Stories about Music from May, 2011
Chile: 5 Great Moments of Chilean Hip-Hop
Music blogger Roberto Carreño lists “5 great moments of Chilean hip-hop” [es]. He includes a brief description and a video of each song.
Syria: Light a Candle for Syria
Musician Devin Rhode shared a video entitled Light a Candle for Syria, where we can see touching footage of some major events of the uprising continuing in the country for more than two months. Writing about the objective behind the clip, Rhode says: “I hope this becomes a good tool...
Southeast Asia Funk Music
Mr. Brown shares his collection of 60's and 70's Southeast Asia Funk music from Cambodia, Vietnam, and Singapore.
Ethiopia: Blog of Ethiopia Musician Meklit Hadero
Visit the blog of Meklit Hadero. Meklit is a musician “born in Ethiopia, raised in the U.S. and nurtured by San Francisco’s richly diverse arts scene, this acclaimed singer embodies worlds.”
Archive of Southeast Asian Music
The Archive of Southeast Asian Music provides plenty and rich materials about the music of Southeast Asian nations especially in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.
Russia: History of Russian Pop
A translation of History of Russian Pop (the Russian-language original appeared in Russkii Reporter) – at RussiaWatchers, here and here.
Africa: The role of music in African cinema
Beatriz Leal Riesco explores the role of music in African cinema: “Since the early days of African cinema, music has formed part of a (self) conscious discourse concerning the problematic realities of Africa. Its use has rarely been gratuitous and goes far beyond the traditional—and much less experimental—Western customs of...
Azerbaijan: Eurovision winner Nigar Camal's visa criticism
Dissident blogger and journalist Elnur Majidli, now living in France and facing arrest in Azerbaijan for his Facebook activity, has uploaded a screenshot of a status line apparently written last year by Nigar Camal, one of the two singers who won this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Germany, on the...
Azerbaijan: Bloggers Divided Over Eurovision Win
Last weekend, Azerbaijan was shaking, with thousands of people flooding onto the streets of Baku, the capital, celebrating their country's win in the Eurovision Song Contest held a few hours earlier. However, not everyone was euphoric about the victory in the international music competition.
Georgia: Beyoncé's Girls Rule an Apocalyptic… Caucasus?
The premiere of American singer Beyoncé's "Run The World (Girls)" video on May 18 evoked much debate among bloggers and social media users in Georgia for a less than expected reason. Not that it was the first single from her highly anticipated new album, or even because of its empowering message, but rather a simple road sign that appeared 1 minute and 50 seconds into the video.
Brazil: “The City's Most Beautiful Band” Wins the Internet
A musical love “prayer” was one of the hottest topics of the week on the Web in Brazil. A Banda Mais Bonita da Cidade‘s video, (the name means “The City's Most Beautiful Band”) released on May 17 and recorded in a long take, has already thrilled more than 700,000 people [pt]...
Translating a Vietnamese song to English
Charvey notes the difficulty in translating songs from Vietnamese to English. He translated the lyrics of a song from the Vietnam War era.
Azerbaijan: Manatvision
Global Voices author Leyla Najafli posts an English translation of a blog post commenting on Azerbaijan's victory in last weekend's Eurovision Song Contest. Playing with the name of the local currency and Eurovision, the blogger disagrees with the general euphoria otherwise displayed by many of the blogger's fellow countrymen.
Brazil: Special Coverage on Sounds and Colours
During the month of May, Sounds And Colours dot Com - an online magazine dedicated to southamerican music and culture – is focused on Brazil. A good opportunity to learn about the “importance of music in Rio de Janeiro” and the “unmistakable tarde and flavour of cachaça“, among other cultural...
Costa Rica: Day Against Homophobia
Costa Rica celebrated the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17, and both online and offline people celebrated sexual diversity.
Ukraine, U.S.: Chornobyl Songs Project
Maria Sonevytsky writes about the Chornobyl Songs Project: “To mark the 25th Anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, raise awareness of the continuing environmental damage created by the nuclear disaster and stimulate efforts to prevent such catastrophes from occurring in the future, a group of singers based in New York City...
Ecuador: Three Years After the Factory Tragedy
April 19 marked three years since the fire at the Factory discotheque in Quito while a gothic rock concert was in progress. As a result, 19 were killed and 24 wounded. This anniversary, a homage was paid and a move to sensitise the people about this issue was made by the family and friends of the victims.
Azerbaijan: Eurovision Pride
Scary Azeri comments on her country's success in this year's Eurovision Song Contest by saying that she doesn't understand how ecstatic many of her fellow Azerbaijanis are about their victory. In particular the blog notes the high level of poverty in the country while also wondering if Eurovision fans from...
Puerto Rico: Honoring Ismael Rivera
In 80 Grados [es] César Colón Montijo honors the memory [es] of one of the greatest salsa singers of all times, Ismael Rivera, “El Sonero Mayor.”
Puerto Rico: New Documentary
@sire_damiano interviews musician and filmmaker Guillermo Gómez Alvarez [es] about his most recent documentary “Una identidad en absurdo” for the music blog Puerto Rico Indie [es].
Azerbaijan: Eurovision Victory
Surprising many, Azerbaijan won last night's Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, Germany. Bloggers and social media users covered the event extensively.
