The murderous Pol Pot actively tried to erase Cambodian culture. “One cultural sphere that suffered particularly badly was Cambodia’s 1,000-year-old dance tradition. Before the rise of the Khmer Rouge, there were about 30 troupes performing Lakhaon Kaol, the intricate, masked, all-male sacred form that boasts 4,000 gestures in its movement vocabulary. It was a tradition that existed exclusively in the minds and muscles of the masters who practised it – and thus was almost entirely obliterated during the Pol Pot genocide.”
Tag: 03.26.07
Music Festivals Swamp The Calendar
Tickets for UK music festivals have been selling out in minutes after going on sale. “Festival-going has been growing sharply in recent years, but this year, say music industry insiders, the demand for tickets and new events is unprecedented. It is estimated that as many as 450 festivals, large and small, will be taking place around the country this summer.”
The UK’s Bookselling Mess
“Borders and Waterstone’s are in a bind. As critics argue, they ought to be able to present themselves as specialists, offering ranges that their supermarket rivals cannot match. But they are too large to afford to be seen to ignore the bestsellers. So they have to promote Peter Kay and Jamie Oliver and Martina Cole as well, even though they struggle to compete with the prices offered by Tesco and Amazon. The market, determined by discounts, compels them to lose money.”
$1 Billion Shipwreck Treasure?
“Professional marine treasure hunters working with the British government have reportedly been given the go-ahead to recover gold and silver pieces from what is thought to be the wreck of the HMS Sussex, which took 560 sailors to a watery grave off Gibraltar in 1694.”
Sydney Habour’s Bridge Birthday
“A week ago the Sydney Harbour bridge turned 75 years old, and Sydney threw it a party – as well it might, for the bridge has made the city recognisable all over the world. Spanning the harbour from Dawes Point to Milsons Point, it is a scrumptious thing, a triumph of civil engineering, an entirely functional monument.”
Transition At NY City Opera
“The regime of Paul Kellogg, controversial general-director since 1996, lumbers to a somnolent close in June. His successor, who officially takes over in 2009, is none less than Gérard Mortier, the controversial iconoclast who has inspired blood, sweat and tears – also bravos – in Salzburg and Paris. Conservative New Yorkers may regard the Belgian impresario as a dangerous enfant terrible. Others may hail him as a deus ex machina.”
Tape Traders Live
Even in the digital downloading world, “tape traders, self-described obsessive fans who record and trade copies of live performances from their favorite musicians, have operated since the late ’60s.”
Now Pilots Don’t Get Wasted
Used to be that when a TV network passed on a pilot, the show sank into oblivion. No longer, thanks to YouTube. “Thanks to the Web, TV fans can now make their own judgments about whether a network chief’s decision to ax a show was a smart move or sheer idiocy.”
LA Times To Merge Books Section W/ Opinion Page
“The Los Angeles Times has announced that it will merge its sunday opinion section (called “Current”) with the book review section beginning April 15, and that the paper will have more book reviews appearing throughout the paper as well, according to a press release.”
Tate: We Need More Women Artists
The Tate Museum has admitted it doesn’t have enough art by women artists. “Of the 2,914 artists represented in the Tate’s collection, only 348 – less than 12 per cent – are women, and only two of the 39 major works bought over the past two years were by female artists.”