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A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.^[1]

Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem. Normally this belief is accompanied by a totemic myth.

Although the term is of Ojibwe origin in North America, totemistic beliefs are not limited to Native Americans. Similar totem-like beliefs have been historically present in societies throughout much of the world, including Africa, Asia, Australia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Arctic polar region.

In modern times, some single individuals, not otherwise involved in the practice of a tribal religion, have chosen to adopt a personal spirit animal helper, which has special meaning to them, and may refer to this as a totem. This non-traditional usage of the term is prevalent in the New Age movement and the mythopoetic men's movement.

Totemism[link]

Totemism (derived from the root -oode- in the Ojibwe language, which referred to something kinship-related, c.f. odoodem, "his totem") is a religious belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic religions. The totem is usually an animal or other natural figure that spiritually represents a group of related people such as a clan.

Totemism was a key element of study in the development of 19th and early 20th century theories of religion, especially for thinkers such as Émile Durkheim, who concentrated their study on primitive societies. Drawing on the identification of social group with spiritual totem in Australian aboriginal tribes, Durkheim theorized that all human religious expression was intrinsically founded in the relationship to a group.

In his essay "Le Totemisme aujourdhui" (Totemism Today), the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss argued that human cognition, which is based on analogical thought, is independent of social context. From this, he excludes mathematical thought, which operates primarily through logic. Totems are chosen arbitrarily for the sole purpose of making the physical world a comprehensive and coherent classificatory system. Lévi-Strauss argues that the use of physical analogies is not an indication of a more primitive mental capacity. It is, rather, a more efficient way to cope with this particular mode of life in which abstractions are rare, and in which the physical environment is in direct friction with the society. He also holds that scientific explanation entails the discovery of an "arrangement"; moreover, since "the science of the concrete" is a classificatory system enabling individuals to classify the world in a rational fashion, it is neither more nor less a science than any other in the western world. It is important to recognise that in this text, Lévi-Strauss manifests the egalitarian nature of his work. Lévi-Strauss diverts the theme of anthropology toward the understanding of human cognition.

Cultural flag of the Kanak community, showing a flèche faîtière - a spear-like wooden totem monument placed atop Kanak traditional dwellings.

Lévi-Strauss looked at the ideas of Firth and Fortes, Durkheim, Malinowski, and Evans-Pritchard to reach his conclusions. Firth and Fortes argued that totemism was based on physical or psychological similarities between the clan and the totemic animal. Malinowski proposed that it was based on empirical interest or that the totem was 'good to eat.' In other words, there was rational interest in preserving the species. Finally Evans-Pritchard argued that the reason for totems was metaphoric. His work with the Nuer led him to believe that totems are a symbolic representation of the group. Lévi-Strauss considered Evan-Pritchard's work the correct explanation.

==Native North American Totems==The word totem comes form the Ojibway word dodaem and means "brother/ sister kin" It is the archetypal symbol, animal or plant of hereditary clan affiliations. People from the same clan have the same Clan totem and are considered immediate family.It is taboo to marry someone of the same clan. The Ojibway scholar Basil H.Johnston defines dodaem, or totem, as "that from which I draw my purpose, meaning, and being" and states that "the bonds that united the Ojibway-speaking people were the totems." He further asserts that the feeling of oneness among people who occupy a vast territory is based not on political,economic, or religious considerations but on totemic symbols that "made those born under the signs one in function,birth, and purpose." This means that men and women belonging to the same totem regarded one another as brothers and sisters having kinship obligations to each other. In North America, there is a certain feeling of affinity between a kin group or clan and its totem. There are taboos against killing clan animals, as humans are kin to the animals whose totems they represent. In some cases totem spirits are clan protectors and the center of religious activity. ^[2]

North American totem poles[link]

A totem pole in Thunderbird Park, Victoria, British Columbia

The misnamed totem poles of the Pacific Northwest of North America are, in fact, not totemic in nature. Rather, they are heraldic. They feature many different designs (bears, birds, frogs, people, and various supernatural beings and aquatic creatures) that function as crests of families or chiefs. They recount stories owned by those families or chiefs, and/or commemorate special occasions.

Possibly totemic culture in ancient China[link]

The Sanxingdui Culture in southern China, dating back more than 5000 years, possibly placed bronze and gold heads on totems. Chinese transliterates totem as tuteng (圖騰). Sanxingdui bronze masks and heads (radiocarbon dated circa 1200BCE) appear to have been mounted on wooden poles. Some scholars have suggested that totemic culture spread from ancient Asian populations to the rest of the world. Others conclude that totemism arose separately in numerous cultures; totemic cultures in North America are estimated to have been more than 10,000 years old.

Korean JangSeung[link]

A Jangseung or village guardian is a Korean totem pole usually made of wood. Jangseungs were traditionally placed at the edges of villages to mark for village boundaries and frighten away demons or welcome people in. They were also worshipped as village tutelary deities. JangSeungs were usually carved in the images of Janguns (equivalent to Admirals or Generals) and their wives. Many JangSeungs are also depicted laughing but in a frightening way. Many of the villages felt that the frightening laughter of the JangSeungs would frighten away the demons because the JangSeungs have no fear.

Totem beads in the Himalayan region[link]

In the Himalayan region as well as on the whole Tibetan plateau area and adjacent areas, certain beaded jewelry is believed to have totemistic capabilities. Tibetans in particular give much importance to heirloom beads such as dzi beads. Though dzi beads were not produced in ancient Tibet, but by an unknown culture, most ancient dzi beads are owned by Tibetans. Different protective qualities depend on design, number of eyes, damage, color, shine, etc.

[edit] The ancient Polish rodnidze

The rodnidze known among the pre-Christian ancestors of the Poles is considered to have been roughly similar to the totem as mentioned above. In historical times, scholars considered that the animals and birds represented on the coats-of-arms of various Polish aristocratic clans may have been remnants of such totems (see Ślepowron coat of arms, Korwin coat of arms, possible remnants of a raven-rodnidze).

See also[link]

• Animal worship
• Animism
• Anishinaabe clan system
• Aumakua
• Axis Mundi
• Charge (heraldry)
• Devak, a type of family totem in Maratha culture
• Fylgja
• Jangseung
• Moiety
• Nature worship
• Tamga, an abstract seal or device used by Eurasian nomadic peoples
• Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud
• Vahana
• Wildlife totemization

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Totem poles

• Historical Wonders of Sanxingdui

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Edward Lee Morgan (July 10, 1938, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – February 19, 1972, New York City) was an American hard bop trumpeter.^[2][3]

Biography[link]

Edward Lee Morgan was born in Philadelphia on July 10, 1938, the youngest of Otto Ricardo and Nettie Beatrice Morgan's four children.

Lee Morgan, a leading trumpeter and composer, recorded prolifically from 1956 until a day before his death in February 1972. Originally interested in the vibraphone, he soon showed a growing enthusiasm for the trumpet. Morgan also knew how to play the alto saxophone. On his thirteenth birthday, his sister Ernestine gave him his first trumpet. His primary stylistic influence was Clifford Brown, who gave the teenager a few lessons before he joined the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band at 18, and remained a member for a year and a half, until the economical situation forced Dizzy to disband the unit in 1958. He began recording for Blue Note Records in 1956, eventually recording 25 albums as a leader for the company, with more than 250 musicians. He also recorded on the Vee-Jay label.

He was a featured sideman on several early Hank Mobley records, as well as on John Coltrane's Blue Train (1957), on which he played a trumpet with an angled bell (given to him by Gillespie) and delivered one of his most celebrated solos on the title track.

Joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1958 further developed his talent as a soloist and composer. He toured with Blakey for a few years, and was featured on numerous albums by the Messengers, including Moanin', which is one of the band's best-known recordings. When Benny Golson left the Jazz Messengers, Morgan persuaded Blakey to hire Wayne Shorter, a young tenor saxophonist, to fill the chair. This version of the Jazz Messengers, including pianist Bobby Timmons and bassist Jymie Merritt, recorded the classic The Freedom Rider album. The drug problems of Morgan and Timmons forced them to leave the band in 1961, and the trumpeter returned to Philadelphia, his hometown. According to Tom Perchard, a Morgan biographer, it was Blakey who introduced the trumpeter to heroin, an addictive drug that impeded his career trajectory.

On returning to New York in 1963, he recorded The Sidewinder (1963), which became his greatest commercial success. The title track cracked the pop charts in 1964, and served as the background theme for Chrysler television commercials during the World Series. The tune was used without Morgan's or Blue Note's consent, and intercession by the label's lawyers led to the commercial being withdrawn.^{[citation needed]} Due to the crossover success of "The Sidewinder" in a rapidly changing pop music market, Blue Note encouraged its other artists to emulate the tune's "boogaloo" beat. Morgan himself repeated the formula several times with compositions such as "Cornbread" (from the eponymous album Cornbread) and "Yes I Can, No You Can't" on The Gigolo. According to drummer Billy Hart, Morgan said he had recorded "The Sidewinder" as filler for the album, and was bemused that it had turned into his biggest hit. He felt that his playing was much more advanced on Grachan Moncur III's essentially avant-garde Evolution album, recorded a month earlier, on November 21, 1963.

After this commercial success, Morgan continued to record prolifically, producing such works as Search for the New Land (1964), which reached the top 20 of the R&B charts. He also briefly rejoined the Jazz Messengers after his successor, Freddie Hubbard, joined another group. Together with John Gilmore, this lineup was filmed by the BBC for seminal jazz television program Jazz 625.

As the 60's progressed, he recorded some twenty additional albums as a leader, and continued to record as a sideman on the albums of other artists, including Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer; Stanley Turrentine's Mr. Natural; Freddie Hubbard's The Night of the Cookers; Hank Mobley's Dippin', A Caddy for Daddy, A Slice of the Top, Straight No Filter; Jackie McLean's Jackknife and Consequence; Joe Henderson's Mode for Joe; McCoy Tyner's Tender Moments; Lonnie Smith's Think and Turning Point; Elvin Jones' The Prime Element; Jack Wilson's Easterly Winds; Reuben Wilson's Love Bug; Larry Young's Mother Ship; Lee Morgan and Clifford Jordan Live in Baltimore 1968; Andrew Hill's Grass Roots; as well as on several albums with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

He became more politically involved in the last two years of his life, becoming one of the leaders of the Jazz and People's Movement. The group demonstrated during the taping of talk and variety shows during 1970-71 to protest the lack of jazz artists as guest performers and members of the programs' bands. His working band during those last years featured reed players Billy Harper or Bennie Maupin, pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Jymie Merritt and drummers Mickey Roker or Freddie Waits. Maupin, Mabern, Merritt and Roker are featured on the well-regarded 3-disc, Live at the Lighthouse, recorded during a two-week engagement at the Hermosa Beach club, California, in July 1970.

Death[link]

Morgan was murdered in the early hours of February 19, 1972, at Slugs', a jazz club in New York City's East Village where his band was performing.^[4] Following an altercation between sets, Morgan's common-law wife Helen More (a.k.a. Morgan), shot him in the chest onstage, killing him within moments. He was 33 years old.^[4] According to an eye witness, Miss More (13 years his senior) walked out of the club just before the last set. She returned and the band was already on stage. Lee was trying to get up there, but was talking with some people. He just started to get up the stage, when she entered and called his name. He turned around and she shot him in the heart. She then turned the gun on the club's doorman Ernie Holman, who grabbed her wrist and took the gun away from her. She started to scream "Baby, what have I done?" and ran to him. She was later arrested, tried, sentenced, and paroled by 1978. Soon after, Helen Morgan returned to her native North Carolina. Reportedly she never spoke publicly of the incident, until she granted an interview a month before her death. She died in Wilmington, NC, from a heart condition, in March 1996.

Discography[link]

Further reading[link]

• Jeff McMillan "DelightfuLee: The Life and Music of Lee Morgan", 2008, University of Michigan Press
• Tom Perchard Lee Morgan: His Life, Music and Culture, 2006, Equinox
• Thomas, Larry Reni. The Lady Who Shot Lee Morgan (1996)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lee Morgan tribute site
• Masaya Matsumura's Lee Morgan Discography site
• Lee Morgan discography
• Lee Morgan playing his famous "Ceora" ballad
• One version of "The Day Lee Morgan Died" as told by Billy Hart

B.D.Foxmoor
Background information
Birth name	Michalis Mytakidis
Also known as	Akalestos
Born	(1967-08-21) August 21, 1967 (age 44)
Genres	hip hop, low bap
Instruments	rapping
Years active	1992 -
Labels	Warner, 8ctagon
Associated acts	Active Member

B.D. Foxmoor (born Michalis Mytakidis; Greek: Μιχάλης Μυτακίδης, on August 21, 1967) is a Greek rapper and hip hop producer. In 1992 he founded Active Member and released the first Greek hip hop album, Diamartyria (Protest), in 1993. In 1995 when Active Member signed to a major label, Warner, and released To megalo kolpo, B.D. Foxmoor started referring to his music as low bap. He has released many solo albums as long as LPs with Active Member and has also produced many releases of other low bap artists.

Discography[link]

1. I’m Still An Active Member 1994
2. Sti xasi kai sti feksi 1999
3. Daneikes Prosefxes 1999
4. To mystiko oktagono 2001
5. Afovia 2003
6. 5/2/03 2003
7. Sfina 2004
8. Wasted in Hiphopoly 2005
9. Pyromantic 2006
10. Otan i mikronoi hiphoragun (sullektiko box) 2007
11. Darkest light epitome 2008
12. Madmoana 2009
13. Vadarkia 2009
14. Dublaz 44 2011

External links[link]

• Low Bap Foundation
• B.D.Foxmoor discography at MusicBrainz

by George Kokorakis

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Robert Lepage
Lepage at the European première of Cirque du Soleil's Totem in Amsterdam, October 2010
Born	(1957-12-12) December 12, 1957 (age 54) Québec City, Canada
Occupation	Film director Actor Screenwriter
Years active	1982 - Present

Robert Lepage, CC OQ (born December 12, 1957 in Québec City) is a playwright, actor, film director, and stage director from Québec City, Québec, and is one of Canada's most honoured theatre artists.

Life and work[link]

Lepage was raised in Québec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair loss over his whole body. As a teenager he struggled with depression, and turned to drama classes to conquer his shyness.

Between 1975 and 1978, he studied theatre at Québec City's Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique. He subsequently participated in workshops at Alain Knapp's theatre school in Paris, France.

After coming back to Québec City, he wrote, directed and played in a few independent productions and joined Théâtre Repère in 1982. With that company, he created Circulations (1984), which was presented across Canada and won an award as best Canadian production during La Quinzaine Internationale de Théâtre de Québec. The following year, he created The Dragons' Trilogy and immediately received international recognition. Vinci (1986), Polygraphe (1987–1990) and Tectonic Plates (1988–1990) followed and were also toured around the world.

He was the artistic director of the National Arts Centre's Théâtre français in Ottawa from 1989 to 1993, and continued to stage plays. His productions of Needles and Opium, Coriolanus, Macbeth, The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream were all created in that period.

In 1994, Lepage founded Ex Machina, a multidisciplinary production company, for which he is artistic director. Lepage and Ex Machina have toured numerous productions internationally to critical and popular acclaim, most notably The Seven Streams of the River Ota (1994) and Elsinore (1995). Lepage was invited in 1994 to direct August Strindberg's A Dream Play at Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm, Sweden. It premiered in the fall of 1994 and guest played in the spring of 1995 in Glasgow Scotland. Geometry of Miracles (1998) and The Far Side of the Moon (French: La Face cachée de la lune, 2000), a solo show in which he juxtaposed the Cold War competition of the Americans and the Soviets in the Space Race with the story of two Québécois brothers—one straight, one gay—and their competitive relationship after their mother's death. It went to win numerous awards, including four trophies at le Gala des Masques, a Time Out Award and the prestigious Evening Standard Award. The Far Side of the Moon was adapted by Lepage—who plays both brothers—into a critically acclaimed 2003 film of the same name.

Lepage has directed four other feature films: Le Confessionnal (1995), Le Polygraphe (1997), Nô (1998) and Possible Worlds (2000), and has acted in films by other directors, notably Jésus de Montréal (1989) and Stardom (2001) by Denys Arcand.

He has also been involved in music productions, being the stage director for the critically acclaimed Secret World Tour by Peter Gabriel in 1993-1994, and the subsequent Growing Up tour in 2003-2004. He proved to be as gifted in opera as in theatre, staging Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung at the Canadian Opera Company, The Damnation of Faust in Japan and Paris, and Lorin Maazel's 1984 at Covent Garden's Royal Opera House in London in 2005. Finally, Cirque du Soleil asked him to create the permanent Las Vegas show named Kà at the MGM Grand in 2005.

The Andersen Project, his last solo play inspired by the life and works of Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen and his tale 'The Dryad', is set to have a long and prosperous life, similar to The Far Side of the Moon; it received many international prizes and, after being presented by Lepage himself in more than ten countries, is currently starring Yves Jacques who did the same in the past for The Far Side of the Moon.

Lipsynch, his large canvass work, premiered in its first version in Newcastle upon Tyne's Northern Stage in February 2007 in its 5 hours version; it is now 9 hours long. He also staged Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, which was presented in Brussels Opéra de la Monnaie in April 2007 and San Francisco War Memorial Opera House in November 2007.

Recent projects also include The Image Mill, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Québec City. For forty nights, residents and visitors could see the biggest outdoor architectural projection ever made in the world. In forty minutes, Robert Lepage and Ex Machina celebrated four centuries of human and materiel development right where the river narrows, on the banks of Bassin Louise, using the huge surface of the Bunge grain elevators as a giant screen.^[1] More than an historic tableau, The Image Mill is a light-hearted and lively illustration in three dimensions of the city's past, present and future. It is a mosaic of icons, sounds and ideas covering four great epochs in the progress of Québec City:

• The age of waterways and exploration
• The age of roads and settlement
• The age of railroads and development
• The age of air travel and communication

The first presentation of this original, larger than life portrait of Québec City took place at sundown on June 20, 2008, the evening of the summer solstice. It was planned at first that the show would be projected every evening until July 29, 2008. But because of its success, the projection was extended till the end of August and was extended again to September 8, 2008. The soundtrack was broadcast simultaneously on CKIA-FM and all of this free of charge. The Image Mill was again presented in 2009, with a few improvements and new material.

In November 2008, Lepage directed a staged version of Hector Berlioz' The Damnation of Faust at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.^[2] On February 25, 2009, Robert Lepage premiered a new work entitled Eonnagata at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK. He has worked on this alongside the dancers Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant, fashion designer Alexander McQueen, lighting designer Michael Hulls and sound designer Jean-Sébastien Côté.^[3]

His production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, conducted by Christopher Hogwood, was re-released at the Teatro Real, Madrid in January 2009.

In spring 2009, Lepage presented The Blue Dragon (Le Dragon Bleu), a sequel to his successful Dragons' Trilogy, in which he reprised (more than twenty years later) the role of Pierre Lamontagne, a Québécois artist who lives in China.

In fall 2009, Robert Lepage directed The Nightingale and Other Short Fables, an operatic staging of short works by Stravinsky blending hand shadow puppetry, Kabuki theatre, Chinese opera and Vietnamese water puppetry. The Canadian Opera Company in Toronto premiered the work.^[4] Lepage is currently working on Totem, Cirque du Soleil's next touring show, as well as on a new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner for the Metropolitan Opera of New York. The series is being presented in installments during the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons - Das Rheingold and Die Walkure were premiered during the 2010-2011 season, Siegfried premiered on October 27, 2011, and Gotterdammerung premiered on January 27, 2012.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} Lepage's complete Ring cycles premiered in April 2012.^[10][11] The Metropolitan Opera had to install steel reeinforcements under the stage in order to support LePage's roughly 45 tonne stage, as famously reported by the New York Times.^[12] Lepage was featured in a 2012 documentary about the Met Ring production, Wagner's Dream.^[13][14]

In 2012, audiences will see him in Martin Villeneuve's Mars et Avril, a science fiction film based on the graphic novels of the same name.^[15]

Plays[link]

Filmography[link]

Honours[link]

In 1994, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his particularly imaginative and innovative work".^[16] In 1999, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec. In 2001 he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.^[17] He was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 2009 "for his international contributions to the performing arts, particularly in film, theatre and opera, as an actor, producer and director".^[18]

On April 29, 2007, he was awarded the European Commission's Europe Theatre Prize for 2007. The honours were to be shared between Lepage and German stage director Peter Zadek,^[19] but Zadek did not show up and was not awarded the prize.^[20]

In 2009, Lepage received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.^[21] He could not attend the ceremony but accepted the award via a pre-recorded speech.^[22]

He was nominated for the Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction for his films Le Polygraphe, Possible Worlds, and The Far Side of the Moon. He won the award for his film Le Confessional.

He was nominated for the Jutra Award for Best Direction for his film Nô. He won the Special Jutra Award for his film Possible Worlds.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Patrick Caux & Bernard Gilbert. EX MACHINA: Creating for the Stage. Talonbooks, 2009. ISBN 978-0-88922-617-3
• Dundjerovic, Aleksandar: The Cinema of Robert Lepage. The poetics of memory, Walflower Press, 2003; ISBN 1-903364-33-7
• Dundjerovic, Aleksandar: The Theatricality of Robert Lepage, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2007; ISBN 978-0-7735-3251-9

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Lepage

• EX MACHINA: Creating for the Stage
• lacaserne.net
• Ex Machina
• Epidemic - Robert Lepage's representative in Continental Europe and Japan
• Anamorphoses
• Robert Lepage at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Lepage's official site
• CBC Digital Archives - Robert Lepage: Canada's renaissance man