KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

The Wanderings of an Icon from Vox Humana The Volga Boatmen, who worked as human beasts of burden hauling barges along Russia's rivers, eventually became folk icons, portrayed in literature, music and painting as heroic symbols of the Russian soul . This program traces the story of the Volga Boatmen in art, starting with Ilya Repin's painting of the Barge-Haulers in the Russian Museum in Saint-Petersburg. An interview with art historian David Jackson of Leeds University explains how Repin hit upon the subject and went to the village of Shiryayevo to sketch the men at their work. We also look at the theme in Russian literature and at the large number of musical compositions inspired by the Song of the Volga Boatmen , from Balakirev, Glazunov and Tchaikovsky to Chaliapin, Stravinsky and even Glenn Miller . The motif of the Volga Boatmen illustrates how generations of artists have created a Russian folk icon out of an unlikely subject.

Road Dogs   by Elias Schutzman Have you ever heard of a "Road Dog?" It's what they call long-haul truckers. It's also what they call touring musicians. The difference is that when a trucker gets home, he takes a nap; but when a musician returns, he goes back to his day-job.  Elias Schutzman  is a road-dog of the latter variety; working as a waiter and sometimes radio producer. Tonight, he  brings us a profile of pieman and fellow touring musician , Lazlo Lee . Eyes In South America   by Elias Schutzman This March, the  Baltimore  rock band  The Flying Eyes  took off on a two week tour through Brazil and Argentina. The band had toured extensively in the States and Europe before - but this was their very first time playing in South America. Drummer Elias Schutzman brought along a portable recorder and chronicled the experience for us in this audio-postcard.

Deadly Force: Police Shootings in Black and White  from Making Contact  Why are so many of those killed by police young people of color? A recent ProPublica investigation found that a young black male is at twenty one times greater risk of being shot dead by police than his white counterparts. We’ll hear from one of the reporters who analyzed the data on police killings to come up with that startling conclusion , as well as stories of family and community members who say the justice system itself needs to be put on trial. This documentary also features audio segments from the film Arresting Power .

Carnival   from Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening Feast  days  in Medieval Europe were noisy affairs – the streets filled with processions, animal baiting, games and mystery plays. Professor  David Hendy of the University of Sussex  tells the story of a Somerset town where a ‘ church ale ’ got out of hand and the party went on for eight weeks. Then, as now, being  raucous in the streets  was a way for the dispossessed to literally  make themselves heard  – and revelry could easily tip into revolt. Restraint   from Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries brought a new emphasis on  self-discipline  in every day life – and with it a revulsion against  noise  of every kind. City authorities banned singing and feasting from public squares and tore down  maypoles , while town-dwellers raised  petitions against noisy neighbors . Spitting, snorting ...