Music
The Music Plays Again in Mosul
The maestro is back home in Mosul, along with many of the previously displaced musicians. The campus theater hall is being rebuilt, and the statue of Othman al-Mosuli is back on display by the railway station, waiting for the toots of trains that bring new visitors.
On the Screen, Libyans Learned About Everything but Themselves
From California to Cairo, none of the films that featured my country, Libya, could step out of an Orientalist vision of camels, belly dancers, an endless desert and, of course, our iconic “Brother Leader.”
Bob Dylan Helped Me Survive Pirate Captivity
I was spending hours alone with my thoughts, ever since a gang of pirates kidnapped me from a car outside the dusty crossroads town of Galkacyo, in central Somalia, during a reporting trip in 2012. The mystery of this song became an obsession.
‘Shut Up and Play Your Guitar’
Alex Skolnick is a virtuoso musician best known as the lead guitarist for thrash legends Testament and his own jazz trio. When he started weighing in on politics, he was told to “shut up and play your guitar.” In an essay for Newlines, he writes about the responsibility of artists in a time of political turmoil.
The Forgotten Sea Shanties of the Gulf
Sea shanties provided solace and strength for sailors on merchant ships across the world. Until well into the 20th century, their haunting melodies were sung by Gulf sailors all across the Indian Ocean. Today, they are being rediscovered and adapted as a modern form of cultural expression.
Hip Hop Finds Its Groove in North Africa
North African rappers and emcees are boldly approaching hip-hop and the larger Arabic music landscape by exploring taboo themes and proactively deconstructing societal markers of North African identity.
New Voices of Rebellion Rise in Cuba
Cuba’s dictatorship retained an allure for many on the global left. But this adulation of a totalitarian system is not stopping those facing down Cuba’s dictatorship on a daily basis from keeping the island’s culture and desire for freedom alive.