THE MILLENIUM QUARTET at Glasgow University

The first in the lunchtime concert series for this Academic year was from The Millennium Quartet , accomplished alumni of the prestigious Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra from Venezuela.Since 2000 the orchestra has received substantial state funding in a programme to raise a million children from poverty to having a high degree of educational vocations including international class mastery of music.The state provides about 80% funding and early results hold much promise.

In a show of solidarity , and to prove ideas to improve the lot of the less privileged is not a one way process the Quartet are in Scotland to take the Sistema idea and help establish and guide the Venezuelan model in Scotlands educational institutes.It is ironic whereas in Venezuela the programme is state funded , in Scotland it is an independent charitable effort.

As the Sistema Scotland website states the goals are:

We are on a mission to transform lives through music.

Sistema Scotland is a charity set up in the belief that children can gain huge social benefits by playing in a symphony orchestra. We use music making to foster confidence, teamwork, pride and aspiration in the children taking part - and across their wider community.

We take the Sistema name from the orchestra movement established in Venezuela in 1975 by Maestro José Antonio Abreu.

We are very proud to be official partners with the original organisation in Venezuela. We seek to benefit from the South Americans’ expertise, while adapting their methods to suit conditions in Scotland.

Sistema Scotland exists to develop orchestra centres on the ground in Scotland. These are known in the community as Big Noise. The first is in Raploch, Stirling. We have plans for further centres across Scotland.

The first quartet was Mozarts in D minor K421 , as pointed out by a professor many years ago German orchestras play Germanic pieces with a naturalness other orchestras rarely emulate , even after years of trying.It is as if music also has an inbuilt language intonation which can be passable mimicry by others but does not quite hit the mark , even the ones that do get close one will find that it is by hiring the services of a german trained composer.In this way the quartet hit all the right notes but the passion did not materialise.

The second quartet , however,by a splendidly South American fusion of an Argentine composer born of Italian Mother and Catalan Father is played so naturally and with such heartfelt evocative sympathy one could be mistaken for thinking the piece was especially written for them.The piece is Quartet No.1 Op.20 by Alberto Ginastera.

The Herald Scotland has a fairly accurate appraisal of the Ginastera piece in this review.

Here is a very delicate performance of Ginastera by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra captured in London:



In the interview below the founder of the El Sistema project Jose Antonio Abreu gives an inspirational talk about the value of this type of project:

SOUTH OF THE BORDER by Oliver Stone

In the UK at any rate there was a disingenuous misleading perception to this documentary about Oliver Stone being a well meaning though politically naive who is put right by a mature Tariq Ali script.In actual script , if you pardon the pun , Oliver Stone is a highly skilled film-maker who knows his constituency and how to stimulate them to just the right degree.The purpose of this film is to present to an American audience ( the starting point for an American and European audience is quite different because of the overt partisanship of the mainstream corporate US media as opposed to the slightly less overt coverage we have in Europe).Understanding these two starting points is important before levelling the lazy charge of lack of political depth to the documentary.Oliver Stone has a task of presenting a Human face and casual playfull side to demonised leaders to the American audience , to show the US viewers these maligned "enemies" are leaders that look and think like the People they represent , in all cases democratically elected.

Oliver explains the underlying reasoning in the interview below:



The documentary succeeds in presenting the shades of Human experience in todays South American leadership from the indigenous leaders of Venezuela and Boliva ; the realist elite in Argentina and the liberation theologists and trade unionist leaders in Ecuador and Paraguay ,and a non-interfering tolerating leader from Brazils trade union and business partnership , a cross section of leaders trying to extricate the region from the Monroe doctrine , but hardly left pin-up boys as is the equally one dimensional perspective of the European Left , a true Bolivarian cross section of genuine mass movement leaders not allied to any constriction brand of exported European thoughts but coming up with regional solution to local concerns.


Check-out this video at the 1m35sec mark about the economic advice Bush gave to Argentinian president Kirchner.



As an excellent companion piece to the documentary itself is this episode of Democracy Now , a four-part piece which acts as a informative,detailed appendix to the documentary itself which shows Oliver Stone , as well as Tariq Ali , looking in-depth into the background issues to the superficial themes of the documentary itself.

What stands out is just how perceptive and sophisticated Oliver Stones understanding is.



One major question is just how established and long lasting this process will be when the US tries to , as it inevitably will , re-strengthen the Monroe Doctrine.The major reason these South American leaders have defied the US is that America has had a decade long commitment of nearly 200,000 troops in far away continents.In the next few years the troops will come back and if you have read the telling observations of Eduardo Galeano on "The Open Veins of South America" are to be relied upon then it normally taken only from 11 months to just under 3 years for normal service to be resumed.

FRANKIE BOYLE LIVE AT THE STAND GLASGOW

Tickets for a series of gigs for a week were sold out in only 90 minutes.What really appealed to me was all proceeds for the appearances would go to Palestinian charities.

These were preview practice concerts to try out material for his upcoming series tramadol Nights in front of a live studio audience.

Wednesday 15 September Frankie Boyle: Tramadol Nights Warm-ups
Doors 17:00 | Show: 18:00 | £10.00 full | £10.00 conc | £10.00 members
SORRY SOLD OUT!
Frankie Boyle returns to The Stand to warm-up for his up-coming TV show 'Tramadol Nights'. Be the first to see this brand new stand up material!
Please note that tickets for this show are only available online, so please don't phone the box office to book. Tickets are strictly limited to 4 per customer - no exceptions. Please note that photographic ID in the name of the person who booked must be presented on the door when collecting tickets. All ticket proceeds go to Palestinian charities.
THE STAND HAS A STRICT POLICY AGAINST TICKET TOUTING. Any touted tickets will be cancelled. You have been warned...

Having found about it much later in the evening they went on sale and receiving a series of SOLD OUT messages i philosophical reserved myself to not being fated to attend such a neat way to give the Palestinians money.

On the day of the first performance a friend of mines managed to get a precious returned ticket.On the very off chance i asked him if the Stand could offer a carer ticket so that he can have assistance to get into the venue.The Stand rightly said no-chance , only to phone my Friend an hour later to not only offer a ticket but a free one to boot.

Unlike Theatre and Musical concerts it is never a good idea to sit at the very front for a comedian performance , unless you enjoy being humiliated in public, to do so for Frankie Boyle is really asking for it , and he never fails to deliver.

I have to admit im not really a fan of his deeply offensive humour , but he does give the impression he could change tack and be equally effective at other modes of comedy with a simple gear change.Anyone who is willing to stick up for , and support the Palestinians is much to be admired.

Here is an example of him doing self-depreciating Scottish jokes:



And here is him in his element with a flurry of offensive jokes:

THE SEVEN SAMURAI at the GFT

This all time great film is commonly compared to the Western film it inspired "The Magnificent Seven".Though there are two aspects which give the original more meaning and depth.Firstly is the richly detailed characterisation of all the individual members of the samurai , with special emphasise on the code of honour and the passing of the traditional chivalry into an uncertain age of less certain and stable values systems.In transitional Japan of the 1950s this would be a vital and current valid study of rapidity of change , its desirability and where would it lead.

The other is the presence of guns , the samurai have to take on the bandits with sword and guile whilst the other party have guns at their disposal.


Here is an excellent video review of the drama and central theme of the film:



This excellent review gives a detailed background to this amazing work of art.

Kurosawa had more influences than just The Magnificent Seven , he also inspired the Fistful of Dollars series and was , ultimately uncredited , light in the Japanese segments of the ground breaking film Tora!Tora!Tora!.

The video below gives an indication of the vast Influences and Inspirations Kurosawa gained from Western Literature and Arts as well as his own contributions to Western Films and genres we now take for granted:

LUNCHTIME FOR GAZA COMEDY FUNDRAISER at the STAND EDINBURGH

Veteran Comedian Ivor Dembina has been presenting a revised version of his own remarkable solo show about the conflict entitled ‘This is Not a Subject for Comedy’.I first saw the earlier version of the show way back in 2004 at a benefit fundraiser at the Stand in Glasgow.

In between a busy schedule Ivor organised this sell out benefit for Gaza ( monies going to the DEC joint charities appeal fund) along with Jewish Socialists' Group ,Established for over forty years, the JSG celebrates diversity and campaigns for peace with justice for the Palestinians and supports Israelis working for a future based on equality. It supports the right of all minorities to feel secure wherever they live, and rejects the subordination of diaspora Jewish communities to the demands of the Israeli state and the confinement of Jewish identity to a religious or Zionist straitjacket. , of which he is a member and Jews for Justice for Palestinians , a 1600 strong network of Jews who are British or live in Britain, who oppose Israeli government policies that destroy the livelihoods, human, civil and political rights of the Palestinian people. JfJfP campaigns for an end to the Israeli Occupation and for the Palestinians' right to a state in the territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

The Show was an absolute sell-out , a great credit to Ivors ability to attract influential top rate comedians to give their services and time to this great Humanitarian cause.

First up was the hilarious Lynn Ruth Miller :



She is 77 at the moment and getting better.

Then we had the rascally Daniel Kitson :



Followed by Andy Zaltzman and then the low-key genius Stewart Lee himself:



A very entertaining and successful show , a credit to the organisers ; participants and the very helpful house-staff.

THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES ( EL SECRETO DE SUS OJOS) at the GFT

This joint Argentinian/Spanish collaboration is based on a Novella by Eduardo Sacheri.



The subtle pacing gives an added depth to the emotional undercurrents of the characters and plot.Like most films dealing with thew age of dictators in Spain and Latin America the past is portrayed in a dreamlike reverie from another universe always just beneath the surface but can only be looked at through a prism , never directly , which occasionally shakes the suppressed pent feelings crying out for resolution.

To highlight just how many layers of barely perceptible deep thought have been put into this project check-out the detailed and careful attention given by director Juan Jose Campanella into the hardly noticeable background music to one of the scenes:



As you can see from the video below the reviewers the World over are , quite literally , raving about this masterpiece , and rightly so.



In this segment of an interview given by Campanella the real crime the Film deals with is the Past , and it is the way each character strives to solve it which has such meaning for the audiences which have loved this film.