Merci à La Libraire La Manoeuvre ! Merci à Bertrand Dicale et à tous les participants !!
17/03/2017
Livres et librairies
Merci à La Libraire La Manoeuvre ! Merci à Bertrand Dicale et à tous les participants !!
14/03/2017
Thylacine: 'Chaman'
I first saw Thylacine in 2015, thanks to my dear friend Anne Cazaubon.
Very inspiring and very inspired... by some friends of mine :).
Totally "ritual spirit"...
Thylacine: 'Chaman'
Thylacine: Chaman
The inspiration behind the French electro producer’s album expressed in a dynamic dance sequence
Paris-based director and producer Morgan Prêleur talks about the dance-filled video he made for electronic soloist Thylacine:
“One year after the release of the Transsiberian, his album composed entirely on a five-thousand-mile journey by rail between Moscow and Vladivostok, Thylacine wanted to wrap up the project by collaborating on a music video with choreographer Leo Handtschoewercker.
“We kept it as minimal as possible to create room
for the shamanistic vocals”
“The idea was to create an artistic interpretation of his project, to reference the train and his journey. We kept it as minimal as possible to create room for the shamanistic vocals and Leo’s choreography.
“I wanted to portray both sides of his adventure: the awe and the struggle that come with such an endeavour, the creative processes and of course the light at the end of the tunnel.”
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13/03/2017
Bristol, dans le quotidien Liberté... en Suisse. A la Librairie La Manoeuvre à Paris!
(Presse francophone)
Le quotidien suisse Liberté (joli nom!) chronique mon livre sur Bristol...
"Un essai foisonnant, qui s’adresse aux admirateurs de ce trip-hop désormais trentenaire mais qui intéressera aussi les simples amateurs de musique anglaise, curieux de savoir comment cette ville secondaire a pu tenir tête à la capitale pour voir éclore sur ses scènes remuantes des groupes comme Portishead, des musiciens comme Tricky, des graffeurs comme Banksy… Nourri de nombreux témoignages originaux, l’ouvrage suit l’évolution créative de Robert Del Naja alias 3D, fondateur de Massive Attack, et élargit le regard pour dresser le portrait d’une communauté d’artistes dont certains membres atteindront une reconnaissance internationale."
Lien : http://www.laliberte.ch/news/culture/musique/a-bristol-ou-les-murs-se-souviennent-de-massive-attack-383493
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Pour rappel :
Ma rencontre de ce jeudi à la librairie La Manoeuvre sera animée par le grand, l'immense Bertrand Dicale, un ami de longue date qui a eu un rôle particulier dans la genèse de ce livre...
Rendez-vous jeudi à La Manoeuvre, 58 rue de la Roquette Paris 11e, pour parler d'histoire de la musique, de street art et de changement social...
A partir de 19h.
Pour ceux que cela intéresse, la traduction du livre avance bien et une sortie en Grande-Bretagne devrait être annoncée avant la fin du mois....
Et enfin pour les curieux : Massive Attack reste en studio, pour le moment, travaillant à un prochain album. Ils envisagent une tournée début 2018 et rendent parfois visite à Banksy...
A jeudi, j'espère!
Pour finir :
07/03/2017
Banksy's surprises... Music!
Massive Attack, Nine Inch Nails and Atticus Ross have been announced to feature at a series of concerts in a piano bar in Banksy’s latest project, The Walled Off Hotel.
Along with film composer Hans Zimmer and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, they will perform pre-recorded "gigs" in the piano bar of the artist’s hotel in Bethlehem.
The gigs are recorded specifically for the piano which plays along unmanned...
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Insight into Banksy's hotel...
Facilities
OPEN FROM MARCH 11th
Britain got its hands on Palestine in 1917 and the piano bar is themed as a colonial outpost from those heady days. It is equipped with languid ceiling fans, leather bound couches and an air of undeserved authority. Guests can peruse a collection of Banksy artworks that include vandalised oil paintings and statues choking on tear gas fumes. Warm scones and freshly brewed tea are served daily on fine bone china and the Walled Off Salad should not be missed.
OPEN FROM MARCH 11th
This space enjoys complete autonomy from the rest of the hotel and is curated by the venerated historian and critic Ismal Duddera. He has assembled a permanent collection of real heft and significance. Many of the most notable Palestinian artists from the past 20 years are here - including Sliman Mansour with his iconic "And the Convoy Keeps Going". An adjoining space is dedicated to temporary shows by upcoming artists. The gallery sells original work, prints and postcards.
OPEN FROM MARCH 11th
This home-made attraction is dedicated solely to the biography of the wall. It contains state-of-the-art audio visual presentations and a very old tree. Other highlights includes an animated history of the region, military pornography and original beach sculpture from Gaza. The cinema plays excerpts from the mighty Oscar nominated 'Five Broken Cameras' - and one of those very same bullet-damaged cameras is on display.
Curated in association with Dr Gavin Grindon from Essex University the museum contains almost fully fact-checked material and will be an ongoing repository for local stories, artefacts and testimonies.
The Piano
And through it all the piano plays - by itself. Our remote controlled mechanical baby grand has been programmed with a bespoke score of contemporary arrangements, plus every night it will play back a concert recorded exclusively for the hotel.
We start our residency programme with 3D who presents the greatest hits of Massive Attack played with three hands. Concerts start every night from 9pm.
Upcoming artists include Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Flea and Hans Zimmer.
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More on the project:
More on the project:
Is this a joke?
Nope - it's a genuine art hotel with fully functioning ensuite facilities and limited car parking. Operated by the local community, we offer a warm welcome to everyone from all sides of the conflict and across the world.
Is it safe?
Yes. The hotel is located in a bustling area fully open to tourists from across the world. It has all the restaurants, bars and taxis you'd expect. We're 500 metres from the checkpoint to Jerusalem and a mile from the centre of Bethlehem. The official British Foreign Office advice declares it a safe place to visit - and like any holiday you should check the FCO website or equivalent before travelling.
How long will it be open for?
We're aiming to be here for the whole of the centenary year, maybe longer if people come.
Centenary year?
2017 marks a hundred years since the British took control of Palestine and helped kick start a Century of confusion and conflict. At the time of writing there are no special events being planned to mark the occasion.
Is it anti-Semitic?
Definitely not. The Walled Off Hotel is an entirely independent leisure facility set up and financed by Banksy. It is not aligned to any political movement or pressure group. The aim is to tell the story of the wall from every side and give visitors the opportunity to discover it for themselves. We offer an especially warm welcome to young Israelis. Absolutely no fanaticism is permitted on the premises.
Why open a hotel there? What's wrong with Shoreditch?
This place is the centre of the universe - every time God comes to earth it seems to happen near here. The architecture and landscape are stunning, the food delicious and the current situation remarkable and touching. This is a place of immense spiritual and political significance - and very good falafel. We guarantee you won't be disappointed. *
* not actually legally enforceable
France: Refugees welcome?
My article on the situation of refugees in France, since the destruction of the informal camp in Calais, for International Politics and Society:
Refugees welcome?
Calais - in the "Jungle" - last year, in February
Pictures by myself
Since the destruction of the informal settlement of refugees and transitional migrants in Calais – now known as the “Jungle”, in October 2016, the French government promised to find housing for all three to four-thousand people forced to leave the area. They have opened about 500 welcome centres to redistribute the fleeing population across the country, away from Calais, neighbouring Hauts-de-France and saturated Paris. Meanwhile, the Mayor of Paris has opened two buildings to host a capacity of 500 refugees waiting to be registered for asylum. But they are already full and refugees are still arriving, notably via the Italian border. Those working with refugees on the ground say the system has the capacity to absorb people in need, but only with political will and a proper infrastructure.
Following the closure of the Calais infamous “Jungle”, in October 2016, one thing that Parisians have not been able to ignore is the increasing number of refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Afghanistan living on the streets. They’re mainly young men who have survived a very long journey to find almost no help. They congregate in areas that have regularly been the nerve points of the crisis in Paris: Boulevard de Stalingrad, Halle Pajol, Boulevard de la Chapelle, and along the North and East stations. Authorities estimate more than 50 foreign migrants arrive in Paris each day, and that more than 400 are living on the streets of the French capital. Most of them would qualify for asylum, as they have been fleeing war and devastation.
Pushing all refugees out of Calais has inevitably drawn some of them back to Paris, young men hoping to travel on to England, despite British efforts to keep them out and last year’s referendum on the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union.
France already has the infrastructure to house refugees
For Bruno Morel, executive director at Emmaüs Solidarité, a non-profit organisation charged with coordinating the settlement of migrants in the capital, “Paris and France in general have the capacity to host and settle every incoming refugee. And a lot has been done so far, but we should not weaken our efforts”.
Since June 2015, the police in Paris have organised 30 evacuations of informal settlements around Place Stalingrad, in the 18th arrondissement. But thanks mainly to non-profit organisation, 23,000 offers for temporary accommodation have been found and opened for the homeless refugees in France since the beginning of the crisis in 2015.
On May 31, 2016, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo officially opened a temporary hosting structure and a humanitarian “camp”, with healthcare facilities, a kitchen and an information centre. It is meant as a first port of call, before a migrant is settled into more suitable housing. Set on Boulevard Ney, on the northern edge of the city, it has 400 beds and has hosted 6,800 people, in shifts, since November 2016. A women-only centre was opened soon after in Ivry, on Paris’ south side. Non-governmental organisations are looking after the refugees’ most basic needs, with Emmaüs Solidarité coordinating the site, helped by Médecins du Monde, Logique Habitat, and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), among others.
“We think everyone can be hosted in a proper camp”, adds Bruno Morel, “but we must stay organised and open new centres outside Paris and Calais, where the situation is getting saturated. We need fluidity. The government needs to open other centres in Strasbourg, Lyon or Marseille, and regularly check where there are free spaces”.
From the camp to the streets
But the situation remains harsh for refugees in Paris. A recent report by the Refugee Rights Data Project shows that hundreds of them are still sleeping on the streets in freezing conditions, and are regularly having their blankets and sleeping bags taken by police or are “violently” moved on. Natalie Stanton, deputy director of the Project, describes “alarming” scenes in the La Chapelle area, where authorities launch repetitive clearance operations. MSF published similar reports during the winter.
Meanwhile, in Calais, refugees are again settling near the entrance of the Eurotunnel, aiming to travel to the UK. But the local authorities are refusing to open any more hosting centres. Mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart, of centre-right party Les Républicains, has even forbidden the handing out of meals and snacks.
Her mayoral decree states the “regular, persistent and large presence of individuals distributing meals to migrants” in the area around the site of the former camp poses a threat to peace and security. It bans any “repeated, prolonged gatherings” in the area, making food distribution an offence. Most refugee charities have decided to ignore the ban and are taking legal advice.
Tensions are rising, especially as refugees continue to arrive at the Italian border, via Libya. Locals living between Ventimiglia in Italy, and Nice on the French Riviera, an area with a centuries-old tradition of migration, have often been welcoming. Not so the judicial system.
Unwelcome hospitality
In February, French farmer Cédric Herrou was handed a 3,000 Euro suspended fine for transporting three Eritreans across the French-Italian border. He has also housed dozens of migrants in caravans on his farm in the Roya valley, in south-east France.
“Forced eviction back to Italy is purely illegal,” Herrou tells me during a sit-in to protest abusive police control in Sospel, near Ventimiglia. “The police are controlling every car on our road and every black person found on the streets or trains. We cannot let them keep doing this”.
Herrou’s verdict comes less than three months before the first round of France's presidential elections, and many parties are using the issue of immigration to galvanise voters. But volunteers across France in support of the refugees are still out in force.
On 6 March, in a speech on the future of the European Union and the coming elections, French President François Hollande said the EU had to speed up its decision-making process, especially when it comes to the refugee crisis. But the interior minister, Bruno Leroux, already admitted a week before that it would be “difficult” to find shelter for all migrants. However, without a deal with the United Kingdom, French authorities will have no other choice that to act and open more accommodation for the homeless refugees, in transit or not.
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Link to the website:
06/03/2017
"Out of the Jungle" - Lecture on the refugee crisis
Still relevant: a lecture a friend and I gave to American student about the refugee crisis and the situation in Paris specifically.
Link: https://accentintl.com/jungle-migrant-crisis-france/
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"Out of the Jungle"
At the beginning of June 2016, more than 1,300 African migrants were removed from a makeshift camp in the Jardins d’Éole by the Gare du Nord station in Paris’ 18th arrondissement and assigned to a series of more formal camps and processing centers. Just two weeks later, Purdue University students visited the site with local journalists as part of their Immigration in France course with professor Nadège Veldwachter.
Journalist guides Yaël Hirsch, Ph.D., founder and editor of Toute la Culture magazine, and Melissa Chemam, specialist on Africa and immigration issues for Radio France, provided historical and legal background to the crisis while bringing the students to sites that represent the reality of migrants and refugees living on the streets of Paris.
Hirsch and Chemam shared background on France’s response to the migrant crisis in comparison with neighboring England and Germany, and brought students up to speed on debated European Union proposals to allocate resources and implement a unified response. At a local level, the group discussed proposed camps to be built throughout Paris and around Île-de-France, exploring the complexities of addressing this crisis within a national state of emergency and against the current geopolitical backdrop.
The walk ended by Jaurès metro stop, the site of another dismantled camp, where the group met with Manon Ahanda, founder of BAAM, a leading NGO that supports refugees in Paris with meals, legal aid, and French lessons. Prepared with the thorough introduction by Hirsch and Chemam, the students asked Ahanda thoughtful questions about his experience on the ground.
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"Where are you now, when I need you"...?
Woke up with this song in mind...
"Where do we go from here?
The words are coming out all weird
Where are you now?
When I need you"...
Radiohead - The Bends
(Live at Glastonbury 1997)
'The Bends'
Where do we go from here?
The words are coming out all weird
Where are you now, when I need you
Alone on an aeroplane
Fall asleep on against the window pane
My blood will thicken
I need to wash myself again to hide all the dirt and pain
'Cause I'd be scared that there's nothing underneath
But who are my real friends?
Have they all got the bends?
Am I really sinking this low?
My baby's got the bends, oh no
We don't have any real friends, no, no, no
Just lying in the bar with my drip feed on
Talking to my girlfriend, waiting for something to happen
I wish it was the sixties, I wish I could be happy
I wish, I wish, I wish that something would happen
Where do we go from here?
The planet is a gunboat in a sea of fear
And where are you?
They brought in the CIA, the tanks and the whole marines
To blow me away, to blow me sky high
My baby's got the bends
We don't have any real friends
Just lying in the bar with my drip feed on
Talking to my girlfriend, waiting for something to happen
I wish it was the sixties, I wish I could be happy
I wish, I wish, I wish that something would happen
I wanna live, breathe
I wanna be part of the human race
I wanna live, breathe
I wanna be part of the human race, race, race, race
Where do we go from here?
The words are coming out all weird
Where are you now when I need you?
The words are coming out all weird
Where are you now, when I need you
Alone on an aeroplane
Fall asleep on against the window pane
My blood will thicken
I need to wash myself again to hide all the dirt and pain
'Cause I'd be scared that there's nothing underneath
But who are my real friends?
Have they all got the bends?
Am I really sinking this low?
My baby's got the bends, oh no
We don't have any real friends, no, no, no
Just lying in the bar with my drip feed on
Talking to my girlfriend, waiting for something to happen
I wish it was the sixties, I wish I could be happy
I wish, I wish, I wish that something would happen
Where do we go from here?
The planet is a gunboat in a sea of fear
And where are you?
They brought in the CIA, the tanks and the whole marines
To blow me away, to blow me sky high
My baby's got the bends
We don't have any real friends
Just lying in the bar with my drip feed on
Talking to my girlfriend, waiting for something to happen
I wish it was the sixties, I wish I could be happy
I wish, I wish, I wish that something would happen
I wanna live, breathe
I wanna be part of the human race
I wanna live, breathe
I wanna be part of the human race, race, race, race
Where do we go from here?
The words are coming out all weird
Where are you now when I need you?
03/03/2017
Video from inside Banksy's Hotel in Bethlehem
"The worst view in the world"... And a museum of the history of the region since the Balfour Declaration...
The latest: on Channel 4
Banksy documentary: Welcome to the Banksy art hotel in Bethlehem
Published on 5 Mar 2017
It’s billed as the hotel with “the worst view in the world”. The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem has opened its doors, packed with art works by Banksy.
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Welcome to the wall: artist Banksy opens Bethlehem hotel
Published on 3 Mar 2017
Under an army watchtower and across the street from the concrete wall Israel has built in parts of the occupied West Bank, street artist Banksy has opened a guesthouse in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Scarlett Cvitanovich reports.
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On Channel 4:
Published on 3 Mar 2017
Krishnan Guru Murthy in Bethlehem, getting the first tour of Banksy's Walled Off Hotel.
Banksy's new "Walled Off Hotel" in Bethlehem, Palestine - pt 1
Banksy's new "Walled Off Hotel" in Bethlehem, Palestine - pt 2
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Banksy's back in Bethlehem
Banksy opens hotel on Bethlehem barrier wall
Pictures posted on social media just a few minutes ago...
See The Independent's article:
Banksy opens Bethlehem hotel decorated like English gentlemen’s club
Apparently it's 'a real business venture, not an art stunt'
From Dismaland to The Son of a Migrant from Syria, Banksy has created some of the most thought-provoking artworks in recent history.
In another bold statement, the famed graffiti artist has opened a hotel just metres away from the controversial barrier wall that separates the Israeli and Palestinian territory in the West Bank.
Titled The Walled Off Hotel, the nine-bedroom building based in Bethlehem is staffed by local people - none of whom knew Banksy was the one setting up the hotel - and aims to bring tourists to the destination.
While the anonymous artist’s team are insisting the hotel is a ‘real business venture, not an art stunt’ according to The Guardian, there are dozens of Banksy works within, as well as a themed bar and interactive exhibits.
The signing of the Balfour Declaration - which helped establish Israel 100 year ago - is depicted in one, while the hotel is “decorated to resemble an English gentlemen’s club from colonial times” to represent Britain’s role in the region.
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Read more on The Guardian, reporting from Palestine:
British artist launches Walled Off Hotel in hope of bringing Israeli tourists – and dialogue – to West Bank city
There is unlikely to be much room for last-minute travellers at Bethlehem’s latest inn. The Walled Off Hotel might sound utilitarian, even bleak: 10 rooms nestled against the controversial barrier wall separating Israel from the Palestinian territories.
But it offers travellers something much more elusive than the latest toiletries or a fancy spa. The lodging in the historic city is hotel, protest and art in one. It is the latest work of the British street artist Banksy.
The hotel, which was opened to the media on Friday, aims to bring jobs and tourists to a town whose pilgrim and sightseeing-based economy has been ravaged by ever tighter Israeli controls on travel between Israeli and Palestinian territories.
The artist, who fiercely guards his anonymity, also wants to spark dialogue, with his biggest target market not his legions of international fans, but young Israelis who might normally spend their weekends clubbing in Tel Aviv.
His support team insists the hotel is a real business venture, not an art stunt. Its nine rooms and one suite will be open for bookings on its website later this month.
There have been few reasons for Israelis to visit Bethlehem in recent years, because they are banned by law from visiting the town and all its main tourist sites.
But the hotel is located in an area just outside the town and still under Israeli control, and therefore legal for them to visit.
To encourage dialogue it will host exhibitions by Palestinians, giving artists who have few opportunities to travel a chance to reach international audiences. It will have a “colonial” theme, with chefs serving traditional afternoon tea to those who want a glimpse of the establishment.
But the hotel is located in an area just outside the town and still under Israeli control, and therefore legal for them to visit.
To encourage dialogue it will host exhibitions by Palestinians, giving artists who have few opportunities to travel a chance to reach international audiences. It will have a “colonial” theme, with chefs serving traditional afternoon tea to those who want a glimpse of the establishment.
Banksy first visited Bethlehem more than a decade ago. In 2005 and 2007, he created some of his best-known pieces on the West Bank barrier wall separating Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Among them are works depicting a girl frisking a soldier, and a dove in a flak jacket. Some locals took offence at the time, and an image of a soldier checking a donkey’s identity papers was painted over.
But others have survived, to join a must-see list for many tourists heading to the church of the nativity.
After the 2014 Gaza war, Banksy was smuggled into the territory to create a series of art works and an ironic tourist video. It urges viewers to “make this the year you discover a new destination”, before taking them on a virtual tour.
Banksy generally avoids commenting on his work, saying he prefers to let the images speak for themselves, but the video ends with the camera lingering on an overtly political message, also spray-painted on to a wall: “If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless we side with the powerful – we don’t remain neutral.”
For all the fierce critique of Israeli policies, Banksy has focused on bringing Israelis and Palestinians together. In the dystopian “bemusement” park Dismaland that he created in 2015, he displayed works by three Palestinian and three Israeli artists side by side.
That angered Shadi Alzaqzouq, one of the Palestinian artists, so much that he covered his work with a sheet on which he had written “RIP Gaza” before lying down for a “die-in” in front of the message. The sheet stayed up for the duration of the exhibition, with a notice explaining the protest.
-See more pictures on the Guardian's website:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/banksy-opens-bethlehem-barrier-wall-hotel
28/02/2017
February to March
Hey February, you've been such a progressively amazing month, from dark to light, from doubts to joy. Thank you!!
And thanks to everyone involved :) x
March, you're one of my favourite months! Winter is ending.
So much love.
Little soundtrack:
Lana Del Rey - 'Love'
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