Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevari

Yesterday… I went to work out at my gym. Found a New York Times issue from last Thursday next to my leg press machine.

(photo from Ngawang Choephel's Facebook profile pictures)

Today… went through the paper on the D train bound to Brooklyn this morning, and my eyes were attracted  by the title (p A32) ” Tibetan Ex-Prisoner Evokes His Homeland’s Struggle in a Movie”, written by Kirk Semple. The article is about the Tibetan movie director and music scholar Ngawang Choephel (pronounced cheu-FELL), 44, who was in a Chinese prison for six and a half years, lives now in Queens and his movie Tibet in Song which made its theatrical release in New York City at the Cinema Village Theatre last Friday September 24. It premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2009 where it won the Special Jury Award in the World Documentary Competition. Since then, Tibet in Song has won numerous awards and screened worldwide.

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1. M.I.A. w. Rye Rye

Date: Monday, September 27, 2010
Time: 7pm
Venue: Terminal 5 (610 W 56th St., Between 11th and 12th Avenues, New York, NY  10019)
Ticket: $35 – $40
Genre: Hip Hop/Rap

Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam better known by her stage name M.I.A., is a British singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer whose eclectic compositions combine elements of hip-hop, electronica,dance, alternative and world music.

M.I.A. is also an accomplished visual artist and fashion designer. Her activism has been met with both appreciation and criticism. In 2002 she received an Alternative Turner Prize nomination for her art, and has been recognized for work as a music video director and graphic designer.

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Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

photo by Tony Mann

Jerry Lee Williams ( 61, born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 23, 1948) died of liver problems in Yucca Valley, California, September 18!

I got this news two days ago from Tony Mann who was a friend of his. He visited him a couple of months ago in Joshua Tree, California, and took this picture. It is the last photo of Williams.

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Posted by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Photo by Todd Rosenberg

Filmed in Karaj, Iran and New York City, “Songs of Hope” explores the life and music of Kayhan Kalhor, a master of the kamancheh, or Persian spike fiddle.

The love he showed for the instrument as a child led him to the life as a prodigy who left Iran in 1981 after the 1979 Islamic Revolution so he could continue his musical studies. He is renowned as a soloist and composer and as a founder and member of several ensembles, including Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, with which we see him rehearsing one of his compositions in the film. In 1997 he returned to Iran to renew his connections to his homeland and to teach a new generation of musicians, while establishing a life with his wife. His existence was that of a prolific, peaceful, globetrotting musician.

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1. Filmmakers Steven Blush and Paul Rachman’s new documentary LOST ROCKERS reception w. special acoustic performance by Jake Holmes.

Date: Thursday, September 23, 2010
Time: 6pm – 8pm
Venue: The  Bleecker Street Theater (45 Bleecker St, New York, NY‎ 10012, 212-260-8250‎)
Ticket: free
Genre: reception and music

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Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

The road movie Streets of Cairo was made and produced by Mohamed Badawi (Sudan) and Hubl Greiner (Germany) in January 2007, when both of them recorded at the studio of the Cairo Academy of Music  at the University Asyout. The soundtrack is from Mohamed Badawi’s CD D’Omdurman à Timimoun.

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Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

I can’t remember when and how exactly I met Hubl Greiner, a German musician, composer and brain of the experimental-dada-world fusion band The Blech. But what I remember, is that when I met him for the first time  I lived in Tokyo. I was a musician myself and earned my living teaching English and German and writing as a freelance music journalist for Japanese music journals.

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Text by Michael Moore

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1. STONE SEMINAR 37: Gary Lucas’ Beefheart Symposium

Date: Monday, September 13, 2010
Time: 8pm
Venue: The Stone (located at Avenue C and 2nd Street)
Ticket: $30
Genre: music seminar

Gary Lucas performed on stage during the 1980/81 Beefheart tours and played lead guitar on the album Ice Cream For Crow. For this symposium he presents a lecture/demonstration about the music and methodologies of rock legend Captain Beefheart, followed by a Q&A.

2. Avant Ghetto Presents : Greg Davis And Ben Vida + Geoff Mullen + Lussuria + Brad Loving

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