Lion of Panjshir
by 
|The Los Angeles musician, Ariana Delawari — aka Lion of Panjshir — is half Afghan and half Sicilian and makes wonderfully enlightened weirdo folk rock. I hope she takes that as a compliment! Her music is delicate and powerful and she is a pure artist. Everything she does has that magic light in it. She made her new album partially in Afghanistan, and many of the lyrics deal with the continued oppression of people’s liberties by the Taliban.
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Tagged: Afghanistan, Los Angeles musicians
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Iraqi-American artist Wafaa Bilal spent an entire month living in a Chicago art gallery where he had rigged a webcam and remote controlled paintball gun which visitors online or at the actual gallery could use to shoot at him. The piece highlighted the danger everyday Iraqi citizens face both in terms of actual violence and the vitriol generated by the controversial and geopolitically convoluted war. The experience re-triggered the post-traumatic stress disorder that Bilal had acquired in his home country. The installation as well as his life as an activist, artist, and refugee are documented in his book, Shoot An Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun.
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Brandobean said | 17 January, 2009
I’m all for people doing semi-ironic covers of pop hits. Especially if they add a little ethnic style to it, but this is just terrible. It’s sloppy, there are rampant pitch problems, and it sounds very much like someone’s little sister doing a cover just for fun with a 4-track at home. It lacks the conviction to sound like it was done on purpose and the charm for the off-key vocals to sound endearing. 1 star.