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Arts Connection for June 15-16, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
By: Rebecca Morgan

The cast members of Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba started a fundraising event for Orlando's at-risk youth - that benefit marked a milestone at its 5th anniversary last week. Also, meet one of the La Nouba singers - Sisaundra Lewis - and if you're looking for summertime reading, a new book gives you hundreds of choices as writers pick their Top 10 favorite books.

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audio_icon_pos Click here to listen to Part 1

Last week, the cast of Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba celebrated the 5th anniversary of a benefit performance they started for Orlando's at-risk youth.  The idea to turn their annual dress rehearsal into a fundraising event caught on with Cirque's 5 shows in Las Vegas and the money they've raised just topped the 1 million mark.  One of the 20 local organizations that benefit from the event is A Gift for Music.  In addition to this fundraiser, Cirque donates 1% of their gross revenue to programs serving homeless youth and young artists through their Social and Cultural Affairs program.



audio_icon_pos Click here to listen to Part 2

There are 8 live musicians performing for La Nouba - the female vocalist is Sisaundra Lewis-Reid.  She grew up near Winter Haven singing in her father's church.  Later she toured around the world with R&B artist Peabo Bryson and pop singer Celine Dion, but returned home in 1998, where she has performed with her jazz band, The Sounds of Soul, sung at Universal Studios' CityJazz and now in La Nouba.  Sisaundra is working on her next CD; her husband, Rohan Reid, is releaing his latest CD this Tuesday. 
audio_icon_pos Click here to listen to Sisaundra's song, Emotional  or to audio_icon_pos Shout -- she wrote the lyrics to Shout the day the troops were deployed to Iraq.  And, to hear my entire interview with her, Click Here. 

audio_icon_pos Click here to listen to Part 3

Looking for new ideas for summertime reading?  You'll find hundreds of suggestions in a new book, The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, compiled and edited by J. Peder Zane, the book review editor of the Raleigh News and Observer.  In it, he asked 125 leading writers to list their Top 10 favorite works of fiction.  The Arts Connection's Literary Contributor, Irene Zabytko, talked to Peder about the book.

Here are author Irene Zabytko's Top 10 Books - 5 she says are all-time favorites and 5 are recent discoveries!  Plus she has a quick list for summertime reading.  (Don't forget - you can list your Top 10 at the book's website)

1) LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov

2) THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe

3) HUNGER by Knut Hamsen

4) DEAD SOULS by Nikolai Gogol

5) THE WARRIOR WOMAN by Maxine Hong Kingston

6) INTUITION by Allegra Goodman

7) EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED by Jonathan Safran Foer

8) THE STORY OF PI by Yann Martel

9) THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen

10) WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith

and - Irene's TOP FIVE QUICK PICKS FOR SUMMER READING:

1) LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE by Laura Esquival

2) PNIN by Vladimir Nabokov

3) EXCELLENT WOMEN by Barbara Pym

4) Collected stories of Anton Chekov (any collection)

5) ORLANDO by Virginia Woolf (not the city!)