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The Place for All Things Multicultural in San Diego
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San Diego's Finest Online Resource for Multicultural and International
Events, Places and People
The City of San Diego is home to one of the most vital culturally diverse populations to be found anywhere in America. The Participant Observer is a web magazine dedicated to discovering and showcasing the wide variety of culturally interesting events, people, places and organizations our city has to offer. Our frequently updated Events Calendar provides comprehensive information about current and forthcoming events in San Diego. In addition to covering local events, The Participant Observer publishes features and articles about cultural events and phenomena happening around the world. We urge you to explore the many other resources our site provides. We encourage article and event submissions from our readers.
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(Read: 256 times)
 | Klezmer is a highly expressive and spirited music from Eastern and Central Europe. Although Klezmer has its roots in Ashkenazic Jewish culture, it has been influenced by a wide range of cultural music and dance traditions. The Klezmer band, Yale Strom and the Hot Pstromis regularly perform throughout the San Diego area. Last year they collaborated with San Diego Civic Dance Arts for the Harmony and Motion Concert in Balboa Park. |
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Ballet Folklórico is a creative fusion of local, regional, historical, and indigenous Mexican dance traditions with contemporary dance choreography employing ballet and modern dance techniques.
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(Read: 304 times)
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One of San Diego's unique treasures that has escaped the notice of many of the city's residents are the International Cottages of the House of Pacific Relations (HPR) in Balboa Park. Balboa Park has the distinction of being the nation's largest urban cultural park, the home of fifteen museums, the Organ Pavilion, and the San Diego Zoo, and is visited by hundreds of thousands of San Diegans and tourists each year. Yet many long-time residents are unaware of the many programs and opportunities provided by the HPR cottages, located off Presidents Way at the South end of Balboa Park.
By Shanti Hofshi
Photos by Emily Johnston-O'Neill
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(Read: 20571 times)
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Hinduism and Hindu traditions and rituals are diverse and vary from region to region in India. This article describes wedding customs and rituals celebrated by Tamil Brahmin families in southern India. The article was penned by Laksmi Appachar, a former volunteer and present board member of The Worldview Project. The pictures shown are from her own wedding. Lakshmi says that writing this article enabled her to "relive a very important and pleasurable event of my life and it also gave me an opportunity to gain a fuller understanding of the significance of many of the rituals performed during my wedding ceremony."
By Lakshmi Appachar
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(Read: 26258 times)
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Step under the archway entrance to the "village" and you will be greeted by a meandering plaza paved with pastel painted flagstones surrounded by stuccoed cottages with red tile roofs. In the center of the plaza sits a gazebo and a varied collection of charming trees and plants add to the air of quaint serenity. One of the more spectacular studios hosts the paintings of an artist named Lucy Wang, who for the past twenty years has been creating stunningly beautiful paintings that combine tradition-rich techniques of Chinese brush painting with her own path-breaking and innovative techniques.
By Jackie Hwang
Spanish Village Photos by: Nuelma Patio
Additional Images: Lucy Wang
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(Read: 11546 times)
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Ready to expand your culinary and cultural horizons? You might try 99 Ranch Market, located on Claremont Mesa Boulevard, just east of the 805. Larger than your average Vons or Ralphs, 99 Ranch Market is the largest Asian grocery store in San Diego. While most of the clientele is Asian, the store is also a culinary mecca for gourmet cooks and anyone else who is interested either in Asian cuisine or in finding the best deals and the widest selection of fruits, vegetables, meats, and seafood. The center aisles of the 99 Ranch Market overflow with imported canned and packaged foods, everything from hundreds of different sauces, a large selection of frozen foods (like ice cream mochi!), a whole aisle of rices, as well as a generous assortment of Japanese, Indonesian, and Thai specialty items. The store also has a large bakery and an always bustling deli/fast-food counter where you can get the cheapest good lunch in town.
By Jackie Hwang
Photos by Nuelma Patio
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(Read: 18571 times)
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If you've never visited San Diego's Chicano Park, you might imagine that it is just another typical park: grass and trees, playgrounds and picnic tables, weekend gatherings of families and friends. However, unlike other parks, Chicano Park is steeped in a profound sociopolitical history of Chicano life in our city.
By Jordan Tresham and Tom Johnston-O'Neill
Photos by Shimona Carvalho
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(Read: 16565 times)
What is the sound of the collision between traditional northern Mexican musical idioms and contemporary electronic rhythms? One sure answer would be Nortec, a unique musical fusion and performance of a new border musical identity.
By Michael Hanson
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Internationally popular, Taiko drumming is a relatively new performance tradition that employs traditional Japanese instruments in new and dramatic ways. Jazz drummer Daihachi Oguchi is credited with creating Kumi-daiko style of Taiko in 1951. The sound is exuberantly loud with complex rhythms and dramatic choreographed moves by performers which meld music with angular and precision movement (amplified in effect by black headbands), evoking a martial arts esthetic.
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(Read: 441 times)
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| Published by: |
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| Our Staff |
Assistant Editor - Ian Williams
Calendar - Maki Imai
Calendar - Vijaya Vedantham
Programing -André Byfield
Arts - Sarah Ross
Photography - Shari Johnston-O'Neill
Sr. Editor - Tom Johnston-O'Neill |
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