Stories about Arts & Culture from May, 2011
Estonia: Between East and West
Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa reflects upon Estonia's changing politico-cultural identity against the backdrop of the 2011 Lennart Meri conference.
Brazil: Crowdfunding Potential
Interest in crowdfunding, a form of online fundraising, has exploded in recent months in Brazil. We survey the scene and the potential of crowd fundraising in a country known for world-renowned social organizing, and creativity.
Archive of Southeast Asian Music
The Archive of Southeast Asian Music provides plenty and rich materials about the music of Southeast Asian nations especially in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.
Russia: History of Russian Pop
A translation of History of Russian Pop (the Russian-language original appeared in Russkii Reporter) – at RussiaWatchers, here and here.
Africa: The role of music in African cinema
Beatriz Leal Riesco explores the role of music in African cinema: “Since the early days of African cinema, music has formed part of a (self) conscious discourse concerning the problematic realities of Africa. Its use has rarely been gratuitous and goes far beyond the traditional—and much less experimental—Western customs of...
Cuba: Cultural Center Closed
Generation Y blogs about “the shock of the correctives” in the form of “the closure of the cultural center run by the painter Pedro Pablo Oliva”.
China: War Game Between China and the U.S
Patrick Keefe from Shanghaiist blogs about the debate a computer war game, Glorious Mission which pits Chinese forces against U.S. Combatants. The game is developed joint handedly by Chinese software company Giant Interactive Group and the People’s Liberation Army.
China: “We Chinese”
Scott Brauer introduces a project, “We Chinese”, which aims to develop a portrait of the country by looking at the individual people that make it up.
Japan: Video Haiku
Vimeo user Stephen Niebauer presents a project called Video Haiku. A haiku is a short form of Japanese poetry that usually consists of three verses of 5,7 and 5 morae. “So, for this project, your video structure should be like this: 5 second shot, 7 second shot, 5 second shot.”
Macedonia: Monument Fixed After Blogger's Complaint?
Partikopolis informs [mk] that the vandalized statue he blogged about a few months ago has been re-erected: “Maybe this wasn't influenced directly by me, but I am glad when I see some kind of a solution for a problem I wrote about.”
Puerto Rico: Review of Performance “Esquina Periferia”
The artist, professor and blogger Bernat Tort reviews the most recent artistic performance [es] created by the actor, dancer, and musician Eduardo Alegría, titled “Esquina Periferia.”
Azerbaijan: Eurovision winner Nigar Camal's visa criticism
Dissident blogger and journalist Elnur Majidli, now living in France and facing arrest in Azerbaijan for his Facebook activity, has uploaded a screenshot of a status line apparently written last year by Nigar Camal, one of the two singers who won this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Germany, on the...
Azerbaijan: Bloggers Divided Over Eurovision Win
Last weekend, Azerbaijan was shaking, with thousands of people flooding onto the streets of Baku, the capital, celebrating their country's win in the Eurovision Song Contest held a few hours earlier. However, not everyone was euphoric about the victory in the international music competition.
China: Writing Imaginary Book Reviews
In 2010, a collection of reviews for non-existent books, written by Chinese author Bimuyu, was published. This month Bimuyu shared with readers his thinking behind these reviews.
Georgia: Beyoncé's Girls Rule an Apocalyptic… Caucasus?
The premiere of American singer Beyoncé's "Run The World (Girls)" video on May 18 evoked much debate among bloggers and social media users in Georgia for a less than expected reason. Not that it was the first single from her highly anticipated new album, or even because of its empowering message, but rather a simple road sign that appeared 1 minute and 50 seconds into the video.
Azerbaijan: National Identity
Following a heated discussion on the issue of ethnic identity in the comments section on an entry written about Azerbaijan's recent Eurovision win, Scary Azeri responds in an extensive post to criticism from one reader in particular that she is not Azeri enough.
North Africa: Manifesto for a Maghreb of Cinema
The Arab revolution has also impacted the cinema world. Filmmakers from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia have just launched on their blog Maghreb du cinéma [fr], a suggestion box to reinvigorate the creation, production and distribution of their work. Their manifesto can be signed here [fr].
Nigeria: The Nigerian Event Awards 2011
BellaNaija shares photos and writes about the winners of The Nigerian Event Awards 2011: “The celebration of this maiden edition of the awards brought together a great number of people who came all out to honour remarkable people in the Nigerian Events and Entertainment Industry.”
Nepal: Dhaka Topi, The National Identity
XNepali at Nepal Blogs writes about Dhaka Topi, an unique cap worn by many Nepalis which is considered as a national identity.
Africa: African Cartoonist Top Somalia Cartoon competition
African cartoonists win cartoon competition: “Cartoonists either based in or originally from Africa have made a clean sweep of the prizes on offer during the inaugural edition of the Hadaf Somalia International Cartoon Competition. The competition was organized by the Association of East African Cartoonists (KATUNI).”
Azerbaijan: Manatvision
Global Voices author Leyla Najafli posts an English translation of a blog post commenting on Azerbaijan's victory in last weekend's Eurovision Song Contest. Playing with the name of the local currency and Eurovision, the blogger disagrees with the general euphoria otherwise displayed by many of the blogger's fellow countrymen.