Author Archives: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Film Documentary: American Autumn – an occudoc…OWS ain’t dead!

Date: September 29, 2012 through October 4, 2012
Time: 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45 and 9:30pm
Venue: Quad Cinema (34 West 13th Street, New York, New York 10011, ph: 212-255-2243)
Ticket: click for Tickets
Written, produced & directed: Dennis Trainor, Jr.
Running time: 1:16
Language: English

In September of 2011, a few hundred protesters began a conversation in Zuccotti Park that now includes several hundred million people. A year later writer & director Dennis Trainor, Jr. delivers American Autumn: an occudoc. The first feature length documentary on the Occupy movement not only offers answers for those who continue to ask: “what does the occupy movement stand for? What are our demands?” – it offers a challenge and an invitation to engage with the movement.

The influence of Occupy is still felt a year later. The Movement changed the conversation by raising issues like wealth inequity, health care reform, predatory bank practices, and the war on unions, among other issues. Occupy has also revolutionized the way dissidents organize their protests. As Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink observes, there will be no more Saturday afternoon gatherings in a deserted Washington, D.C. where everyone marches in a circle and then leaves. Instead, Occupy brought the protest to the town square and “occupied” the space in a very public way.

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Benefit Concert: JAZZ FOR OBAMA 2012. Again hope and big expectations towards this man! Inshallah!

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

I love Jazz as a music style and a way of life. In Japanese you would say Jazz no michi. Jazz is not just music but also a platform to listen and to speak to your own people. Jazz was created by discriminated people. It was born during their struggle for social justice. Jazz knows what it means to be poor, insecure, powerless and being beaten up.

So when many Jazz musicians vote for Obama they expect from him again that – as a Jazz lover – he will work for the poor and discriminated people in his country regardless their skin colour and religion. If he becomes president again, they expect that he will do and continue all unfinished work. He’s going to do all the things he promised in the past. Am I right?

I’m sure there are also many Jazz musicians who are discouraged by the failure of Mr. Obama’s work during his first four years as president. He caused so much disappointment in many of them resulting in seeing him as another Bush Jr.

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OneBeat: A Mobile Cross-Cultural Exploration in Sonic Diplomacy bringing 32 musicians from 21 countries to US!

OneBeat encourages cross-cultural understanding by illustrating ways music can be used to foster positive community engagement. The music exchange will invite more than 32 young professional musicians and advanced students (ages 19-35) from 21 countries around the world to the U.S. to create and perform innovative work with their American counterparts.

The US’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in partnership with Found Sound Nation, the social-engagement wing of the New-York based music organization Bang on a Can, will develop month-long programs consisting of a U.S.-based residency and tour. During the residencies, participants will form small collaborative ensembles that improvise across genres, reinvent traditional tunes, compose original work, record in the state-of-the-art OneBeat mobile studio, and prepare for performances and educational workshops.

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Music Listings – 9/13 through 9/30

1. Sanda Weigl

Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10003, 212-967-7555)
Tickets: $15
Genre: protest and revolutionary songs from all over the world

Sanda Weigl returns to the Pub with her new program of protest and revolutionary songs from all over the world. Romanian born singing-sensation Sanda Weigl blends gypsy music, cabaret and jazz, reflecting her own life story in every moment of her performance.

As outspoken politically as she is uncompromising musically, Sanda first achieved fame as a teen-age member of Team 4, East Germany’s most popular rock band of the 1960s. After publicly denouncing communism and Russia’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, she was banned from performing and sentenced to two years in an East Berlin prison; then, expelled to the West where she was free to continue crafting her art.
Since relocating to New York in the early nineties, Sanda has performed her singular interpretations to critical acclaim throughout the United States, Mexico, Poland, Germany, Austria, Israel, and an especially triumphant series of concerts in her native Romania. Continue reading →

Have you heard about Thomas Sankara: another Mandela, an exceptional figure in the history of African liberation and a true visionary for Africa’s future?!

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

In April when I was shopping with my wife at CB2, a furniture store in Manhattan, I started a conversation with the CB2 doorman who was from Burkina Faso and has been living in New York for a while. He came to the States for only one simple reason: to make some money here. When we talked about music, I asked him, whether he knows the NY/Burkina Faso band BURKINA ELECTRIC which he didn’t know. Then we talked about his country and it’s name. He told me that it got its deep name from Thomas Sankara  in 1984 who was the president of that time. Burkina Faso stands for “the land of upright people” made out by the two major native languages Mòoré and Dioula, Figuratively, Burkina could be translated to “men of integrity” from the Mòoré language, and Faso means “fatherland” in Dioula. This doorman was surprised that I didn’t know anything about his hero and inspiration Thomas Sankara. I promised him that I would do some research and write about him in DooBeeDoo.

Before I say anything about Sankara I would like to say, how I think about the continent Africa and the African countries. First of all I love Africa, its people and of course its music. I have played with a lot of African musicians from Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, South Africa, Morocco, etc… As you know I love Salif Keita from Mali whom I owe a lot as a musician. Playing with my African music colleagues taught me that there’s no way from my side to superimpose my way of thinking on them. But, if I’m their leader and they respect and trust me, they would listen to me. Good examples of respected leaders in the African music world are musicians such as Salif Keita,  Yousou N’Dour, Doudou N’Diaye Rose, Fela Kuti, Baaba Maal, etc.They don’t play only music but represent their people and get involved with them as well. You could call them music activists. When they make money, part of it goes to their community or village. Some of them get involved into politics and try to become a senator or even the president of their country. Fela Kuti and Yousou N’Dour are very good examples.

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