Every year 40,000 villagers migrate to the desert after the yearly monsoon hits to begin mining salt for the next eight months. My Name Is Salt, is a documentary that was filmed in 2014 to give outsiders a glimpse into the hard realities of salt mining. The film has minimal talking and lots of silence other than the sounds of the pumps, mud being moved, and nails being hammered into machinery. Farida Pacha, who is the producer, said that the most important sound in the film was, “the pump, which is like a heartbeat through the film.” The documentary follows a man named Sanabhai, who is a perfectionist, and his family while they are living in the desert from September until April trying to harvest the most pure white salt. He lives in the desert with his wife, two children and some other relatives in a tent. Each member of the family takes on a role in the salt harvesting and even the children work in the mornings until they attend school during the day. In order to harvest the salt Sanabhai had to take out a loan from a salt merchant before he began his mining season in the desert, in order to afford all the equipment. By the time April arrives the salt merchant he says that Sanabhai’s crystals are not white enough and are too small in size. Because of this Sanabhai will not make as much money as he had anticipated for the season. After the season comes to a close, the families will move back to their homes before the anual monsoon washes away all their seasons work.
The documentary, Among the Believers, provides an in depth and exclusive view of Abdul Aziz and his work to impose sharia law throughout Pakistan. The film follows Abdul Aziz on his path to promote extreme Islam views, as well as two children who have experienced the Red Mosque first hand. The Red Mosque is a school for students in which Islam extremists require their students to memorize the quran and fight for their extreme views in exchange for free housing, meals, and their “access into heaven.” Here, students spend the entirety of their days memorizing the verses of the quran, although they are not taught the actual meaning behind the words.
The first Red Mosque was built in 1965 and ran by Maulana Abdullah until his assassination in 1998. Soon thereafter, his son, Abdul Aziz, was left in charge of the mosque, turning it into a place of open opposition to the government and extreme islamic teachings. Although many people of the mosque claim it to be peaceful, Abdul Aziz and his followers are heavily tied to ISIS and the Taliban in Pakistan. The current state of Pakistan is filled with political unrest and civil war, due to islamic extremist such as Abdul Aziz and his followers, fighting for sharia law to be implemented as law throughout the country. In response, the Pakistani government retaliated by killing many relatives of Abdul and invading mosque’s that were built around the country for his teachings. However, as Aziz’s power began to decline, his followers and the student’s of the mosques began to retaliate and fight against the government’s attempts to shut down their schools. As consequence, ties between his students and other radical groups such as ISIS and the Taliban were strengthened. (more…)
Michael Owuo Jr. is a British rap artist that goes by the stage name Stormzy. He was born in London, England in 1993. I started listening to his music about a month ago. I usually listen to an odd combo of various rap music and Broadway musicals. I decided that I wanted to try something new, so I started listening to Stormzy. I am very into the English culture because of my passion for The English Premier League. Soccer and music are closely tied in England, and that’s where I found Stormzy. He is featured in a song by Jorja Smith called Let Me Down, and that is the first one I fell in love with. After that, I fell for 100 Bags, Cigarettes & Cush, Blinded by Your Grace Pt. 1 as well as the acoustic and non-acoustic versions of Blinded by Your Grace Pt. 2.
Stormzy’s music has American and British elements to it which he attributes to the inspiration he found in American artists such as Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Lauryn Hill. Most of the rap in England is very different from the rap music that we listen to in the states. In the USA, many rappers will intersperse a lot of singing into the rap songs. That is something that rarely happens with British rappers. I’ve also found that the cadence and the rhythm vary drastically in England. That is something that threw me off when I first started listening to it. Stormzy, on the other hand, has a rapping style very similar to Drake and Childish Gambino here in the US. His style, while dynamic, still has a distinct flavor that would group him with American musicians more. He will sing and rap in his songs for a combo that is rare in England. (more…)
Gagarin: First in Space, directed by Pavel Parkhomenko, follows the story of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin (acted by Yaroslav Zhalnin). The film is set in the 1950’s-60’s in Russia — the era of the Soviet Union’s rule in much of Northern and Central Eurasia. This movie is unique in the sense that it displays dramatic scenes of Gagarin’s life through reflections while he is on his newest excursion.
Who Is Gagarin?
In school I had always heard the famous history about the Space Race between Russia and the United States. I knew that the United States had suffered a major loss when Russia became the first country to send a man into space; however, I never really knew who that man was. Who was the person inside the Russian spacecraft Vostok 1, and what led him to that point?
“Yuri Gagarin”
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the son of a carpenter, was born in Klushino in Smolensk, Russia in 1934. He had early beginnings in metal works, and later went on to technical school, where he joined a flying club. His interest in flying led him to attend the Soviet Air Force cadet school, where he would later become a fighter pilot in 1957.
One Direction is a British-Irish boy band that was formed in 2010 on the British X-Factor. The group is based out of London, United Kingdom and has 5 members. Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik come together to create the diverse group of men who took both European and American rock and roll influences to help define a new era of pop/rock and roll music in Europe and America.
I first heard One Direction’s music in 2011 when I was in the 8th grade. So many of my friends were obsessed with them. I never understood the starstruck feeling my friends got by just listening to their music or looking at their pictures. These reactions were similar to the reactions that my friends in earlier years had the Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber. From that point in time, I do not think I have experienced a similarly obsessed, almost cult-like, fandom.
The ethnic/national/religious diversity within the group illustrates diversity within the United Kingdom during the 21st century. While Harry, Louis, Liam and Zayn are all from England, Niall Horan is from The Republic of Ireland. Zayn Malik is of Pakistani and Irish descent, which can be tied to British colonization of the Middle East during the heyday of the British Empire. (more…)
My favorite musical genre of all times is Vietnam War protest songs from the 70s and civil rights songs really fascinate me. Since my blog post is on North and Central Eurasia I decided to look into war protest songs from nations formerly under Soviet rule around the time period of their independence. For as long as people have been making music it has been used move people. Whether it be “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” “Solidarity Forever,” “Birmingham Sunday,” or “The Times They are Achangin” (sorry all of my examples are American) music has been a form of protest and a catalyst to change so I knew there had to be music from this time period as well. I came across something called the Singing Revolution in Estonia, a former Soviet country, and the Five Songs of Freedom. I could not find a recording of a version of the songs from the 80s, but I did find a great parody of one of the songs.
In 1988 a group of around 80,000 people converged on Tallinn, the capitol of Estonia, to sing native songs that had been banned by the USSR. This was merely another year of the traditional festival that had occurred every four years since 1869. This year, however, in a form of protesting the Soviet Union it grew into a human chain that spanned over all three Baltic States from Tallinn to Vilnius in Lithuania. Upon seeing all of this, the Russian government realized that to suppress these singers would be impossible and simply retreated. This is how Estonia gained independence from the USSR without any bloodshed. (more…)
For my blog post I watched the PBS Frontline documentary called Exodus produced by James Bluemel. The 1 hour and 54-minute film took me on a journey through the lives of five different refugees and migrants who were seeking asylum in Europe. The first story followed a brave 11-year-old girl named Isra’a from Aleppo, Syria who was forced to leave her home after it has been bombed. Then the documentary switch over to a man named Hassan Akkad who was a former English teacher in northern Syria who was trying to relocate to the United Kingdom. The third story explained the journey of 21-year-old Alaigie, who was traveling from Serrekunda, Gambia to Italy in hopes of finding better opportunities to provide for his family. Then there was Ahmad from Aleppo, Syria who left his wife and daughter behind in hopes of gaining asylum in the United Kingdom so that he could eventually move them away from Syria. Finally, there was Sadiq who left Kabul, Afghanistan in hopes of finding a better and safer life in Finland.
Issa’a (right) and her father Tarek (left)
Each of their stories provided the real life insight on what it meant to be a refugee or migrant trying to find asylum in Europe. The film was unique in the fact that each of the stories were being filmed by the refugees themselves. Due to that realistic perspective, the documentary at some points was painstakingly heart breaking to watch. The all experienced immense difficulties through their journey. (more…)
For my Blog Post, I decided to watch the movie The White Helmets by British film director Orlando von Einsiedel. The short documentary follows around the daily operations of a group of volunteer rescue workers known as the Syrian Civil Defense, or The White Helmets. These men are the first responders to be on the scene when bombings or mortars occur. These people left their everyday jobs like being a blacksmith or tailor to take on a volunteer job to run into areas that could be bombed to save civilians. The documentary takes place in Aleppo, a major city in Syria. In these scenes, they are mostly rescuing people. They also show scenes in Turkey where the volunteers go through a month-long training. Also, until fairly recently the White Helmets was made up of all men, until two women’s teams were made in October 2014. 140 women were trained in rescue work, medical care, and light search. They can also respond to barrel bombs and missile strikes and they also dig for survivors in rubble with tools and their bare hands. One controversial issue is that people in Syria’s most conservative communities didn’t believe that the male volunteers should rescue women and girls since they added these two teams now thousands of women and girls can be saved instead of being left to suffer. Although this new addition of women into the organization is great, neither of the women’s groups are shown in this film. (more…)
