Stories about Arts & Culture from July, 2009
Peru: An Exhibition of Art and Video Games
Juan Carlos Luján of Sin Papel [es] reports on an exhibition in Lima, Peru of art and video games.
Jamaica: Mento Master Missed
Repeating Islands remembers the life and career of Jamaica's Mento master, Theodore “T” Miller: “Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that draws heavily on musical traditions brought to the island by African slaves…his loss, as the Gleaner recently reported, ‘represents a great loss to Jamaica’s cultural heritage’.”
Japan: Mizuhiki twine art
Adamu from Multantfrog introduces a Japanese craft, Mizuhiki, which uses twine made from Japanese-style paper to create fancy bows and other designs.
Russia: Markets Shut Down
Scraps of Moscow writes about Moscow authorities’ recent decision to shut down Cherkizovsky and Izmailovsky markets: “It is a shame that Luzhkov and others favoring the reconfiguring of Moscow markets to exclude for'ners have failed to understand that such pockets of other-ness always added to Moscow's richness. And even operating...
Trinidad and Tobago: Online Art Networks
Younger contemporary artists in Trinidad increasingly use online media like blogs and social networks like Facebook to exhibit and document their work and engage each other in critical conversation.
Armenia: An interview with Liana Aghajanian
Born in Iran, but raised and now living in the United States, Liana Aghajanian is a writer and a relative newcomer to the Armenian blogosphere. However, Aghajanian has set an important precedent for alternative voices and an independent media in Armenia and the Diaspora with her Wordpress-based e-zine, Ianyan.
Cuba, Jamaica: Film & Music
AfriClassical notes that famed Afro-Cuban composer Leo Brouwer has received his country's 2009 National Film Award, while Repeating Islands discovers that the musical based on Jamaican Perry Henzell’s 1972 film The Harder They Come will soon open in Canada.
Barbados: Where's the Culture?
Barbados Underground suggests that when it comes to Crop Over, “culture issues have taken a backseat in recent years at the expense of running the festival as a business”.
India: Cool Summer Drinks
Anuradha Goyal at Desicritics reviews some delicious and healthy Indian summer drinks.
Pakistan: A Fatwa To Stop Electricity Theft
Kalsoom at CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan informs that “the Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) has reportedly obtained a fatwa [religious decree] from 12 senior Islamic scholars against the theft of electricity, which is costing the company 1 billion rupees ($12.3 million) a month.”
Democracy Video Challenge Winner Showcase
What is Democracy? That is the question more than 900 participants set out to answer through their videos, in response to the Democracy Video Challenge set up by the US Department of State and many other partners, open for participants from all over the world. Today we show you the winning videos which explain in their own way the phrase Democracy is...
Colombia: On Independence Day
Alejandro Ángel celebrates [es] the July 20 holiday and criticizes those Colombians who keep “complaining,” while Miguel Olaya writes [es] about the “re-signification” of this patriotic days during president Uribe's administration, and Apolo Duvalis is grateful [es] to Simón Bolívar and his “gang” for achieving the independence from Spain.
Japan: Cat mania
The spreading of communities of people with same interests and hobbies is not new in the internet society. Netizens often exchange news, suggestions and picture on things and activities they share a common interest on. In Japan that is not only limited to hobbies, however, also love for pets is...
Jamaica: The Last Don
As “word on the street has it that the Jamaican Security Forces have created a ‘Don Squad'”, Annie Paul interviews the man behind the film The Last Don, “about the process of making this comic documentary and his own history as a film-maker and photographer.”
Barbados: Breath, Art, Memory
As Barbadian blogger Ingrid Persaud struggles with an art commission about memory “in the context of a larger exhibition about the international preservation of documentary memory”, she says: “Memories are things we have a place in our history for. Trauma is the stuff that has not yet found its place....
Macedonia: On Visiting Offline Museums
Volan recommends visiting what's in his opinion is a somewhat neglected Macedonian National Gallery at the Daut Pasha Hammam in Skopje, situated in a former harem bath of a high Ottoman official, presenting reproductions of some of the most notable paintings [MKD] and other artwork from the XIV to the...
Russia: Channel “2×2″ censors Putin episode of South Park
The recent decision by Russian television channel “2×2″ to cut a scene in an episode of the US cartoon series ”South Park” has sparked anger in the Russian blogosphere. Ruth Collins reviews some of the bloggers' reactions.
Jamaica: Jacksons to Perform
Girl With a Purpose and Repeating Islands report that Jamaica's Reggae Sumfest is being pegged as a “salute to Michael Jackson” this year – and the Jackson brothers are scheduled to perform.
Cambodia, Thailand: Preah Vihear dispute continues
The ancient Temple of Preah Vihear rests on the Cambodian and Thai borders. Exactly which country can claim Preah Vihear has been a source of contention between the neighboring countries. Since the July 2008 inscription by UNESCO, there has been violence in the region between Cambodian and Thai soldiers.
Ecuador: National Day of the Andean Condor
Ecuador recently celebrated the Day of the Andean Condor on July 7 [es]. Fausto Marcelo writes about the symbolic importance that the bird has throughout the region.
Armenia: Vardavar
Ianyan marks the much-loved Armenian holiday of Vardavar. The blog examines the roots of a tradition which usually revolves around children dousing complete strangers with buckets of water.
