Happy diwali

‘There’s no point in going into a movie like this without making an effort to make it different. To make it a seperate entity than the previous one.’ - Daniel Craig

Quantum of Solace

Only two more weeks before the worldwide release of the 22nd James Bond film: Quantum of Solace. The sequel to the 2006 film Casino Royale, it is directed by Marc Forster, and features Daniel Craig's second performance as James Bond.

In the film, Bond battles Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of the Quantum organisation posing as an environmentalist, who intends to stage a coup d'état in Bolivia to take control of its water supply. Bond seeks revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd, and is assisted by Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who also wants to kill Greene.

The title was chosen from a 1960 short story in Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only, though the film is not expected to contain any elements of the original story. Location filming took place in Panama, Chile, Italy (Sienna!) and Austria, while the sets were built at Pinewood Studios.

PS And what a great Bond track by Alicia Keys and Jack White.

Time out for India! Whoever thought yours truly had stopped being under the spell of the Motherland . . .

Think again, for despite my ramblings about Paddington Bear, Muslims in the Netherlands and my darling ex-students in Almere (how great this sounds in English), I am still very much in love with that magical magnet called India.

So here goes. Every year in November the Tropentheater Amsterdam hosts the Cinema India. Yet this time things will be slightly different. Think more. Think better. Think bigger. Think the Amsterdam India Festival.

From 12 up to and including 30 November 2008 Het Concertgebouw, together with a number of cultural organisations in Amsterdam, will organise a spectacular festival devoted to India. Their main reason for doing so is the significant role India is playing in the world, while in the Netherlands this fascinating country is relatively unknown.

The Amsterdam India Festival proudly presents a huge cultural array of events in the field of music, dance, fashion, photography, theatre, arts, architecture and multi-media, all revolving around the theme of Blended Cultures - referring to the large variety of the different cultures in India.

Below, you will find a selection (my selection) of dance, music and film. Of course, the festival has much much more to offer, so please check out their website, but not until you've browsed through my selection.

A music selection
Nitin Sawhney. Wednesday 12 November 21:00 hrs, Melkweg The Max. Sawhney is regarded as one of the pioneers of the Asian Underground music scene. He combines a variety of musical styles such as jazz, drum and bass, hiphop and flamenco.

Amjad Ali Khan & Niyazi and Nizami Brothers. Monday 17 November 20:15 hrs, Het Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal. Discover the mysticism of India. Qawwali is the music of the mystical brotherhoods as performed at the shrines of the Muslim saints.

The Niyazi and Nizami Brothers, who belong to the Chistiya Brotherhood, usually perform the virtuoso vocals during devotional gatherings and can captivate a concert audience with their ecstatic song.The first part of the evening is dedicated to the classical art of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, one of India's foremost masters of the sarod, a plucked lute.

Bharati the Musical. Wednesday 19 November 20:15 hrs, Het Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal. Imagine yourself transported to India when you attend this extraordinary performance. Temple dancers, exhilarating music from the deserts of Rajasthan, sounds of the holy Ganges river, and the sophisticated echoes of the palaces of the Maharajas. An effervescent spectacle that takes the audience through the various facets of Indian dance and musical culture.

Dhroeh Nankoe (bhaithak gana) & Anup Jalota (bhajan). Thursday 20 November 20:15 hrs, Het Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal.

When Hindustani field labourers left the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for the plantations of Surinam in the 19th century, they took with them their musical baggage, baithak gana. Dhroeh Nankoe learned the genre from his grandfather. Baithak gana's land of origin is also the birthplace of the nirgun bhajans. These devotional songs by the great Hindu saint and poet Kabir will be presented after the interval. At 7 pm Narinder Mohkamsing will give an introduction to Indian music and the diaspora.

Burmania: Bollywood's funky genius. Thursday 20 November 20:00 hrs, Paradiso. During the seventies, a fresh wind of mini-skirts, garish shirts and rebellion blew through Bollywood. Sex and drugs and rock and roll entered Indian cinema. And cinema sound systems blasted out the revolutionary music of R.D. Burman. Two of his famous albums/films are Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Yaadon ki Baaraat. His experimental drive was not bound by musical genres: he mixed traditional ragas with Latin percussion, Bollywood violins with wah-wah organ, sitar with big band.

It was singer Asha Bhosle who made his sexy, breathy songs world famous. Since his death in 1994, Burman has become a legend in India. Bombay Connection revives Burman's funky genius in Paradiso, including strings, Indian percussion and a sexy Indian singer. Arranged and updated by Gerry Arling.

Dhrupad from Pakistan. Saturday 22 November 20:00 hrs, RASA, Utrecht. Dhrupad is the oldest surviving style of classical music on the Indian subcontinent. It is a modal vocal style - with a single melodic line and no harmonic parts - in which the characteristic contours and the rasa (sentiment) are presented note for note, first in the low register and then in the upper register. The resonant sound of the drum (pakhawaj) drives the tala, the time-cycle that rhythmically organizes the raga melodies, toward the final sa, the ground tone.

A film selection
Lage Raho Munnabhai. 11 - 12 November, Tropentheater, Kleine Zaal. An Indian comedy about a maffia boss who falls in love with the presentor of a popular radio programme. He pretends to be a professor in order to impress her. The plan works, but he is invited to give a lecture and lands himself in all sorts of awkward situations. Director: Rajkumar Hirani, 2006, 165 minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.

Apu trilogy. 13 November - 2 December; Filmhuis. Three films by the Bengalese filmmaker Satyajit Ray (1921-1992). His Apu trilogy caused a sensation in the 1950s, a triptych based on the everyday, often laborious life of the Indian. The Filmmuseum presents the entire Apu trilogy: Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1958), with music by the Indian composer Ravi Shankar.

The Last Lear. 20 November; Tropentheater, Kleine Zaal, with the legendary Amitabh Bachchan playing an aging stage actor who takes a dim view of cinema. He believes that film is unable to create anything that comes close to Shakespeare. A film about ageing, power and losing control. Director: Rituparno Ghosh, 2007, 130 minutes, in English

Gay cinema. 22 - 23 November; Rialto Cinema. Gay India will examine the key question of what it is like to be gay under difficult, repressive circumstances. The film My Brother Nikhil, to be shown on Saturday 22 November, was the first Bollywood film to portray homosexuality openly and to broach the subject of HIV/AIDS, an awkward topic in India. Director Onir will be there to answer questions about the film.

The film The Journey (Sancharram), in which the young and beautiful Kiran falls in love with her best friend Delilah, will be shown on 23 November.

A dance selection
Sadanam Balakrishnan dance. Wednesday 12 November 20:15 hrs. Het Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal. Sadanam Balakrishnan presents one of India's most spectacular dance forms.

He comes to Amsterdam with this renowned kathakali dance company to treat the audience to this colourful and musically rich interpretation of two episodes from the Mahabharata (the longest epic poem in the world, telling the story of the genesis of India). Video screens will enable the audience to follow the characteristic facial expressions and gestures of the performers close-up. Surtitles will make it easier to keep up with the story. Get acquainted with India's finest on this spectacular evening.

Bharata Natyam dance by Leela Samson; Friday 14 November 20:15 hrs, Het Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal. Leela Samson The devotional temple music of southern India is a source of inspiration for diverse performing arts.The padams are the musical framework for the stylised temple dances of bharatanatyam dancer Leela Samson in the second part of the evening.

Note that some events are preceded by various introductions for which an extra admission price is charged. For 7 pm: Introduction to bharatanatyam dance by Leela Samson. Admission € 5,-

An exclusive interview with PB

The last remaining British eccentric


Your name, please?
Paddington Brown

Age?
That's something you don't ask a bear.


And what is your favourite form of transportation?
A shopping basket on wheels.

Do you have a favourite soap?
Bubble bath mixture. I often wonder how they get them inside one small pot.

Which is your favourite other TV programme/character and why?
The man who says, "That's the end of broadcasting for today".

What was your first ever job?
Painting my room (it was also my last job).

What one job/role would you have loved and why?
Lighting the blue touch paper on the first moon rocket.

Who is your favourite movie star?
The dog in the Tom and Jerry cartoons.

And your favourite Royal?
Royal Honey.

How would you describe yourself in five words?
Talk, dark, handsome, good imagination.

What is the worst item of clothing you ever bought?
A non-shrink shower cap. I couldn't get it off afterwards.

What do you wear in bed?
Pyjamas, plus a hat in winter to keep my head warm.

Who is your all-time hero/heroine?
Tarzan. He must have been very good at opening jars.

What is your most disgusting habit?
Mrs Bird says it's getting marmalade chunks stuck to everything.

When was the last time you cried and why?
I bit into a 'chocolate' coin and it turned out to be real!

Who or what is the great love of your life?
Marmalade.

What have you got in your wallet right now?
A moth.

What is the most expensive treat you've ever bought yourself?
A triple ice-cream cone with double chocolate sauce.

When was the last time you were in hospital and why?
Last Christmas. I was testing a boomerang ...

Where in the world would you live apart from the UK and why?
Darkest Peru. It was where I was born.

Who are your dream dinner guests?
The Roux Brothers (then they might ask me back!).

Which is the untidiest room in your home?
The kitchen. Mrs Brown doesn't know it yet, but I was looking for something to eat.

How do you relax?
I do lots of press ups, then I lie where I am until I recover.

When and why were you last angry?
When Mr Brown was told he couldn't go into a restaurant because it was closed for lunch.

Interview source Harper Collins Children

My favourite bear

He usually wears a blue duffle coat, a rather shapeless red hat and, on occasions, Wellington boots. His favourite food is marmalade and he orginally comes from Darkest Peru. His name: Paddington Bear, the polite immigrant bear from Darkest Peru and a true classic English children's literature icon.

Tomorrow the world's cuddliest bear will be celebrating his 50th birthday. Author Michael Bond recalls in his own words how Paddington first came into being:

"I bought a small toy bear on Christmas Eve 1956. I saw it left on a shelf in a London store and felt sorry for it. I took it home as a present for my wife Brenda and named it Paddington as we were living near Paddington Station at the time. I wrote some stories about the bear, more for fun than with the idea of having them published. After ten days I found that I had a book on my hands. It wasn’t written specifically for children, but I think I put into it the kind things I liked reading about when I was young."

Michael Bond sent the book to his agent, Harvey Unna, who liked it and after sending to to several publishers it was eventually accepted by William Collins & Sons (now Harper Collins). The publishers commissioned an illustrator, Peggy Fortnum, and the very first Paddington book "A Bear Called Paddington" was published on 13th October 1958.

Bond's invention proved a huge success, as the Paddington books have sold more than thirty-five million copies worldwide and have been translated into over forty languages.

About Paddington

Paddington is an anthropomorphised bear. He always addresses people as "Mr.", "Mrs." and "Miss" and very rarely by first names. He inflicts hard stares on those who incur his disapproval. He has an endless capacity for getting into trouble. However, he is known to "try so hard to get things right".

In Bond’s first story, Paddington is found at Paddington railway station in London by the Brown family, sitting on his suitcase (bearing the label "WANTED ON VOYAGE") with a note attached to his coat which reads, "Please look after this bear. Thank you."

Bond has said that his memories of newsreels showing trainloads of child evacuees leaving London during the war, with labels around their necks and their possessions in small suitcases, prompted him to do the same for Paddington.

Paddington arrives as a stowaway coming from "Darkest Peru", sent by his Aunt Lucy (one of his only known relatives, aside from an Uncle Pastuzo who gave Paddington his hat), who has gone to live in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima.

He tells the Brown family that no one can understand his Peruvian name, so they decide to call him Paddington after the railway station in which he was found. Bond originally wanted Paddington to have "travelled all the way from darkest Africa", but his agent advised him that there were no bears in darkest Africa, and thus it was amended to darkest Peru, home of the spectacled bear.

They take him home to 32 Windsor Gardens, off Harrow Road between Notting Hill and Maida Vale. The stories follow Paddington's adventures and mishaps in England.

About the creator

Paddington bear was created over half a century ago by the English writer, Michael Bond. Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire, England on 13th January 1926. He was educated at Presentation College, Reading. During World War II Michael Bond served in both the Royal Air Force and the Middlesex Regiment of the British Army.He began writing in 1945 and sold his first short story to a magazine called London Opinion. This experience helped him decide that he wanted to be a writer.

Michael Bond never thought of writing for children but, after producing a number of short stories and radio plays, his agent suggested that he adapt a television play for children.His first book, A Bear Called Paddington, was published in 1958 by William Collins & Sons (now HarperCollins Publishers). At the time, Michael Bond was working as a television cameraman for the BBC.

After the first Paddington book was accepted, Michael Bond went on to write a whole series and by 1967 his books were so successful that that he was able to give up his job with the BBC in order to become a full-time writer.In 1997 Michael Bond was awarded to OBE for services to children’s literature. He is married with two adult children and lives in London, not far from Paddington Station.

More info: http://www.paddingtonbear.com/
Shop online: http://www.paddingtonbearshop.co.uk/

Or go to the London shop right in the middle of Paddington mainline railway station! Here you can actually buy clothes for bears.

Muslims need a good laugh

Long curly black hair. A very bushy beard. And let’s not forget about those big piercing brown eyes. Meet Azhar Usman, the massive co-founder of the Allah Made Me Funny tour.

Sharida Mohamedjoesoef
As published in the Amsterdam Weekly
photo credits: America Abroad Media

The Ayatollah of Comedy. Bin Laughin’. Those are but a few of the qualifications former lawyer Azhar Usman has earned himself as a stand-up comedian. The co-founder and star of the Alla Made me Funny comedy tour has performed in over a dozen countries on five continents, including the US, the UK and a handful of Arab countries. The Chicago-based comedian was recently in the Netherlands to jazz up the Ramadan Festival 2008. Don’t worry. The man will be back in April 2009 to do some more gigs.

Once a lawyer, now a stand-up comedian? Why this career switch?
‘I was practising law for a brief time. Badly. And I was doing stand-up comedy for fun. Also badly. But I got better and I began to fall in love with stand-up comedy, because of its raw and organic fashion. Eventually, it reached a point where there was enough interest, enough demand for my artistic work to sustain a livelihood. Who doesn’t want to pursue their dreams and tell jokes for a living. I decided to shut down my legal practice. Around that same time, I would say by the design of God, I met with Preacher Moss, who is the founder of the Allah Made Me Funny Tour. We hit it off immediately. After that we never looked back.’

You began your stand-up career after 9/11. Coincidence?
‘Not really given the fact that stand-up comedy is an art of protest that was born out of the angst of the forties, fifties and sixties. In the US in particular it has always been used by disenfranchised groups such as African Americans, Jewish Americans and gay Americans. These groups have taken up the mantle of stand-up as an art form, because it is such a raw and unadulterated speaking of the truth. After 9/11 the American Muslim community felt like they were being pulled in two directions insofar as their loyalties were concerned. Can I be a Muslim and be American? My act is an exploration of those anxieties. I talk to them in a way that is hopefully constructive, and I shine a light on not only what’s wrong with America and some of its policies and attitudes, but also on what is wrong with us as Muslims. We are not saints or angels. We have our own faults, our own flaws.’

photo credits: http://www.realsa.co.za/press.php

Muslims can respond highly sensitive when jokes are made at their expense. What is your take on this?
‘Muslims need a good laugh, like anybody else. The rest of the world needs to hear Muslims laughing, and Muslims being able to joke about the tensions of the world, but also about themselves. What I notice is that Muslims like to express themselves at protests and rallies, which in my view often achieves nothing more than increasing Muslim blood pressure.’

Are jokes about Muslims solely the prerogative of Muslims?

‘There is an underlying power dynamic at play here. You see, the problem with doing comedy that is self-deprecating, is that you are part of the in crowd. You are in on the joke. If others – non Muslims - are making fun of you, laughing at you rather than with you, it can be easily considered demeaning in nature. The fact of the matter is that Muslims today are at the shorter end of the stick when it comes to the power balance, whether on a political, social or cultural level. I would challenge non-Muslim comedians to come up with material that people can laugh at together.’

Are Islam and humour compatible?
‘Islam is a religion that teaches you how to raise your moral character. But that doesn’t mean you stop being a human being. Humor is a part of being a human being. In fact, prophet Muhammad was known to be a humorous man who loved a good laugh. But if your underlying question is whether I can do blasphemous jokes or engage in dirty language at the expense of my religion. The answer is ‘no’.

So do you censor your own work then?
‘It is the mark of a free society that it should have free exercise of speech. If you don’t like a book somebody has written, the more intelligent and effective answer is to respond by writing your own book rather than resort to book burnings in the streets or try to prevent publication and all this nonsense. That said, I am not a shock comic. I am not interested in offending people. And of course being a Muslim who takes his religion seriously, there are some moral parameters that I observe. I don’t do heretical of blasphemous jokes, nor do I use foul language, which in my opinion is not only unbecoming anyway of somebody who ought to be expressing himself more intelligently, but also a copout. So yes, I do filter my own material.’

Foul language a copout?
‘Stand-up comedy has become littered with the use of foul language, thus losing some of its artistic value. Jerry Seinfeld, a stand-up comedian whom I respect tremendously, doesn’t really curse on stage, he calls cursing and blue jokes the great shortcuts of stand-up comedy. If you resort to these types of humour, than maybe you are not as good a comedian as you thought you were.’

More info: http://www.allahmademefunny.com/

Photo credits: the Nasheed shop