DAM fine

Arabic rap at the Barbican 20 October 2006

More musical delights last night. I meet BT at the Barbican and we were drawn towards the freestyle stage by the sound of rappers singing in Arabic. It was DAM doing their sound check for a free performance as part of the Ramadan Nights festival. I first heard about this group on BBC Radio 1 Extra, on the award winning documentary Hip Hop in the Holy Land.

DAM are possibly one of the biggest Arab rap groups in the Middle East. Mahmoud, Tamer and his brother Suhell are Israeli-Palestinian’s living in Lod. According to Tamer, Lod is the major drug market of the region and being located just 20 minutes from Tel Aviv and they are living with the daily reality of being an oppressed community.

I asked Mahmoud a very direct question but one I felt he was confident he could answer. I wanted to know what has stopped him from being one of those kids that walks into a crowded Israeli bar and blow himself up. For him, ‘his music and lyrics are more deadly’.

DAM also speak out about social issues including the treatment of women within their community and one of my favourite tracks is Freedom For My Sisters.

Guys - thanks for signing the new CD 'Dedication'. Mahmoud keep the non violent communication going – you will be heard and one day I hope you will see flowers from your window.

Official DAM website
www.dampalestine.com

Hip Hop in the Holy Land. http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/tx/documentaries/hiphopintheholyland.shtml

The Shaky Leg Crew

Emmanuel Jal and support at The Spitz, London 18 October 2006

Nearly a year ago my sister gave me a copy of Ceasefire, Jal’s first international album. Since then I have been listening to it nearly every week. So when I spotted a flyer at The Spitz in London tickets I had to get tickets.

I tried to book them through the box office but I gave up. I called them twice. The first time I got an answer phone and the second time I was told someone would call me back – they never did. If it was not for the website WeGotTickets we would never have gone.

Surprisingly not many people know about Jal, including R and G who had no idea what event I was dragging them to. ‘He’s a former child soldier of Sudan who found music and is now a rapper’ I told them as we met for pre gig drinks in the new ‘retail and leisure experience’ in Spitalfields. Jal was conscripted into the rebel Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) at the age of eight to fight in the civil war. He spent four years fighting in Sudan, with an AK-47 by his side. Despite a tragic childhood including losing his adoptive mother, the British aid worker Emma McCune Jal remains a strong yet humble person.

First on stage were support act Glide:a'scope’s, trip hop chill out music. A mesmerising performance by the female flutist. On one of Glide’s websites http://www.audiocinematography.com/flash.htm you can listen to previews of his debut album Audio Cinematography. However I would not recommend watching the video pieces. The storylines to the video really distract from the music as they are over complicated, too many different locations and people and themes. Sorry Glide and whoever produced/directed this for you but it really does not do your work justice. Ok I can hear you saying ‘no budget’ but you need a much simpler look to your videos as the music is so rich and woven with so many influences. If you need someone to produce/direct your next video give me a shout I have a few ideas…

Within moments of bounding onto stage, Jal had the audience, dancing, laughing and crying. The lyrics, which Jal raps in English and a Sudanese dialect, are a plea for an end to a conflict in Sudan. A truly passionate performance of tracks from Ceasefire and new songs from his third album War Child. Turntable maestro was the very talented producer writer etc etc Davidson Lynch-Shyllon ;)

As we left the venue Jal and his crew harmonised a unique and unforgettable version of happy birthday to R. As we staggered home on a high of music and friendship we sang we don’t want no hoes, no bitches no bling… Peace and love to you guys.

(JC if you find that cable I’ll upload the phone-video of this live performance onto moblog www.moblog.com)

Set list: Taxi, Hai, Force, WarChild, Baai, Backiwara, No Bling, Gua, Elengwen and Tung.

Emmanuel Jal Official Website

http://www.emmanueljalonline.net/

MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/emmanueljal

more about KASH

The NUJ have created a message board page on their site where people can post comments of support for the release of Kash freelance photojournalist http://www.kashgt.co.uk/
http://www.nujphoto.org/

This is the latest press release from Reporters Without Borders and a correction to the exact date he was captured - 12 October 2006.

Reporters Without Borders

Press releases

15 October 2006

AFGHANISTAN

Italian freelance photographer seized by armed men


Reporters Without Borders said today it was "very concerned" about the
kidnapping of an Italian photographer, Gabriele Torsello, in southern
Afghanistan and called for his immediate release.


"He is not a spy or a bargaining chip, but a courageous journalist who has
lived among the Afghan people for several months," the worldwide press
freedom organisation said, calling on the authorities and the country's
religious leaders to make every effort to obtain his release.


Torsello, a freelance, was seized by five armed men from a bus on his way
from Lashkar Gah to Kandahar on 12 October. The online news website Peace
Reporter, which disclosed the kidnapping, said he had managed the same day
to phone the head of security at a hospital in Lashkar Gah run by the
Italian NGO Emergency to ask him to assure the kidnappers of his "good
intentions" and that he had converted to Islam.


The independent Afghan news agency Pajhwok quoted an Afghan journalist who
had been travelling with him as saying he had called Torsello's mobile phone
and that a man had answered and said "We are the Taliban and we have
kidnapped the foreign spy." The Italian foreign ministry said today it was
treating the incident as a kidnapping.


Mullah Dadullah, a Taliban military chieftain, threatened on 4 September to
kill journalists who published news put out by the NATO forces in
Afghanistan. "We have an Islamic right to kill such reporters," he said.


Torsello, who has worked as a photojournalist around the world for the past
decade, has been in Afghanistan for several months, wearing a black beard
and Afghan clothes. He is married with one child, has converted to Islam and
is based in London.

KASH GT - Gabriele Torsello

My thoughts and hopes for a positive outcome are with Kash and for his family in London and Italy.
It has been reported that Kash was kidnapped yesterday by Taliban gunmen in Helmand province of Afghanistan.
On numerous occasions Kash has offered his advice and support to me a fellow photographer. I first came across Kash on the discussion forums on EPUK. We recently exchanged ideas about book publishing an area we both have experience of.
KASH wherever you are being held there are many people thinking about you and trying to do whatever they can to get you out safely.
For more details please click this link to the UK Editorial Photographers group.
http://www.epuk.org/News/389/photojournalist-torsello-kidnapped-by-afghan-gunmen