Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – “In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.” This must be one of the best opening lines ever penned by a novelist. […]
World Heritage Committee Stresses Need to Enhance and Preserve African Heritage
By Krishan Dutta PARIS (IDN) – The World Heritage Committee has inscribed a total of 29 new sites on the World Heritage List – one in Africa, two in the Arab States, ten in the Asia Pacific region, 15 in Europe and North America and one in Latin America. The List now features 1,121 sites […]
Remembering the Martinque Poet Aimé Césaire
By Rene Wadlow The writer is President of the Association of World Citizens, and author of ‘Aime Cesaire: (1913 – 2008) A Black Orpheus’. GENEVA (IDN) – Aimé Césaire, whose birth anniversary we note on June 26, was a Martinique poet and political figure, a cultural bridge builder between the West Indies, Europe and Africa. […]
A Nobel Laureate who was ‘the Most Homeless, Rootless Person’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | LONDON (IDN) – “V.S. Naipaul’s legacy is complex – but his writing must be celebrated,” writes essayist Amit Chaudhuri. “His comments about Islam, women and Africa were often unjustified, unpleasant and untrue – but that can be acknowledged alongside his gifts.” Novelist Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, known […]
Students Send Social Message Through Movement
By A.D. McKenzie
KINGSTON (IDN | SWAN) – Dance has long been a potent force among the arts in Jamaica, with pioneering companies such as Rex Nettleford’s National Dance Theatre Company holding a mirror up to society and promoting Caribbean culture.
Now students are taking the genre to a whole new level with powerful, socially relevant performances.
The island’s top high school, Campion College, is one of the institutions leading the way. Now in its seventh season, the school’s Dance Society performed to packed audiences in Kingston in July with its “Roots” production, which addressed issues such as violence against women and the challenges young people face in building confidence and self-esteem.
Havana to Stage International Jazz Day Global Concert
By A.D. McKenzie
PARIS (IDN | SWAN) – The “musically vibrant and culturally rich city” of Havana, Cuba, will host the main concert of this year’s International Jazz Day, to be celebrated worldwide on April 30, according to the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In a joint announcement, the agency’s director-general Irina Bokova and American jazz musician Herbie Hancock (a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador) said that the day will culminate with an All-Star Global Concert presented at the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso.
Beer Drinking and Rumba among Choices for Heritage List
By A.D. McKenzie
PARIS (IDN | SWAN) – Many people know of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, which include structures such as China’s Great Wall and Tanzania’s Stone Town of Zanzibar – “places on earth that are of outstanding universal value to humanity” – but fewer perhaps know of the UN agency’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
This is an international register of cultural practices that are important for communities, in both traditional and modern ways, and 171 UNESCO member states have ratified a convention to safeguard these types of customs.
Mexican Artists Featured in Mesmerising Paris Expo
By A.D. McKenzie
PARIS (IDN | SWAN) – It is being billed as the largest exhibition devoted to Mexican art in at least half a century, and the impressive show now on at Paris’ Grand Palais does feel like a landmark event.
Titled Mexique 1900 – 1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Orozco and the avant-garde, it features Mexico’s most famous artists, as well as those less known, and gives a historical perspective of the Latin American country through its art.
Cuban Artist Given U.S. Solo Retrospective
By A.D. McKenzie
LOS ANGELES | PARIS – When Cuban artist Belkis Ayón died in 1999, she was only 32 years old, but she left behind a body of work that belied her age, comprising huge and striking prints that had already received international critical acclaim.
Now, for the first time, a museum in the United States is hosting a solo retrospective of her work, with a view to making the public more aware of this singular artist who reflected Afro-Cuban traditions, the history of contemporary printmaking and the challenges that her country faced in the 1990s.
UK Lit Fest Spotlights Immigration, Diversity
By A.D. McKenzie
PARIS – While many literature festivals have become predictable in their line-up of bestselling authors, some innovative events have added a social-issues factor to their sessions, raising awareness about everything from climate change to the need for more diversity in publishing.
The Manchester Literature Festival (MLF), taking place October 7-23 in northern England and celebrating its 11th anniversary, is one such event. This regional gathering of authors and book-lovers has increased its focus on global concerns since 2006, and its programme this year includes topics such as immigration, mental health and the urban experience.