· October, 2013

Stories about Arts & Culture from October, 2013

Young People Revel In Halloween Fun in Kyrgyzstan

  31 October 2013

While debates over the appropriateness of participating in Halloween fun rage in Tajikistan, young people in the neighboring Kyrgyzstan revel in Halloween festivities. The country's most popular blogging platform has published [ru] a map of all venues organizing Halloween festivities in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan's capital. Dozens of people dressed up in zombie...

Documentary Explores 90s Rap Culture in Sao Paulo

  30 October 2013

Through interviews and archival footage, the documentary “Sabotage Nós” (We Sabotage), available to watch online, presents important moments of Sao Paulo's rap music in the 90s. The film tells the story of the release of the album “Rap é compromisso” (Rap Is Commitment), Sabotage's debut album. Sabotage was an important...

VIDEO: Angola's Kuduro as an Urban Phenomenon

  25 October 2013

A new film on Angola's frenetic music genre and dance, Kuduro (literally ‘hard ass’), follows the steps of some of the key figures that have helped this popular style turn into an urban cultural movement: Created in the discos and raves in downtown Luanda through a fusion between House and Techno beats...

VIDEO: “Myths and Murals” of East Timor

  25 October 2013

East Timorese and Australian artists have come together to reflect and create around Myths and Murals, “promoting a common sense of national identity through art and story and collaborative strategies for engagement”. The cross-cultural public art and literacy project, between artists from Melbourne and the East Timorese free art school Arte Moris, takes...

Future Places: Digital Media Tools for Citizenship

  24 October 2013

Future Places, a former digital media festival that is turning into a “media lab for citizenship” for its sixth edition, will take place in Porto, Portugal, from October 28 to November 2, 2013. “A festival without an audience, where everyone who is present participates and discovers in real time ways of collaborating”,...

USA: Elevating Young Asian Voices in Immigration Reform Debate

  23 October 2013

The Youth Leadership Council of the Korean American Resource & Cultural Center created an inspiring video to help young Asian voices heard in the immigration reform debate. Blogger Angry Asian Man briefly comments on this video featuring local youth's thought-provoking spoken word performances. 

Kazakhstan's Soviet Mosaics: “Ghosts of an Epoch Gone By”

  23 October 2013

In a post titled “The Walls Are Crying”, a blogger reflects [ru] on Kazakhstan's slowly disappearing Soviet artistic mosaics that once adorned housing blocks and industrial facilities across the country: Many of these works of art died along with the buildings which they adorned. Some are being destroyed. But many mosaics...

16 Books on Latin American Street Art

  23 October 2013

In Latin America, street art is of major cultural relevance. The region’s traditions of social movements and revolution have allowed the form to give voice to otherwise unheard sectors of the population. Of course, not all street art is politically or socially-oriented in content, but it does often provide insight...

Gulf Cities: Cultural Capitals of the Arab World?

  23 October 2013

UAE commentator Sultan Al Qassemi argues that “some of the cities of the Gulf were transforming into cultural capitals of the Arab world as the traditional capitals of Baghdad, Cairo, Beirut and Damascus continue to suffer from civil strife.” He posts arguments in support and against this notion on his...

Three Lessons on Dating in China

  23 October 2013

Jocelyn Eikenburg from Speaking of China shared her experience in cross-cultural dating in China. The three lessons she had learned are: 1. Actions matter more than words; 2. Keep that past relationship in the past; and 3. It takes a lot longer to meet the parents.

Remembering and Reviving Vietnam's Ca Tru Singing

  20 October 2013

Đoan Trang interviews Pho Kim Duc, a famous ca tru (sung poetry) vocalist in Vietnam in the 1940s. Kim Duc said ca tru is a very noble form of art. “It’s is not just singing but also poetry. Whoever with a taste for poetry will love ca tru to find...