Recently actor and director Clint Eastwood said that he endorses the Republican presidential candidate, because “the country needs a boost“. But looking at his recent tour to Europe and Israel, Mitt Romney probably needs a boost himself. The song called The Mutt Romney Blues won’t make it any easier on him. It comes from the album Election Special of musician and protest singer Ry Cooder, which will be released end of this month.
Continue reading Mitt Romney hounded by dog-on-the-car-roof story
Antwerp – It looks like Tunisia, where the Arab Spring started, had a successful transition to democracy. Ben Ali has fled the country and the moderate Islamist party Ennahda won the elections in October 2011. They allegedly take Turkey as an example; a secular democracy governed by a party with an Islamic identity. Lately, however, there have been tensions between Islamicists and secular liberals and the economy is still very fragile. In April the government puts a ban on demonstrations which generated new protests (New York Times). This weekend at the Sfinks Festival in Boechout, Belgium, I spoke to the Tunesian singer-songwriter Emel Mathlouthi, currently living in France, about Tunisia and her music.
Continue reading “In France I found my Tunisian identity”- an interview with Emel Mathlouthi
Three members of the Russian female punk group Pussy Riot – see also an earlier post on News and Noise – are on trial on hooliganism charges. For transparency, the court will broadcast the hearing on the 30th of July live on the internet (Times Live). At a closed hearing a motion is approved by state prosecutors to keep the girls in pretrial detention until Jan. 12, 2013. This is more than nine months after they were arrested (The Moscow Times). Experts, artists and musicians are openly showing their support for the band members.
Continue reading Solidarity with Pussy Riot
Today, July 18, South Africa is celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday. President Zuma praised him with the following words, from the moment Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela strode out of prison on the 11th of February 1990, we knew that South Africa would be a different place” (BBC News). This event coincides with the tour Paul Simon and his South African colleagues are making in Europe.
Continue reading Going back to Graceland
For everyone who knows how much effort goes into organizing a festival, the pledge of PACBI to boycott the 26th Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat must be surreal. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel believes that this festival is designed to whitewash the crimes of Israeli apartheid. How do fans and artists respond to this request?
Continue reading Boycott on cultural events in Israel