Stories about Arts & Culture from February, 2009
Costa Rica: Creativity Through Collectivity
Like a delicious recipe, artistic, musical and visual talents are placed together as ingredients in a functional and creative tendency: collectives. Across Costa Rica, many creative groups and collectives are using social media to showcase their work and connect with like-minded enthusiasts. These are some examples of collectives in the fields of film, music and the visual arts.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: A Girl's War
Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts details of a theatrical play performed in 2001 set against the backdrop of the Nagorno Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The blog says the play was taboo-breaking because in it an Armenian and Azerbaijani fall in love and nationalist sentiments which define the rhetoric in...
Bangladesh: Remembering The Language Martyrs
Desherchobi posts a photo essay describing how Bangladeshis commemorate the martyrs who gave their lives for their mother tongue Bangla on 21st of February, 1952, now recognized as the International mother language day.
India: Clean Sweep by Slumdog Millionaire At The Oscars
Kamla Bhatt reports that last evening British and Indian cast and crew of the movie Slumdog Millionaire (a British film based on a novel set out in India) made a clean sweep at the Oscars by winning 8 awards out of 10 nominations including the best picture award.
Dominican Republic: A Tsunami of Garbage
Duarte101 [es] writes about a planned urban art event called “Urban Solid Residue” which will show the reality of the amount of garbage in the form of a “tsunami of trash” in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Ukraine: Obstacles and Hope for Museums
Linda Norris of The Uncataloged Museum lists legal and other obstacles that Ukrainian museums are facing, but concludes her post on a positive note, writing about some of the museum employees she has met: “They make minimal salaries, work in conditions that are hard to imagine (no heat, for instance,...
Serbia: The Museum of African Art
A Yankee-in-Belgrade writes about Belgrade's Museum of African Art.
Russia: Endangered Languages
Window on Eurasia writes that, according to UNESCO, “19 languages spoken on the territory of the Russian Federation a half century ago have ceased to exist, and 117 more are either in a position UN experts say is “unsafe” (21 languages), “definitely endangered” (47), “severely endangered” (29), or “critically endangered”...
Czech Republic: Prague Filming Fees
The Czech Daily Word writes that “Budapest, Vienna and other cities” are likely to replace Prague as “a favorite spot for American filmmakers” – due to newly-introduced filming fees.
Egypt: A walk down memory lane in NY
Mostafa, an Egyptian student living in Virginia, US, writes a beautiful review for the movie “The Visitor” , relating to his own experience.
South Asian Rock Music Festival
Salik Shah of Kathmandu Speaks! Are you listening? attended the second South Asian Bands festival at Purana Qila in New Delhi and shares his reactions.
India: Loathing ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
Lekhni at The Imagined Universe questions ‘why do Indians hate Slumdog Millionaire?‘
Japan: Pictures of Japanese festivals and ceremonies
Yoshio Wada (和田義男)'s website [jp] has fascinating photos of the most interesting Japanese festivals and ceremonies. It also includes some pictures from famous historical places aorund the world. (The website is only partially available in English)
Japan: Agriculture the latest trend among celebrities
The Japanese economy is facing one of the worse slowdowns in its modern history, with a GDP that has declined at a rate of 12,7%. Nonetheless, TV programs and lifestyle magazines are doing their best to inspire hope among their viewers and readers that not everything is lost. Recently, a new trend has been spreading among Japanese celebrities: farm work.
Russia: Henri Cartier-Bresson's Photos of Soviet Union
LJ user jolita (RUS) has posted Henri Cartier-Bresson's 1954-55 and 1973-74 photos of the Soviet Union in the ruguru LJ community.
Bangladesh: Accessorizing Patriotism
Bangladesh Corporate Blog thinks that “a time has come when we need to ‘accessorize patriotism’ somehow”. The blog suggests that Bangladeshis should brand something as small as a Gamcha (traditional cotton towel) to start with.
Martinique: Carnival cancelled after weeks of workers’ protests
le blog de [moi] discusses officials’ decision to cancel Carnival in Martinique after four weeks of workers’ protests. She quotes Louisy Berté from the Alliance union who asks, “How can we stand against the rising cost of living and, at the same time, present an image of Martinique singing and...
Arab World: Mourning Tayeb Salih
The Arab literary world is mourning the death of Sudanese novelist Al Tayeb Salih. The 80-year-old writer, who died in London, was best known for his novel Season of Migration to the North, which was selected by the Damascus-based Arab Literary Academy as the most important Arab novel of the 20th century. Al Tayeb was buried in Om Durman, Sudan, in a state ceremony, attended by the Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir.
Worldwide: 2,500 Languages Disappearing
An interactive map of endangered languages, showing 2,500 out of 6,000 tongues at risk, has been released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The international organization asks users to contribute comments to a project that has many bloggers worried about preserving cultures.
Egypt: The 64th anniversary of “the princess of the mountain’
Ramy Mosad wrote in his blog Egyptian Stories a short biography of Lebanese singer, Princess Asmahan el Atrache, who was mysteriously murdered 64 years ago.
Cuba: Women in Jazz
Havana Times focuses on the contribution of women to Cuban jazz.
