Category: Fashion

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, Western nations have sidelined a raft of Russian artists, dancers and musicians with links to President Vladimir Putin. That includes star opera singer Anna Netrebko, who was dropped by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Netrebko, however, is making a comeback of sorts with an appearance Wednesday night in Paris — underscoring a broader debate over the limits of cultural boycotts.

Soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska received a standing ovation starring earlier this month in Puccini’s Turandot. The Ukrainian singer took her curtain call at New York’s Metropolitan Opera draped in her country’s flag.

Celebrated Russian sorprano Anna Netrebko was originally tapped for the role. But the war in Ukraine changed that. Netrebko has condemned the conflict, but not Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She publicly endorsed Putin’s reelection in 2012, although not in 2018. In 2014, she was photographed alongside a Russian-backed separatist leader from Ukraine’s Donbas region. She recently told Le Monde newspaper her intentions hadn’t been political, and said she was uninformed about the area’s history.

Now Netrebko is back on stage — singing at the Paris Philharmonic with another Russian, mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova. Beyond a last-minute appearance in Monaco, the event is considered her formal return to the Western stage.

The Paris Philharmonic declined an interview request. But in a statement, it said that while it has canceled artists formally linked to the Russian government, it aims to keep ties whenever possible with those who are not. After Netrebko’s criticism of the war, it noted, Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament, called her a traitor.

The Paris institution has a different position from the Metropolitan’s, where Netrebko will not be singing for the foreseeable future.

Russian singers aren’t the only ones under Western scrutiny. Dancers and other Russian artists are being boycotted for their ties to Moscow. It’s a very different situation from Cold War days, when artists from the United States and the former Soviet Union were often welcomed on each other’s stages.

“The two superpowers were in a competition for hearts and minds the world over, and they were attempting to demonstrate to the world and to one another’s populations that theirs was the superior system,” said Kevin Platt, a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “So from the perspective of each of the superpowers, it was their interest to showcase their culture and to engage their cultural exchanges.”

Today, it will be hard for Russia to overcome Western revulsion over its reported atrocities in Ukraine. Still, Platt is one who does not support a blanket boycott of Russian artists.

“My basic position on canceling and national identities is if you want to cancel people, cancel them because they are in support of the war, or aligned with this inimical Russian state or because their books and films are pro-war. Not because they are Russians, or their books are Russian,” he said.

That’s also the position of Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, who spoke to France 24 TV at the Cannes Film Festival going on now. The festival has banned Russians with official ties to the Kremlin and slotted time for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to speak at the venue via video link.

“Yet I do not agree with excluding those Russian authors, artists, filmmakers who are against this war, who are just like the rest of the civilized world — just trying to fight against the evil,” he said.

Loznitsa is not in lockstep with some of his compatriots who back a broader ban of Russian artists.

Meanwhile, the University of Pennsylvania’s Platt has his doubts about Netrebko’s operatic return.

“I think Ms. Netrebko has a prominent public voice,” he said. “I would want her to see her using that voice far more vociferously to condemn this war and Putin’s dictatorial regime in the strongest possible terms — much more so than she has done — before welcoming her back into the limelight.”

The Paris Philharmonic has also welcomed Ukrainian musicians who fled the war in their homeland, It’s working with the head of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra to place them in various French orchestras. Some have already performed in concerts in recent weeks.

Source: Voice of America

Country star Mickey Gilley, whose namesake Texas honky-tonk inspired the 1980 film Urban Cowboy and a nationwide wave of Western-themed nightspots, has died. He was 86.

Gilley died Saturday in Branson, Missouri, where he helped run the Mickey Gilley Grand Shanghai Theatre. He had been performing as recently as last month but was in failing health over the past week.

“He passed peacefully with his family and close friends by his side,” according to a statement from Mickey Gilley Associates.

Gilley — cousin of rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis — opened Gilley’s, “the world’s largest honky tonk,” in Pasadena, Texas, in the early 1970s. By mid-decade, he was a successful club owner and had enjoyed his first commercial success with Room Full of Roses. He began turning out country hits regularly, including Window Up Above, She’s Pulling Me Back Again and the honky-tonk anthem Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time.

Overall, he had 39 Top 10 country hits and 17 No. 1 songs. He received six Academy of Country Music Awards, and also worked on occasion as an actor, with appearances on Murder She Wrote, The Fall Guy, Fantasy Island and The Dukes of Hazzard.

“If I had one wish in life, I would wish for more time,” Gilley told The Associated Press in March 2001 as he celebrated his 65th birthday. Not that he’d do anything differently, the singer said.

“I am doing exactly what I want to do. I play golf, fly my airplane and perform at my theater in Branson, Missouri,” he said. “I love doing my show for the people.”

‘Urban Cowboy’

Meanwhile, the giant nightspot’s attractions, including its famed mechanical bull, led to the 1980 film Urban Cowboy, starring John Travolta and Debra Winger and regarded by many as a countrified version of Travolta’s 1977 disco smash, Saturday Night Fever. The film inspired by Gilley’s club was based on an Esquire article by Aaron Latham about the relationship between two regulars at the club.

“I thank John Travolta every night before bed for keeping my career alive,” Gilley told the AP in 2002. “It’s impossible to tell you how grateful I am for my involvement with Urban Cowboy. That film had a huge impact on my career, and still does.”

The soundtrack included such hits as Johnny Lee’s Lookin’ for Love, Boz Scaggs’ Look What You’ve Done for Me and Gilley’s Stand by Me. The movie turned the Pasadena club into an overnight tourist draw and popularized pearl snap shirts, longneck beers, the steel guitar and mechanical bulls across the country.

But the club shut down in 1989 after Gilley and his business partner Sherwood Cryer feuded over how to run the place. A fire destroyed it soon after.

An upscale version of the old Gilley’s nightclub opened in Dallas in 2003. In recent years, Gilley moved to Branson.

He was married three times, most recently to Cindy Loeb Gilley. He had four children, three with his first wife, Geraldine Garrett, and one with his second, Vivian McDonald.

A Natchez, Mississippi, native, Gilley grew up poor, learning boogie-woogie piano in Ferriday, Louisiana, alongside Lewis and fellow cousin Jimmy Swaggart, the future evangelist. Like Lewis, he would sneak into the Louisiana clubs to listen to R&B music. He moved to Houston to work construction but played the local club scene at night and recorded and toured for years before catching on in the ’70s.

Gilley had suffered health problems in recent years. He underwent brain surgery in August 2008 after specialists diagnosed hydrocephalus, a condition characterized by an increase in fluid in the cranium. Gilley had been suffering from short-term memory loss and credited the surgery with halting the onset of dementia.

He underwent more surgery in 2009 after he fell off a step, forcing him to cancel scheduled performances in Branson. In 2018, he sustained a fractured ankle and fractured right shoulder in an automobile accident.

Source: Voice of America

Rich Strike came off a blistering pace at odds of more than 80-1 to beat 19 blue-blooded opponents and produce one of the biggest upsets in history while capturing the 148th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.

Rich Strike, who was only entered into the field on Friday when Ethereal Road was scratched, is trained by Eric Reed, and owned by RED TR-Racing. Sonny Leon, a journeyman jockey based in Ohio, rode Rich Strike and won his first Kentucky Derby in his first attempt.

Race-favorite Epicenter was second by a length, with Zandon third by another half-length.

Rich Strike had raced just seven times before the Derby, winning once and finishing third three times.

He found his way through the field after starting in the 21st and far outside post position and under the fastest opening quarter mile in race history.

Rich Strike was still far back under a very fast pace as the horses turned for home down the long Churchill Downs stretch but went to the rail to save ground. Leon moved out to get past a fading Messier and then returned to the rail to run down Epicenter and Zandon, who were eye to eye with the finish line in sight but could not hold off the winner.

The winner is the second longest shot to win the Derby after Donerail took the post at 91-1 odds to win the Run for the Roses in 1913.

Source: Voice of America

With the Southeast Asian music scene making waves on the international stage, the time is ripe for the launch of a new and exciting music project featuring Southeast Asia’s top musical talents.

The project is led by Thailand’s hip-hop powerhouse “F.HERO” of High Cloud Entertainment, who has collaborated with a multitude of well-respected international artists. The palpable hype comes from the tantalizing collaboration that brings together ”VANNDA”, Cambodia’s hip-hop phenom, and “SPRITE”, the ultra-talented rapper who made history as the first-ever Thai artist to debut on the Billboard Charts, for their single “RUN THE TOWN”.

The stirring single also features “1MILL”, an up-and-rising rap act who adds something special to the track with his unique flow and cadence.

The collaboration between these phenomenal artists is bound to captivate fans and put more Southeast Asian musicians on the map.

“RUN THE TOWN” is a vibrant and exciting track that guarantees to excite Thai and Cambodian music fans alike. The collaborative effort composes music and lyrics that encapsulates the unique Southeast Asian identity through the use of traditional musical instruments.

Pride can be felt through beautiful melodies played on the traditional instruments. Its resonance bridges the gap between tradition and modernity, laying the foundation for the flow and rhyme that tear down the language barrier and strengthen camaraderie. F.HERO has a masterplan to not only to act as a middleman between the artists but to make the single a proud representation of ASEAN culture and give the single the global exposure it needs.

The track is a testament to the warm and successful collaboration between two neighboring countries.

Producers NINO, from Thailand, along with his Cambodian counterparts Songha, Daniel Chea, and VanThan were keen and eager to share each other’s musical heritage and traditions. AUTTA and OG BOBBY worked together to formulate the dynamic lyrics, elevating the song’s composition and cementing the excellence and raw talent of Southeast Asian artists.

Source: Lao News Agency

The third Lane Xang EMU train for the Laos- China Railway has arrived in Vientiane in order to serve the upcoming travel rush during the Lao New Year festival to be celebrated in mid-April.

The third Lane Xang high-speed EMU (electric multiple unit) train, which arrived in Vientiane on Saturday night, was manufactured in Qingdao in eastern China, according to the Laos-China Railway Company (LCRC), a joint venture running the railway’s Lao section.

The new train will run between Vientiane and Meuangxay, a town in northern Laos.

Laos will celebrate Songkan or the Lao New Year from April 14 to 16.

The Lao section of the Laos-China Railway will embrace its first festival travel rush since the start of its operation in last December.

In order to meet the various travel demands, the new EMU train has one more business class carriage and one more first class carriage, with economy class carriages reduced to five. Compared with the two Lane Xang EMU trains put into service earlier, the passenger carriage setting in the new train can vary and the interior decoration is upgraded, the LCRC said.

The LCRC told Xinhua on Sunday that since the railway was opened to traffic on Dec. 3 last year, the Lao section has seen a strong market demand. As of April 7, the Lao section had operated a total of 456 EMU train trips, transporting 236,800 passengers.

The company said it will continue to strengthen the management and service of passenger transport on the railway, including increasing the train frequency and improving ticket sale services.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Laos-China Railway (LCR) Co., Ltd has decided to increase the number of trains operated on the Laos-China railway to meet travel demand during the celebration of Lao New Year B.E. 2565, between April 12 and 17.

The additional multiple electric unit (EMU) train will be coded C86/5 and operated for five stations of the Laos-China railway including Vientiane, Phonhong, Vangvieng, Luang Prabang, and Meuang Xay.

According to China State Railway Group, as of Apr 3, the Laos-China Railway has been operated for four months carrying over 2.25 million passengers.

The railway has also transported over 1.31 million tons of cargo to and from more than 10 countries including China, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia promoting international trade connectivity in the region as well as the development of Laos-China economic corridor.

Source: Lao News Agency