“We are trying to give a good image of Libya” – an interview with G.A.B.

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Marseille – At the world music expo Babel Med, last month, News & Noise spoke with Seraj Kamel/G Thug AKA Lantren, the crew manager and one of the rappers of G.A.B. (Good against Bad). This zealous Libyan hip-hop group is reveling in and grappling with the new freedom of expression that has flourished since the fall of Colonel Gaddafi. Sponsored by a French institute, G.A.B. came to Babel Med in Marseille to represent their country. This is their first international experience. The timing of their performance wasn’t that opportune, because they had to compete with the Congolese Jupiter & Okwess International. Despite their excellent rapping skills, for the delegates of Babel Med the message of G.A.B. seems to be far more interesting than their music. Talking with Seraj Kamel of G.A.B. gave us an interesting impression of today’s Libya.

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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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