The Antarctic Biennale
CNN / VICE / MONOCLE 24: A pioneering expedition to the seventh continent sought to break down boundaries between art and science.
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.”
Moscow: the new home of jazz
From hard bop to the new school, jazz has found a haven in post-communist Russia. Moscow’s jazz scene is a creature of many faces. Take the comical shenanigans of one big band in a dive of an expat bar, with all members clad in matching mustard-yellow tassled jackets and an old hippy guitarist who looks...
The Blogs: Barriers to national progress
Corruption, bureaucracy and economic development are under discussion in the English-language blogosphere. Businessman Kendrick White’s blog opens by concentrating on Russian bureaucracy and the barriers it can present. In a country of “extraordinary opportunities”, ideas are too often curtailed by problems in the system. White believes that “realisation of any innovative idea requires fundamental trust...
A Jazz Leader for the New Era
Hailed by none other than Bill Clinton as one of the world’s greatest living saxophone players, Igor Butman is an icon of Russian musical life. Born in St Petersburg in 1961, he took up the instrument at 15 with encouragement from his jazz aficionado father, a keen musician who worked by day and gigged by...
In Conversation with Chris Potter
Potter’s album Gratitude (Verve, 2001) saw the saxophonist pay eloquent tributes to his key inspirators on the instrument—Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Eddie Harris and Ornette Coleman included. When asked which of his own contemporaries Potter draws on, he spoke of a mutual cross-pollination they all use to raise the bar. “I really enjoy...
Got couch?
Moscow. Tuesday night. Tiki Bar. A large group of people talking and mingling: nomads, students, businessfolk and a few token randomers who don’t really know where they are. Nothing unusual about that – unless you remember many of them had never met in person, but convened online via www.couchsurfing.com. What is it? CouchSurfing was set...
Not-So-Modest Mussorgsky in Moscow
Jazz.com tries to cover the whole world of jazz, and not just the famous players at the name clubs. This is more than a quest for brotherhood and goodwill, but also driven by a realization that some of today’s most exciting developments are happening outside the US, especially when talented artists mix the jazz sensibility...
Kirill’s balancing act
The new Russian patriarch will need all his diplomatic skills to manage what has become a fractious church. The Russian Orthodox church’s new Patriarch faces several challenges as he comes to power; not least, a fresh wave of questions over the institution’s role in everyday life. A recent poll conducted by the Russian public survey...
Tim Garland – Libra
The adventurous two-disc Libra features saxophonist Tim Garland heavily entrenched in trio territory. He is joined by rising star Gwilym Simcock on piano and versatile percussionist Asaf Sirkis, with guest appearances from zany guitarist Paul Bollenback and London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Expansive, well-structured pieces are the record’s mainstay, with a tasteful sprinkling of standards. Known...
A Bohemian Dream
The story of an audacious squatter collective currently occupying 39 Clarges Mews must be seen to be believed. Five minutes from Green Park station, the Ritz Hotel and all that goes with it, the Mayfair property is worth a reported £22.5 million.
The Kremlin’s hot and cold war
They are Russia’s two most powerful men: but while Putin negotiated gas supplies, his boss gave virtual skiing advice. If today’s “outline” gas agreement between Ukraine and Russia holds, there will be no doubt who brokered it: Vladimir Putin, Russia’s busy ex-president. A week ago, as the crisis peaked, Russia’s constitutional head of state, President...
