Insideotherplaces

What they really think about President Traore in Burkina Faso

I spent a month in Ouagadougu speaking to people about President Trarore This was my fifth visit to Burkina Faso, the first being in 2012 and the first since Ibrahim Trarore took power. His actions have upset western powers but created a dedicated following online in the West from the African diaspora, black activists and many on the left. Embracing Pan-Africanism and anti-imperialist ideals, he is unsurprisingly compared to the country’s inspirational, radical leader of the 1980s Thomas Sankara, who…

There’s never just one reason behind US wars

As with every US conflict in recent times, the war on Iran quickly generated plenty of articles, videos and social media posts claiming, it was all because of ONE thing. These ranged from astute geopolitical analysis to IT WAS THE ILLUMINATI WOT DUN IT type of thinking. Whilst these can often make a valid case for A reasoning behind the war, things are rarely as simple as that. If we had to pick one reason, Israel would have to be…

Observations on life in Russia

Two months of travelling around the western half of Russia and talking to people gave me an insight into life ignored by the news coverage, with a few surprises and some surprisingly normal aspects. If you’re old enough to retain images of Russia from the forlorn queues of the latter days of the Soviet Union or the grim economic distress of the 90s, modern Russia is going to come as a bit of a shock. Finding even a hint…

The Majesty of Moscow’s Metro

I’ve been to metros all around the world, many worthy of praise for their efficiency or quality of service but none worthy of visiting in their own right. Moscow’s metro is not just of historical interest but artistic. Many stations are of either artistic merit in their own right or at least contain art of of interest, even if not necessarily to everyone’s taste. Art was an essential element from its inception. Berthold Brecht was there for the opening…

Global dance grooves mix

Another in an occasional series of musical interludes. Here are two dance mixes I’ve done of Middle Eastern beats and hypnotic, ethnotronic dance grooves. https://hearthis.at/bigg/muddle-east2/ https://hearthis.at/bigg/muddleeast/

All aboard the Varanasi time machine

Of all the current nations in existence, it is perhaps India that has the best claim to an uninterrupted link to its ancient past. Both Egypt and Iran lost something of their origins in their conversion to Islam, as did Greece and Rome with Christianity. China certainly retains real connections with two millennia ago, in its written language and philosophies such as Confucianism for example, although communism did reject and try to suppress some of what its leaders saw…

Hot Hindu Hardcore Temple Action

Taking a good, hard look at India’s erotic, temple carvings. Many would imagine that liberated sexual attitudes are much of a modern creation but Hindu history has a bit to say about that. While contemporary India is known for relatively conservative values, this is more a result of the preceding 500 or so years of Muslim and British colonial rule, that were much more squeamish about any public reference to the possibility of sex actually being something enjoyable. Muslim artistic…

The art of Kolam

Brightening up the roadsides of some of my travels around southern India were a multitude of colourful, geometric patterns that appeared around the time of festivals such as New Year or Pongal, Tamil harvest festival. These decorative, religious images are an ancient, Hindu tradition designed to invite the goddess Lakshmi to bring prosperity into the home and protect from evil spirits. Traditionally they were made of edible materials such as grains, rice, flour and vegetable dyes, as they would provide…

Hit me with your rhythm stick part 4 – the gardens of Japan

Recent travels had alas, taken me nowhere near the destinations mentioned in Ian Dury’s classic tune, hit me with your rhythm stick to further my pointless quest to visit all of them. Although Japan had always been on my somewhat nebulous list of places I ought to get around to visiting one day, I’ve never been a Japan obsessive, as many who celebrate particular aspects of its culture can be. However, being in the region made it a more reasonable…

African music mix

A little change from the usual. Given that my modest skill set includes many years of DJing, I thought I’d let music rather than words do the talking for once . So, here you are, 1hr 20 mins of dance music both from or rooted in Africa. Just click on the link below https://hearthis.at/bigg/afromix/ Here’s the set list with track start times for anyone who’s interested Montparnasse Musique feat. Kasai All-stars – Painter 3m55s Sol Power All-stars – Zibodub 6m30s…

Insideotherplaces

What they really think about President Traore in Burkina Faso

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There’s never just one reason behind US wars

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Observations on life in Russia

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The Majesty of Moscow’s Metro

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Global dance grooves mix

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All aboard the Varanasi time machine

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Hot Hindu Hardcore Temple Action

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The art of Kolam

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Hit me with your rhythm stick part 4 – the gardens of Japan

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African music mix

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