July 14th, 2010 — 3:52pm
On Sunday night at the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak, the Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan gave a spirited performance punctuated by tight tabla beats and intense flashes of colour from Asha, a beautiful and totally captivating gypsy dancer. Musafir means traveller in Farsi, and the group’s compositions feature Rajasthani rural folk music, along
July 14th, 2010 — 3:14pm
A highlight of this year’s Rainforest World Music Festival was the appearance on Saturday night of Leila Negrau. I can’t for the life of me understand why this powerful performer was not given the headline spot that night. A singer and percussionist, Leila comes from the Reunion Islands, 750 kilometres east of Madagascar in the
July 13th, 2010 — 11:43pm
Mount Santubong cuts an impressive sight. Rising in all its chiselled glory from the northern-most tip of Sarawak’s Santubong Peninsular it casts a primeval shadow across the land. While the lower reaches of the mountain slip seamlessly into the clear saline waters from where it once emerged, the upper bulk, 810 metres of limestone outcrops,
July 1st, 2010 — 5:01pm
The recent Red Shirt demonstrations in Bangkok were centred in the Ratchaprasong area, a crossroads close to the now burnt out Central World Plaza. At the heart of Ratchaprasong is the Erawan Shrine. Located just steps from the Chidlom skytrain station, the colourful shrine was built in 1956 to appease the evil spirits that were
