"Not a Dreamland" Artists and Alternative Subcultures in Gaza

http://electronicintifada.net/content/video-images-and-sounds-gazas-vibrant-subculture-not-dreamland/11825

This short, produced by ActiveStills, features both established artists and performers such as hip-hop group Palestinian Unit, unconventional filmmaker brothers Arab and Tarzan, painters from the art collective iltika, break dancers from Camp Breakerz as well as less known youth who experiment with parkour, beat box, break dancing and roller skating. Interview extracts and striking images give context to the conditions under which these artists create, giving vivid insight into a vibrant side of Gaza that is rarely shown.

Terry Callier (24/5/45 -28/10/12) Folk Jazz Mystic R.I.P

Amazing following yesterdays post about the death of David S. Ware, have found out today that another legend of the music world has passed away. Terry Callier was an American jazz, soul and folk guitarist, singer and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois, whose music simply defied categorisation. Despite releasing some truly amazing records in the late 60' early 70s he never found stardom, and was largely overlooked. After retiring from music in 1983  he re-emerged in the 90s  , rediscovered  by  his collaborations with the likes of Beth Orton, Massive Attack and later Paul Weller, he became associated with the burgeoning Acid Jazz Scene.
Long have his records given me comfort over the years, his truly beautiful and soulful voice was truly unique, his albums,  The New Folk Sounds of Terry Callier ( 1968)   and   What Color is Love from 1973 I have long believed have been timeless classics.
A truly elevated and conscious man, he sang of  the universal themes of love , truth, and peace, he was given by the United Nations, an award  for his outstanding Contribution for World Peace in 1998.
A true icon of our age,who had sadly  dissapeared from view in recent years. His voice will be sorely missed  but  I will continue to find solace in the the legacy that he has left behind. R.I.P

Terry Callier - What Time is Love?

Terry Callier - Time Peace

Terry Callier - Your going to Miss me Candyman

Terry Callier and Massive Attack - Live with me

Terry Callier - Brotherly Love

Autumn leaves - David S. Ware ( 7/11/49 -18/10/12) R.I.P

Found out only yesterday that David S. Ware, powerful jazz sazophonist had passed away, recently in a hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, after a long illness, at the age of 62. He was influenced by many of the greats, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler , Roland Kirk and Pharoah Sanders. He went on to develop his own voice, taking a transcendent approach to music, in a spiritual quest , that celebrated the universe of sound. His use of free improvisation took him far away from the jazz mainstream whilst maintaining a tonal breath of much clarity. Finding his own inner vision and language, he leaves behind a solid shelf of great music. He will be missed by fans and musicians alike.

Here is a link to his obituary in the Guardian Newspaper
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/24/david-s-ware

Autumn Leaves - David S. Ware

David S.Ware- Peace Celestial

David S.Ware - Astral Earth

David S. Ware Quartet - Aquarian Sound

Here is a link to a short film about him  made by the David Lynch Foundation

A World of Sound

http://dlf.tv/2011/david-s-ware/

Now then, Now then.

If truth be told, not all bogey men wear masks,
watching the news, it's become apparent,
that there have been demons, who have lived among us,
who have been concealed, because of compliance, lies and denial.
Who in the not so distant past, caroused in dark corridors of power,
basked in limelights glare,sheltered by royalty, primeministers, the B.B.C,
now routinely condemned, by people pure as white.
It seems, there is no glory in the past,ugly skeletons, hidden in dark closets,
the hollow presence of yesterday,that stalked our streets,
where cobwebs grew in crawling terror,the air filled now with the weight of anger.
Fury reveals the harshest truth,deceit buried in conceit,
the guilty name, fixed forever in frozen emptiness.
Nothing of value remains, long may their be disdain,
and his vacuous memory, be always linked with scum.

Gaza/Blaenannnerch

I am  looking forward to this new show, which is coming to my home town soon, after  playing at the Millenium Centre, London, Aberystwyth and Caernarfon. Exploring issues that are very close to my heart. Up the road from me lies the village of Blaenannerch, which is situated 3 miles from the coastal village of Aberporth on the West Wales Heritage Coastline. Formerly situated here was RAF Station Aberporth, which up until 1990 was used as a missile range that stretched out for some miles into Cardigan Bay. Since the RAF left, the camp at Blaennanerch ( now rebranded as ParcAberporth, and owned by the Welsh Assembly Government) has been used as an operational test and evaluation centre for unmanned aerial vehicles - otherwise known as drones.
My local Amnesty International group, along with Peace activists and many locals have consistently campaigned against the drones based up the road from me, condemning Drones as  for being  used as remote-controlled killing machines, that break international and humanitarian laws that foster a video game mentality in warfare, that we see as immoral and unethical. The constant noise emitted from the drones is said to be unbearable..
In what will undoubtedly be a powerful and thought provoking dance theatre, Gaza/Blaennanaerch   acclaimed contemporary dance  artist Eddie Ladd and theatre director Judith Roberts,  have used the drones at Aberporth/Blaennaerch,  as a starting point and their work looks at the links between Wales, Israel and Palestine, unearthing a series of little known connections between the two. Many of the drones, which are tested at ParcAberporth, that fly over the village of Blaennannerch, are designed in Israel and designed in conjunction with Israeli Aerospace Industries.This performance will explore the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict  from a fresh perspective, whilst also tackling Wales's struggle with nationality and identity. Eddie Ladd herself is local to this area, having herself been bought up on a farm near Blaennanaerch.
The musical backdrop will be provided by Philip Glass's haunting String Quartet No 5,  performed by The Smith Quartet, who have been at the forefront of the world's contemporary music scene for over 20 years.

at Small World Theatre Cardigan/Aberteifi
31 Oct & 1 Nov
For booking and more infomation

http://www.whatevertheweatherwales.co.uk/en/events/Gaza-Blaenannerch.html

Theatre Byd Bychan
Small World Theatre
Tel No
01239615952

Links to earlier posts that touch on this subject

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/no-to-drones-at-aberporth-or-anywhere.html

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/parc-aberporth-links-with-israel.html

Yesterday U.N Independent expert has called for boycott of businesses profiteering from Israeli Settlements, Elbit Systems company involved in ParcAberprth is one of the companies named.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=43376&Cr=palestin&Cr1=

ENGLISH DISCO LOVERS (EDL) DISCO STATEMENT

https://www.facebook.com#!/englishdiscolovers

Children from Palestine share their dreams.

Exile ( After visiting Londinium )

City full of lost things
the gutter full of stars
nothing thrown away
imagination ploughed,
draws magnets on wild winds
beyond every headline
and mornings spin
trains take people
on journeys of discovery
some will never see.

All forms here
all divisions
stillness lingers
somewhere out of reach
old is the echoe
a prism with no ending
used people, some shut out
forever,between the dark places
and the streets paved with pain.

Lovers reach out
exhale,float on dreams
in a city built,on millions of breaths
the air seems to run faster
here in the heart of a city
running on filters of memory and survival.
the evening sleeps with its eyes open
gilded mirrors showing us the long distance home.

Ed Miliband booed for promising cuts to TUC anti-cuts march - 20th October..

Actually missed this, I was running up and down Oxford Sreet. But how dare he? He came to a huge grass roots march against austerity, where many of the people in attendance, had come from all corners of Britain, with anger in their hearts, and valid rasons for fighting back. What they got from the leader of the Labour Party , was fancy hand gestures, dressed up. with some whimpered emotion.He tried to pretend with empty rhetoric that he was  not being the same as the Tories, but that's exactly .how it came across.
An excellent advert in not voting Labour. Here was a man that was declaring to the country too his lack of principle, and the Party that he represents , it simpy has no value anymore.

A Future That Works Won't Have Workfare - Close Down the Workfare Exploiters on October 20th

Down in London  for a long weekend break, mainly going for the above, to state my opposition to this  governments ideological driven programme of austerity,
http://afuturethatworks.org/ the following has caught my eye, and I think I might take a look.
After the main TUC demonstration will join http://www.boycottworkfare.org/ in their attempt to shut down the workfare profiteers exploiting the unemployed.
They will be meeting at 2.30pm, Oxford Circus, Saturday 20th October

will join http://www.boycottworkfare.org/ after the TUC

Thanks once again to the following for invaluable infomation,

http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/