· December, 2008

Stories about Music from December, 2008

Central and Eastern Europe: A Christmas Roundup

  24 December 2008

A holiday season roundup: Tanja of Czechmatediary recalls family Christmas celebrations of her childhood, writes about the Czech Christmas Mass, and shares a recipe of Vanocka (“Christmas bread”); CzechFolks.com writes about a calorie-free yet mouth-watering way of decorating a holiday table with crocheted Czech Christmas cookies; The Foreigner's Guide to...

Czech Republic: A Politics-Free Roundup

  24 December 2008

Politics-free posts from the Czech Republic: a charity project to help orphans organized by Czech model Tereza Maxova, bankruptcy of one of the largest Czech glass companies, and Karel Gott's lasting popularity – at CzechFolks.com; the winner of the Bravest Czech of the Year award, and tips on how to...

Ukraine: Hutsuls and Crimean Tatars

  24 December 2008

My Simferopol Home writes about her dissertation plans to compare histories of exoticism in the Ukrainian Hutsul and Crimean Tatars cultures: “So, why these two groups? While distinct in ethnogenesis, history and territory, Hutsuls, the superstitious, hard-drinking subsistence farmers to Poland and Austro-Hungary’s urban intellectuals, and Crimean Tatars, the perceived...

Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane: Celebrating Christmas with “Chanté Nwel”

  23 December 2008

With Christmas approaching, the French Overseas Departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guyane are vibrating to the tune of their folk musical instruments like ka (a big drum)[Fr], ti-bwa (two bamboo sticks)[Fr] and of Christmas Carols. Welcome to the world of “Chanté Nwel” (Singing for Christmas). In the blog Sous le...

Israel: LivniBoy Gives ObamaGirl a Run For Her Money

  20 December 2008

Check out LivniBoy, Israel's answer to ObamaGirl. His YouTube video, “Love Song to Tzipi Livni,” has received over 6,350 views this week alone. Tzipi Livni is the Kadima Party candidate for prime minister in the upcoming winter elections. You'll be able to enjoy the feel of the video even if...

Costa Rica: Call for Collaborative Christmas Video

  17 December 2008

Costa Rican online humour collective nosedecirlaerre.com which translates into "I can´t pronounce the R" has set out a call for participation from Costa Ricans and those familiar with their culture to create a collaborative video for Christmas. The campaign is called Uniting Ticos for Christmas and the requirements are quite simple: dancing in the Costa Rican style of "swing criollo" the popular end of the year song Jugo de Piña and saying something in Costa Rican slang, on video.

Peru: Iron Maiden in Lima Set for March 2009

  14 December 2008

Now that the visit of British heavy metal band Iron Maiden has been confirmed for Lima on March 26, 2009, bloggers, who are big fans like Slayer_X [es] and Idioteca [es] are buzzing about it. Javier Lishner from Rock Around the Blog [es] rounds up a series of opinions of...

Armenia: Musical Prime Minister

  13 December 2008

Unzipped posts a summary in English of an informal meeting between some local bloggers and the new prime minister of Armenia. The blog notes that the posts by Alkhimik and 517design reveal the prime minister plays guitar and enjoys art-house films. All three blogs post photographs.

Bahamas: Death of an Icon

  10 December 2008

“Mr. Farrington was one of the most brilliant men I have ever met. He was often in another world, but when he was in ours his intellect was staggering”: Nicolette Bethel acknowledges the passing of a Bahamian “cultural giant”.