On the Road with Bob Holman
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Play S1 E1Bob Holman travels the globe, on a journey to discover new cultures and languages.
20121 season
Cast: Bob Holman
HDCC
Season 1
3 episodes
- 1. The Griots of West AfricaA griot (gree-oh) is the keeper of the West African oral tradition and the tribe's genealogy through poetic songs. Bob is invited to Gambia by his long-time friend and teacher, Papa Susso, to learn more about this musical art and see how the kora, the 21-string harp-lute is made. Bob travels up the Niger River with Papa's son, Karamo, also a griot, in search of the spirit of the African-American Beat poet, Ted Joans, who lived a buoyant life in Timbuktu in the 70s and was Bob's mentor. Along the way, Bob discovers the roots of hip-hop, rap, the blues -- all the great American musical traditions that originated in Africa. The episode concludes with a kora-guitar jam session between Karamo and Ali Farka Toure's son, Vieux.CC30minFeb 1, 2012
- 2. From Timbuktu to the DogonsThe show continues in Timbuktu where Bob gets more insight into the dusty off-station in the middle of nowhere. Bob goes to the Timbuktu Library, with volumes from the 16th Century when the city was the center of African learning. We ourselves learn how to ride a camel and how Timbuktu got its name before we venture into the Sahara and spend an afternoon listening to the hypnotic music of the Tuaregs, the nomadic "blue people," named because their indigo-dyed clothing rubs off on their skin. Then we head south to visit the Dogons, renowned for the interplay of their culture of masks with daily life and rituals. Bob tries to get a mask ceremony to happen: he buys millet beer for the town, and we see how it is brewed.CC30minFeb 8, 2012
- 3. Israel and the West BankYiddish, which once had five daily newspapers in New York City, is now an Endangered Language. From the director of the Sholem-Aleichem House and the Yiddish storyteller, Sarat, we learn about the decline of Yiddish resulting from the rise of Hebrew as the national language of Israel. Sarat cooks us a delicious cholent, a stew combining many of the ingredients from the old countries. While in Jerusalem, we experience the musical sounds of Ladino, the Spanish Hebrew of the Sephardic Jews, which is also endangered. The poet Ronny Someck, a "true Israeli poet from Iraq," gives Bob a tour of Jaffa and tells us about the multilingual diversity that used to exist in Israel.CC30minFeb 15, 2012
On the Road with Bob Holman
20121 season3 episodesReturning Series
Bob Holman travels the globe, on a journey to discover new cultures and languages.
Creators and cast
- Directors
- Ram Devineni
- Created by
- Bob Holman
- Cast
- Bob Holman
Maturity rating
Not yet rated.
Audio languages
Arabic, English, French, Hebrew
Where to watch
Not currently listed on any streaming, rental or purchase service.
Cast
Details and artwork from TMDB. Availability from JustWatch and can change without notice.