Month: December 2017

Quietly, Bonna Neang Weinstein wept. Her husband, Howard Weinstein, sitting next to her, held her hand, comforting her.

“It reminded me of everything and myself,” she said of a December 15 performance of “Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia” at the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The first major symphonic work to remember the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians under the rule of the Khmer Rouge regime undid Weinstein, a survivor, who arrived in the U.S. in 1984.

“I could not believe that I lived through that,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

The production is the first collaboration between composer Him Sophy and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rithy Panh, who directed and designed the production.

Both artists survived the Khmer Rouge, which by some estimates killed 90 percent of Cambodia’s artists.

The two are in the forefront of Cambodia’s cultural renaissance, a movement to revive and preserve the ancient arts that were nearly excised, while educating new generations about their cultural heritage. Because of the Khmer Rouge genocide from 1975-1979, half of Cambodia’s population is younger than 25.

The production presented in New York is also aimed at the Cambodian diaspora. It has played on tour in Australia, where the Sydney Morning Herald described it as “light after utter darkness, a promise of resurgence…” and, after sold-out performances in Boston, it is headed to the Philharmonie de Paris next year before opening in Cambodia in 2019, the 40th anniversary of the end of the Khmer Rouge era.

Named after ceremony

“Bangsokol” is named after a ceremony performed at Cambodian funerals. A bangsokol is both the white cloth placed over the body of the deceased and the act of its removal, which signified the passage into the next life, where the spirits of the dead find rest. Bangsokol is also remembering the dead at a watt, the Buddhist temple, with prayer and offerings.

Each audience member found a bangsokol draped across their seat with a note: “We invite you to place this shroud around your shoulders for the duration of the performance.”

“Bangsokol” weaves Khmer traditional music enhanced by a Western orchestra and a Taiwanese chorus performing the libretto by Trent Walker.

Throughout the one-hour production, archival footage — the faces of Cambodian refugees and Khmer Rouge victims, black-clad Cambodians working in fields — flickered across three flat screens hung high behind the performers. Footage of aerial bombings was followed by a clip of then-U.S. President Richard Nixon saying, “Cambodia is the Nixon Doctrine in its purest form.”

“Whatever the film showed, it took me there,” Bonna Neang Weinstein said. “It has been more than 30 years, almost 40 years, but I still dream that I am in the Pol Pot regime.”

For many in the audience, the power of the past showed as quick swipes with damp tissues wiping away silent tears.

“If I’d know this was about the Khmer Rouge, I would not have come,” said a weeping To Voeun, 79, of Alexandria, Virginia. The Khmer Rouge killed her husband, leaving her to raise seven children alone, two of whom remain in Cambodia.

For Bonna Neang Weinstein, the owner of the Khmer Art Gallery in Philadelphia who attended “Bangsokol” with her husband and her three children, the Nixon clip hit home.

She explained: “I cried because I am hurt that the U.S. government bombed my country,” an event that many believe gave rise to the Khmer Rouge.

‘I cannot let it go’

“The U.S. has not admitted anything and not even apologized to us,” said Weinstein, who lost eight family members to the Khmer Rouge. “It mentions at the end ‘Let it all go.’ But I cannot let it go because the perpetrators have not acknowledged their guilt and apologized.”

Sophy Him, who composed the rock opera Where Elephants Weep, told VOA Khmer that his requiem does more than commemorate those who died under the Khmer Rouge.

“We remember the deaths, but also wish and encourage people in the world to have hope and love each other,” said Sophy Him, who lost two older brothers to the regime.

“This performance is for all people in the world who have suffered from genocides and wars,” he said. “This performance is also a warning to the world about the impact of war and genocide.”

That warning was not lost on Jonathan Hulland, a senior program officer at the American Jewish World Service in New York City, who told VOA after the performance that by putting on the white shroud, he felt he was part of the performance.

Hulland, who has been to Cambodia four times, most recently in October, appreciated the warning implicit in the performance. 

“I felt some shame and some guilt,” said Hulland, who was born in the United Kingdom and is now an American citizen. “I am an American now, and I do feel like this country has such a responsibility for what happened.”

Joseph Melillo, BAM’s executive producer, said, “BAM plays a very significant role, not only here in New York City, but in this country of introducing to our culture, the work of other cultures.”

Melillo, who has been to Cambodia twice, said he decided to bring “Bangsokol” to BAM because of Phloeun Prim, the executive director of Cambodian Living Arts (CLA), “who has a clear vision of what he wants for his country.”

The performance was commissioned by CLA, a nonprofit group that works to support the revival of traditional art forms.

Mary Read, who serves on the CLA board of directors, said, “Bangsokol” showed “that there is compassion.”

“Art comes to the heart,” said Read, an Australian known internationally for her Sydney fashion boutique and online store. “By healing the heart, you can heal the spirit of the country.”

The performance ends with Chhay Yam, a joy-filled Cambodian dance accompanied by singing. Two Cambodian-American children of the production’s volunteer helpers participated, learning the steps and how to play traditional musical instruments.

Hollywood luminary Angelina Jolie, who holds Cambodian citizenship and directed First They Killed My Father ​with Rithy Panh, recently saw the performance with her children Maddox Jolie-Pitt, whom she adopted as a baby in Cambodia, and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. They all wore white shirts and black pants, traditional Khmer funeral dress.

Jolie told VOA after the performance, “I think this was a deeply moving performance. I think it is brilliantly done. I think it is very powerful. It put you into a meditation. It’s like an hourlong prayer to pay respect, to remember, and to help us think of Cambodia the past, the ancient past, the more recent past, the present, and take us forward into a more hopeful future.”
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The Guinea-Bissau Writers Association gathers dozens of people from different backgrounds who share the same goal: to improve the literature of a small West African country with one of the world’s lowest literacy rates.

The authors and poets trickle in one by one, to the meeting of minds taking place at a plain-looking educational building. Among them is a dancer. Another is an officer in the country’s military.

Despite their differences, they are all here for the Guinea-Bissau Writers Association’s poetry gathering. At these regular meetings, the nearly 40 members come to share their thoughts and help one another hone their craft. Many hope this will, in turn, help develop their country. 

But with only a 55 percent literacy rate, it is hard for authors to reach a large audience, say association members.

“The reading community is not that big, so we cannot expect to make money writing books, at least not for a living,” said Abdulai Sila, an author and the association’s president.

First step: Imagine it

Sila said that despite the challenges, the writers’ shared vision of improving their country and forging a national identity through literature keeps them going. 

“For someone to be able to fight for something, first of all he needs to be able to imagine it,” he said. “One of the tasks of the writers association and the writer is to draw that image that then can be shared by the rest of the citizens. If you are able to imagine something, you can be able to fight for it.”

The former Portuguese colony has been plagued by military coups and instability since its independence in 1974. Today it is ranked among the bottom 10 countries on the U.N. Human Development Index. Currently, the country’s president and ruling party are locked in a political battle that has left parliament out of session for more than two years and caused stagnation.

Of the 40 members of the group, at least half are poets — a style that meshes well with the region’s rich history of oral storytelling. The genre also provides a practical platform for shorter works for those authors who are busy with day jobs.

One of those poets is Manuel da Costa, a major in Guinea-Bissau’s army. 

Da Costa began writing during the country’s fight for independence, and more recently he has also written about drug trafficking in the country. The military officer said the genre allows him to be subjective and leave things open to interpretation. When asked whether he thought that writing about trafficking conflicted with his day job as a member of the military — a branch often implicated in the country’s drug underbelly — he said he did not worry about getting into trouble because of poetry’s nature.

“Poetry language is subjective. When are you writing, it’s only you who knows what you are writing. Anyone who is reading it can have their own interpretation,” he said.

Language choice

Da Costa, as most other poets in the group haved done, chose to write in the country’s Portuguese-based Kriol language.

Association member and author Antonio Afonso Te has just published a book focused on how to write in Kriol. He said learning how to write in Kriol and integrating that into the national education program can help develop the country — and its literary scene.

IN PHOTOS: Writers Seek to Form National Identity Through Literature for Guinea-Bissau

“Kriol should be introduced for education in Guinea-Bissau, because most people speak Kriol. And another thing that is important is the teachers,” Te said, adding that they have more mastery of Kriol than the other languages that they use for teaching.

Whether it’s poetry or novels, in Kriol or Portuguese, the writers of this country say they hope they can use their craft to help Guinea-Bissau turn a new page toward improved development. 
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Spectators at the home stadium of Real Madrid saw its team’s hopes to keep La Liga title fade away Saturday as Barcelona rolled to a 3-0 El Clasico victory, opening a 14-point lead over the current champions. 

Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Aleix Vidal each scored, while Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema missed first-half chances. 

“They did really well in the second half. The first half was terrible, in my opinion. They [Barcelona] had very little possession [of the ball],” Joe Villanueva, a Barcelona fan, told VOA. 

Barcelona’s win, however, went beyond the European soccer classic. The soccer match came two days after elections in Catalonia in which separatist parties claimed a majority of the votes. Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and its largest city, while Madrid is Spain’s capital.

Saturday’s El Clasico was the first meeting between Madrid and Barca since the banned October referendum on Catalan independence. 

Club allegiances do not necessarily dictate political opinions. Still, Villanueva thought they would play a bigger role in the match. 

WATCH: A Barcelona Fan’s Take on the Game

“I thought the match would get ugly, especially after they were down 2-0 and they had a player down,” he said. “I thought it would get ugly, but they were composed. Both sides were composed. Usually Real Madrid gets pretty rowdy, especially when they’re losing, but they did well.”

‘An infinite stalemate’

After the political convulsions of the past three months, Catalonia and Spain are back to square one, said Xabier Barrena, a political columnist for the El Periodico newspaper.

“Catalonia is living in an infinite stalemate. There was a considerable increase in participation in the parliamentary elections this time, and despite this, the result is the same as in 2015. Both then and now, the solution must be a legitimate referendum,” Barrena said.

The most likely election outcome remains a coalition of the three pro-independence parties, but their options appear limited, Barrena said. “Any unilateral declaration [of independence] would elicit a violent response from the state,” he said. “So they will avoid that course.”

In the meantime, Barca coach Ernesto Valverde said a long stretch of the season remained. 

“The league isn’t finished. We haven’t even completed the first half of the season,” Valverde said. 

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane acknowledged it was a defeat “that hurts.”

“Madrid never gives up, whatever happens,” he said. “It is a difficult moment because we’ve lost by three goals. I could say we don’t deserve it, but that is football.”
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The Guinea-Bissau Writers Association gathers dozens of people from different backgrounds who share the same goal: to improve the literature of a small West African country with one of the world’s lowest literacy rates.
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For millions of Britons, a traditional Christmas Day includes turkey, Brussels sprouts, Christmas pudding, and a special seasonal episode of “Doctor Who.” 

The global success of the venerable sci-fi series means that fans around the world will also tune in Monday to watch Peter Capaldi’s final adventure as the space-hopping Time Lord known as the Doctor. (Americans can see it on BBC America at 9 p.m. Eastern). 

The show has had a dozen Doctors over its 54-year history, and this is one of those bittersweet moments when one lead actor hands over to another. At episode’s end, viewers will see Capaldi transform, through a Time Lord process known as regeneration, into Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to play the part.

First, adventure

Before that comes a rollicking and poignant adventure that moves from the World War I trenches to the South Pole, features mysterious creatures made of glass and (of course) involves a jaunt in the Tardis, a time-and-space machine shaped like an old-fashioned British police phone box. 

The episode loops back into the show’s own history, featuring an appearance by the very first Doctor, a white-haired gent who appeared on TV screens in 1963. He was played by William Hartnell, who died in 1975; David Bradley fills the role here. 

Mark Gatiss, a regular writer for the show who guest stars in the episode as a British Army officer marooned in time, said there was “a valedictory feel” on the set of the finale.

“The sense of eras ending all over the place was very profound but at the same time it was actually a very happy experience,” Gatiss told The Associated Press in an interview.

Gatiss has loved “Doctor Who” since childhood and has written for it since 2005.​

BBC hit

He’s better placed than almost anyone to explain the enduring allure of a show that survived early years of wobbly production values and a 16-year absence from screens between 1989 and 2005 to become a childhood touchstone, an emblem of British culture, and a money-making export for the BBC.

Partly, he says, it’s due to the Doctor, an eccentric and “slightly off-kilter” hero. Partly it’s “the randomness of the adventures,” which have sent the Doctor to ancient Rome and the Stone Age, distant galaxies and the end of time. 

And partly it’s the show’s “slightly ramshackle Britishness, in the very idea of an amazing space-time machine which looks like a beaten up old box.”

“And somewhere deep down in its absolute essentials, something genuinely magical,” he added.

World-view changing

The episode is also the swansong of Steven Moffat, who has been the show’s executive producer and chief writer since 2009. 

Moffat, who also co-created detective series “Sherlock” with Gatiss, has no doubt about the show’s place in television history. He told audience members at a recent preview screening that “Doctor Who” is “the greatest television show ever made.” 

“People change their view of the world and what they are capable of because of a silly show about a man who travels around in time and space in a police box,” Moffat said.

“Count the scientists, the musicians, the scholars, the writers, the directors, the actors, who became what they are because of this show. Count, as you might say, the hearts that beat a little faster because of ‘Doctor Who.’ I don’t even know what is in second place, but without doubt and by that most important measure ‘Doctor Who’ is the greatest television series ever made.”

​New Doctor, new mood

“Doctor Who” fans have become accustomed to changes of actor, and the shifts in mood that go with each new Doctor. The announcement that Whittaker (best known from detective series “Broadchurch”) would be the next occupant of the Tardis was front-page news in Britain. Many fans were delighted, though some grumbled at the idea of a Time Lady.

Gatiss, currently working with Moffat on a new adaptation of “Dracula,” thinks the naysayers come mostly from that never-satisfied subset of fans “who will definitely watch it 28 times just to make sure they hate it.”

“This is a series about an alien with two hearts who lives in a transcendental phone box, and yet somehow can’t change sex?” he said. “That is not an argument for 2017.”
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The sounds of the holidays have a familiar ring in cities across the United States, and in cities in South Korea, Japan, Chile and many European countries. In November and December, bell ringers stand next to Red Kettles belonging to the Protestant Salvation Army organization. VOA’s Deborah Block takes us to Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington, where bell ringers were collecting donations that will be put into local communities to help the needy.
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Mention “the fat one” in the United States in December, and someone might think you were referring cheekily to Santa Claus. But say it in Spain, and it’s a reference to the world’s richest lottery prize.

Spanish schoolchildren drew this year’s numbers for the Spanish Christmas Lottery on Friday, for a prize worth a total of $2.8 billion.

But not all the bounty goes to one winner. Multiple buyers can choose the same numbers, meaning the prize is divided among its multiple winners. Smaller prizes are also available in the lottery, which dates back to 1812. In all, thousands of prizes are awarded.

Holders of this year’s lucky number, 71198, are still coming forward. One town, the Costa del Sol capital of Malaga, has been reported to have racked up a total of nearly $152 million in prize money among 32 tickets.

At 200 euros each full lottery tickets are not cheap — but they can be subdivided into tenths, known as decimos, which sell for a more affordable 20 euros each. That makes playing the lottery a group activity.

After weeks of ticket sales, the winning numbers are read out by schoolchildren in a nationally televised broadcast from Madrid’s Teatro Real opera house. Watching the broadcast with family and friends is a Spanish holiday tradition. 

Spain began a national lottery in 1763 as a fundraiser for charity, but the Spanish Christmas Lottery that continues today began in 1812 and benefits the Spanish government and the merchants who sell the tickets, who make a 4 percent commission on each ticket sold.

Luckily for the losers, the Spanish Christmas Lottery is not the only one of the year. Those who failed to make their fortune in the Dec. 22 contest have another chance coming up: the El Nino drawing, held before the Feast of the Epiphany on Jan. 6.
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