@michael-marra
Read Full Biography
Category: Artists_Profile
Here is an article from Dundee Courie r with update on Optimistic Sound's fundraising efforts to bring El Sistema Scotland's Big Noise Orchestra to Dundee.
A new portrait of Michael by Donald Smart was recently unveiled at Lochee Library. Full details in The Courier.
The Marra Family have invited donations for efforts to bring the El Sistema Orchestra Project for disadvantaged children to Dundee. They have established a Trust Fund with Blackadders. Solicitors in Dundee to help facilitate this project. Further specific details about the Dundee project at makeabignoise website and how to make a donation to this project in Michael's memory.
The project was very close to Michael's heart and he had been pursuing his dream of bringing the Sistema Project to Dundee in the months before his death. His song " The Violin Lesson" from his "Candy Philosophy" album was written as a tribute to Helen Crummy who organised a similar music project in Craigmillar in Edinburgh. - " the boundless dwells in every soul and very few awake"
A spokesman for Michael's wife Peggy and his children Alice and Matthew issued the following statement after more than £2000 was donated in support of bringing the Sistema Project to Dundee by mourners at his funeral. Local vocal group Loadsaweeminsingin also donated a further £500.
"Peggy, Alice and Matthew, along with the rest of the Marra family, have passed on their sincere thanks to their friends in Dundee and from far beyond for their kind words and tributes to the late Michael Marra who died on 23 October.
The many generous acknowledgments from across Scotland and far beyond to Michael and his work throughout the Arts have helped to comfort his family at this sad time.
The family are also very grateful for the donations to bring the Sistema Project to Dundee. A trust has been established in Michael's name to this end and plans are already in place for other fundraising activities.
It was Michael's dream to bring this life-changing musical experience to Dundee's children. The Marra family will continue to raise money to make Michael's dream a reality and bring Sistema to Dundee"
Michael Marra takes time to catch up on the latest music issue of Oxford American after finishing rehearsals for his recent Celtic Connections appearance at Glasgow City Halls with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Michael was sharing the bill with Alison Brown Quartet and Frankie Gavin & De Dannan.
The Oxford American is a national magazine out of Conway, Arkansas, dedicated to featuring the very best in Southern writing while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South.
Billed as "The Southern Magazine of Good Writing," it has won two National Magazine Awards and other high honors since it began publication in 1992. The magazine has featured the original work of such literary powerhouses as Charles Portis, Roy Blount, Jr., ZZ Packer, Donald Harington, Donna Tartt, Ernest J. Gaines, and many other distinguished authors, while also discovering and launching the most promising writers in the region. The magazine has also published previously unseen work by such Southern masters as William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Walker Percy, James Agee, Zora Neale Hurston, James Dickey, Carson McCullers, to name just a handful. The New York Times recently stated that The Oxford American "may be the liveliest literary magazine in America."
The magazine is also noted for its impressive art and photography and has published exceptional works by Willliam Eggleston, Carroll Cloar, Thornton Dial, Sr., Lara Tomlin, Wayne White, Robert Gwathmey, Glennray Tutor, and many others. The magazine has released two DVDs, which have featured the work of such directors as Ross McElwee, Roger Corman, Ray McKinnon, Joey Lauren Adams, Frederick Wiseman, and others.
In addition to its strong literary and visual reputation, for ten years The Oxford American has received wide acclaim for its annual Southern Music Issue, which includes a CD of songs highlighting a variety of genres and eras. It has showcased both famous and criminally neglected musicians, everyone from R.E.M. to the Gants, Isaac Hayes to Erma Franklin, Lucinda Williams to Karen Dalton, Carl Perkins to the Armstrong Twins, Willie Nelson to Gary Stewart, Jerry Lee Lewis to Nellie Lutcher, and on and on and on. Stanley Crouch, Peter Guralnick, Steve Martin, Rosanne Cash, Nick Tosches, and Kevin Brockmeier are among the talents who have contributed writing to our Southern Music Issues.
In 2008, the University of Arkansas Press released The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing of which Dolly Parton said, "God bless America and God bless The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing ."
This unique and treasured literary quarterly was brought under the auspices of a newly formed nonprofit organization called The Oxford American Literary Project when it moved to the University of Central Arkansas in 2004. The Oxford American 's presence on a college campus is rare among publications with a national scope, and students have unique opportunities to engage with all aspects of producing an ambitious and culturally significant magazine.
In addition to publishing The Oxford American , the Literary Project is dedicated to promoting literacy and exploring Southern culture through various other creative endeavors.
The new Family History Centre, at the city's Central Library, brings together the services of the Dundee registrar's office, city archivist, the local history library and the burials administration section.
Local musician and songwriter Michael Marra performed the opening ceremony yesterday and was presented with his own family tree, which dates back seven generations to the middle of the 18th century.
This portrait of Michael's grandmother, Bridget Keating, photographed when she was a young woman was found whilst researching his family tree.
A spokesman for the local authority said: "More than a decade ago Dundee City Council was the first local authority in Scotland to introduce a family history service, when the genealogy unit at the city's registrar's office established an informal partnership with the city archivist, the local history library and the burials administration section. Qualified staff from Dundee registrar's office will be available to offer advice and to undertake research, provide a family tree and a comprehensive report detailing each entry that is traced."
In most cases the registrar will be able to trace each branch of a family back to the late 17th century and issue authenticated certificates of any Scottish birth, death, civil partnership or marriage record.
Extract from article appearing in Aberdeen Press and Journal