Stories about Music from July, 2006
Armenia: Hye Superstar
Zarchka reports on the outcome of “Hye Super Star,” Armenia's version of “Pop Idol.”
Uzbekistan: Revoked Licenses
The Long and Winding Road has a report on Uzbek pop musicians losing their licenses to perform in public after a journalist accused their lyrics of not being authentic Uzbek poetry and them of being bad musicians.
Latvia: Baltica Festival
Dykun posts footage from the Baltica Festival in Latvia: “More specifically, this is footage of two groups from Latgale. Latgale is a region of Latvia that has long fascinated me; it is considered by many to be the most rural part of Latvia, and it shares a long border to...
Czech Republic: Moravian Folklore
Bored in Brno posts a report from the 49th “annual celebration of local music and folklore in the town of Velka nad Velickou in South Moravia”: “Being a Czech festival, the beer flows liberally. Despite the higher elevation, the region can still sustain some grape cultivation and there is a...
USA: Ukrainian Sunflower Festival of Detroit
Greg of Reflections on Ukraine writes about the Ukrainian Sunflower Festival of Detroit, scheduled to take place Aug. 25-27, 2006.
Argentina: Music: Alternarama – Destierro
Following the popular release of The Kyoto Connection, Alternarama now launches Destierro, an ethereal album of ten tracks published under a Creative Commons Non-Derivative 2.5 license. The title track, Destierro, makes for great getting-ready-to-go-to-work music.
Serbia: Ceca the Pop Star
Florian Bieber of East Ethnia writes about Ceca, a Serbian pop star, and her new album, Ideally Bad: “From gangster bride to heroic widow and Serbian J-Lo, she demonstrated a better sense of where Serbia is going than some political analyst.”
Jamaica: Reggae aesthetics
Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp thinks about the role of “reggae aesthetics” in the post-colonial Caribbean, and posts a podcast of his poem “version break”.
Cuba: Fidel's birthday concert
Pan-African News Wire reproduces an article from Cuban news daily Granma, announcing plans for a concert to celebrate Fidel Castro's 80th birthday celebrations on August 11-12 in Havana. The concert will feature several “top protest and ballad singers of Latin America” as well as South African star Miriam Makeba.
Brazil: Music: Bonde do Role
Atari has a change of heart about the “funk light” band, Bonde do Role and their “party music that’s reasonably fun to dance to.”
China: Rock band
Wonwon from Chinatimes puts up a review on the development of rock band music in mainland China in the past twenty years (zh).
Panama: Music: Gonzalo Horna
Gonzalo Horna presents his blog to keep in touch with his fans and to spread his music around the globe. What is very interesting about the panamanian songwriter, is the honest lyrics, rythms and mixture of rock-ballad-latin-and-acoustic elements in his music, delivering a new meaning to the rock scene in...
Argentina: Music: ElectroKant – Vol. 1
Santiago Candegabe has released a new album of electronic music called ElectroKant – Vol. 1, “centered around the image of the german philosopher.” The 13 song album can be downloaded for free and is published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.5 license.
Belarus: Music and Censorship
TOL's Belarus Blog writes about music and censorship in Belarus, and about an upcoming Belarusian music event – to be held in Poland, “not so far from the border, in ethnically Belarusian territory.”
Ukraine: Sheshory Folk Festival
The Humble Observer reports on a trip to a folk music festival in Sheshory, a small town in West Ukraine's Transcarpathians: “Imagine Pete Seiger learns Ukrainian and plays with an instrument that you crank (no kidding) and you have something like what I was at last weekend.”
Haiti: Grateful to Wyclef for his World Cup Performance
Collectif Haiti de Provence points to a Le Nouvelliste article thanking (Fr) Haitian-American hip hop star Wyclef for his representation of Haiti at the World Cup closing ceremony: “Wyclef Jean did everything to associate Haiti to his performance. The Haitian flag served as a bandana that covered his head (…)...
Argentina: Music: Voltura publishes EPs under a CC license
More free and Creative Commons-licensed music from Argentina. This time Fernando Casale posts two EPs by Voltura. We are also told that “Hernán Martínez Mosquera, the creator of Voltura, is working on his first solo album.
Bolivia: Purple Drinks,Fried Cheese, Hip-Hop, and Elections in La Paz
“Purple Drinks and Fried Cheese in La Paz.” I think the title speaks for itself. Also worth checking out is Dangl's post on “Hip-Hop and Electoral Adventures in Bolivia.”
Jamaica, Cayman: Rocking on
Mad Bull offers a capsule history of his experience with rock music in Jamaica and welcomes the arrival of a new rock station in the Cayman Islands.
Ukraine: Krayina Mriy
Petro of Petro's Jotter writes about his family's visit to Krayina Mriy (“Dream Country”) world music festival that took place in Kyiv this past weekend, and argues why Ukraine isn't a “banana republic.”
Indonesia: Indonesian Jimi Hendrix
The blogger at When in Doubt, Blame the Traffic introduces the Indonesian Jimi Hendrix. “A lifelong disciple of Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, Gugun's setlist consists primarily of note for note versions of Jimi and SRV tunes, together with a vocal performance that is on par with the originals. An...
