Pages

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Romantics - BBC documentary - Nature (2005)

The Industrial Revolution sought to dominate Nature as a means to create profit. Romantic artists would seek to replace this relationship of domination with one of reverence and understanding. The poet John Clare sought freedom in exploring the countryside around him.

But the lands he loved were increasingly seen as units of production. When such lands were officially enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1809, the freedom to roam the countryside was curtailed. This shift in attitudes drove John Clare insane. It drove William Blake to write works of protest, such as the raging, tempestuous 'Jerusalem'.

Both William Blake and Samuel Taylor Coleridge sought to understand man's true relation to nature by returning to the source - by observing and writing about the innocence of children. Others sought to reconnect themselves to Nature more directly - such as William Wordsworth, who wrote of his travels to the Alps, the Lake District and the Wye Valley.

 The ideas of the child, nature and scientific progress would collide in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This book is a Romantic manifesto - a warning that nature is not to be trifled with, that children are sacred, and science can corrupt our world. It is also a work of prophecy, still relevant in the 21st century.

For more information

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart - John Peel


One-hour BBC documentary on the Captain from 1997, introduced and narrated by John Peel.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

In Search of the G Spot

A Story of Pleasure and Promise is a joyful and surprising film, with colorful characters, exploring science, sexual liberation, ideological conflicts, and of course ... pleasure. How, in 2011, can there still exist myths around female sexuality? How can an erotic region mysteriously identified as the “G spot” be known to all yet... only a few know its location, its physiology or the story of its discovery? How can the mere mention of this erogenous zone provoke such argument, doubt, and salacious laughter? This is an investigation into the heart of the fascinating world of scientific sexology, a close-up of the “G” zone.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Gnawa Music in Sahara Desert Morocco

Gnawa Music in Sahara Desert Morocco. This band is from the Saharan village of Khamlia. This village is the only settlement where all its people are in fact from black African descendents in Moroccan South East-Sahara. Gnawa or Gnaoua refers to an ethnic group and a religious order, in part descended from former slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa or black Africans who migrated in caravans with the trans-Saharan trade, or a combination of both. Gnawa music is a mixture of African, Berber, and Arabic religious songs and rhythms. It combines music and dancing. The music is both a prayer and a celebration of life. Though many of the influences that formed this music can be traced to sub-Saharan Africa, and specifically, the Western Sahel, its practice is concentrated mainly in Morocco.

Monday, May 07, 2012

The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists


The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists traces the history of a Yiddish anarchist newspaper (Fraye Arbeter Shtime - The Free Voice of Labor) publishing its final issue after 87 years. Narrated by anarchist historian Paul Avrich, the story is mostly told by the newspaper’s now elderly, but decidedly unbowed staff. It’s the story of one of the largest radical movements among Jewish immigrant workers in the 19th and 20th centuries, the conditions that led them to band together, their fight to build trade unions, their huge differences with the communists, their attitudes towards violence, Yiddish culture, and their loyalty to one another.”

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Dub to Jungle Documentary


Kane FM documented and captured the Dub to Jungle tour 2011; the film explores the living history of bass culture with interviews with Channel One Sound System, Congo Natty, Tenor Fly, Klose One, Nanci & Phoebe. We also speak with the stakeholder and Director of Punch Records Ammo Talwar and promoters about the concept behind the tour.

Roots reggae has been cited by many music critics of the 20th century as the mother of many modern music forms. Born from the garrisons of Jamaica this music has given a voice to disaffected peoples of all cultures and all backgrounds around the world. The messages of rebellion and truth seeking that roots provides struck a chord across the globe.

In the 1990′s artists like Ragga Twins, Rebel Mc & Lennie De Ice began to fuse roots reggae with acid house. Jungle techno, or as it was first called, 4beat, was born. Jungle is the child of reggae, conceived by the union of Jamaican sound system culture and British acid house music.

Director / Interviews -- Chris Jones / Producer -- Nick Hayman@ Burningwick / Elliot Seeds @ Motion Graphics / Sound Man -- Alpesh Patel / Camera -- Squeaky Clean, Sophie Akehurst, Ben Cornish.

Thanks to Ammo Talwar, Rachel Bevan, Jack Vagabondz, Gurpreet Bilkhu @ Punch, Anthony @ Kontakt, Gentlemens Dub club, Luke Murray, Jess @ Patchwork, James @ Take the Whole Cake, Channel One Sound System, Congo Natty, Tenor Fly, Nanci & Phoebe, Klose One (Ruairi), NOISE CONTROL AUDIO, Dubkasm & Vibtronics

Saturday, May 05, 2012

Beastie Boys live in Glasgow 1999 Full Concert


Adam Yauch, MCA from The Beastie Boys (the thin sharp one with the almond shaped face) died yesterday aged 48 following 3 years of cancer combat.I feel inexplicably sad about this. A genius has left us.

"love and respect to the end" - Adam Yauch