'Rebel Music'

 

On Saturday I was invited to speak at Bristol Transformed festival.

With the super talented and über nice Batu, e talked about 'rebel music' and Bristol, in a panel led by Bookhaus director Darran McLaughlin.

Our panel:

Rebel Music: Music and Politics in Bristol

A panel of three talking about the history of political music in Bristol, stretching from the Late 70's with the Pop Group, via the Wild Bunch and Massive Attack, to the present.

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I insisted to show music videos, my favourite medium of all time.

To represent The Pop Group, I chose:

'She's beyond Good and Evil'

Here is the choice of Batu from his recent releases, a video directed by himself:

'Solace'

My choice was the best promo video for Bristol ever made - not intending to be of course - but I love it:

Massive Attack - 'Just a Matter Of Time'

A recoding should be available soon; I'll come back and share the link.

For more on music and politics, go to my facebook page.

Thanks.

'Oussekine' premiered on Disney+ on 11 May

 

France - L'histoire d'un jeune homme tué par la police en 1986 et du combat de sa famille pour obtenir justice. 

C'est celle de Malik Oussekine, racontée dans une série diffusée dans le monde entier, "Oussekine". 

Au scénario : Faïza Guène et Lina Soualem.

'Oussekine' | Offical Trailer (in English):

The case raised serious questions about the country's treatment of immigrants, especially from its former colonies.

The issue is "still extremely resonant today," the BBC wrote yesterday, "at a time when the recent presidential campaign was contested by the far-right politician Marine Le Pen, who is known for her anti-immigrant policies, and coloured by questions around French identity, European citizenship and the treatment of the Muslim community."

Malik Oussekine was a young French man of Algerian origines. He died after being set upon by police and beaten up, as they tried to clamp down on student riots that he was walking nearby.

Ending April 2022 with Music, part II

 

I may still be stuck at home in Covid isolation, but at least it's a great way to catch up on music releases!

Just a personal selection...

Released today, like Tamino's: 

Arcade Fire - 'Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)' 

Official Audio

From last week:

Florence + The Machine - 'Free'

The Smile - 'Free in the Knowledge' (Official Video)

From this year, catching up with her new album:

Mitski – 'Working for the Knife' (Official Video)

Tamino's back

 

His music was one of the great sonic highlights of the pre-pandemic months for me, while I was starting teaching music journalism, even though the students remained quite unappreciative, sadly...

Nevertheless, the fans, fellow musicians and music writers were all praise and wonder about his first album.

The Guardian compared him to Jeff Buckley; and Colin Greenwood as well as the Syrian Orchestra accompanied him on his first album and some tour dates from 2017.

Here is his new songs, more about him soon:

Tamino - 'The First Disciple'

Tamino wrote on his social media channel: "It’s been a while, feeling proud and excited to finally share this with all of you. ‘The First Disciple’ out now".

He posted this photo of him, taken by his mother, a few years ago:

He had announced a month ago that new music was ready.

Born in Belgium in an Egyptian family of musicians, Tamino is the proud son of the encounter of Eastern and the Western godly music. 

Ending April 2022, with music

 

Hello people.

Back from Paris and Marseille, I'm now in isolation in our house, you'll imagine why... 

The sad thing about being sick is that we cannot sing anymore. I've lost my voice and have to rest.

But I'm still listening to music...

On the one hand, I wrote that piece about Fairouz for TMR.
If you want to read it, here is the link:

Fairouz is the Voice of Lebanon, Symbol of Hope in a Weary Land

Artist Yazan Halwani painted a Fairouz fresco in Gemmayzeh, Beirut — he says Fairouz is the only national solidarity symbol on which a majority of Lebanese agree

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On the other, one of my best friends invited me to a great gig in Paris 10 days ago, and the music is still with me.

Since Elon has bought 100% of Twitter overnight, and I cannot stand any of the values he represents, I'm going to post here instead...

LA CHICA feat. HAUSMANE (FORM) - 'THE SEA' (Acoustic)

La Chica is French and Venezuelan; Hausmane French and Lebanese.
Don't they sound wonderful?

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Stay well...

m

Horace Andy covers 'Safe from Harm'

 Horace Andy has a new album out, and he included a personal cover of MassiveAttack's iconic song 'Safe from Harm'!!! 

Here it is:

'Midnight Rocker' now on Red Vinyl, Black Vinyl, and CD → https://on-u-sound.ffm.to/midnightroc... 'Safe From Harm' Originally performed by Massive Attack Written by Billy Cobham, Shara Nelson, Robert Del Naja, Andrew Vowles, Grant Marshall

Produced by Adrian Sherwood

The Markaz Review - Calls for Submission: On EAT/FOOD - for April 2022

 

The Markaz Review - Calls for Submission 

EAT/FOOD April 2022 

We live at once in a time of great abundance and yet greater scarcity, with the war in Ukraine, for instance, holding up grain shipments to the Middle East and Asia. While millions are on the verge of starvation in Yemen and Afghanistan, people in the west continue to enjoy a world of plenty. 

Recognizing that we are living in challenging times, TMR seeks queries/submissions on cuisine/recipes but more than that, stories about family gatherings, immigration, smuggling food, food scarcity, farming, discussion of “controversial cuisines” such as original Palestinian or Lebanese originals vs. Israeli knock-offs. Fusion dishes, regional Persian, Afghan, Kurdish, Jewish cuisines, or borders and food, food in literature are also welcome subjects.

 

Please submit your query by the 30th of March, or your essay, story, poetry, music, film, art or other creative work no later than the 10th of April, for publication on 04/15/22. 

Send to editor@themarkaz.org

Spring News // Letter

Spring News // Letter 2022

Dears friends, readers, art lovers and fellow writers,

I hope this message finds you all well, despite the terrible world events. Every morning (and many times over night), I wake up struggling to believe that this war continues... 

The very little I could do was to write about it and the state of journalism:

A few words on media bias in the coverage of world affairs:

http://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-ides-of-march-on-ukraine-west-and.html

I hope to write more on this soon... if I'm granted a better platform to do so.

And I dedicated my TMR music column to people who have been through conflicts and displacements...

Music in wartime - Kyiv / Beirut on my mind:

https://themarkaz.org/music-in-the-middle-east-bring-back-peace/

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Before this horrible war exploded, my goal for 2022 was to finally travel again, to see the world again, and reconnect. Whether by train, by bus, or even walking, as usual. How sad it is for me to finally get on roads again, after the long imprisonment caused by Covid & Brexit, just when so many others are on the road for all the wrong reasons.

Nevertheless, in January, I went back to Paris and to Marseille, after years without being able to. 

Marseille: A city dear to my heart, so much that I decided to be back there as soon as possible!

In March, I also spent a couple of days in London.

I really long for further travels too... In Italy, West Africa, the Caribbean and in Lebanon especially.

For now, this spring, I'll only be able to travel again to France. At the beginning of the summer, I'll finally see Liverpool. If I'm lucky, I’ll then go to Berlin for the Art Biennial, and Italy later on... 

In the meantime, I have been travelling by proxy, writing about artists from further away in the world, especially artists interested in activism. 

Here are some of the accessible articles:

 

Salah El Mur - from Sudan:

https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/story/salah-elmur-sudan-painting/

Haya Zaatry - from Palestine:

https://themarkaz.org/nazareths-liwan-features-palestinian-singer-haya-zaatry/

On the late Rachid Taha - from France/Algeria:

https://themarkaz.org/rachid-taha-and-the-sway-of-chaabi-rai-on-franco-arab-rock/

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I've also been reporting on (and against) the Nationality & Borders Bill, debated in the UK since 2021, about to affect refugees:

http://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2022/02/protesting-dangerous-nationality-and.html

Invited as a guest on an American podcast series about similar issues, centred on fighting racism and neocolonial bias... we discussed issues around Algeria's struggle for equality and France's history of colonialism. Here are the two coming episodes of their new season:

Discriminology Podcast  

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/discriminology/id1521770510

Meanwhile, in Bristol, I was also part of the 'Final Frontier' Festival, to discuss the links between arts and resistance:

https://www.trinitybristol.org.uk/activities/art-of-resistance/events/the-final-frontier

And I was really happy to read that some people somewhere found me inspiring enough to recommend my name for this list, despite the grim international climate that is still affecting me very much...

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/international-womens-day-137-most-6739549#comments-wrapper

I will give two more talks in the spring:

 on 27 April at Arnolfini - about my writing residency:

https://arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/melissachemam-anneharbin/

You can book here:

https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/#date=2022-04-27&event_id=73139&product_password=500588635&event_password=afg5ficb3c

And on 14 May in St Pauls, as part of the Bristol Transformed festival:

https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/st-pauls/fri-13-may-bristol-transformed-festival-2022-72269

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Hopefully, I’ll have time to write much more soon. 

This year has been very labour intensive, especially with teaching 5 modules in journalism and creative media production. 

I also hope to produce a few more podcasts…

For now: Thanks for your attention as usual!

If you're in London, Paris, Marseille, Liverpool, Berlin, Venice, around the summer, let's meet up on the road, discuss culture, arts, resistance, change and peace-building! 

With my very best wishes,

Melissa Chemam

Writer, Journalist, Researcher

Lecturer in Media & Journalism 

Writer in residence at Arnolfini Art Gallery 

'Procession' - A new installation by Guyanese British artist Hew Locke for Tate Britain

 

A busy week... Lots to write about.

Inspirational artworks and artists! Insight into yesterday, more soon:

'Procession'

- A new installation by Guyanese British artist Hew Locke for Tate Britain

- 21 March 2022

Article to come soon.

Algeria - France: 60 years on

 

60 ans des accords d’Evian...

In France, 60 years ago, the government finally accepted to end the war on Algerians. 

Until March 1962, France had lost most of its colonies in Asia and Africa, but still considered Algeria as its due property, despite its local population of 11,5 million indigenous people.

To this day, the largest narrative is that the war wasn’t justified, that Algerians were cruel to the French and took a land that belonged to the settlers. But these settlers had taken this land against people’s will, from 1830, in one of the most violent and longest conquest.

It’s a unique case of apology of colonialism. 

I can’t imagine Britain today, crying in public over the loss of Ghana or Nigeria as a legitimate possessions. This idea that French Algeria was a tolerable political possibility is madness. 

And it continues to foster neocolonialism.

*

It's hard for me to write about this, as my entire family was colonised, reduced to poverty, suffered immensely from violence before, during and after the war, but I was the first child to be born in France.

I did write this piece recently though, - for Al Jazeera English last October:

'60 years on, France must face its colonial past' 

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/10/17/17-october-1961-60-years-on-france-must-face-its-colonial-past

Extracts:

"In France, where I was born to Algerian parents a few decades later, the Algerian war was for a long time designated with the understatement “les événements” or “the events of Algeria”. It was, however, one of the most important decolonisation wars; a complex conflict characterised by guerrilla warfare and the use of torture by the French authorities that lasted almost eight years and resulted in between 1 million and 1.5 million deaths."

"Most of modern-day Algeria then belonged not only to the French Empire in Africa but to France itself, as proper départements or counties and with Paris as its capital. Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France had only a few months earlier completed the liquidation of France’s empire in Indochina, but he declared in the National Assembly: “The Algerian departments are part of the French Republic. They have been French for a long time, and they are irrevocably French. … Between them and metropolitan France there can be no conceivable secession.” Previous French governments had already ordered the massacres of Muslim Indigenous protesters in Algeria in Sétif in 1945, and Mendès’s France was ready to do it again."

"Several decades later, Algerians living in France – both bi-nationals and second-generation immigrants – feel that we do not exist in this country where right-wing rhetoric and Islamophobia are dominant and those with multiple heritage are required to renounce their other culture in order to be considered French."

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I’ve also discussed this with the American radio NPR: 

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/21/1048130180/60-years-after-a-massacre-in-paris-french-algerians-are-still-pushing-for-justic

And more recently in the brilliant Discriminology podcast. Episodes to come in April: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/discriminology/id1521770510

*

I'd like to write more... But it's not easy. And few newspapers / websites / media are covering the subject outside of France, where the narrative is still to not recognise the horror of colonialism but to try to understand "all sides".

As I wrote in October, "at this stage, what I wish for is not ceremonies or even a plan for reparations. The ongoing discrimination and racism against North Africans, the recent decision to reduce the number of visas for people coming from the former colonies, the cases of police brutality resulting in the deaths of people of colour, and the constant discourse feeding Islamophobia show that what we need is a major anti-fascist movement. A few voices have emerged to denounce these developments; they must be amplified not silenced."