Chouf Ouchouf in London, just unmissable !
Bringing together contemporary performance and traditional Moroccan acrobatics, Chouf Ouchouf is a witty and highly skilled evocation of the energy, joy and urgency of life in Tangiers.
In the medina, the city’s old quarter, it’s ten to a house and 100 to the narrowest street. People shout to be be heard; push to the front or never be seen. The city is chaotic but beneath the clamour are whispers of its other life. In the maze-like streets and along the rooftops, figures move on secret agendas. What, or who, is in the bag?
Chouf Ouchouf is the latest collaboration between Groupe Acrobatique de Tangier and the remarkable Swiss artists Zimmermann and de Perrot.
With live music and a set that floats apart and reassembles to represent the many faces of a bewildering and exciting landscape, the performers go in search of the city’s beating heart.
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London
SE1 8XX
Thu 21st April 2011 7.30pm
Fri 22nd April 2011 7.30pm
Sat 23rd April 2011 7.30pm
Sun 24th April 2011 4pm
Mon 25th April 2011 4pm
Social networking sites and the Arab revolution…
How did social networking sites aid the Arab revolution?
Well before the Protests began the Arab world used Social networking sites, such as Facebook, You tube and Twitter to voice their opinions, share their views and, well basically socialize. However when protests took place, the Media had been set limited boundaries by the Arab governments to decrease foreign interference. The Arab people felt they needed to show the world what was happening and keep everyone involved.
The first major internet release relating to the Arab protests, was the Tunisian youth who set himself on fire in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, in protest against unemployment and official harassment. This video was watched on youtube for the world to see, raising awareness of the current situation in Tunisia.
Egypt was next, the Facebook page “We are all Khaled Said” was created. Khaled Said was the young Egyptian man who was beaten to death by the Egyptian police in June 2010. The online activists began protest groups with Khaled as their ‘martyr’. Some anonymous activist also came up with the Arabic version of the Facebook page, who was later revealed as Google executive Wael Ghonim. Wael called for young Egyptians to take to the streets. Twitter was exploding with videos, pictures, data and links, which became an effective way to group together online information about the protest.
The “Yemeni Anger Revolution” group also grew popular with almost 20,000 members on Facebook. After the Yemeni government cracked down on the internet, many Yemenis settled outside Yemen shared their contact numbers with their friends and relatives in Yemen in the wake of the internet shutdown, to help them share news. They tweeted and re-tweeted news and links with the international media. Soon to follow on February 17 the date when the Libyan protests against Colonel Gaddafi began. Information began to pour in on Twitter and YouTube, where activists were uploading news the minute they are able to get online. A dedicated Facebook page for the Libyan Revolution has more than 82,000 members and another key Facebook page by the name of ‘RNN Libya’ has 22,000 members. Libya has caught the fever of internet-driven dissent passed on from their friends in Tunisia and Egypt, as young Libyans are being exposed to the power of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter to voice their opposition to the Gaddafi regime.
In Morocco, the Facebook group “Movement of freedom and democracy” has attracted more than 90,000 members. The Iraqis also had their own Twitter tag as #iq4c but many of them tagged news of protest in Iraq with #Feb25 so as to reach a larger audience of the internet by linking their cause with other popular revolts. Syria, the case is a bit different; people are still learning about the Arab revolution through Facebook, media, Twitter, newspapers and blogs. The Facebook page “Syrian Revolution 2011” has received more than 25,000 followers. People in Syria have slowly started to come out in the open against the Syrian authorities.
undoubtedly the passion and unity of the Arab people set them free, but could the it have been as successful without these
networking sites?
Semec Masgouf or BBQ Fish if you prefer…
The Iraqi capital city Baghdad prides itself of making the best of the Masgûf. The shores of the Tigris River, prides this dish, with more than two dozen fish restaurants. Nonetheless, one can find the Masgûf all over Iraq, from North to South., Masgûf is also popular in Damascus due to a high number of Iraqis living there. The fish is caught live and weighed, then partially scaled, gutted and cut in two identical halves from the belly up while leaving the back intact, opening the fish in the shape of a big symmetrical circle. From there, the master cook generously bastes the marinade on the inside of the fish with a brush. The marinade is a
mixture of olive oil, rock salt, tamarind and ground turmeric. Following the marinating process, the fish is either impaled on two sharp piles of wood, or placed in a big cast iron grill with a handle and a locking snare, designed specifically for that duty. The cooking typically takes between one and three hours depending on the size of the fish, until most of the fish’s fat is burnt. When the fish is well cooked and crispy on the outsides, it is typically laid on a big tray garnished with lime (or lem
on), slices of onion and Iraqi pickles. Sometimes, in Baghdad, a little bit of a mango chutney is also spread on the inside. The tray is then covered by a large crispy flat bread straight of a clay oven to keep the contents hot until served .
Iraqi Poetry…
Fadhil Al Azzawi
Fadhil Al Azzawi, was born in Kirkuk, in northern Iraq in 1940. He is a well-known and respected Poet and novelist in the Arab world. He studied English at Baghdad University and Journalism at the University of Leipzig in Germany. He spent three years in an Iraqi jail like many under Saddam’s dictatorship, and then soon left Iraq in 1976, as the Baathist-controlled regime was becoming increasingly powerful. In 1983 he moved to East Berlin, where he went to work as a free-lance writer and critic. As a youth even before he began to write poetry himself, he was fascinated by the poetic rhythms of the Koran and the mystical tales of the Arabian Nights. At fifteen, he began publishing poems. Al-Azzawi says the cultural diversity of his native city Kirkuk strongly inspired him. At an early age he realized that everything around him was saturated with poetry. It is the poet’s imagination which speaks to our soul, to our essential being, to give it back the variety of colours and forms that only poetry can evoke.
Published work:
- Miracle Maker: Selected Poems (2003)
- In Every Well a Joseph Is Weeping (1997)
- “Cell Block Five” (2008, The American University in Cairo Press)
- The Last of the Angels (2007, The American University in Cairo Press).
In my spare time
During my long, boring hours of spare time
I sit to play with the earth’s sphere.
I establish countries without police or parties
and I scrap others that no longer attract consumers.
I run roaring rivers through barren deserts and I create continents and oceans
that I save for the future just in case.
I draw a new coloured map of the nations:
I roll Germany to the Pacific Ocean teeming with whales
and I let the poor refugees
sail pirates’ ships to her coasts
in the fog dreaming of the promised garden in Bavaria.
I switch England with Afghanistan
so that its youth can smoke hashish for free
provided courtesy of Her Majesty’s government.
I smuggle Kuwait from its fenced and mined borders
to Comoro, the islands
of the moon in its eclipse,
keeping the oil fields in tact, of course. At the same time I transport Baghdad in the midst of loud drumming
to the islands of Tahiti.
I let Saudi Arabic crouch in its eternal desert
to preserve the purity of her thoroughbred camels.
This is before I surrender America
back to the Indians
just to give history
the justice it has long lacked.
I know that changing the world is not easy
but it remains necessary nonetheless.
London College of Fashion doing courses in the Middle East…
London College of Fashion is going to the Middle East!!
London College of Fashion is going to Dubai! The college is beginning its 3rd instalment of courses in the Middle East, and will run from 13 – 27th of May 2011 at The Pullman Dubai. LCF is one of the greatest fashion schools in the world, known for its prestigious education in Fashion designing, retail, Journalism, beauty and styling. Their courses provide the golden ticket into the wonderful world of fashion. As Dubai is soon becoming one of the fashion capitals of the world, LCF is giving UK fashion students a chance to explore the Arab fashion industry. Integrating Arabian cultural dressing with western trends; it’s a fashion hotspot for the rich and famous, and home to many upcoming talented designers, such as Rabia Zargarpur and Aiisha Ramadan.
After visiting Dubai 2 years ago, it was no surprise that the glamorous city was soon becoming fashions next best friend. Although the majority of woman and men are dressed in their cultural attire, a designer label never goes unseen, dripping in LV, Gucci, and Dior, How can the fashion world ignore such devotion. It’s clear to see now for any aspiring fashion designer that Dubai is defiantly the place to be…
Why is Arabic music not popular in London for a wider audience?
Ben Gilbert is a well-established music journalist working for Yahoo! Music who knows perfectly the London scene. With him, we are trying to understand why the Arabic music, as other non-English Language music, is often left out and ignored in UK where the omnipresence of the English language dominates the popular culture.
Q: What place does Arabic music have in the London scene?
A: To tell you the truth, I have never covered any Arabic music events in my career in the UK. Non-English music tends generally to get less coverage, as it’s kind of hard to market them here.
Q: What makes it so difficult for non-English music to make it on the British market?
A: Obviously, the producers tend to think that it will be really hard to sell it to a wider audience. Many people like to be engaged by the lyrics and the omnipresence of English language in the industry plays, of course, a big part.
Q: Do you have a few examples of successful non-English music?
First of all, some very successful artist likes David Bowie have released version of their songs in a different language like his bilingual version of “Heroes” in English and German.
Other foreign artists like the French dandy Serge Gainsbourg had some success in the UK. It would be fair to say that some musical genres are easier to market: Hip- hop, Electronics, Rock, and generally music mainly based on rhythm, sounds or powerful sonics. That’s the case of some French hip-hop in the last decade or German krautrock in the mid to late seventies.
Q: Here is a clip from Elissa , a popular Lebanese singer, what’s your first impression ?
To be honest, it sounds pretty old-fashioned to me. Musically, the influence of mainstream pop in the production is clear. I guess that the lyrics and language play a big part in the success of the track. The music video looks a bit dated and makes me think that it was done in the mid nineties.
(The track was released in 2006!).
Music Journalism: the only thing left is passion.
Who would not want to spend one hour with Marylin Manson or eight minutes with the delicious Beyonce Knowles? Music journalism sounds the ideal association of two passions, but passion might be the only thing left after a decade of dramatic changes in the music industry. Meeting Ben Gilbert, a music journalist working for Yahoo! Music, gives a clear insight in a profession that has transformed itself. At a time where Simon Cowell is the most important person in the British music industry, Ben Gilbert had to confess: “Music journalists should not expect to make a fortune out of it”.
Online journalism has become a major player in Music journalism. Internet, social media and music download have opened an area of convergence where the competition is fierce. The number of people writing online on music has increased significantly. Participatory media and user-generated contents enable anyone to write about music. But if new technologies make great fans it does not necessarily make great journalists.
Furthermore, the aura surrounding the stars has disappeared, according to Ben Gilbert: “Music has lost the mystery around its stars”. Lilly Allen is tweeting daily about her lunch. The amount of information about stars on the Internet makes it impossible to not know everything about them.
Even if the music industry is facing profound challenges, passion remains the heart of music journalism. The possibility to reach a vast audience through Internet and the coming off social media makes Ben Gilbert thinks that the next big music journalist will certainly come from the blogosphere.
