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Recent Blog Posts
A New Micro State
The world has a new micro state!
A round-about within Italy turned into a principality. Pier Giuseppe Dellavalle is the owner and leader of the principality, called “Principato Di Dellavalle.”
ANAS, the Italian state highways agency, shorted him on the purchase of his home to build a roundabout. That home was torn down for the construction. What made things worse was the fact that the Italian tax authorities insisted that he still owns the house and made him pay the property taxes. After fighting for 15 years and then winning his law suit against the government, he took his property, the roundabout, back and declared it independent from Italy early this year.
There Is Always A First!
By Sabina Wrightsman
Photo: http://www.laibach.org/follow-laibach-to-north-korea/
The Slovenian art-rock band ‘Laibach’ is the first western band to ever perform a concert inside North Korea; they played on two consecutive days in Pyongyang, on August 19 and 20.
During the Nazi occupation, Laibach was the name of Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana. Band members often wear uniforms and use imagery reminiscent of totalitarian governments during their concerts.
Laibach is also known for provocative live performances, which have included offensive imagery and performance art. But they were on their best behavior during the performance in Pyongyang. As Ivan Novak, a member of the Laibach band stated, their goal was to not to provoke people on the inside but provoke everybody outside of North Korea.
Laibach played among others, songs from The Sound of Music, because the 1965 film is well known in the country and even used in schools for English classes. They also performed their own take on some Korean songs; the most popular one was ‘We Will Go to Mount Paektu’, one of this year’s biggest hits in North Korea, originally sung by the native band Moranbong. The members of this all-female music group, also known as Moran Hill Orchestra, perform interpretive styles of pop, rock and fusion. Their musical style has been described as a symphonic style because it sounds like a symphony, putting together different kinds of sounds, and having a harmonious, pleasing ending. When Laibach performed this song, they received big applause.
When leaving the concert, people were asked how they liked this kind of music. Responses were very polite, but enthusiasm seemed low.
This concert is not streaming over the Internet and cannot be watched anywhere, but the concert is supposed to be part of a documentary in 2016.
Laibach added one page to their website about this concert: http://www.laibach.org/north-korea/
The Qawwali King
This past Sunday, August 16th, marked the 18th anniversary of the death of Ustaad Nusraf Fateh Ali Khan, the ‘Qawwali King’. He was famous for introducing the Qawwali genre of music to international audiences. His catchy tunes and magical voice spoke to people across the world.
The World Music and Dance Festival was his platform to international fame. Ustaad released 25 Qawwali albums, of which many earned him awards. Two major hits for him were Haq Ali Ali and Dam Mast Qalandar, which remain classics today.
Qawwali is devotional or Sufi music that is popular in much of South Asia, especially Pakistan, Northern India, and Bangladesh. Qawwali songs are primarily sung in Urdu language. Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and is an official language in six states of India. It is closely related to Standard Hindi.
Typical qawwalis are between fifteen and thirty minutes long, however two songs of maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan last well over sixty minutes each. Qawwali songs start with an instrumental prelude.
While Ustaad’s life was cut short at the young age of 48 his music is still alive in the hearts of many.
U.S. Army Tests Translation System in Africa
By Amanda Scott
U.S soldiers are testing out a new two-way language translation system. The SQ.410 Translation System is being utilized by the U.S. Army to improve communication with African soldiers. Currently the U.S. Army conducts training exercises in about twenty African countries, most of which are French-speaking countries.
Lulacruza
Alejandra Ortiz and Luis Maurette are the pair behind the electronic-folk duo Lulacruza. Colombian born Ortiz and Argentinian Maurette met back in 2005 while attending Berklee College of Music in Boston. Their love of ritual music made for an instant connection and Lulacruza was formed. They achieve a harmonious sound with the Spanish vocals of Ortiz and the hypnotic percussion of Maurette.
Earlier this year they released a nine song visual album entitled Esperando el Tsunami, as well as their latest album Orcas. They still have a few shows left on their U.S. Summer 2015 Tour. Lulacruza brings a new light to music and performance.
Their collaboration with Vincent Moon to create Esperando el Tsunami was a one of a kind picture and sound piece that documented their journey through Columbia. Check out their amazing use of water as an instrument in the video for ‘Pensar Bonita’ which was filmed at a river in Tayrona National Park, Columbia.