The 72nd edition of the Holland Festival, the largest international festival of performing arts in the Netherlands, has again sensed the spirit of the age. News & Noise attended two fantastic artworks that are exemplary: The Head & The Load of William Kentridge – about the history of Africans in the First World War, and Los Incontados: un tríptico of Mapa Teatro – about the civil war in Colombia.
Continue reading Holland Festival: unraveling hidden stories
Kisses, selfies and lots of wild wild women at the Matinée Marocaine in Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam. Khadija Margoum and Khadija El Bidaouia sang Moroccan songs about joy, suffering and love.
Continue reading Aïta: Songs of Love
Amsterdam – The Egyptian pop star Hakim (aka the Lion of Egypt) gave an unique performance on the 21st of September in the Melkweg in Amsterdam. The announcement of the concert on Melkweg’s website accurately described Hakim as an innovator of both the Jeel, popular youth music style, and the more folky dance Sha’bi. This is a story worth telling as it gives an idea not only about an important chapter in the development of popular music scene in Egypt, but also about how it always relates to and interacts with the different social classes. For decades there has been a musical answer offered to fit the social mobility and changing tastes of different classes. Let’s go briefly over this story before commenting on the fantastic show he gave in the Melkweg.
Continue reading The Lion of Egypt in Amsterdam
This Summer at the Houtfestival in Haarlem in the Netherlands, I spoke to the Iranian singer Mahsa Vahdat for VPRO Vrije Geluiden. Internationally she is known for her performances with her sister Marjan Vahdat. In Iran they are not allowed to play in public, only for a female audience. That doesn’t stop her from making music and poetry in her home country. Mahsa also encourages and teaches the Persian vocal art to women in Iran. Since 2007 she is one of the ambassadors of Freemuse. In the video-interview below she tells me about the importance of poetry.
Continue reading “Poets are the true storytellers”- an interview with Mahsa Vahdat
In March 16 – 18, 2017, News and Noise was at Babel Med, the world music and jazz forum that took place on in Marseilles, and we spoke to Sama Abdulhadi (previously named Skywalker). Sama is the first techno DJ and producer of the Palestinian underground community. In the video interview below she’ll tell us about Berlin Techno and her ambitions. And an update of her arrest, end of 2020.
Continue reading “It’s fine to break the rules” – an interview with DJ Sama