Word: popped
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...Civilizations don't clash, but share and mutually inspire. So argues "Beyond Orientalism," an exhibition opening on July 25 at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) in Kuala Lumpur, www.iamm.org.my. The show examines Islamic art's impact on Western artists, highlighting how Islamic calligraphy, tile designs, and geometrical motifs pop up in the most unlikely places, from Tiffany lamps - some of which drew on 16th century Persian works - to the art of M.C. Escher, whose elaborate drawings of endless staircases and interlocking patterns were apparently inspired by Islamic designs...
...from round these parts, its hooks and grooves are ones any veteran soul-boy or jazzer can relate to: funky brass, swirling organ, growling sax, rippling congas, ecstatic vocals - this is not the sound of a national culture struggling to make itself heard over the global noise of pop. Rather, these are artists who 40 years ago itched to be part of it, who dressed like doo-wop boys, played funk, jazz and RnB in Ethiopia's hotel bars and nightclubs and were stars of a scene that, for a while, was known as "Swinging Addis...
...encouraging. Eleven years of military dictatorship under Colonel Mengistu and a dusk-to-dawn curfew had all but extinguished Addis Ababa's nightlife. The few hotels in the capital offering live entertainment were mostly the haunt of business and diplomatic flotsam and hookers, while the music was desultory generic pop, played on cheap synthesizers. "It took several trips and several more years before I understood what had happened," says Falceto. "These big bands were dead. They just didn't exist any more." Incredibly, the vibrancy of Addis's musical life in the 60's and 70's owed...
Plenty of pop albums have been ripped apart by music critics - including a few by model-singer turned French First Lady Carla Bruni. But Bruni's newest release, Comme Si Rien N'Etait (translation: As If Nothing Happened), out July 11, has elevated her well beyond ordinary targets of music snobbery like Vanessa Paradis or Kylie Minogue...
...Bruni is now that rarest of things - a pop star savaged by critics and policy wonks...