Get a free Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Library eCard instantaneously. It can be used to access online resources including eBooks, eAudiobooks, eNewspapers, eMagazines, online classes, online tutoring, and learning games, as well as streaming movies and music, and more!
Music Playlists
Listen to a streaming playlist from Freegal Music, Naxos Music Library, Naxos Jazz Music Library, Hoopla or Music Online from Alexander Street free with your library card. Alexander Street will ask for an academic institution, use Glendale Public Library.
Today's recommending listening is Dua Lipo, Louis Armstrong, Dorothy Dandridge, and piano works by composer Tigran Chukhajian.
There are some fun Valentine’s Day playlists on Freegal. Not in the mood? There is also a breakup songs playlist.
Music Podcasts
Rolling Stone Music Now is a podcast hosted by the writers and editors of the iconic music magazine. Recent episodes include The Best Albums of 2020, Hip-Hop in 2020, Taylor Swift’s Evermore and an interview with Justin Townes Earle. There is a lot to dig into with 250 episodes to date.
Music Concerts Online
Check out this February 1st Classic FM article with videos of Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach on the beach. There is also a link to the full concert at the end of the article. Also you can listen to a full album of Yo-Yo Ma playing the six Bach Cello Suites on Naxos Music Library.
Tiny Desk Concerts has been celebrating Black History Month with a series of online concerts this month which are available on their web site. Beginning with Wynton Marsalis and ending with Kirk Franklin, it is an amazing lineup. You can find more information in their press release.
Lunar New Year Virtual Celebrations
Ring in the Year of the Ox! Celebrate the Lunar New Year online with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Chinese Cultural Institute, and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China. Enjoy streamed video performances and demonstrations of traditional Chinese crafts and Lunar New Year traditions.
USC’s Pacific Asia Museum rings in the Lunar New Year, Saturday, February 13th, 2021 at 10:00 am with a free afternoon of pan-Asian activities. You’ll find all of the programming online this year, with streams of lion dances and traditional Chinese music, plus craft-making workshops for dragon puppets and lion masks.
Chinatown’s Golden Dragon Parade is celebrating its 122nd anniversary. This year, you can celebrate virtually via Facebook Live with a program full of dance, music, storytelling and talks that reflect on the history and achievement of Chinese Americans in Los Angeles.
Learn About the Lunar New Year
Many East Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year following the lunisolar calendar or cycles of the moon and sun. Some East Asian countries that celebrate the Lunar New Year are China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, and Vietnam. This year it falls on Friday, February 12.
In China, the Lunar New Year is usually referred to as the Spring Festival, because the first day of the lunar calendar is considered the first day of spring. The celebration lasts for 15 days, concluding with the Lantern Festival. The day before the New Year, it is traditional to clean one’s house to sweep out any misfortune from the past year and make way for incoming good luck. (See instructions for making your own paper lantern in the next section!)
In Korea, the New Year celebration is called Seollal and lasts three days: the day before the New Year, the New Year itself, and the day after. Traditions in Korea include wearing traditional clothing (called hanbok) and playing traditional games, such as Yut Nori. Try it at home with this printable game board!
In Vietnam, the Lunar New Year is called Têt Nguyên Ðan (“Têt” for short) and lasts at least three days. One lovely Têt tradition is the cây nêu, a family New Year’s “tree” consisting of a bamboo pole between 5 and 6 meters (16-20 feet) tall. The top end of this tree is decorated with tons of different good-luck-inducing objects, including charms, folded paper, greenery, etc. It is traditionally removed on the seventh day of the celebrations, ceremonially concluding them.
In Mongolia, Tsagaan Sar (White Moon Festival) lasts for three days. The most common ceremonial food eaten during Tsagaan Sar is buuz, steamed dumplings filled with meat. Families work together to make mountains of these in advance. Under Communist rule Tsagaan Sar was outlawed, but after the 1990 Democratic Revolution, Mongolians were free to celebrate it again.
In Tibet, Losar is celebrated for 15 days. One of traditions is butter sculpture! The Tibetan word for “sheep’s head” and “beginning of the year” sound similar, so it became traditional to fashion a sheep’s head out of colored yak butter as a decoration. The practice (tsepdro), expanded into many different shapes, including flowers and other animals.
Until 1872, Japan followed the lunar calendar and celebrated with the other countries on this list. However, in 1873, five years after the Meiji Restoration, they adopted the Gregorian calendar and now celebrate the New Year on January 1. The celebrations are called Oshogatsu. A tradition is to eat long buckwheat noodles (toshikoki soba) on New Year’s Eve, to encourage long life.
Try It at Home
Lets make a paper lantern! You will need paper, scissors, and a needle and thread (optional decorative markers).
Start with a square piece of paper. Fold it diagonally and then crease it on the other diagonal.
Position your paper as shown. Fold the right corner up to the top of the triangle and crease.
Fold the left edge over to meet the marked crease and crease at the halfway mark.
