2010 Plenaries

Thursday - October 21, 2010
Paul Berliner

Paul Berliner Paul Berliner is a twentieth century ethnomusicologist, best known for specializing in African Music as well as Jazz and other improvisational systems. He received the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Deems Taylor Award for his book on the Zimbabwean mbira, The Soul of Mbira: music and traditions of the Shona people of Zimbabwe and the The Society of Ethnomusicology's Alan Merriam Prize for Outstanding Book in Musicology for his book Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation.
Dr. Berliner is a Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Music Department at the John Hope Franklin Center for International and Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University and received numerous awards for his teaching and writing. He is an international lecturer and musician, performing in such locations as Carnegie Hall, the Harumi Dome in Tokyo, the University of London, and the University of Trondheim.

Lessons from Mbira
from the Duke University Archives


More about Paul
2006 Interview with AfroPop
2008 Interview at Duke

Saturday - October 23, 2010
Aron Ralston

Aron Ralston
Photo (c) Michael Alvarez

Growing up in the Mid-West before moving to Colorado with his family in 1987, Aron had little exposure to the wild outdoors.  But by the time he set out for a hike in a remote area of Utah’s canyon country in April of 2003, he was already an experienced outdoorsman, mountaineer, and skier. 

Seven miles into the canyon that day, Aron accidentally dislodged a boulder that crushed and pinned his right hand.  After six days of entrapment alone, he freed himself with a cheap multi-tool knife and hiked to a miraculous rescue.  Since his accident, Aron has written a bestselling book, spoken to audiences in 200 cities around the world, and helped develop new prosthetic devices.  With his adaptive creations, Aron has returned to his outdoor passions, including his landmark mountaineering project of climbing all 59 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot-high mountains, solo, in winter.  In 2008, he made the first disabled ski descent of Denali, North America’s highest mountain, and a year ago, he became the first amputee to row a raft through the Grand Canyon.  Today, Aron and his wife Jessica live in Boulder, Colorado, where they are raising their newborn son, Leo.  Besides consulting on the major motion picture adaptation of his book, Aron advocates for Utah and Colorado wilderness.

More about Aron
2004 Interview with National Geographic
2009 Interview with the New York Times - Being Aron Ralston

Sunday - October 24, 2010
Seth Kramer

Aron Ralston

Seth Kramer, co-founder of Ironbound Films, has been producing, writing, and directing award-winning documentaries for more than a decade. Seth co-directed, co-shot, and co-edited The Linguists, which world premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival to fantastic buzz, blogs, and reviews and shown as a plenary feature at the NCHC conference in 2009.

Seth and Ironbound Films have created another feature documentary, funded by PBS through a grant from the Skoll Foundation. The New Recruits is a about "a battalion of jet-setting business students armed with a radical plan to end global poverty: charge poor people for goods and services".

More about Seth & The New Recruits
Ironbound Films
2009 PBS Biography
The New Recruits