The Mercantile Library presents Playwright, Heather Raffo, January 30th; author of 9 Parts of Desire.

9 parts of desire is "...a dialogue between east and west. The characters are deeply engaged in circumstances unique to them as Iraqis and yet through their passions seem to answer the concerns of the west. " The evening with Raffo "incorporat(es) performance (and) talk, Ms. Raffo will focus her remarks on Iraqi women and the impact of war on their lives."

About Raffo:
http://www.heatherraffo.com/9parts.html

For tickets:
http://www.mercantilelibrary.com/

I often hear the question is women's music dead? The answer: yes, perhaps, and absolutely not. "Women's Music" is a movement that spanned the years between the early 1970s and the mid 1990s. The reason I mention women's music has everything to do with why MUSE exists. Many streams fed the women's choral movement, and one at the core is women's music. Significant movements for social change (abolition, labor, civil rights, women, and GLBT) are all accompanied by music.

On display at Base Gallery in Cincinnati is a new work by Ursula Roma. Entitled, “Sweet City Song” A Portrait of Catherine Roma; Peace, Justice & Human Rights Activist through Choral Music

Amy Rubin is an accomplished pianist, and former Fulbright Scholar who has studied and taught in Ghana, West Africa. She composes eclectic music and is known for her “clarity, conscience, ability to inhabit a wide-open aesthetic terrain, to deftly mingle jazz, blues, Latin rhythms, West African drumming, and European - American concert traditions.” (Carol Oja, musicologist)