Stories about Music from December, 2006
The Balkans: Main 2006 Stories
Ed of Balkan Baby lists the most important regional stories of 2006: “Slovenia moves towards Eurozone,” “Croatia and Serbia Disappoint at World Cup,” “Croatia Stop-Start its way towards EU,” etc.
Africa: James Brown and Africa
Blake Lambert, blogging at Sub-Saharan Africa Roundtable, writes about James Brown's connection to Africa, “Yet JB’s best-known visit to the continent was in 1974 when he performed at a concert as part of the famous “rumble in the jungle” in Kinshasa. Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman in one of the...
Argentina: Rare Rock MP3 Blog
Fernando Casale introduces the newish MP3 blog Incunables Posludios “whose objective is to rescue rare treasures of Argentine rock with the premise that they should be unattainable in record stores.”
The Blogoma backs Nichane while the major Moroccan Media ignore it
Morocco is celebrating Eid ul Adha next Sunday, so Merry Eid from the Moroccan Blogosphere(Blogoma). Let's joke about…Baby! The controversy over Nichane continues its escalation. Actually, and according to Farid it's virtually escalating since only the Moroccan blogs are concerned whith no major Media support(Fr). The view from Fez writes...
Venezuela: The best Christmas music you've never heard of
“There were two very notable things about Christmas in Zulia that I immediately became aware of: the temperature (around 90 degrees) and La Gaita Zuliana,” writes Jennifer Woodard Maderazo about the Christmas protest songs of Venezuela's Zulia state.
Ukraine: Ruslana Against Human Trafficking
The Natashas – “a blog for those interested in fighting the scourge of human trafficking of women and men, girls and boys, especially for purposes of sexual exploitation” – posts a link to an anti-human trafficking video by Ukrainian pop singer and PM Ruslana.
India: Music Season in Chennai
Suraj is in Chennai (Madras) as the music season peaks in the city. “What expectations would you develop if your first day of the music season starts off with a casual dinner and chat with your favourite artist? :)”
Kenya: Kenyan videos online
Kenyans United is new site for Kenyan music videos, comedy, and documentaries, via Digital Africa.
Martinique, Guadeloupe: A Star is Born
Atout Guadeloupe is happy (Fr) that 19 year-old Martiniquan Cyril won the Star Academy reality show/music contest, a French equivalent of American Idol. Says the feed: “19, millions of Euros, a budding career. Guadeloupe joins the pride and joy of Martinique for Cyril's victory… [We] predict a wonderful career for...
Barbados: Hollywood in the Caribbean
Barbados blogger AirBourne offers a capsule history of Hollywood's interventions in the Caribbean, with a special emphasis on the music featured in the films.
Estonia: Estonica
A Step At A Time links to Estonica, “a web encyclopedia about Estonia, in English and Estonian.”
Madagascar: The First Indian Ocean Musical Network
El Sono Mondial announces that (Fr): “A seminar about financial management of cultural enterprises specializing in music (organized by the International Organization of La Francophonie) took place last week [in Madagascar] … The participants discussed creating the first Indian Ocean musical and cultural network.“
Festival Internacional de la Cancion de Autor
Panamanian songwriter Gonzalo Horna has a review about the first Festival Internacional de la Canción de Autor in which he participated as the opening artist. Read more about this event.
Argentina: Music: Holy – Cascarano
With English lyrics and “melodies that combine pop, rock, folk, and dub” the latest Holy production, Cascarana, has been released under a 2.0 Creative Commons License. Fernando Casale has all the tracks available for download.
Lithuania: Camerata Klaipeda
Music and Life – Everywhere! writes about the Lithuanian Camerata Klaipeda – “a very interesting little string orchestra” – and other music matters.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Nine Mornings Festival
“The choir was far from melodious but I couldn't believe I was hearing right.” Being serenaded with Christmas carols encourages Abeni “to shake off the gloomy feeling” and be part of the Nine Mornings Festival – a unique Vincentian tradition.
Freedom of speech and music celebrations in the Moroccan Blogosphere
Many different subjects were in the spotlight last week, in the Moroccan blogosphere. I'll start with Farid and his interesting numbers (Fr) about blogging in Morocco. Then comes Reda who found out, thanks to Shimon Peres, that there is a connection between laziness and Islam(Fr). The European Union is a...
Kenya/Tanzania: East Africa's old songs
Steve Ntwiga's musical link takes us to East Africa's Orchestra Mangelepa and Jamhuri Jazz Band.
Trinidad & Tobago: Parang in Paramin
Christmas in Trinidad and Tobago is Parang season (from the Spanish Parranda, meaning “the action of merry making” or “group of serenaders”): The Trinidad and Tobago News Blog posts video and pictures from this year's Paramin Parang Festival.
Chile: Pinochet & Jara
Justin Delacour posts an article written by Alexander Billet, which examines Pinochet's legacy as it relates to “radicals” like Victor Jara, “a songwriter and poet; a deadly combination to any iron-fisted regime…”
Madagascar: No Christmas Songs
Says Harinjaka, (Fr) Malagasy artists haven't put out any chistmas compilations this year probably because of elections. But the blogger proposes an exploration into a forgotten music form, the zafindraony of which he posts a clip. The key to the proper execution of this music? Sing off key and while...