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…)
The movie Zulu Love Letter by the filmmaker Ramadan Suleman. The movie takes place in post-apartheid South Africa, focusing on a journalist named Thandeka. Thandeka’s life is greatly affected by memories of her active political involvement during apartheid, particularly her article concerning the police murder of a young girl, Dineo, which she was a witness to. When Dineo’s mother asks for Thandeka’s help in reconciling her daughter’s death, Thandeka’s life becomes much more complicated than before. Along with the issues Thandeka faces in her fight with society, she also faces a fight at home. These culminate in Thandeka trying to understand her daughter Mangi, who was born deaf, as well as trying to reconcile with her estranged husband, Moola.
A Zulu Love Letter, the title of the film, is art in the form of beadwork. The elaborate bead designs are messages meant to symbolize love and affection. Historically, the colors used in the beadwork have different meanings. For example, blue represents faithfulness. In the film, Mangi, Thandeka’s daughter, creates her own Zulu love letter to show her love for her family.The filmmaker, Ramadan Suleman, was born in South Africa in 1955. He studied film in London and Paris before he studied under two of Africa’s own infamous filmmakers, Med Hondo who he helped with the film Lumière Noire, and Souleymane Cisse on Yeelen. Suleman’s first solo film was a short film called The Devil’s Children (1989). Since then he has gone on to produce several films including Zulu Love Letter, all of which have won awards ranging from the Chicago Film Festival to Chavellier des arts et Lettres by France.The issue addressed in Suleman’s film is that of not only apartheid but post-apartheid issues in South Africa. Apartheid was a policy implemented in South Africa in 1948 which continued from then until 1994. Apartheid was similar to segregation in the United States separating native Africans and other races from European settlers. The major difference between segregation in America and apartheid in South Africa was the legality of the separation of races. The result was severe housing separation between European settlers and Native Africans as well as land redistribution of the most fertile land to Europeans. Native Africans were not only given land that was labelled as bad for farming, they were also only given enough land for subsistence farms. This system ensured that Native Africans were forced to work on European farms to make a living wage.Even after 1994, when apartheid had legally been abolished, the effects still stand. Today this is visible by the difference in housing structures available. While there is a newly forming black African middle class, the majority of Native Africans still inhabit shacks or closely constructed concrete houses. The picture above shows the vast differences in housing. While you can assume the picture was taken early in the apartheid era or even right at the end, maybe around 1994, the article by Daily Mail says that the picture was taken in 2016, only 2 years ago. Along the same lines, while the government intervened to try to undo the negative effects of land redistribution, Native Africans still hold less land than European settlers. (more…)
Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade, better known as Mr Eazi, is a 26 year old musician from Nigeria. Born in Port Harcourt, the largest city and capital of Rivers State, Nigeria, his parents encouraged him to pursue an education at a university in Ghana. Mr Eazi relocated to Kumasi and studied mechanical engineering at the world class Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). This is where his passion for music began as he started recording music in his final year.
One of the interesting things about Mr Eazi is his national identity. He describes himself as Nigerian by birth, but Ghanaian by heart. That is all he is usually willing to say in interviews and tries not to talk about it any further because he believes that a distinction of where he is from does not determine his style of music. Mr Eazi is taking over the music industry by storm in not only Ghana and Nigeria, but in the entire world, with his YouTube channel having a combined 76 million views in the last 5 years.
Mr Eazi’s Style
Mr Eazi was introduced to me in 2016 through a family member who worked for a music company at the time. Ajibade’s music style is unique when compared to other musicians in the region. Mr Eazi pioneered “Banku Music” (named after the popular local Ghanaian meal), which is described by him in an article by Evatese Blog as a fusion between “Ghanaian bounces, Ghanaian highlife, Nigerian chord progressions, and Nigerian patterns. The essence of Banku music is a mixture of Nigeria and Ghana.” (more…)
