mercoledì 30 gennaio 2013

Woman beauty


Iman (July 25, 1955) With her long, graceful neck and statuesque beauty, Iman looks like she was actually plucked out of a Somalian village and thrown on a runway, but in reality she was discovered by photographer  Peter Beard while she was studying political science in Nairobi. Upon coming to New York in 1975, however, she happily played along with the myth that Beard had discovered her as “a teen tribeswoman tending 500 cattle and sheep in a Kenyan game preserve.” 

During her 14 years as a high fashion model, Iman also worked with many notable photographers, including Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Annie Leibovitz.






venerdì 18 gennaio 2013

Born at Qalandia Checkpoint
By Naji Elmir, January 2013

Visualizing Palestine creates visual stories for social justice based on facts and data on Palestine/Israel.
http://visualizingpalestine.org

martedì 15 gennaio 2013

Arabic fusion and creativity..

A genious creation of Toufic Farroukh featuring Yasmine Hamdan in "Lili s'en fout". 
Personal interpretation of the famous historical piece of "Lili Marleen" (1915) with a blend of  arabic fusion  and creativity... 



venerdì 4 gennaio 2013

Who were the American Colony in Jerusalem?

The American Colony was a colony established in Jerusalem in 1881 by members of a Christian utopian society led by Anna and Horatio Spafford. Now a hotel in East Jerusalem, it is still known by that name today.


History

After suffering a series of tragic losses, Chicago residents Anna and Horatio Spafford led a small American contingent in 1881 to Jerusalem to form a Christian utopian society. The "American Colony," as it became known, was later joined by Swedish Christians. The society engaged in philanthropic work amongst the people of Jerusalem regardless of religious affiliation, gaining the trust of the local Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities. During and immediately after World War I, the American Colony carried out philanthropic work to alleviate the suffering of the local inhabitants, opening soup kitchens, hospitals, orphanages and other charitable ventures.



Although the American Colony ceased to exist as a religious community in the late 1940s, individual members continued to be active in the daily life of Jerusalem. Towards the end of the 1950s, the society's communal residence was converted into the American Colony Hotel. The hotel is an integral part of the Jerusalem landscape where members of all communities in Jerusalem still meet. In 1992 representatives from the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel met in the hotel where they began talks that led to the historic 1993 Oslo Peace Accord.


In the image :A young Ramallah girl reading popular American comics with some children of the American Colony in Jerusalem . If you look closely, you can see they are reading the "The Captain and the Kids" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Katzenjammer_Kids).

 American Colony and its connection with photography


Around 1900, Elijah Meyers, a member of the American Colony, began taking photographs of places and events in and around the city of Jerusalem. Meyers's work eventually expanded into a full-fledged photographic division within the Colony, including Hol Lars (Lewis) Larson and G. Eric Matson, who later renamed the effort as the Matson Photographic Service
Their interest in archeological artifacts and the detail of their photographs, led to widespread interest in their work by archeologists.  
The collection was later donated to the Library of Congress.


From Left to Right: Jamil Albina, Najib Albina, and Lewis Larson developing motion picture film in the American Colony, Jerusalem. Circa 1934.

mercoledì 2 gennaio 2013

إلاما إلاما “Elama Elama”

A brilliant interpretation done by Yasser Habeeb  an Emarati singer and produce that presentsElama Elama” a century old Yemenite song with the fusion of indian rythms and sounds that makes this piece a master one.  







إلاما إلاما زماني ,, اوه اوه اوه ,, زماني إلاما


until when my time (he's talking to his time-or life in general- and asking it until when?)

صدودا وهجرا وحزنا ,, اوه اوه اوه ,, وحزنا إلاما


rejection and abandonment and sadness, oh, and sadness until when?

على غير ذنبٍ صروف الليالي ,, صروف الليالي

without a sin (or a fault) the dismissal of nights!

تزدني عذاباً تزدنــي ,, اوه اوه اوه ,, تزدني هياما

you bring more torture (to me) and (hyam: make me more madly in love)

اناهيك يادهر من حرب لحظٍ ,, من حرب لحظٍ

يوجه لقلبي دواما,, اوه اوه اوه ,,دواما سهاما

(not very clear what it means, but on the whole it means that time always aims at my heart with arrows)

ايا دهر رفقاً ايادهر رحماً,, ايادهر رحماً

and oh time, kindness! (like be more kind) and oh time, mercy!

ويادهر فضــــلاً تفضُ ,, اوه اوه اوه ,, تفضُ الخصاما

and oh time, grace! (time) overflows, oh oh, overflows with arguments!