Journalist at RFI (ex-DW, BBC, CBC, F24...), writer (on art, music, culture...), I work in radio, podcasting, online, on films.
As a writer, I also contributed to the New Arab, Art UK, Byline Times, the i Paper...
Born in Paris, I was based in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi (covering East Africa), Bangui, and in Bristol, UK. I also reported from Italy, Germany, Haiti, Tunisia, Liberia, Senegal, India, Mexico, Iraq, South Africa...
This blog is to share my work, news and cultural discoveries.
Postés récemment sur un blog, en réponse à la question : 'Que lisez vous?'
Par NicoT
Posté le 25 juillet 2021 à 15 h
"En dehors de la zone de confort-de Massive Attack à Banksy" de Mélissa Chemam. Je suis complètement passé à côté de ce livre paru en 2016. Je me suis rattrapé et j'ai bien fait.
Le livre raconte l'histoire de Massive Attack en commençant bien avant que le groupe n'existe, vers le début des années 80. C'est très détaillé, chaque album, morceau est analysé, les séances de studio et les tournées, et surtout les rapports pour le moins surprenant entre les membres du groupe et ceux qui gravitent autour. J
'ai été scotché par 3D, sa créativité, pas seulement en musique d'ailleurs, est étonnante. Il y a visiblement un paquet de morceaux inédits, et pas des rebuts !
Comme ça part de 1980 et que ça va jusqu'à début 2016, c'est aussi une autre histoire de la musique anglaise, avec Bristol comme port d'attache. Les carrières de Portishead, Tricky et de quelques autres sont aussi racontées avec brio. L'autrice a visiblement interviewé tout le monde et pour certains, 3D par exemple, à plusieurs reprises.
3D dont le versant d'artiste street-art est bien abordé, et comme il est la principale influence de Banksy, autre bristolien célèbre, ça parle aussi pas mal de ce dernier.
Bref un bouquin qui aurait mérité une chronique sur le blog.
Back in England, I've been reporting on too many issues to have time to post here...
But here is one: On a day of seven protests, people of Bristol met in the city centre next to Watershed / The Fountain to show their support to refugees, in the context of the feared Nationality and Borders Bill, currently on debate in Parliament.
Bristol Labour Councillor Amirah Cole said: "I'm really proud to be here. I'm proud to belong to Bristol, a city of resistance, and to be with those all over the UK who have demonstrated against this bill. The Nationality and Borders bill is said to be the most racist bill in the UK"...
Green Party Councillor for Cotham Mohamed Makawi also spoke at the protests, supported by Amnesty International.
I interviewed Sarah Heath, who's representing the organisation.
More in my reportage for DW - the German International Radio network - in French here:
For everyone, 2021 has been full of ups and downs, and probably a lot of disappointments, losses, frustrations... It's also been a time full of success and hard work for so many.
I, however, truly believe that what the world needs more than ever is to think collectively and to invest in safe and sane interdependence. For our planet, our healthcare systems, in education, in politics, and of course, closer to our team at UWE Bristol, in media/news production.
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For those of you interested in my work as a journalist and art commentator, here is the latest, about Art, Writing, Music & Multiculturalism.
On John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' @ 50 & Lubaina Himid - BBC Radio 4
Five writers talk about looking at pictures, to mark the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing - the 1972 TV series presented by John Berger and its accompanying book.
"A publication that explores social and cultural issues through creative work. Acknowledging the systemic inequalities within the creative industries, this publication seeks to diversify the narratives it creates. We aim to bring attention to creatives who are underrepresented on the global scale. We hope that through the stories and discussions we have with creatives from different parts of the world, we can shed light on some cultural and social issues that various communities face."
My next article will be about Britain and its colonial past... how it still impacts us and how artists are reacting to it. Then I'll write about artists from different parts of the world.
I'll be in Marseille soon, and hopefully later in the year in Liverpool then Berlin. If you're there, let's create a discussion!
I wish you all a new year of great music, art and events, hopefully. Let's make the most of 2022.
Yesterday, in my adopted city of Bristol, four Black Lives Matter protesters were cleared over toppling of Edward Colston statue:
Rhian Graham, Milo Ponsford, Sage Willoughby and Jake Skuse were found not guilty over act of public dissent during Bristol protest.
In closing statements following the nine-day trial, the defence had urged jurors to “be on the right side of history”, saying the statue, was so indecent and potentially abusive that it constituted a crime.
It stood over the city for 125 years...
More on the history that led Bristol to this unlikely trial very soon, in a long feature article I've been working on since August...
First broadcast in 1972 on BBC Two, Ways of Seeing was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: "The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing". The programmes explored Walter Benjamin's ideas about the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; the female nude and the male gaze; oil painting, status and ownership; advertising, art and commerce. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Ways of Seeing, Radio 4 invites five writers to tell us about a work of art that is important to them, and to reflect on how Ways of Seeing influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art.
In today's episode, we follow Bristol-based French writer Melissa Chemam to the island of Zanzibar, to the refugee camps of Calais and into galleries back in the UK: "I discovered Himid’s installation ‘Naming The Money’ almost by chance. I came upon it in 2017, at Spike Island, an art gallery here in Bristol. It was part of an exhibition called “Navigation Charts”, which felt fitting for this port city with its complex past, enriched by transatlantic trades… Sugar, tobacco and enslaved people".
Melissa Chemam is a writer and broadcaster. She has reported from the USA, Europe, and East and Central Africa for the BBC World Service, AFP, Reuters, CBC and more. She is the author of a book on Bristol's culture, 'Massive Attack - Out of the Comfort Zone' and has been the writer-in-residence at the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, UK since 2019.
John Berger was a storyteller, a novelist, a painter, a poet, a critic, a screenwriter, a playwright. He died in 2017, at the age of 90.
For everyone, 2021 has been full of ups and downs, and probably a lot of disappointments, losses, frustrations... It's also been a time full of success and hard work for so many.
I truly believe that what the world needs more than ever is to think collectively and to invest in safe and sane interdependence. For our planet, our healthcare system, in education and of course in media/news production.
I've personally been very lucky to find a very clever, nice and supportive team at the University of the West of England, so that, a special thanks to my manager Anne Harbin, the best I've ever had in almost two decades of work all over the world... #Gratitude.
I've been posting about this for over a week on Twitter:
#UK #StopNABB - The Nationality & Borders Bill could strip people of colour of their British nationality. It has passed its final reading in the House of Commons, and will now go to the House of Lords where it will be debated on 5 January 2022.
Most media have turned a blind eye, focusing on the Party's "parties"...
Here is more, and below some action we can take.
Amnesty UK refugee and migrant rights programme director broke down the clauses in the Borders Bill as follows:
'Under a new draft clause added to the government’s Nationality and Borders Bill, which was proposed by Home Secretary Priti Patel, people in the United Kingdom could be stripped of their citizenship without warning. The bill also aims to rule as inadmissible asylum claims made by undocumented people as well as criminalise them and anyone taking part in refugee rescue missions in the English Channel... Immigration lawyers say the bill breaches international and domestic law.'
The website Media Diversified has been reactivated to post about the issue and been very active this past week. More here:
Under provisions in Clause 9 of this Bill, individuals could be stripped of their British citizenship without warning. We believe this is unacceptable, and inconsistent with international human rights obligations.
Clause 9 of the bill, “Notice of decision to deprive a person of citizenship,” which was updated earlier this month, exempts the Government from having to give notice if it is not “reasonably practicable” to do so, or in the interests of national security, diplomatic relations or is otherwise in the public interest.
We believe these provisions should be removed before this Bill is enacted.
Protests in London: Sunday 19 December, from 1:30pm, Downing Street, London
Oppose the Nationality and Borders Bill - Sunday @ 1pm, Downing Street
If you follow this blog, you might know how much I love her music and art!
M.I.A. shared a new song a month ago, ‘Babylon’, with a very personal music video, featuring footage from her childhood.
The release coincides with the auction of her 2010 mixtape Vicki Leekx as a non-fungible token (NFT). All funds collected from the auction will be directed to couragefound.org.
‘Babylon’ is also available as an NFT; it was written by M.I.A. and produced by her with Troy Baker, and Switch. Back in April, M.I.A. launched an entire NFT art exhibit.
Early November, she also announced on her Instagram account the coming release of her next and 6th album, MATA, in 2022. Her last studio LP, AIM, came out in 2016.
