Stories about Music from January, 2008
Serbia, Albania: Kosovo Rapper
BBC's Mark Mardell interviews “Kosovo’s premier rapper” Genc Prevlaka.
St Vincent & The Grenadines, Belize: Palacio Gone To Soon
St. Vincent blogger Abeni knew the late Belizean musician Andy Palacio personally and says: “News of his death…triggered all those memories of yesteryear. Gone at 47 which seems too soon.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Panorama
Thebookmann reports on the pervasive mood as Trinidad and Tobago steelbands move closer to the Panorama finals.
Panama: 2008 Jazz Festival
Tatiana gives her review on the 2008 version of the Panama Jazz Festival [es] and notes that this year the festival featured delicious food booths.
Russia: Vladimir Vysotsky
Leopolis posts a YouTube video of Vladimir Vysotsky and links to his songs’ translations.
Belize: Palacio Laid to Rest
Belizean was there when musical icon Andy Palacio was laid to rest.
Francophone Morocco Roundup: Algeria's response to the UN, anti-French sentiment and more
This week in the Moroccan blogosphere, Algeria fails in its duties, anti-French sentiment still strong in Morocco, DJ Awards and rose petals galore.
Brazil: Countdown to Carnival
There is a popular belief that in Brazil the year only starts after Carnival. Be this an exaggeration or not, there is not much else being talked about on the country's blogosphere: everyone is dusting off their costumes, getting into the mood and counting down the days for the biggest street party on Earth. Here's a round up of bloggers expectations in Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Pernambuco, and the lesser known carnival in Minas Gerais.
Morocco: Sacred Music Festival
The View From Fez announces the programme for this year's Festival of World Sacred Music.
Russia: Vladimir Vysotsky
Sean's Russia Blog writes on what would have been Vladimir Vysotsky's 70th birthday. Windows to Russia! provides links to translations of Vysotsky's songs. YouTube user filatovv posts a special anniversary tribute playlist of videos of Vysotsky performing in Montenegro in 1974. A 1981 video of people lining up at Vagankovskoye...
Lithuania: Vytautas Sriubikis; the Hill of Crosses
Viola in Vilnius writes about Lithuanian flautist Vytautas Sriubikis – and briefly mentions the Hill of Crosses, quite an extraordinary place near the town of Siauliai, which “not surprisingly is a hill covered in crosses, and a bit of a place of pilgrimage.”
Albania: Eda Zari
Albanian Blogger writes about Eda Zari, an Albanian singer who has recently given up her Albanian citizenship.
The Balkans: “Jestdej”
Sleeping with Pengovsky posts a copy of the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ – spelled phonetically by Croatian musicians: “… For all of you native speakers out there – if you ever wondered how English sounds to people from the Balkans – take a look at the above picture. It just doesn’t get...
Eritrea: Listen to Eritrean Music
Listen to Eritrean music: “This is the last day of Eritrea Week. I don’t know enough about much of the music I’ve collected this week to write full posts so I decided to make you a mixtape instead.”
Trinidad & Tobago: World Social Forum
Blogging from Trinidad and Tobago, Ramblings and Reason thinks World Social Forum “enables discussion of critical social issues that impact us”, but The Liming House is not convinced: “Yes, another world is possible, and another T&T is possible. But we have to come better than this.”
Trinidad & Tobago: The Merry Monarch
Discover TnT Blog has the latest Soca Monarch updates from Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival celebrations.
Latvia: The Suiti
Marginalia writes about history, culture and songs of the suiti, the people of Alsunga in Latvia.
Belize: Mourning Palacio
As Belize continues to mourn the death of Andy Palacio, Belizean posts a short bio of the country's most iconic musician.
Argentina: Hip-Hop and Cumbia Mashups
Argentina Travel Guide introduces Zizek, a Wednesday night feature at the Niceto Club in Buenos Aires. Guest DJs, including Diplo from the US, spin hip-hop and cumbia mashups.
Morocco: Personal Freedoms
The View From Fez directs us to an ongoing post about certain freedoms in Morocco.
Trinidad & Tobago: ‘Mas in April?
“They should save their symposium-organising money and use it for something else, because the idea is just plain absurd”: Caribbean Free Radio responds to news that a group of “Carnival stakeholders” is proposing “that Trinidad and Tobago’s age-old pre-lenten Carnival be moved to a more ‘convenient’ date”; while Nicholas Laughlin...
