By Julia Cosgrove  February 17th, 2010 3:43 pm  |  Comments (0)

Janera Soerel, who appears in an upcoming issue of Afar, is the founder and publisher of Janera, an organization that takes “global affairs out of academic and activist circles.” Through salons, workshops, film screenings, and meetups, Janera encourages conversation between global citizens. Next week at the Andaz Hotel in Manhattan, the group is hosting an event on Haiti. The topic, “Haiti’s Reconstruction & the Geopolitical Implications of a Permanent U.S. Presence,” is sure to spur lively debate.

Featured speakers include Bob Maguire, director of the Haiti program at Trinity Washington University in D.C.; Nikolas Kozloff, author of Hugo Chavez, Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S.; and François Pierre-Louis, an associate professor at CUNY who specializes in Caribbean and Haitian politics. Lenelle Moise, a Haitian-American poet and performance artist, will recite a few of her poems to open the program.

Tickets are $40 in advance and $60 at the door.

By Nicole Solis  January 4th, 2010 9:51 am  |  Comments (3)

The Afar staff returned back from our holiday break to find this fun item from Boston.com about New Year’s traditions around the world. The only recurring theme I noticed was fire and explosions–everything from sparklers to fireworks to carbide-shooting. Everyone seems to like to start the new year (or end the old one) with a bang.

If you spent New Year’s (or any other recent holidays) abroad, what traditions did you see or experience?

By Derk Richardson  November 2nd, 2009 9:57 am  |  Comments (3)

When it comes to contemporary music around the world, the new Museyon Guide, Music + Travel: Touring the Globe Through Sounds and Scenes, is on the same page with Afar magazine’s Sounds department.

In Afar’s premier issue, Zachary Mexico broke down the history and latest developments in Beijing’s avant-rock scene; in the December-January issue, on newsstands Nov. 10, Dan Strachota does the same for the digital cumbia movement in Buenos Aires.

Music + Travel touches down in 12 locations. Among them are Paris (”New Rap City”), Australia (”Art Rock Confidential”), Addis Ababa (”Swing Shifts”), Mumbai (”Passage to Indipop”), Berlin (”Techno Color”), and, yes, Beijing (”Experimental Methods”) and Buenos Aires (”The Digital Domain”).

Music scenes in Chicago, Southern California, Dublin, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Istanbul get similar close-up treatment.

Not only do Museyon Guides, which include three volumes of Film + Travel and the new Art + Travel, take the Afarish approach of tapping local experts to take readers on “a far-reaching, accessible, and inventive journey into the things they love,” but, like Sounds, they get inside the local culture through a mix of text, photos, time lines, maps, and annotated discographies.

Bringing the synchronicity full circle, at Museyon’s New York City launch celebration for Music + Travel, the special guests will include Beijing avant-rock stars Zhang Shouwang (Carsick Cars and White) and Xiao He. The party takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wed., Nov. 4, at Von, 3 Bleecker St. Admission is by RSVP only, but you can find the open invitation on Museyon’s blog. Of course you can become a Museyon Facebook fan and follow Museyon on Twitter.

Related posts:

• Listen to the sounds of Beijing rock
• Imogen Heap spins the globe and scores a hit
• Singing in the Sahara with Tinariwen

By Nicole Solis  October 27th, 2009 11:34 am  |  Comments (0)

A double-cloth wool blanket by Eleanor Pritchard

British textile designer Eleanor Pritchard finds inspiration in limitations. That’s one reason she’s so drawn to dobby weaving, a simple weaving technique that uses a limited number of colors and small repeated patterns.

Within these parameters, the bold geometric patterns and vivid colors of her double-cloth wool blankets and cushions are free to pop. Though her designs are modern, the textiles are produced using traditional weaving techniques by a Welsh woolen mill.

If you’re in London, see Pritchard’s work at these upcoming shows:

• November 15: Midcentury Modern, Dulwich, London
• December 4–6: Christmas Open Studios, Deptford, London

[Hat tip to Tea for Joy for reminding me of Pritchard's lovely work!]

By Derk Richardson  September 24th, 2009 8:00 am  |  Comments (0)

Though Irishman Jonathan Swift praised the luscious mollusks in poetry, oysters might not seem likely cornerstones of Celtic cuisine—until you’re in Ireland eating them with a slice of brown bread and a pint of stout. For 55 years, Galwegians, living close to Ireland’s west-coast fishing beds, have celebrated the opening of oyster season at the Galway International Oyster Festival, a four-day indulgence in all things oyster. September 24-27, you can cheer the shuckers during the international oyster-shelling contest, and sample chowders and raw oysters all day long. Join the locals at the opening-night party, afternoon tastings, and the Saturday-night gala ball and banquet.

Check out the oyster shucking and slurping action in this Fresh From the Sea episode on Galway.

By Jennica Peterson  August 24th, 2009 8:25 am  |  Comments (0)

Chocolate "hot dogs" at the Eurochocolate festival.

Serious chocoholics should head to Perugia, Italy, from October 16 to 25, 2009, for the Eurochocolate festival. Reportedly 1 million people attend for the chocolate tastings, chocolate spa, chocolate igloo, and chocolate-themed nightlife.

If you go, you might stay at the Etruscan Chocohotel, “primo albergo al mondo dedicato al cioccolato” (the first hotel in the world devoted to chocolate). Rooms are on three floors: the milk chocolate floor, the gianduia chocolate floor, and the bittersweet chocolate floor.

Learn more about chocolate around the globe in the Curious Planet department of Afar’s premier issue.

Photo courtesy of parksam.

By Derk Richardson  August 17th, 2009 1:28 pm  |  Comments (0)

If the all the 40th anniversary hoopla left you with a Woodstock hangover, “Global Hit” has a surefire antidote: the Guca Festival, an annual trumpet blowout that takes over the Serbian town of Guca every August.

“Global Hit” is the music segment of PRI’s weekday radio news magazine, The World. Its recent Guca story is quick-hit coverage with boisterous videos, including a live performance of “Alkohol” by Serbian superstar Goran Bregovic.

For a deeper profile of singer-songwriter Bregovic, and more on the Guca fest, check out the interview Steve Hochman posted last June in his Around the World column at Spinner.com.

What under-the-radar international festivals have rocked your world? Let us know in the comments.

By Julia Cosgrove  July 29th, 2009 6:09 pm  |  Comments (0)

The crowd at OppiKoppi.

For the premier issue of Afar, I wrote about bunny chow, a South African take-out dish. During the course of my research, Afar’s cofounder Joe Diaz tipped me off to a film titled Bunny Chow, about a road trip to OppiKoppi music festival.

Held in the bush of the northern Limpopo province, the left-of-center music festival marks its 15th anniversary this month, with performances by such South African rock acts as Kidofdoom, Steadyrock, and Fokofpolisiekar. If you’re in South Africa, grab some bunny chow in Durban and hightail it to the bushveld.

OppiKoppi photo by ftbester. CC 2.0