· September, 2007

Stories about Music from September, 2007

Dominica, Guyana: Making Music

  26 September 2007

Living Dominica posts video of street musicians in the island's capital, while Living Guyana shares what he thinks is the problem with Guyanese music.

Ghana: Hiplife hits dead end

  24 September 2007

Muntala Muntari discusses the end of Ghanaian music, hiplife:”A decade of hiplife has come and gone with little or no fun fair. The Ghanaian genre of music, which started out as a promising star among all the genres of music in Ghana, is now melting like butter against sun.”

Barbados: “Bim” Rocks!

  21 September 2007

Notes From The Margin discovers an ode to Barbados via a YouTube video: “Maybe someone should tell the tourist board about this one!”

Serbia: Noise

  20 September 2007

Belgrade 2.0 writes about the noise of turbo folk music: “It is designed to destroy brain cells more effectively than most advanced weapons today, without harming the natural environment, pretty much like the new Russian vacuum bomb.” And about the noise of a military celebration that invlolved MIG planes flying...

The Balkans: Music

  20 September 2007

The Balkan Yankee writes about Beirut, a band that blends “American Indie roots and the Balkan brass/Gypsy sounds that inspired them,” and about Foltin, a band that mixes “contemporary jazz with traditional Macedonian sounds.”

Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados: Cover Controversy?

  20 September 2007

Caribbean Beat Blog reports that the cover of its magazine's latest edition, which features “Barbadian singer Rihanna draped on a purple couch in a provocative pose, looking over her shoulder straight into the camera” has turned out to be quite controversial for some readers.

Europe: Romani Culture

  18 September 2007

TOL's Romantic writes about Lojze Podobnik, a Slovenian author whose works focus on Romani culture. Pesha's Blog links to Professor Steve Balkin's compilation of online resources on Romani culture.

China: Zhujian Delta Worker Band

  13 September 2007

Tang Wei Shan introduces a worker band, Green Band, in Zhujian Delta. The band was started 4 years ago in Shenzhen when two of the members were playing guitars in an open space. Their wish is to have singing tour around Zhujian Delta industrial zone. Their most recent performance was...

Bloggers on the Ethiopian Millennium

  12 September 2007

On September 11 2007, or 1 Meskerem 2000, Ethiopia entered in its third millennium in accordance with the Ethiopian calendar, which is about seven years behind the Gregorian calendar. Ethiopian bloggers have devoted a great deal of attention to the event.

Trinidad & Tobago: New Art Space

  11 September 2007

On the heels of the recent closing of Trinidad's contemporary art centre CCA7, The Caribbean Beat Blog is pleased that an alternative space for “the Anglophone Caribbean's most energetic and eclectic art scene” is emerging.

Famed Musician Rossy Returns to Madagascar

  10 September 2007

Rossy's back! (Fr) Harinjaka writes that Rossy, a.k.a. Paul-Bert Rahasimanana, arguably Madagascar's most famous musician, is back in his native country, which he left for France following the violently contested 2002 presidential election. Hari also posts a video of Rossy's newest release.

Barbados: Rihanna Wins

  10 September 2007

My Barbados Blog congratulates fellow Barbadian Rihanna “for winning the top MTV VMA award – Video of the Year – for her hit single Umbrella.”

Cuba: Pavarotti Passes On

  6 September 2007

“He was a seminal tenor. His presence in opera, concerts and recitals was so ubiquitous that he almost single-handedly brought opera back into the mainstream of American and world culture,” writes Babalu Blog, as he acknowledges the passing of Luciano Pavarotti.

China: Song on GFW

  5 September 2007

Calon from bullog changed the lyrics of “I bet you they won’t play this song on the radio” into a song on Great Fire Wall: I bet you they won’t stop the G-F-W, I bet you they won’t show the (bleep) to you, It’s not that it’s (bleep) or (bleep)...

Cuba: Musical Chacon

  3 September 2007

Photographer Roy Llera posts a shot of Chacon, a Cuban musician who passed away in 2003: “One day I found him at home in a small shack on a hillside in Casablanca…as most Cubans he invited me into his home and proudly stated ‘mi casa es su casa'…I felt at...