Melik Kaylan, WSJ, Muzzled Musicians, Meet Your Match, 19 Aug 2010 "'I hope one day I come to see you because, every day here, it's worse and worse." The young man's guarded, disconsolate voice comes distantly from Iran on a bad Skype line. He's a well-known figure in that country's burgeoning but relentlessly suppressed underground rock music scene. Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei recently declared music to be "incompatible" with the values of the Islamic Republic—a declaration that effectively carries the force of a decree throughout the country. For the young Iranian caller, alias "Natch," the implications are clear, particularly for his kind of Western-style rock with lyrics in English. He has already been jailed for his musical enthusiasms and is looking to get out of Iran."
Refers to Impossible Music
Also see MySpace, The Plastic Wave
Showing posts with label MySpace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MySpace. Show all posts
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Friday, May 07, 2010
Middle East e-learning
Tony Glover, The National, Middle East is making the grade in e-learning, 6 May 2010 "Middle East students in higher education are becoming increasingly demanding of the technology used in teaching. Research by the US-based O’Reilly Radar reveals that the highest age demographic of Middle East users of the social networking website Facebook is between 15 and 25 years old.
"Many in this group are students who expect academic environments that allow the same level of interactivity and collaboration as that available on Facebook, YouTube or MySpace."
"Many in this group are students who expect academic environments that allow the same level of interactivity and collaboration as that available on Facebook, YouTube or MySpace."
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Pakistan: rock music
The impact of the net on popular culture - especially music - in Muslim contexts cannot be underestimated, as this piece helpfully demonstrates:
Guardian, Never mind the Taliban – Pakistan's youth put their faith in rock'n'roll, 1 Sep 09 "Even in a summer of Taliban violence young Pakistanis are rocking on. An underground music scene is quietly thriving in the country's major cities, nourished by the internet and the passion of mostly amateur bands."
Useful article, complete with links to various groups - the internet plays an important part in distributing this music. Here's a sample by co-VEN ["Ready to Die (Live in Lahore)"] that I picked up on YouTube, showing they can certainly rock:
There's also Jiggernaut's "Bumbu Sauce", which reminds me of several other bands too - the video just has the lyrics:
Guardian, Never mind the Taliban – Pakistan's youth put their faith in rock'n'roll, 1 Sep 09 "Even in a summer of Taliban violence young Pakistanis are rocking on. An underground music scene is quietly thriving in the country's major cities, nourished by the internet and the passion of mostly amateur bands."
Useful article, complete with links to various groups - the internet plays an important part in distributing this music. Here's a sample by co-VEN ["Ready to Die (Live in Lahore)"] that I picked up on YouTube, showing they can certainly rock:
There's also Jiggernaut's "Bumbu Sauce", which reminds me of several other bands too - the video just has the lyrics:
Monday, May 18, 2009
Omar Souleyman
Omar Souleyman: Dabke 2020 (Sublime Frequencies, 2009)
MySpace: Omar Souleyman
"Omar Souleyman is a Syrian musical legend. Since 1994, he and his musicians have emerged as a staple of folk-pop throughout Syria, but until now they have remained little known outside of the country. To date, they have issued more than five-hundred studio and live- recorded cassette albums which are easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city."
While this isn't turning into a music blog, I was reminded of Souleyman's work in a review of the above album (Observer, Sublime, not ridiculous) so couldn't resist the link here. The MySpace page features older work. There are some other important collections/complications on the Sublime Frequencies label, some of which is available to download.
MySpace: Omar Souleyman
"Omar Souleyman is a Syrian musical legend. Since 1994, he and his musicians have emerged as a staple of folk-pop throughout Syria, but until now they have remained little known outside of the country. To date, they have issued more than five-hundred studio and live- recorded cassette albums which are easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city."
While this isn't turning into a music blog, I was reminded of Souleyman's work in a review of the above album (Observer, Sublime, not ridiculous) so couldn't resist the link here. The MySpace page features older work. There are some other important collections/complications on the Sublime Frequencies label, some of which is available to download.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Indie Indonesia
Jakarta Post, Black Hole: A new hub for Jakarta's indie music scene, 10 Mar 09,
"Jakarta has a thriving indie scene, with a choice of bands.
""The number of bands in Jakarta reaches a thousand. On Myspace and even in records you'd be amazed by the sound of the bands. But some of them would have never have even played live," said Sweaters vocalist Leornardo Merdi Simandjuntak.
"With the lack of space, indie musicians managed to keep the gigs going in small events, such as Triski's Black Out party. A small store Hey Folks, in Mayestik, South Jakarta, owned by members of indie-pop band Ballads of the Clich*, also holds musical events in their parking lot. At the end of last year, Zeke held an event in his own studio-cum-house in South Jakarta."
"Jakarta has a thriving indie scene, with a choice of bands.
""The number of bands in Jakarta reaches a thousand. On Myspace and even in records you'd be amazed by the sound of the bands. But some of them would have never have even played live," said Sweaters vocalist Leornardo Merdi Simandjuntak.
"With the lack of space, indie musicians managed to keep the gigs going in small events, such as Triski's Black Out party. A small store Hey Folks, in Mayestik, South Jakarta, owned by members of indie-pop band Ballads of the Clich*, also holds musical events in their parking lot. At the end of last year, Zeke held an event in his own studio-cum-house in South Jakarta."
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