Stories about Arts & Culture from April, 2007
Uganda: 4th Ugandan Bloggers’ Happy Hour
Pernille blogs about the 4th Ugandan Bloggers’ Happy Hour: “It is an interesting phenomenon – this Ugandan Bloggers Happy Hour. In how many African capitols do people get together for a few hours on the last Thursday night every month for a beer and a chat? Just because they blog....
Russia: More on Mstislav Rostropovich
Another personal reflection on Mstislav Rostropovich, written by an anonymous contributor to Robert Amsterdam's blog – “who as a young musician had the distinct honor of personally meeting the great Russian master.”
Russia: Mstislav Rostropovich
Megan Case shares a personal memory of Mstislav Rostropovich, who died in Moscow last week.
Ghana: 8th Ghana Music Awards
Museke blogs about the 8th Ghana Music Awards: “The Ghana Music Awards is beginning to rival Miss Ghana as the biggest entertainment show in the country. This year, it is a festival with performances and concerts celebrating Ghanaian Music. The big event is on Saturday where musicians would be honoured...
Trinidad & Tobago: Akon Controversy Continues
A hip-hop artist, a 15 year-old girl, a Port of Spain nightclub, some YouTube - and subsequently, WestIndianTube - videos. The Trinidad and Tobago blogosphere wasted no time in sounding off on the April 12th scandal that's raised numerous issues for the citizens of the twin-island nation.
Lebanon: Art, Water and Tensions
This week was marred by the kidnapping and killing of two Lebanese youth, bringing back memories from the dark years of the Lebanese civil war. This was the topic updated and analysed by most Lebanese bloggers. In addition to this sad event, there are blog posts featuring paintings, poetry and political analysis about the expected water crisis in the Middle East as well as the huge billboard with photos of the captured Israeli soldiers that was place on the southern Lebanese borders.
Taiwan: Crazy for Matsu
(Photo is from Arkun's flicker photo album.) Just like what Backlight53 said: 這禮拜中台灣都在瘋一件事，那就是–大甲媽祖遶境。 this week, there is one thing people in central Taiwan are crazy for. That is Da-jia Matsu's inspection. Based on Mei-Rong Lin's research, Matsu is the deity most commonly worshipped by Taiwanese people. Matsu's birthday falls on...
China: Prison Break
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI has translated a BBS post, Musings on the Chinese version of Prison Break, which addressed the question: how would a Chinese Prison Break be adapted so that it would pass the TV censors?
Africa: more African than thou
Koluki posts photos from the “drum jam session” at the White House and asks, “… ON THE PATH TO SELF-RIGHTEOUS “MORE AFRICAN THAN THOU”?”
Nigeria: musical gift from Nigeria
“I really got into Nigerian hip hop and R&B music while I was there over the past few weeks. Below are links to my favorite songs from my trip, many of which are fairly old but were new to me” writes Dare Obasanjo.
Kuwait: When Our Only Tourist Attraction is a Shopping Mall
With the summer temperatures soaring, life in Kuwait revolves around air-conditioned shopping malls, reports Abdullatif Al Omar. Follow the arrows to read bloggers' reactions to why else a foreign head of state is treated to a visit to a mall; friends meet in malls and a boat show is held there.
Hong Kong: Hollywood Star Chow Yun Fat Supports Queen's Pier Preservation
Citizen reporters at inmediahk.net put up an exclusive report, with youtube clip (zh), on how Chow Yun Fat visited the Queen's Pier at 5:30am this morning (April 28), to show his support for preserving the historical landmark, Queen's Pier, in Situ. An English version of the report can be found...
The Balkans: Turbofolk
Bosnia Vault lists useful resources on turbofolk music.
Cameroonian Videogame
At Le Blog de L'Afrique, Nino writes about Play Detective, a video game developed by a Cameroonian programmer (Fr) named Sila Kayo. A reader comments, “I have always wondered if there were video game developers in Cameroon…It's great to know that there are people interested in this kind of development,...
France: Rapper Imagines Life as a White Man
Regardailleurs blogs screenshots from an hilarious music video (Fr) called “J'suis blanc” (“I'm White”), the latest from French-Congolese hip hop artist Kamini. God comes to Kamini and makes him white for nine and a half weeks and suddenly dealing with “argent, logement, les flics, les gens” (money, housing, cops, people)...
Sri Lanka: Art and Children
cerno attends an art competition awards ceremony and is struck by the children present. “The majority of these kids were from rural schools. A string of Mahavidyalayas, Madya Maha Vidyalayas, and simple Vidyalayas. Words not heard among us Colombo types used to abbreviations of Visaka, Ananda, Royal etc. There were...
India: No Kiss for Gere
A kiss on stage leads to much trouble for Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty. Desidabba has more. “I simply can’t comprehend on what basis the chief judicial magistrate found the “kissing episode” to be “highly sexually erotic”; I mean what did he see that we didn’t, maybe somebody slipped him...
China: culture certification system
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI has translated an interview with Liu Changquan of the Ministry of Culture's Cultural and Artistic Talent Center from Southern Weekly about the newly proposed certification system for entry to cultural sectors.
Trinidad & Tobago: Zen Closed
Trinidad Carnival Diary confirms that Zen, the nightclub embroiled in controversy following the Akon and Machel Montano incidents, has been closed indefinitely.
Kurdistance: A Week Like Any Other
The news coming out of the Kurdish blogs this week is as varied as the landscape of Kurdistan itself. From predictions on Syrian Kurd alliances with Israel, to censorship in Turkey; from explorations of Northern Iraq, to essays on intolerance, the Kurdish bloggers cover it all. But for this week, I think we will begin with why, to Kurds, April is considered as the "Bride of the Year".
Armenia: Pop Stars for Status Quo
Oneworld Multimedia reports that Armenia's pop stars have finally come out in support of the ruling political party in the country's parliamentary election campaign.
