A Song for Egypt: "#Jan25"

I had the pleasure of getting to know Omar Offendum, musician and political activist, on two visits to Beirut. This week I learned of this song and video, "#Jan25", in which Omar, The Narcicyst, Freeway, Ayan, and Amir Sulaiman celebrate the hope, sacrifice, and defiance of the Egyptian protesters. The title comes from the Day of Rage that kicked off the current demonstrations, and how news of it was spread on social media.

Tunisia Music Video: El General's Latest Song "Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, All Must Be Freed"

As the protest against Tunisian President Ben Ali was building this month, we posted a music video from rapper El General (Hamada Ben Amor), who had been seized by the police. His crime was to put out lyrics such as "President, Your People Are Dying".

Well, Ben Ali is no longer President and El General is free and producing more music. His latest track is an "ode to Arab revolution", calling for a repetition of the Tunisian rising in countries throughout the region: "Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, all must be liberated/Long live free Tunisia".

Iran Competition: Pick the Theme Music for Ahmadinejad's Best Man v. The Ayatollahs

From today's updates: 

Earlier this month, President Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, accused conservative clerics of not being down with the kids: "Just because some do not understand music, they declare it haram (forbidden)."

Well, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, whose musical preferences are unknown, is not going to put up with being called un-cool: "The meaning of what this gentleman has said is that all clerics, theocrats, the late Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Khomeini], and even imams who have voiced their opposition to immoral music styles do not understand. This is an insult to all these great spiritual personalities."

But what should be the theme music for this battle between Iran's Powers in Heaven and its Wannabe Power on Earth?

I'll start the bidding:

Sunday Music Video Special: Vladmir Putin Finds His Thrills on "Blueberry Hill"

Last weekend's treat was North Korean Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things. This week it is Russian Dear Leader Vladimir Putin Playing Piano and Singing Fats Domino.

From a charity concert on Friday in St Petersburg for children suffering from eye diseases and cancer:

US Saturday Special: Pardon Jim Morrison, But Don't Pardon the Counter-Culture (Haddigan)

So, good luck to Jim Morrison and fans of his music; he deserves a pardon. But if you read elsewhere that it is long-deserved recognition that a lilywhite and innocent counterculture --- who, as that sickly 1971 Coca-Cola ad says, thought they could "teach the world to sing in perfect harmony", were harshly treated --- take a pause. A counterculture of "peace and love" was never anything more --- at least after the Diggers disbanded in 1967 in disgust at the way the movement was headed --- than the invention of a privileged few.

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Korea Music Video Special: Getting Funky with Pyongyang

We originally featured this video on 5 September to show off how music and spoofing the "enemy" has a proud history from World War II to the present. But, in a very tense week, I think it might be valuable to bring it back for a few smiles:

Saturday's US-China Economic Lesson: Obama and Hu's Video Rap Fight

Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao throw down over the economic clash between Washington and Beijing: "They're not enemies but Frenemies/With co-dependent economies". Courtesy of New Media Animation:

A Poem for Iran: Hila Sedighi "It's Green Again"

US Journeys: Away from the Elections, Enjoying Small-Town Pleasures

I know I should be excited by the mid-term elections next week. Will Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lose his seat? If so, who will take his place? Indeed, will the Democrats even keep their majority in the Senate? What about the House of Representatives? Will the Tea Party make real inroads? Could they split the Republicans, giving Obama a clear run for re-election 2012? Does the American public realize that the Democrat administration has cut taxes for 95% of them, as well as passing health care legislation for the first time in more than 40 years and revising finance regulation?

The trouble is I really don’t care about these issues. My mind is now officially outside the Washington Beltway as for the past three weeks, I have enjoyed what I regard as some of the best of America.

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