OK, so maybe OK Go is not the most political band out there. And maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to post an adorably cute dog video. But the band’s support of animal resue organizations is definitely worthy of mention.
Sound
Iraqi hip hop artist The Narcicyst has released a new video for his single Hamdulillah, and it is simply stunning.
Directed and edited by Ridwan Adhami, and featuring Palestinian singer Shadia Mansour, the video is a beautiful montage of initimate portraits of people from a dozen different cities across the globe.
Delving head first into social issues is old hat to Peter, Paul and Mary, whose popular and progressive folk music provided a running social commentary during the 1960s. The trio remained prolific activists throughout the decades, so it is of little suprise that the surviving members, Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey, would find themselves in the middle of the gay marriage debate that continues to rage in the United States.
The National Organization for Marriage — one of the leading anti-gay marriage groups in the United States — recently held scores of public rallies during their “Summer for Marriage” tour, inflaming homophobic sentiments across America. During their events, NOM blared Peter, Paul & Mary’s popular version of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land“, without the permission of the artists.
An Arabic version of this article was published in the Beirut-based Al Adab cultural journal.
Weaving together diverse musical traditions that span oceans, Montreal-based composer and musician Sam Shalabi offers a distinctive sound, rooted in contemporary musical experimentation but also inspired by the popular orchestras that took a cultural center stage in Egypt in the late 1960s.
Impressive in scope, Land of Kush, the latest music ensemble project orchestrated by Shalabi, explores new musical boundaries while combining artistic practice from the Middle East and North America.
As headlines of war often shape mainstream media coverage on the Middle East in the West, Shalabi’s music presents an artistic front embodying a complex and interconnected relationship between cultures, rooted in creative ties that influence the identity of both societies.
This weekend Vancouver’s Under the Volcano Festival of Art and Social Change, held annually at Cates Park in North Vancouver, will celebrate its 20th anniversary and, in the same event, wrap up their long running festival dedicated to celebrating the arts and social activism.
Speaking of the festival to the Westender (which gives a lot of background and context, a good read), the festival’s artistic director Meegan Maultsaid explained: “The most important thing, as a festival, is that we support social activism, that we stand in solidarity with movements and community groups that are fighting and struggling and agitating for change. I don’t think that aspect has been a struggle for us. I think we’ve been able to maintain the popularity of our festival and have it continue to grow while not really participating in corporate culture.”
The festival is organized by a core of 6 people who work year round and do it all unpaid. The team does it ‘as a labour of love’ because they support the work of local activists, community groups, and individuals struggling to find social justice.
Peace. The Last Ten years have been hard to watch. Your violence is not necessary. We want the world to know that we come in peace to free a people. Those are real people on our televisions. We just want our people to be equal and free. The same free that ain’t free. Gaza we are with you.
After the world moved in opposition to the Israeli military attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla we offer this song, Dear Ocean, in remembrance of those killed on the Mavi Marmara and in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza facing the extreme edge of the Israeli apartheid. Today, we are offering this song to the world, please download and spread the word; however, we do also strongly encourage you to donate to the Free Gaza Movement. For donation information please visit: freegaza.org.
Wahid,
Yassin Alsalman and Stefan Christoff
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Stuffed is an album best consumed as though each track is a painting on the wall of a gallery.
Released on June 8, this chaotic audio collage comes to your ears compliments of gITar, a creative duo made of two Evansville, Indiana natives; Ellipse Elkshow and I Cut People.
The two childhood friends have used their home town as inspiration for their audio exploration of North American culture. Their town was, perhaps, an easy target: home to major polluters, factories, cancer statistics, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and fast food creations.
Stuffed’s short tracks range in length from 57 seconds to two and a half minutes, and are a bizarre barrage of the sound clips you’ve been passively absorbing your entire life. Carefully woven together along common themes, each piece stands alone as a stew of music, news, television, movies, commercials, and video game audio snippets. Using every day verbiage, they have created little examinations of what we’re being fed by the media on a continual basis.
