Monthly Archives: September 2010

Ngawang Choephel’s “Tibet in Song” – a documentary film about: Never forget the music in your heart!

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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Music listings – 9/27 through 10/3

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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Jerry Lee Williams, a.k.a Jay Dublee (punk/hardcore producer) dies at 61!

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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Link TV feature – Kayhan Kalhor: Songs of Hope

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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An introduction to one of the oldest music styles in Kabuki: Kato-bushi

Edo Joururi: The Iki of Kato-bushi And The Allure of Sukeroku

Text by Miyama Kojuro

It had been my dream to see Sukeroku from directly in front of the hanamichi. Sukeroku is the name of the main character of Sukeroku Yukari no Edo-zakura, the most popular of the Kabuki Juuhachiban plays that form the repertoire of the Ichikawa Danjuro family. The setting is the Yoshiwara district of Edo, and even last year the play was performed to great acclaim at the name-taking ceremony of Ichikawa Ebizo XI. The roots of Kabuki lie in the Kyoto area, but this play takes place around Edo, and its lively depiction of the character and spirit of the Edokko have made it synonymous with Edo Kabuki as a whole. In order to see Sukeroku from directly in front of the hanamichi, one must be on the actual stage itself. Thus it was that I decided to apprentice myself to a master of Kato-bushi, the style of music which accompanies Sukeroku.

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