had a statement, ‘As chil
dren, wc arc born artists. Such a shame
we grow up,”’ he said. “What happens
on a very physical level is our bodies
are supple in youth. Due to stiffening
we experience as we grow up. we lose
that suppleness.”
He said this stiffening happened on
a mental level as well. Through soci
ety’s conditioning, people’s creative
minds are inhibited, El’Zabar said.
Phis aging process must be stopped
before the creative process in endan
gered.
As part of President Clinton's Task
force of Arts Presenting and Educa
tion. Ll’Zabar said he strived to make
people realize how important this ere
- 4*
In each of us and
our blessed genius,
we just have to take
a chance on
ourselves and our
infinite capacities.
Lots of times, we
allow experiences
that we ’ve had stifle
our creativity.
— El’Zabar
— -tf -
ativity was.
“Through our educational systems
we need to find the ways and the
vehicles that would limit the kind of
inhibitions we find at this point,” he
said.
i ne nrst area educational mstitu
tions look toward when facing budget
cuts is the fine and performing arts, he
said.
“Arts are not only for entertain
ment. They are also for intellectual
development,” he said. “People don’t
understand the utility of arts in our
environment.”
At the university level, El’Zabar
said it was important to expose stu
dents to various ethnic and racial cul
tures.
“You can never hurl yourself by
broadening your palette,” he said. “You
can make it in life, but you limit the
potential of what you really have in
side.”
El’Zabar, who has worked with
UNL’s University Foundations pro
gram for the past five years, said sev
eral of the students had never been
exposed to someone like himself.
El’Zabar said he already had seen
success with the students in his pro
gram, as they were taking advantage
of the creative arts on and off campus.
“Creative arts have a place in aca
demic institutions,” he said.
His role in bringing creative arts to
students is one El ’Zabar said he deep
ly valued. Instead of using textbooks
and other standard teaching materi
als, El’Zabar uses a unique leaching
Kk)I — music.
Known as one of the most innova
tive ja/z players to take traditional
lazz and mix it with all types of new
styles. El’Zabar said he had worked
kVith artists such as Bobby McFerrm,
Jay ualderG,,/UN
Artist-musician Kahil El Zabar improvises vocally while working with students last
Wednesday. El’Zabar is working with University of Nebraska-Lincoln students.
Paul Simon and many other musical
greats.
When the National Endowment of
the Arts declined funding for various
art projects found to be offensive,
El’Zabarsaid he took part in ensuring
the First Amendment rights of all
artists.
Along with serving on the NEA
Board of Directors, El’Zabar founded
the Campaign for the Freedom of
Expression, an artist’s lobbying group,
and won the first censorship case
against the federal government.
In order to preserve trecdom ol
expression for the future, El’Zabar
said, we must work with the technol
ogy of today toexpose and advance the
nation instead of desensitizing it.
“The media often deals with medi
ocre and mundane perspectives, lack
ing intellectual stimulus. We need to
create programming that would in
spire our children instead of urging
them to murder.”
He said the media should deal with
subjects that promote social harmony
and respect for multicultural perspec
tives.
“If we take advantage of our tech
nology, we will be a very advanced
community in the next century, but if
we deal with the kinds of policies we
have in the past 20 years, just so
advertisers can make money, we will
limit the potential of the intellectual
abilities of our community.”
El’Zabar plans on being a strong
part of this revolution. Even while
El 'Zabar is at UNL, his itinerary looks
1 ike a daily flight schedule forO’Hare
Airport. Motivation is a key asset, he
said.
“You need to have balance and a
love for living and knowing how to
-44
The media often
deals with mediocre
and mundane
perspectives,
lacking Intellectual
stimulus.
— El'Zabar
-tf -
lake time out. 1 travel with my kids to
reconstitute myself. I create silent time
lo read and exercise ”
El ’Zabar will be reading his poetry
Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in the Andrews
Hall lounge. He and a group of UNL
Uudcntswill present their final project
it the Culture Center at 8 p.m. Friday.
\dmission is free.
Chemistry brings laughs
in film about first lady
“Guarding Tess”
★★★
Take one domineering, cynical
former First lady, one bored Secret
Service agent assigned to protect
her, throw in a sprinkling ofbrokcn
rules and a dallup of humor, and
what do you get?
You get a charming little con
coction called “Guarding Tess.” It
is the latest TriStar Pictures release
to hit the big screen.
DougChcsnic, played by Nicolas
C age, has met his match in an
assignment from hell. Duties call
him and six other agents to a sleepy
Ohio town to protect a so-called
national treasure. Shirley MacLaine
is Tess Carlisle, a matronly old
witch behind closed doors whose
design is to spark Chcsnic’s every
last nerve.
A rare chemistry definitely ex
ists between the two. You’ll be
laughing the duration.
Toss’ plight is one felt by many
people under the protection of the
government. She’s surrounded by
people who are at her beck and call,
but she’d rather have her privacy. It
rankles her that the taxpayers arc
paying for protection she despises.
But the president and the American
public want it that way, and she
goes along with it.
Nevertheless, Doug’s three-year
detail is not enough, and Tess wants
him back. This is where the fun
begins. Doug is Tess’s equal, and
they both know it. And that makes
the chemistry. Tess wants to play
cal and mouse with Doug, which is
what makes it so difficult to fulfill
his task.
The premise is good. In fact, it’s
excellent, but every movie needs
some down-in-the-dirt action. The
film tends to unravel toward the
end, as the story heats up. It’s a
patchwork of odd events haphaz
ardly threaded together.
All in all, “Guarding Tess” is
worth your time.
— Marissa Jorgenson
Book exposes political perks
N. ION WISH
k Irks Tout Tmbuci in BnMBii Fiau and
Eimmm ftmusa » Out Pune Stmum
“Congress: America's Privileged
Class”
H. Lon Henry
Prima Publishing
H. Lon Henry has stuffed 125 pag
es with information about congres
sional perks, privileges and waste into
“Congress: America’s Privileged
Class.”
Henry put long listsofdata, usually
perused only by citizens’ groups, into
a book any American can easily read.
It also helps any American become
angry.
Before “Congress,” it was hard to
find spec i fie lists of perks senators and
representatives enjoy — or enjoyed
before a scandal canceled or reduced
them.
Henry listed not only money and
free services members of Congress
received, but also travel-related ser
vices, legal exemptions and seniority
benefits. Much of the information he
included, though not necessarily sur
prising, is upsetting, to put it lightly.
It may not be upsetting to anyone
outside Washington, D.C., that in
come earned in tne district by nonres
idents is not subject to District of
Columbia taxing, or that its federal
tax-paying residents have no voting
representation in Congress.
Only the tourist may resent Con
gress’ policy of keeping its own doc
tor’s office in the Capitol, in which
lawmakers receive free treatment and
drugs. An injured tourist in the build
ing is not allowed to seek treatment.
It may upset Americans to know
what sort of payment Congress gives
itself, even after its members leave
office. Sen. J. James Exon (D-Neb.)
may receive lifetime retirement bene
fits totaling as much as $1.05 million
after leaving office. Rep. Doug
Bercuter(R~Neb.) may receive as much
as $1.6 million.
The general populace might be
upset when they find out Congress is
exempt from the Equal Pay Act of
1963, which requires all employers to
pay men and women equal money for
equal work.
These are only a few of many ex
amples Henry gives in “Congress,”
and they arc upsetting enough.
Henry wrote his book with a mix
ture of cynicism and sarcastic com
ments. On one hand, this style makes
the book look like a feeble attempt at
a work of humor. On the other hand,
it’s the only thing that makes the book
different from long, cold lists of facts.
At any rate, the book is not a liter
ary masterpiece. But then, it hardly
needs to be one. Its purpose is to make
the American people good and mad.
Whatever bad writing the book has
will hardly stand in the way of that.
One doesn’t have to be a fan of
either Rush Limbaugh or Gloria
Steinem to be moved and angered by
“Congress.” Whatever the reader’s
political persuasion, the book is a 125
page argument in favor of term limits
and the line-item veto.
SufTice it to say that those who read
“Congress” will react in one of three
ways. Some will be horrified and ap
palled at what our Congress has done
to us. Some will not care. The rest will
go into politics so they can be elected
to Congress and live like kings at the
taxpayers’ expense.
— Jan Calinger
