29/05/2015

Music&Politics: Massive Attack - 'Saturday Come Slow' - and Reprieve's campaign against music torture



Massive Attack promo film raising awareness of Reprieve's 

zero dB - against music torture campaign (2010).


The song, 'Saturday Come Slow', is from Heligoland


To support the cause visit www.reprieve.org.uk


Directed by Adam And Olly and filmed in Cambridge 

University's anechoic chamber.







Read more here:

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2008_12_10zerodbpressrelease/



A Reprieve project: Zero dB musicians lead silent protest against music torture

Press | December 10, 2008
On the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights musicians are uniting against the use of music to torture by joining Zero dB. The Zero dB project (zero decibels = silence) was launched today by legal charity Reprieve which represents over 30 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Many of Reprieve’s clients - and hundreds more held in US secret prisons across the world - have been subjected to deafening music played for hours, days and often months on end in order to ‘break’ them.
(...)
There is a long and growing list of supporters who are outraged by the use of music to torture: James Lavelle of UNKLE, Matthew Herbert, Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, Massive Attack, The Magic Numbers, Elbow and Bill Bailey have so far pledged their support of the initiative and made statements against the use of music to torture.


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My post on Twitter today: https://twitter.com/melissachemam

Do you love me? Massive Attack - 'Saturday Come Slow' Great video & &


New favourite track: 'Mad Lifeline'



Battle Box blows my mind.

Here is the next best thing, produced last year, between 3D from MA and Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio and Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band:

https://soundcloud.com/battle-box/higgins-in-3d-mad-lifeline-1



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Listen to the stunning original version here:

https://soundcloud.com/higginswbmb/sets/debut-ep



And read about the collaboration here:

http://www.spin.com/articles/higgins-waterproof-black-magic-band-massive-attack-3d-mad-lifeline-remix/


3D’s Thumping Remix of Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band’s ‘Mad Lifeline’

Massive Attack man reworks two Tunde Adebimpe-led tunes for limited-edition vinyl



By: Kyle McGovern // March 18, 2014
When Tunde Adebimpe isn’t leading TV on the Radio, he’s singing for Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band and, in turn, inspiring remixes by Massive Attack’s Robert “3D” Del Naja. To wit, 3D has reworked two HWBMB tracks for a special edition vinyl that’s limited to 500 copies and out now on Battle Box. “I constantly stalk Tunde with instrumentals,” 3D tells SPIN. “In revenge he sent me the Higgins album and I picked two tracks that I thought would be fun to remix. Now that’s sorted, I’ll get back to harassing him with loops.”
One of the aforementioned tracks is “Mad Lifeline,” a nearly eight-minute highlight from HWBMB’s self-titled, debut EP, released last year through the band’s own ZNA Records. In 3D’s hands, the run time shrinks to five minutes and the focus shifts from prowling bass to percolating percussion, clearing the path for Adebimpe’s always-soulful vocals. Stream the “Mad Lifeline” remix below, purchase the two-track vinyl, and look out for the second cut — a redux of HWBMB’s “WPIC” — on Stereogum, where it will debut later this week.
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René Vautier, dimanche 31 mai, au Palais de la Porte Dorée / Cité de l'Immigration



Hommage à René Vautier, dimanche 31 mai

Le Musée de l’Histoire de l’Immigration et le Maghreb des Films rendent hommage à René Vautier le Dimanche 31 mai à 15h30 au Palais de la Porte dorée

293, avenue Daumesnil
75012 Paris
En métro : station Porte Dorée (ligne 8)
En tramway : ligne T3
En bus : 46

Qui est René Vautier ?

René Vautier est mort il y a quelques mois à 86 ans dans sa Bretagne. Cinéaste militant, anticolonialiste, engagé auprès du FLN durant la guerre d’Algérie, résistant à 16 ans, etc., on lui doit des films qui ont marqué des générations : Afrique 50premier film anticolonialmiste, Avoir vingt ans dans les Aurès, Marée noire, colère rouge, La Folle de Toujane, sur la question de la coopération avec les pays du SudÀ propos de… l’autre détail, sur Le Pen et la torture, Un homme est mort, sur la mort de l’ouvrier Édouard Mazé lors des manifestations et des grèves de Brest, etc.
C’était caméra au poing qu’il filmait le monde, toujours du côté de ses frères humains, combattant toutes les injustices.
« J’ai toujours considéré une caméra comme une arme de témoignage. Mais ce n’est pas une arme qui tue. Au contraire, ça peut être un instrument de paix. C’est pour cela que je me suis bagarré pendant cinquante ans pour qu’il y ait des dialogues d’images, et tous les films que j’ai faits, je considère que ce sont des dialogues d’images. Le réalisateur prend parti. Il s’engage d’un côté, mais il donne aussi la parole aux gens d’en face. »
René Vautier
Comment choisir dans une filmographie aussi riche et diversifiée ? Ont été retenus un film qui témoigne de son engagement aux côtés du FLN, tourné dans les maquis, deux films traitant des conditions de vie des émigrés, un film portant sur l’engagement politique :
  • Algérie en flammes(20’) : Un reportage sur le mouvement de résistance algérien
  • Les Trois Cousins (10’) : Fiction tragique sur les conditions de vie de trois cousins algériens à la recherche d’un travail en France. Logés dans un étroit réduit, le poêle à charbon provoque leur asphyxie. La face cachée de l’immigration…
  • Les Ajoncs (10’) : Fable poétique et humoristique dans laquelle un immigré algérien (Mohamed Zinet) traverse la Bretagne à la recherche d’un travail. Il trouve une carriole et se met à vendre des ajoncs dans un village. À la sortie de l’usine, les ouvrières en signe de solidarité ramassent les fleurs dispersées et les lui paient.
  • Et le mot frère, et le mot camarade (50’) : Peut-on écrire l’histoire en poèmes ? C’est ce qu’a tenté René Vautier, à la demande du Musée de la Résistance Nationale, avec l’aide de grands poètes (Aragon, Eluard, Desnos).Retour ligne manuel
    Et aussi en s’appuyant sur des poèmes écrits dans les prisons et les camps de déportation, des poèmes de fusillés
A la suite des projections, un débat rassemblera :Peggy Derder, historienne, responsable du Département des Actions pédagogiques au Musée de l’Histoire de l’Immigration, Moïra Vautier, Bruno Muel qui a assisté René Vautier dans de nombreux films, Gilles Manceron, historien.
Mouloud Mimoun coordonera les échanges.


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Music and Politics: Damon Albarn and Malian musician Afel Bocoum on the West's "idea of charity "



Damon Albarn: there are problems with our idea of charity

Damon Albarn didn't perform in Band Aid 10 years ago. He's not taking part this time either and says there's a danger of framing "Africa as this place that's constantly in need of our assistance".

Interview by and on Channel 4, in November 2014.
With Damon Albarn, Malian musician Afel Bocoum.
What here:




Sinéad O'Connor and Portishead will be performing at Montreux Jazz Festival



SINÉAD O'CONNOR

Horaire20:00
PrixCHF 88/285.-



Aussi changeante que les ciels de son Irlande natale, la voix de Sinéad O’Connor est une arme puissante. Elle sait affoler le baromètre émotionnel de son public en déployant toute son amplitude, du murmure au rugissement. Mais elle sait aussi glacer le sang du qu’en-dira-t-on en exprimant publiquement ses opinions politiques, religieuses ou féministes. Il y a un peu des deux dans I‘m not Bossy, I’m the Boss, son dixième album inspiré des origines du blues pour sonner plus rock. En plus d’avoir troqué son mythique crane rasé contre une panoplie de femme fatale, la tempétueuse Sinéad O’Connor y jure ne plus vouloir écrire de chansons d’amour…. 





PORTISHEAD

Horaire20:00
PrixCHF 95/285.-



Programme de la soirée
Aventureux et sans compromis, Portishead émerge en 1994 avec l’album phare Dummy, suivi de Portishead, Roseland NYC Live puis Third, en 2008. Leur toute première venue à Montreux s’annonce un concert immanquable.





28/05/2015

JonOne à l'IMA


  JonOne


Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
Dimanche 31 mai, 16h


DR

Informations pratiques
Quand  Dimanche 31 mai, 16h
  Salle du Haut Conseil (niveau 9)
Combien  Entrée libre dans la limite des places disponibles
John Andrew Perello, alias JonOne, est l’un des graffiti artistes les plus reconnus du moment.
Né en 1963 dans le quartier de Harlem, à New York, il débute le graffiti à l’âge de 17 ans dans les souterrains de sa ville. Il est rapidement repéré et intégré au collectif international de graffers activistes 156 All Starz. Au cours des années 1980, il fait de nombreuses rencontres, notamment avec le français Bando qui l’invitera à Paris. Dans la capitale française, il fait la connaissance des pionniers du mouvement Hip Hop français et y produit de nombreuses toiles, exposées par Magda Danysz, Marcel Strouk ou encore David Pluskwa,  aussi bien dans l’hexagone qu’à l’international.

Résolument engagé, les causes sociales lui tiennent à cœur. Il a notamment réalisé une immense fresque en hommage à l’Abbé Pierre, et une Marianne en graffiti exposée au Palais Bourbon depuis janvier 2015.
Basé aujourd’hui dans l’Est parisien, JonOne nous fait l’honneur d’intervenir à une conférence exceptionnelle, organisée dans le cadre de l’exposition sur le Hip Hop à l’IMA. 

Avec JonOne ; et Esmaeil, graffiti artist iranien 

Rencontre animée par Baimba Kamara, commissaire d’exposition indépendant.
La rencontre sera suivie d'une séance de dédicaces avec l'artiste, en Librairie - Boutique de l'IMA (niveau 0).
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Music and Politics: Remembering The Clash



"Can you really cough it up loud and strong
The immigrants
They wanna sing all night long
It could be anywhere
Most likely could be any frontier
Any hemisphere
No man's land and there ain't no asylum here
King Solomon he never lived round here
Go straight to hell boys"





Lyrics

"Straight to Hell"

If you can play on the fiddle
How's about a British jig and reel?
Speaking King's English in quotation
As railhead towns feel the steel mills rust water froze
In the generation
Clear as winter ice
This is your paradise

There ain't no need for ya
Go straight to hell boys

Y'wanna join in a chorus
Of the Amerasian blues?
When it's Christmas out in Ho Chi Minh City
Kiddie say papa papa papa papa-san take me home
See me got photo photo
Photograph of you
Mamma Mamma Mamma-san
Of you and Mamma Mamma Mamma-san
Lemme tell ya 'bout your blood bamboo kid.
It ain't Coca-Cola it's rice.

Straight to hell
Oh Papa-san
Please take me home
Oh Papa-san
Everybody they wanna go home
So Mamma-san says

You wanna play mind-crazed banjo
On the druggy-drag ragtime U.S.A.?
In Parkland International
Hah! Junkiedom U.S.A.
Where procaine proves the purest rock man groove
and rat poison
The volatile Molatov says-

PSSST...
HEY CHICO WE GOT A MESSAGE FOR YA...
VAMOS VAMOS MUCHACHO
FROM ALPHABET CITY ALL THE WAY A TO Z, DEAD, HEAD

Go straight to hell

Can you really cough it up loud and strong
The immigrants
They wanna sing all night long
It could be anywhere
Most likely could be any frontier
Any hemisphere
No man's land and there ain't no asylum here
King Solomon he never lived round here

Go straight to hell boys

THE OTHER ART FAIR: Soon in Bristol




The Other Art Fair is firmly established as the only event art buyers of all experiences and tastes need to attend to buy directly from 70 of the most talented emerging artists.

We are delighted to present the inaugural edition of The Other Art Fair in Bristol at the prestigious Arnolfini. Buy direct from 60 of the best emerging artists, hand-picked by our esteemed selection committee including Paul Hobson (Director of Modern Art Oxford), Helen Legg (Director of Spike Island), Cherie Federico (Editor of Aesthetica Magazine) and Bristol’s very own Sickboy. 

Celebrated for its unique visitor experience, The Other Art Fair Bristol's first edition will feature a fantastic talks programme, anthropomorphic taxidermy classes, immersive theatre, a 'kids create' area with the magical House of Fairy Tales, live music, a limited edition print from guest artist Sickboy and much more.

Book your tickets now: http://bit.ly/1PqQEnG



Opening Hours:



Friday 5th June 2015: 5pm - 9.30pm (Private View)*

Saturday 6th June 2015: 10am - 7pm

Sunday 7th June 2015: 10am - 6pm


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Press says:

"If you feel Frieze has lost its edge, there’s always this younger, hipper artist-led alternative" Daily Telegraph

“Overflowing with creative talent” Time Out

“It’s worth the hype” The Independent


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With the artist line-up now live here is a preview of 60 of the finest emerging artists exhibiting at the Arnolfini 5 - 7th June 2015. More artists added each week! http://bit.ly/1A3Z7Mi
Book your tickets now: http://bit.ly/1PqQEnG



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More soon from Bristol.


Spring colours in pictures


 They're not especially good or interesting but I just love taking pictures!

And I love looking at the world around me, at details, at skies, even here, home, a place I've know for decades now...

Here is today's colours in Paris, from the 10th to the 11th arrondissement, through the 12th.



Daytime:




Nighttime:



27/05/2015

About colours and colour blindness



  Since I was a little girl, I've had this interest for colours, like most children, and these never-ending thoughts to try to figure out if we all see all colours identically. Hence I developed a passion for the causes and effects of colour blindness. I had this intimate conviction that colour blind people could see somehow differently, surely, but also more deeply, or in a different way, or maybe see things that we, or at least I, would miss.

Incidentally, I happen to have a very good vision, 12 out of 10 have always said the eye doctors, "you should have been a air pilot!", insisted one. But I haven't really used this ability for technical or artistic skills. 

But I have developed an interest for art and images and other people'a painting. I've spent my youth battling in my head to figure out which job is the most endearing and passionate: painter or musician... Yet, I'm lucky enough to spend a large part of my life interviewing some of them.

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Here is a very beautiful article from the BBC website about art and colour blindness:



How the colour-blind see art with different eyes

  • 21 June 2014

In its latest exhibition, the National Gallery examines how generations of painters have created and used colour. But how do people who are "colour-blind" view art?

Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27884975

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Extracts:


To anyone who has a colour vision deficiency, commonly known as colour blindness, the bold reds that dominate the Degas work may look very different.
The subject of colour blindness is tackled in an interactive part of the exhibition devoted to the science behind colour vision.

Claude Monet's Lavacourt under Snow (1878-81) is also part of the exhibition
Claude Monet's Lavacourt under Snow (1878-81) is also part of the exhibition

The retina at the back of eye contains light sensors called cones. The three cone types - red, green and blue - are stimulated by different wavelengths of light.
Most colour-blind people have three types of cone, but they are sensitive to a different part of the spectrum.

line break

By Tim Masters - who has first hand experience of colour blindness

The earliest sign that I was colour-blind was, according to my parents, when I drew a picture of Doctor Who's Tardis - and made it shocking pink.
When I tell people I'm colour-blind some assume I see the world in black and white.
That's far from the truth. I can see rainbows. I just don't see them in the same way as most people.
Walking around the Making Colour exhibition, I was dazzled by the ultramarine blues and daffodil yellows.
But was that a big patch of green in Degas's La Coiffure? The sign said it was red, but my eyes said something different.
Apart from a fashion faux pas involving some burgundy trousers, I've never found my colour blindness to be much of a problem. It's never detracted from my enjoyment of art.

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According to the Colour Blind Awareness organisation, colour blindness affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women in the world.
In Britain there are approximately 2.7m colour blind people, most of whom are male.


Most people inherit deficient colour vision from their mother, although some people become colour-blind as a result of disease, ageing or through medication.
Most colour-blind people still see a world of vibrant colour. The most common form results in confusion between red and green.
Does it matter that they don't see works of art in exactly the same way as others?
"Art is about individual taste," says Kathryn Albany-Ward, who founded Colour Blind Awareness.
"Everyone knows someone who's colour-blind and think they get on fine."
Her concern is that a lack of knowledge about the condition in schools can lead to colour-blind children feeling a lack of confidence in the classroom - especially when it comes to art.
"If they haven't had their crayons marked up with the right colour they might colour the sky partly blue and partly purple.
"It's that kind of issue that can make people embarrassed. Children at school can be laughed at and it puts them off art potentially."

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As the science experts at the National Gallery point out, people shouldn't really be called colour-blind - they just "see the world differently".
Making Colour is at the National Gallery in London until 7 September
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Beautiful conclusion!