Whether recording for record labels, interning for a music company that has managed such artists as the Shins or captivating a crowd from onstage with her band, Naomi and the Bandits, graduating fourth-year music history student Naomi Robin is showing no signs of slowing down, even as the doors of UCLA close behind her. As […]
Tag Archives: grad2014
Graduate student raps on current events, philosophy
Nigerian rapper and philosophy graduate student Olufemi Taiwo, who performs under the name Femi, woke up one morning with music chords and a melody in his head. Somehow, though he cannot explain it, he knew that they would fit with an event that greatly resonated with him: the April kidnapping of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls. “I’ve […]
Bruin pursues music, dance curriculum with Fulbright Program
Samad Guerra was initially convinced he had been rejected by the Fulbright Program in Morocco. Guerra said he was so nervous during his interview that he felt quite pessimistic about his acceptance. However, in February, the fifth-year world arts and cultures student received word that he would be traveling to Morocco in summer despite his […]
Donald Neuen retires after 50 years of collegiate conducting
About 60 years ago, a church choir asked second-year Bluffton University student Donald Neuen to step in as conductor, a request that the undergraduate accepted hesitantly. But when he stood in front of the church choir, any uncertainty that Neuen had about his future – whether he should be a professional baseball player or a […]
Screenwriting student commissioned to write comedy pilot
As a kid, Felischa Marye felt her first feeling of true sorrow when she visited a production set. “The Cosby Show” actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner was filming a movie down the street from her house, but when she went to get a glimpse of the action, she couldn’t do anything about the barriers that kept her […]
Acting, scriptwriting on the horizon for UCLA student
First, she was Bellatrix Lestrange. Then she rap battled USC, went to “The Great Fratsby” and most recently serenaded UCLA students with her rendition of “I’m a Bro.” Now, as her fourth year draws to a close, Spring Sing Company member and fourth-year theater student Kimia Behpoornia is creating her own variety comedy show for […]
Bruin sees music as gateway to cultural studies
Music lays the foundation for everything from food, art forms, indigenous languages, spiritual exercise and entertainment in native cultures throughout the Americas, said ethnomusicology graduate student Jessie Vallejo. “Even in a lot of South American lowland and highland indigenous groups, there’s a really strong connection between chicha (corn beer) and music,” Vallejo said. “You have […]