The Antarctic Biennale
CNN / VICE / MONOCLE 24: A pioneering expedition to the seventh continent sought to break down boundaries between art and science.
Moscow’s needy receive a gift of kindness
If you would like to support the OPORA cause, please contact Dr Gezahgn Wordofa on opora2003[at]yahoo.com. Any donations of clothes, food or time are always highly appreciated. Broadcast on Prime Time Russia (RT), 24/12/09 – click here for archive.
A Traveler’s Road to Enlightenment
Hitching rides became a way of life for Jack Kerouac’s Beat Generation. Decades later, Anton Krotov is leading a movement of Russia’s globetrotting “free travelers.” With over 30 years of travel experience and 17 books under his belt, Anton Krotov doesn’t lack in tales from the road. “One of my favorite stories comes from a...
Olympic challenge for Sochi games
Officially the Winter Olympics are non-politicised – but the reality is that wherever Russia goes, politics will follow. Russia will be holding a national referendum to select its mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Contenders include a dolphin on skis, a potential revival of the 1980 games’ popular beaming bear, and a giant-eared...
Manuel Mengis – Dulcet Crush
HatHut Records / Hatology 684 Release: October/November 2009 Manuel Mengis – trumpet Reto Suhner – alto saxophone, alto clarinet Roland von Flue – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet Flo Stoffner – electric guitar Marcel Stalder – electric bass Lionel Friedli – drums 1. Plant Life 2. End Of A Record Breaker 3. Bling Bling Cowboy 4....
Football’s red armies are growing stronger
On any Premiership match day in pubs and homes around the UK, football fans of all creeds gather to drink, socialise and cheer on their favoured club. The majority of teams have a strictly local following, while others – generally the most successful sides like Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea – possess a nationwide...
The Price of Indifference
Russia’s Young Are Too Focused on Attaining Material Well-Being to Partake in Human Rights Activism On a grey, dreary Monday evening in Moscow, pre-autumnal rain dully patters down as a group of human rights supporters convene to solemnly remember a champion of their cause. Activist and lawyer Natalia Estemirova’s body was found in the Republic...
Le Cool Moscow – July/August
Afisha Picnic Kolomenskiy Park, 8/8/09 The cult British ska-pop combo Madness will take to a Moscow stage for the first time in their checkered 33-year history. Headlining the capital’s biggest summer festival will be no daunting task for a group which spent over 200 weeks on the UK singles charts between 1980-86, now reunited and...
Hot New Jazz CDs from the UK
Led Bib – Sensible Shoes If London’s “maverick avant-jazz skronkers” Led Bib were a politician, they’d put John McCain to shame. But it’s not just skronkadelic mania and wall-to-wall noise: this twin-sax-led quintet presents a thorough exercise in structured collective improvisation, which traverses mood and dynamic with a delicacy that belies the fierce, free energy...
A Cappella Group Jukebox Make Good on Own
Like all popular music groups, the Jukebox Trio has its own successful formula. Presenting a rich mix of classic covers and original material in an open, friendly, accessible style – with two singers and a human beatbox – it’s hard not to enjoy the experience of seeing them play. “I don’t know any other a...
Brazilian culture at a high temperature in Russia
A close circle of people is singing and chanting under Pushkinsky Most early Sunday evening. In the centre, two at a time duck, dive, feint and sway in hypnotising fashion, while enchanting vocal drones, drums and bow-like berimbaus provide the perfect musical accompaniment. It’s a weekly gathering of Moscow’s capoeira enthusiasts, disciples of the Afro-Brazilian...
Get ready for a feast of Pushkin’s genius
The Russian poet Alexander Pushkin is a man of unparalleled influence on his country’s national literature. Since 2003, his popularity has been reflected by the ever-more ambitious Pushkin in Britain Festival in London, an event aiming to “bring the beat of the Russian heart to the UK”. The seventh annual international festival of Russian poetry...
Earth Patriot
RUSSIA NOW: “I always wanted to be a cosmonaut,” states Fyodor Yurchikhin without hesitation. “When I was a small boy, I jumped from a second floor balcony because I thought I was Gagarin.”
