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Day: 23 February 2017

Top 5: “Good” Songs

Written by Ben Lomax on . Posted in Music.

5. ‘Good Name’ – William Onyeabor

Last month sadly saw the passing of ’70s & ’80s Nigerian funk legend William Onyeabor whose rhythmic, synthesizer-driven tracks earned him admiration from the likes of Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) to David Byrne (Talking Heads), his mysterious and elusive persona also becoming the subject of Vice’s short documentary ‘Fantastic Man’. A scratch over ten minutes — not uncommon amongst Onyeabor’s Kraftwerk inspired catalogue — and released a short while before he gave up music due to becoming a born-again Christian, ‘Good Name’s moral message over repetitive beats is quintessential Onyeabor.

 

4. ‘Nothing Good Ever Happens At The Goddamn Thirsty Crow’ – Father John Misty

Soothing country crooner Father John Misty (AKA Josh Tillman) lays down his trademark wit over soft string arrangements, lamenting his experiences in an L.A. whisky bar. It’s an impossibly beautiful ballad over which Tillman tells how his girl “blackens pages like a Russian romantic” and “gets down more often than a blow-up doll.” True romance.

 

3. ‘Good Morning’ – Kanye West

Kanye may have consistently been the bad boy of popular music since he “Made that b**** famous” at the 2009 VMA’s, but musically he’s no stranger to being very good indeed (even starting his own record label named ‘GOOD Music’). Good morning is the stylish opening to 2007’s Graduation, which featured a handful of “good” tracks and a number of great ones. As would become standard for West’s discography, it signalled the start of an album that would change hip hop forever.

 

2. ‘Feel Good Hit Of The Summer’ – Queens of the Stone Age

“Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol” growls QOTSA frontman Josh Homme over the thumping monotone verses before bursting out with “C-c-c-c-c-cocaine” for the chorus. Perhaps unsurprising, then, that it saw them manhandled out of a Rehab centre in 2007 after opting to open their set there with this number.

 

1. ‘I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)’ – Jamie XX ft. Young Thug & Popcaan

Jamie XX effortlessly weaves together the Caribbean vibes of steel pans and Jamaican singer Popcaan, with soulful acapella samples and a career highlight performance from “Thugger Thugger.”A highlight of an already great album and easily one of the best tracks of 2015, ‘I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)’ takes the top spot as the “goodest” of an already good list.

Mix and Match Stir Fry

Written by Lily Carden on . Posted in Food & Drink.

Serves 2

20-30 minutes or so plus 1 hour marinade time

 

Ingredients

Protein

Chicken, strips OR Salmon OR Beef, strips

Marinade

Teriyaki
Vegetables (choose a mixture, you want about 1 extra large handful per person)

Pepper batons

Carrot OR Courgette ribbons (use a peeler)

Baby sweetcorn

Onion wedges

Sugar snap peas OR Mangetout

Spinach OR Bok Choi

Spring Onions
Carbohydrates

2 Portions Rice OR Fresh Egg Noodles

 

Method

Place the strips of chicken or beef, or the whole fillets of salmon in a plastic sandwich bag with about 3tbsp of teriyaki, seal and leave to marinate for an hour or so.
Prepare the vegetables so that they’re all in fairly narrow strips to help them stir fry evenly and if you need to cook the rice then do so now.
If you’re eating salmon then wrap it and the remaining marinade in some tinfoil to bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 12 minutes.
Heat some oil in a wok or large frying pan on the hob (side note: I bought a wok from Wing Yip for about £7 and once I’d seasoned it  — the oven method is best— it worked brilliantly). When the oil is hot put in the chicken or beef strips and stir fry until cooked (that’s only a couple of minutes for the beef but longer for the chicken to make sure it’s safe). Add in the vegetables and let them wilt, stirring constantly over a high heat. Chuck in the carbs, stirring to heat them through and distribute everything evenly. Break up the hot salmon and stir through. Serve in big bowls.

Harissa and Turmeric Dal

Written by Lily Carden on . Posted in Food & Drink.

Serves 2-3

Takes 25 minutes to make

I’ve been making this a lot recently as it’s quick and tasty (and importantly, cheap). It tastes great on its own but if you want to jazz it up then either top it with diced roast sweet potatoes, serve with rice or naan (the best tip is to buy a naan from your local takeaway and add it to your own meal). Don’t like spice? Just use less harissa (though some is needed for flavour). You can buy it easily from the international aisle of many supermarkets — if you can get it, I particularly recommend rose harissa.

Ingredients

1tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, diced

3tsp turmeric powder

1-3 tsp harissa paste

250g red lentils

400ml coconut milk

400ml water

1 lime, juiced

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onions until soft. Add the harissa and turmeric and cook for one minute. Pour in the lentils, coconut milk and water, stir everything together. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are soft but retain their shape and no longer taste bitter. Ladle into bowls and drizzle a generous amount of lime juice over it. Hey presto, it’s done. Serve with your chosen accompaniments.

Review: Artificial Salt

Written by Fergus Macphee on . Posted in Theatre.

Student theatre is something that is looked down on with scorn by many in the art world. People often view it unfairly as nothing more than poorly written plays, with formulaic storylines, and suspect acting. Julia Morgan’s Artificial Salt; the latest offering in new writing from the University of Manchester Drama Society, has made absolutely sure to dispel these misguided myths and stereotypes about the world of student theatre. Performed at the Wonder Inn in the city centre, audience members are first met with next to no staging, simple wash lighting and, three actors wearing matching plain white t-shirts and blue jeans. There is nothing out of the ordinary about this, but what many in the audience do not realise is that this bareness is only going to increase in the form of the piece itself. This is because Artificial Salt is an absurdist play, in the truest sense of the word. Therefore the audience are subjected to a play with no linear storyline, or plot for that matter, but instead a kind of episodic dramatic reading that can sound completely nonsensical on first listening.

With absurdist theatre there is, of course, always method to the madness, however the sign of an effective absurdist play is whether the method is seen by the audience, as well as the writer. Artificial Salt’s biggest strength is undoubtedly that it passes this test with flying colours. Morgan’s script is absolutely stunning in its vocabulary and ability to exploit all the wonderful facets of the English language. She is clearly someone with a vast knowledge in this area and it is through her wonderful use of language that the play begins to develop meaning. The dialogue is rife with alliteration, word association between actors, and even occasionally rhyme which all serve to create moments of great comedy and subtext.

This would not be possible without the strong performances all round from Molly Steadman, Mary Morris, James Meredith, and even the offstage voice of Anna Merabishvili who reads the stage directions with excellent clarity. Steadman and Morris, both simply named woman one and two have superb chemistry and their high energy performances allow them to bounce off one another well, in comparison to Meredith’s lone ‘man’. Meredith is equally adept at playing his role with an enduring intensity; the converse nature of these differing performances almost certainly being a comment on gender roles and sexuality. A special mention must also go to Meredith for a hilariously ridiculous monologue describing a fictional machine, which I was unaware until after the performance that he completely changes and improvises every night.

Action and its relationship to language are also explored in Artificial Salt and Meredith’s speech is a good example of this. With very little movement accompanying his confusing dialogue, both the audience and Meredith are left bogged down in the futility of language to great comic effect. In fact this becomes a theme that Morgan uses regularly throughout the play, as many of the long sections of speech are performed as just that; sections of speech. Where the play becomes fascinating is through conversely elongated sections of silent and often stylised movement, like when Steadman repeatedly stretched a piece of lace cloth across her face, or when Morris and Steadman wash Meredith’s feet in deathly silence. These were at times mesmerising to watch, and even for a play so steeped in language, I found myself begging to know what these characters would be saying while the sequences were going on!

One particular scene stuck in the memory as it perfectly utilised both language and action, in a display of how situation and the way in which we say something can completely change its meaning. In it Steadman repeatedly recites the Lord’s Prayer as she is wrapped in a thick white sheet and bound with rope. She becomes more and more distressed until her words become screams. I found this to be genuinely chilling and it can be read as a critique of religion, in the way that so many people’s enduring faith can supply no direct answers. This is made all the more effective with the addition of the beautifully composed score from John Pierce O’Reilly and Bonnie Schwarz, which enhances the horror of much of this repetitious movement.

Make no mistake; ‘Artificial Salt’ is not for everyone. As an audience member, one has to really focus to reap the rewards that the piece can offer and there will be those who do not tend to go to the theatre for experiences such as this. The brevity of the play (at around 50 minutes) is a great strength in this respect, as if it was much longer it could become difficult to remain totally engaged. My singular criticism would be that for a play so devoid of narrative, I found it slightly unnecessary and distracting to be broken up further by so many quick black outs and long scene changes. This is simply picking holes in an otherwise brilliant production. However special mention must go to the University of Manchester Drama Society for putting their confidence in a play that is so different and experimental to much of the student fare. For those who think they would not find Artificial Salt enjoyable, I would highly advise to look out for more work from Julia Morgan in the future. If her penchant for linguistics, writing and directing are anything to go by here, then her next production will surely be something that you would be mad to miss.

Artificial Salt is part of the MIFTAS season and is playing at the Wonder Inn from the 20th to the 22nd of February.

A social “awokening”: we need to start taking responsibility

Written by Holly James on . Posted in Opinion.

After a tumultuous 2016, being ‘woke’ seems to be the latest trend. In fact, the term featured on MTV News’ list of words to use in 2016, was shortlisted for Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year, and #StayWoke remained a consistent hashtag on Twitter. It is a phrase that has become almost irremovable from social media, commonly found floating around Twitter and Reddit, sometimes as a badge of pride and others as a sarcastic jab at ‘social justice warriors’.

But what does it really mean? Urban Dictionary defines the term ‘woke’ as “being aware”, in “a state of enlightened understanding”, or simply as “like being in the Matrix and taking the red pill”. Being woke implies an awareness or knowledge of, as well as a genuine concern and wish to engage with, social and political matters, in particular those concerning injustice, inequality and systematic oppression of particular social groups.

Almost ironically, the term itself has been appropriated from the Black Lives Matter movement, where it was used to signify the importance of staying conscious of the systematic racism of state apparatus and institutions. It is sad to see yet another word appropriated from AAVE (African American vernacular English) with little or no acknowledgement of its background. Still, one would hope that the sentiments of the term — awareness of and engagement with social inequality, oppression and injustice — would carry over in its transition to the mainstream. This, however, is debatable.

Increased political awareness among the social media generation is undeniable. Facebook and Twitter in particular have become key platforms not only for the dispersal of information, but also for sharing and discussing current affairs and issues. Social media has been an important tool in the apparent political awakening of today’s young people, but it lies at the heart of a variety of problems. Everyone is now afforded a place from which to voice their opinions and engage in debates — and we do. On the one hand, these platforms keep us informed, they allow us to open dialogue around the things that matter to us, like social issues and injustice, voicing our views and hearing those of others. In many ways, it is a liberal utopia; one long, constant discussion in which all stances have the opportunity to voice their opinion, where we can all learn and share ideas. This is, however, a view that undoubtedly sees social media through rose tinted glasses.

The reality is not so utopian. While social media has the opportunity to, and undoubtedly often does, allow these things to happen, it is not all so idealistic; it can sometimes be a platform that engenders petty arguments and general pedantry. Views are often shouted instead of spoken and opposition is ignored instead of acknowledged. In an online world that has the potential to be very personalised, we do not have to see things we do not want to see, and we often don’t. The content we do see is often so removed from ourselves or so fleeting that we unconsciously scroll past, vaguely acknowledging and not really engaging. It allows us to lazily sit back and think that voicing our views is enough. We click and type away, casually marking ourselves as ‘interested’ in protests we’ll probably never go to and lazily scrolling past petitions we know we should sign.

How much do any of us really do? Is it enough to simply discuss and vaguely acknowledge? If we are truly declaring ourselves the ‘woke’ generation, do we also have a responsibility to act on the injustice we are so quick to call out, to work toward positive social change?

This is not to say that speaking up, starting discussions, debating, protesting and voicing our opinions is not important. We must keep the dialogue surrounding the issues we care about open — acknowledging racial, gender and class inequality and speaking out against hateful regimes and their leaders is of vital importance. However, we must acknowledge that this is only the first step. What comes out of these discussions — the things we voice, the social change that we acknowledge must occur — requires action that we have not yet shown we are willing to take.

In its transition to mainstream culture, the term ‘woke’ has taken on a more light-hearted tone, no longer filled with the genuine anger and frustration at injustice. It has become a commodity, turned into a selling point for brands that have seen the fashion in political movements and jumped on the bandwagon. If we really care about social change, it is time to acknowledge that political awareness is not just a fashion statement — we are all responsible. We are all capable, on an individual level, of inciting positive change, of taking small steps to a better world, of personally making a difference. Being politically and socially conscious is of vital importance, but this consciousness must extend to all areas of our lives. The important thing to do is to think — about what you say, what you buy, where you buy, what you do, and what you can do.

Report rules NUS President should not be punished for anti-Semitism

Written by Lily Sheehan on . Posted in News.

The National Union of Students is in crisis after an internal report found its President, Malia Bouattia, guilty of making anti-Semitic comments, but ruled that she should not be punished.

Bouattia, the first female Black British and Muslim leader of the NUS, first faced allegations of anti-Semitism during her presidential campaign last year. A blog post she co-authored in 2011 was particularly controversial. In the piece, written for the University of Birmingham Friends of Palestine, she described the University of Birmingham as “something of a Zionist outpost in British higher education”. Bouattia believed this was because the institution had “the largest JSoc in the country, whose leadership is dominated by Zionist activists”.

Her comments on the Israel/Palestine situation have also been deemed anti-Semitic by some. The audience at an Israeli Apartheid event at the School of Oriental and African Studies last year heard her describe the UK Government’s Prevent programme as run by “Zionist and neo-con lobbies”. At a 2014 conference entitled ‘Gaza and the Palestinian Revolution’, Bouattia said: “With mainstream Zionist-led media outlets — because once again we’re dealing with the population of the global south — resistance is presented as an act of terrorism.”

The NUS President’s comments have been met with outrage from the Jewish community. Daniel Clements, a former President of Birmingham’s JSoc, stated that they were “completely unsatisfactory.” Over 300 Jewish student leaders, the Union of Jewish Students and the Oxford University Students’ Union have criticised Bouattia’s remarks.

An investigation by the Home Affairs Select Committee last October found her comments to be “outright racism”. Amidst this backlash against her beliefs, Malia Bouattia has refused to apologise. In a Guardian Students article after her election as President of the NUS, she wrote: “For me to take issue with Zionist politics is not me taking issue with being Jewish.”

The internal inquiry by the National Union of Students, published last week, was headed by Professor Carol Baxter, who was formerly the NHS’s head of equality, diversity and human rights. Whilst the report found that Bouattia’s comments at an Israeli Apartheid meeting at SOAS “could be reasonably capable of being interpreted as anti-Semitic”, four other counts of anti-Semitism — including the “Zionist outpost” remark — were dismissed.

Baxter’s inquiry concluded that the President had been “genuine in expressing her regret” and had since spoken out against anti-Semitism. The report finishes: “The investigator therefore concluded that in light of the above mitigating circumstances no further action should be taken [against Malia Bouattia] within the NUS disciplinary process.”

Joshua Nagli, a spokesperson for the Union of Jewish Students, said of the NUS report: “This was an opportunity to reassure Jewish students that the NUS will take incidents of anti-Semitism with the utmost seriousness. The fact that no further action has been recommended, despite the NUS president being found to have used anti-Semitic rhetoric on two separate occasions, is deeply troubling.”

The findings of this internal report were made available to Malia Bouattia several weeks before its publication. She has yet to publicly apologise. An NUS spokesperson labelled newspaper coverage of the inquiry “part of a sustained attack on a high-profile Muslim woman in a public position”.