Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Songs of hope
Life, John Clewley, Published on 07/06/2022
» The award-winning Canadian-Czech singer and composer Lenka Lichtenberg was going through her mother's effects in 2016 in Prague when she made a startling discovery. She found two small notebooks that belonged to her artist grandmother, Anna Hana Friesova (1901-1987). Inside each notebook, small enough to fit into a back pocket, were poems written while she was imprisoned in the Terazin (Theresienstadt) concentration camp during WWII.
Change is constant
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 28/02/2022
» When entering the exhibition "City Adaptation Lab!" at Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC), visitors cannot miss the sculpture Rok-Ra-Bat (Pandemic) by Kaninyan Chandrasma. It is a broken tube sitting on a tall pedestal. According to the description, one small silver dot breaks out from the broken tube and multiplies into numerous silver dots which resemble a pandemic spreading around the world. If visitors take a closer look at the silver dots, they will see their reflections in each. This raises the question if the origin of the pandemic is people.
Heart of music beats on
Life, John Clewley, Published on 27/10/2020
» British documentary filmmaker Jeremy Marre, who died aged 76 in April this year, made films for television on popular music from all corners of the planet. From his breakthrough TV film Root Rock Reggae in 1977, to his last film, a documentary on jazz great Count Basie in 2019, Marre was in a class of his own.
Faces behind the stars
Life, Tatat Bunnag, Published on 19/10/2020
» Whether you're just a casual fan or a full time "blink", everyone can take delight in the fact that South Korean pop sensation Blackpink -- an all-girl group -- teamed up with Netflix. Recently, a documentary about the group titled Blackpink: Light Up The Sky was released to overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Out of the shadow of the Cold War
Life, Published on 24/09/2020
» The Cold War saw the birth of the persuasive power of cinema. In the early 1950s, the United States decided that psychological warfare was needed to thwart communist threats in Southeast Asia and so it set up a propaganda unit to produce movies, documentary films, cartoons and pamphlets to provoke a red scare among the people. The United States Information Services (Usis) was also active in Thailand during this decade of sinister geopolitics. Its main responsibility was to produce a number of narrative and documentary films which would be screened around the country to promote American-style democracy and caution people against the deadly dominance of communism.
Shifting surfaces
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 16/04/2020
» Different surfaces of objects have different impacts on different people. At an art exhibition titled "#Surface" by Bangkok University Gallery, eight artists and designers interpret "surface" in their own way and use a variety of media and materials to convey their ideas.
Trombone's place in modern music
Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/03/2020
» The funky sound of Fred Wesley's trombone landed on the World Beat desk this week courtesy of an album he released in 1974, with his band, Fred Wesley & the New JB's, called Breakin' Bread (originally released on Polydor, re-released 2015). Wesley was James Brown's musical director at the time, and Brown produced the album and co-wrote most of the songs with Wesley.
Finger on the pulse
Life, Tatat Bunnag, Published on 25/02/2020
» In recent years, we've seen the arrival of more and more online talk shows and podcasts, engaging and informing audiences on a wide variety of content, from current affairs to sports, film to technology, and everything in between.
Off the leash
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 20/10/2019
» "Dogs whine to communicate their physical, mental and emotional states..." At first glance, Dogwhine's artist bio reads like the opening to a freshman's college essay. Then, out of the blue, what initially appears to be a direct quote from the dictionary turns into a sly jab at the absurd prohibition on political gatherings of five or more people imposed by the junta: "Not all whines are created equally. Sometimes dogs gather to whine in group. When they come together more than five, they often get chased or taken away." Like hip-hop firebrands Rap Against Dictatorship who brought us the brilliant anti-junta Prathet Ku Mee (What's My Country Got), this Bangkok five-piece are unapologetically political from the outset.