Stories about Arts & Culture from June, 2007
Ukraine, Russia: Serhiy Taftay's Guitar
uaMuzik tells the tale of one Ukrainian musician's legendary guitar.
Ukraine: Lviv Coffee and Food
Olechko prepares to spend August in Lviv: in this post, she writes about the newly-discovered local coffee houses and restaurants.
Ukraine: Erotic Symbolism in Folk Songs Lecture
A Ukrainian Diaspora ethnologist will give a lecture in Kyiv on Aug. 25 on the erotic symbolism in Ukrainian folk songs, Nash Holos reports.
Serbia: Bad TV
Time to do something about the state Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS): Anegdote is considering the options.
Russia: Chechen “Daimohk” to Perform in the U.S.
“Daimohk, a children’s dance group based in Grozny and trained by the former first dancer of the Chechen national theatre, will be visiting the US for their first ever tour there,” A Step At A Time reports.
Eastern & Central Europe: Feral's Back; Czech Lustration
Illyrian Gazette posts an update on the fate of Feral Tribune (it's back and financially secure), and writes about lustration and music in the Czech Republic.
Russia: Rewriting History
Kosmopolit blogs about Putin's attempts to re-write Russian history.
Iran:Persepolis pulled from Bangkok Film Festival
Cityboy informs us that the Bangkok International Film Festival dropped Marjan Satrapi's prize-winning animated movie,Persepolis.The blogger says Iranian embassy in Thailand announced that Festival managers responded positively to a request from the Iranian Embassy in Bangkok.The movie follows Satrapi's life through the 1979 Islamic revolution,war and mass executions.
Bangladesh: Rediscovering cultural roots, facing challenges and acknowledging successes
“How effectively a society is able to cope with the challenges it faces depend largely on its culture.” Shahzaman Mazumder tries to find the cultural roots of Bangladesh and provides a good analysis on the Bangladeshis: “Mostly fishermen, weavers, potters, and small farmers inhibited the territory that is today called...
China: Western movies insulting Chinese?
Chong translated Lu qui lu wei's commentary on the censorship of Pirates of the Caribbean . The censorship department argued that Chow Yun Fat’s character (a Singaporean Pirate) in movies smears Chinese people’s image.
Japanese Enlist for Billy's Boot Camp
Billy's Boot Camp has hit Japan, and Japanese bloggers are talking all about the show's star, Billy Blanks. Athlete of the year in the USA Karete Hall of Fame and actor in a number of American action-adventure feature films, Blanks has now brought his show to Japan, where it is making the rounds of local TV stations, drawing reactions from bloggers.
Singapore: Singapore's Hit Band from the 1960s
The mod-ified music blog features audio clips of an interview with two of the members of a popular 1960s local band .
Martiniquian blogger on “Fleurs du Mal”
Le blog de [moi] celebrates the 150th anniversary of Fleurs du Mal (Fr) by posting “Le Vampire” and explaining her attraction to Baudelaire's poetry: “Baudelaire speaks of death and women like no other. I really understand his fascination with the two…I open [the book] rarely because it always brings out...
Manu Dibango's “Soul Makossa,” the original “Thriller”
Alain Mabanckou writes about famed Cameroonian musician (Fr) Manu Dibango, whose Soul Makossa has “all the rhythm, all the atmosphere” of Michael Jackson's album Thriller, although it debuted 11 years before.
Trinidad & Tobago: Midnight Robber
“Ah does bade in acid and scrub meh teeth in the ashes of Caroni and grease meh foot beyond petroleum jelly…and when I laugh a roar more terrible than Ivan tumbling over Grenada to make politicians scamper like pot hounds in the gutter.” Thebookmann posts a speech from The Midnight...
Croatia: Marko Perković Thompson
Illyrian Gazette and Balkan Baby write about the controversial Croatian singer Marko Perković Thompson and his recent concert in Zagreb. In the same post, Balkan Baby also writes about Tito's birthplace and football.
Mexico: Monterrey is Much More than Industry
Ocho Cuartos [ES] writes that Monterrey is much more than being the industrial capital of Mexico, but it is also ranks highly in culture.
Slovenia: Photos of Musician Tadej Kenig
Dancing Photography – Borut Peterlin posts photos of Tadej Kenig, a renowned Slovenian clarinetist, “photographed as a shepherd, in a concert suit playing a clarinet to the sheep.”
Russia: Volga Cars
The Turkish Invasion writes about and posts pictures of the Russian-made Volgas: “So you thought that the only machines Soviets built were Ladas and Tanks, but indeed they also had a superior brand called “Volga”, named after the biggest river in Europe (and also the farthest frontier the Germans ever...
Russia: CNN International's “Eye on Russia”
Sean's Russia Blog is disappointed that it's CNN International – not CNN in the United States – that's broadcasting a whole week of daily half-hour series called “Eye on Russia: The New Dawn.”
Palestine: New Hobby
Palestinian blogger Rebellious Arab Girl has found a new hobby. Click here to find out more.
