Repeating Islands

For the first time, “Haiti on Ice” will be held in Haiti. The Sylvio Cator stadium in Port-au-Prince, will be transformed from a sports field to an ice rink from January 17 to 19, 2012, to host the ice-skating show.

The show will feature the two-time French Olympic Figure Skating medalist Philippe Candeloro and the nine-time French National Champion Surya Bonaly.

It was previously slated to take place from November 28 – December 4th but was pushed back according to organizers who held a press conference. The figure skating exhibition has been held in Guadeloupe, where 20,000 people turn out to see the performers and in the Dominican Republic where 43,000 tickets were sold.

For full article, see http://www.defend.ht/entertainment/articles/performing/3509-haiti-on-ice-to-debut-in-port-au-prince-january

For photo, see http://figureskating.about.com/od/famousskaters/ig/African-American-Ice-Skaters/Surya-Bonaly.-02i.htm

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Repeating Islands

The traditional chief of the Algonquian people has symbolically adopted members of Canada’s Haitian community living in his traditional territory, a vast expanse stretching as far west as Saskatchewan and as far south as North Dakota. The article, published in the Ottawa Citizen, asks, “But what does that really mean?” Apparently, this opens up a legal can of worms regarding limitations to the rights of the Algonquians and transferability of these rights. See excerpts below:

For Pascale Annoual, 50, who was born in Haiti but now lives in Montreal, the adoption means that those Haitian-Canadians now have the same hunting and fishing rights and ability to cross freely into the U.S. as members of Canada’s First Nations. A nice notion, perhaps, but legally one that holds little water, says an expert. Canada has given aboriginals special rights, Richard Van Loon said, but the government has believed those rights cannot…

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Repeating Islands

Students from Holistic Primary School and Holistic Music School plan to raise the roof at the Little Carib Theatre, when they invoke the memory of its founder – dance legend Beryl McBurnie – to tell the history of Trinidad & Tobago, through music, dance and poetry. 

The schools will stage ‘T&T: “Just” The Two of Us”’ a theatrical celebration of Trinidad & Tobago’s 50^th Anniversary of Independence, for general audiences, on 8^th and 9^th December, at the Little Carib Theatre in Woodbrook.

A truly collaborative effort, the production will feature the music of: André Tanker, Lutalo “Brother Resistance” Masimba, David Rudder, Denyse Plummer, Edwin “Crazy” Ayoung, Ella Andall, Kees Dieffenthaller, Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, Marjorie Padmore, Mervyn “The Mighty Sniper” Hodge, Mungal Patasar, Patrick Castagne, Ralph Mc Donald, Ras Shorty I, Ray Holman, Roland “Rembunction” Yearwood, Robert “Mighty Trini” Elias, Winston “Shadow” Bailey and others.  Arrangers include:…

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Repeating Islands

Adela Hernández, a biologically male Cuban who has lived as a female since childhood, served two years in prison in the 1980s for “dangerousness” after her own family denounced her sexuality. This month she made history by becoming the first known transgender person to hold public office in Cuba, winning election as a delegate to the municipal government of Caibarien in the central province of Villa Clara, as Andrea Rodríguez reports for Between the Lines News.

In a country where gays were persecuted for decades and sent to grueling work camps in the countryside, Hernández, 48, hailed her election as yet another milestone in a gradual shift away from macho attitudes in the years since Fidel Castro himself expressed regret over the treatment of people perceived to be different.

“As time evolves, homophobic people – although they will always exist – are the minority,” Hernández said by phone from…

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Africa is a Country (Old Site)

Here’s another list of 10 films in the making or already finished. Two long fiction features to start with. Dakar Trottoirs (directed by Hubert Laba Ndao; left) has “surrealist characters of a paradoxical theatre intermingling in the heart of the city.” Sounds real. There’s a write-up on the shooting of the film and a short interview with the director over at the curiously titled Africa is not a country blog (part of Spanish newspaper El País’s network). No trailer yet but check the film’s Facebook page for production stills, and you’ll find a short making-of reel here.

Next up, Andalousie, Mon Amour (“Andalusia, my love”) is Moroccan actor Mohamed Nadif’s directing debut, promoted as a comedy about migration. This one does have a trailer:

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Repeating Islands

Daphney Valsaint Malandre (from ILoveKonpa.com) confirms that internationally renowned Jamaican singer Sean Paul will be in Haiti for a unique evening at Parc historique de la Canne à sucre [Nation Sugar Cane Park] on December 27, 2012. “This show has been promised every year,” she says, and now Mario Viau Jr. and Black Palm Events are producing the concert, thus making it a reality.

“Yes, it is confirmed. We have already signed the contract,” said Frederic Rouzier Black Palm Events. Following the success of the events organized in the past with foreign artists like Jah Cure and Brick and Lace, Mario Viau Son has received good recommendations that allowed him to get in touch with the staff management Sean Paul without great difficulty. They therefore concluded that the artist will be accompanied by a team of twenty-three people including six dancers, who will arrive in Haiti on the day…

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Repeating Islands

The Times Picayune reports that “Observers of New Orleans culture often describe the town as ‘the northernmost city of the Caribbean.’” Apparently, it will feel a lot more Caribbean on Monday, November 19, when Cuban piano legend Chucho Valdes plays a free concert at the Joy Theater, 1200 Canal Street. The concert, which is sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, begins with a performance by Alexey Marti, a young Cuban percussionist who is studying in the jazz program at the University of New Orleans. The show begins at 7:00pm; Valdes is expected to start around 9:00pm. The New Orleans newspaper writes:

At age 70, this multiple Grammy winner offers a direct connection to the Cuban tradition. His father, Bebo Valdes, was an influential Cuban bandleader. The elder Valdes also served as his son’s first piano teacher. But the son isn’t a slave to tradition. Valdes first made…

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Repeating Islands

Adela Hernandez made history by becoming the first known transgender person to hold public office in Cuba, winning election as a delegate to the municipal government of Caibarien in the central province of Villa Clara. A biologically male Cuban who has lived as a female since childhood, 48 year old Hernandez served two years in prison in the 1980s for ‘‘dangerousness’’ after her own family denounced her sexuality.

In a country where gays were persecuted for decades and sent to grueling work camps in the countryside, Hernandez, 48, hailed her election as yet another milestone in a gradual shift away from macho attitudes in the years since Fidel Castro himself expressed regret over the treatment of people perceived to be different. “As time evolves, homophobic people — although they will always exist — are the minority,” Hernandez said by phone from her hometown. Becoming a delegate “is a great triumph,´…

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Africa is a Country (Old Site)

A new post on one of The Atlantic’s blogs breathily covers Bono appearing at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. to talk about Africa and foreign aid. It’s not clear why a publication like The Atlantic (or its online equivalent) is covering Bono giving a talk about Africa but the fact they covered it at all is part of the problem.

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LadyRomp

As if we need more reasons to have a great big celeb-crush on Mila Kunis: She’s now producing a show about the women’s liberation movement. Called Meridian Hills, it’s set in 1972 and centers around a young newlywed in the Midwest who bands together with other members of her local Junior League to fight the patriarchy.

Color me intrigued – you don’t usually think of the Junior League as being a bastion of progressive politics. Maybe it was different then. In any case, props to the show for not starting out with total women’s lib stereotypes.

According to the Hollywood Reporter:

Sydney Sidner (The Rite) will pen the drama and executive produce…alongside Chris Keyser, Kunis and the Tannenbaum Co.’s Eric andKim Tannenbaum. Robot Chicken‘s Lisa Sterbakov, who worked with Kunis on the Adult Swim series, and the Black Swan actress’ managers 

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