A conference and music festival celebrating the cultural diversity of the American West through its music will be offered Aug. 10-13 by the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The conference titled "Listening to the West: Music in the Soul of a Region" will feature free music performances on the lawn of Boulder's historic Chautauqua Park including Tish Hinojosa, Antonia Apodaca, Ramblin' Jack Eliot, Calvin Standing Bear, the Hot Club of Cow Town and many more.
The complete conference is $99 and members of the general public are encouraged to attend. Discussants will include Patricia Nelson Limerick, acclaimed American West historian at CU-Boulder; Nick Forster of the national "e-town" radio show; musicologists Thomas Riis and Brenda Romero of the CU-Boulder College of Music; David Wrobel, an expert on American pop music; and Jose Limon, a professor of English, Mexican-American studies, and anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin.
Through engaging lectures and musical performances, the conference will address the musical traditions of American Indians, Hispanics, African Americans, cowboys, miners, laborers and protesters. The conference will address how music reflects and distills the essence of different cultures, and how it can be used to bridge cultural borders and human divisions.
The conference and festival is presented by the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Daily Camera newspaper.
For more information contact the Center of the American West at (303) 735-3261, email musicwest@spot.colorado.edu or visit the center's Web site at .