All posts by newsandnoise

Six times Amazon: Songs of the Forest

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The indigenous people in Brazil are largely seen as exotic creatures. There are Indians who adapted to modern civilization. But those how live remotely want to maintain their identity. They fight for their rights as you can read in the article about Belo Monte. Modern people tend to see their life style as the only right one. But why not learn from the indigenous? This is what the music group Mawaca coming from São Paulo did. They not only learned songs from them but they had a true musical exchange. In this article (including the documentary Mawaca – Cantos da Floresta) Brazilian journalist and photographer Eduardo Vessoni gives a report of Mawaca’s encounter with six indigenous groups in 2011.

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Iran vs Israel – an interview with Sahand Sahebdivani

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The Iranian-Israeli relations are – and always have been – a very complex matter. Of course this is on a political level, but what about the people? To my surprise I met the Dutch-Iranian (or Iranian-Dutch) Sahand Sahebdivani about two weeks ago at a cafe in Amsterdam. He was in a meeting on a project named ‘Kingdom of Fire and Clay’ in which he and his Israeli friend Raphael Rodan will challenge each other with stories from their home country. I know Sahand as a professional storyteller, radio maker and journalist – recently he has been appointed Storyteller of the Year 2014 (Stichting Vertellen). His parents sought political asylum in the Netherlands in the 1980s. Sahand still was a toddler. Years later they had a little tea house at the Jordaan in Amsterdam, where every musician was welcome to jam (see video below). There Sahand could develop his talents as a musician.

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Persian instruments on TV!

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Last Saturday, Iranian people were taken by surprise in a strange way. The Good Morning Iran Show for IRIB’s Channel 1, broadcasted music from the group Avaye Parsian (Persian voice)! The group, led by musician Saman Alipour, consists of kamancheh (a bowed string instrument) santoor (a trapezoid-shaped dulcimer) played by wooden hammers and tar (lute). You might think that it is pretty normal to show traditional instruments on TV, but this is really unusual for Iranian people. They were even not sure if they were dreaming or not. For many of them it was the first time they had seen such instruments on national television.

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Pussy Riot’s next move

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Yesterday the two members of Pussy Riot got free from prison. Masja Aljochina and Nadejda Tolokonnikova were supposed to stay until March next year. After two years they are reunited again. For them it was a bit abrupt, because they were deprived from any information. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the constitution, Putin wanted to give amnesty to different groups of people, like for mothers with children. They both are mothers. Tolokonnikova, who wrote an open letter about the slavery and violence in camp number 14, district of Moldovia, and who later went on hunger strike, gave her comments to the reporters right after she got free.

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“Rhythm makes you brave” – an interview with Marije Nie

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Amsterdam – This year there have been demonstrations all over the world in the spirit of the Arabian Spring. The reason might be the raise of a bus ticket (Brazil), or the removal of public space (Turkey). No doubt that there is a deeper dismay. The demonstrations are basically peaceful, but somehow the authorities don’t know how to handle the situation and sometimes the situation turns out to be extremely violent. During the demonstrations in Ukraine this week, an EU-decorated piano was placed in front of the riot squad. The 22-year old person was playing Opus 64 of Chopin as a protest (NRC). Maybe it is a bit surreal, but it certainly made an effect. In almost every demonstration music plays a major or a minor role.

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