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Entries Tagged as 'London'

Why I love Shoreditch

October 17th, 2011 · Comments Off on Why I love Shoreditch · Diaspora, OPINION, PEOPLE

There are so many reasons why I love Shoreditch: the braggards, the hipsters, the charity mums, the Sunday flower market jaunters. Shoreditch is not just a pastiche; it is a living organism that with every day awakes, kicking and screaming to life, reminding the world of what a unique, if somewhat troublesome child it is.

But for all the reasons I love Shoreditch, there is truly only one that pins my heart to a hoarding on Great Eastern Street, announcing to the passing crowds of out-of-town commuters and lorry drivers alike that this is the place of my soul; and that is the sprayed up, pasted-over and fucked-up walls of the hallowed triangle and its periphery.
For as many years as I have worked in the area, and eventually come to live in, I have been inspired to document the activities of each and every ne’er do well that sees fit to climb out of bed at a god-forsaken hour and crawl through the darkened back streets and passages for the sake of their art, for ‘as the city sleeps, the walls they weep’.

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Ganduri Romanesti despre Bella Bartok la Londra

October 9th, 2011 · Comments Off on Ganduri Romanesti despre Bella Bartok la Londra · Art Exhibitions, Diaspora, OPINION, PEOPLE, Uncategorized

Dezvelirea statuii compozitorului Maghiar Bella Bartok in cartierul South Kensigton din Sudvestul Londrei reprezinta o recunoastere in plus, nu numai a celebrului compozitor de talie universala, dar si un exemplu de promovare inteligenta a valorilor nationale in lume. Acest act ofera un moment de reflectie si poate comparativ cu modul Romanesc de promovare a valorilor nationale, pe plan international, de cumetriile Institutului Cultural Roman, Bucuresti.

Ei, o sa ma intrebati, poate, “ce are sula cu prefectura”? ce legatura aleatorica ar exista intre aceste idei, intre astfel de paralele si implicit de indemnuri?

Bella Bartok si George Enescu
Fara a ma pierde in explicatii alambicate, doar in cateva randuri, ar trebui sa amintim ca Bella Bartok s-a nascut in Banatul Romanesc, la Sannicolau Mare, ditr-un tata maghiar si o mama de etnie Sarba. Cum este si firesc, pentru un tanar cu evidente sensibilitati fata de mediul in care s-a nascut, Bartok s-a inspirat, asa cum au facut-o contemporanii si predecesorii sai din sec XIX, din fondul muzicii etnice din Sudestul Europei: “Dansurile Romanesti” ale compozitorului au intrat de mult in repertoriul mondial si implicit in memoria si sensibilitatea publicului civilizat si avizat, sensibilitate care reflecta indirect valorile muzicii Romanesti – aceeasi sursa din care s-au inspirat si contemporanii sai, George Enescu sau Dinu Lipatti.

Este poate semnificativ ca atat Bartok cat si Enescu s-au exilat din cauza schimbarilor politice survenite ca urmare al celui de al doilea razboi mondial: Bartok s-a destzarat datorita fascizarii Ungariei lui Horthy, ca sa se stabileasca in Statele Unite, unde, in ciuda asistentei financiare si artistice primite, si-a trait cu dificultate exilul, unde a murit dupa cinci ani. In aceasta perioada de destzarare a compus doar doua lucrari: Concertul pentru Orchestra si o sonata de vioara pentru Yehudi Menuhin – violonistul care a fost scolit de Enescu…
George Enescu, impreuna cu sotia lui si-au parasit tara dupa razboi, ca sa-si traiasca ultimii ani de viata la Paris, intr-o perioada intunecata a diasporei romanesti. Aceasta din urma a fost bantuita de recriminari, suspiciuni, lovituri sub centura si contraziceri – cu efecte inevitabile negative. Aici, in Parisul postbelic, bratul omniprezent al simpatizantilor francezi ai Stalinismului, cat si coada sobolanului securist au fost proactive, asa cum au suferit, din experienta proprie, Monica Lovinescu, Eugene Ionesco, Virgil Gheorghiu, Horia Vintila, s.a., indurand persecutia impinsa pana chiar la procesul vrajitaorelor.
Poate ar fi interesant de a reflecta mai adanc asupra efectului exilului asupra acestor compozitori contemporani, Bartok si Enescu.

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Orpheus never turned up for tea

May 18th, 2011 · Comments Off on Orpheus never turned up for tea · Art Exhibitions, PEOPLE, quotations

Our painter is called Janet Cree. Born in London in 1910, she is an artist of early promise as the Tate Gallery acquires one of her works when she is only 23 years of age. From then on we know little about her artistic fortunes and true to herself Janet carries on quietly with her craft, sending regularly her pictures to the RA exhibitions, without making waves. Soon the war takes its toll as the art aficionados go silent as the bottom falls out of the art market.
In spite of it all Janet Cree takes her due place in the dictionaries of contemporary British painters. Doubtless her family, as she sets up a home, makes demands on her time too, for she is now married to a mercurial lawyer whose physical and social stature is larger than life: this is John Platts-Mills, the six-foot New Zealand-born athlete and Oxford-educated student. He comes to Britain as a Rhodes scholar to Balliol College.
By this time, the trauma of the First War takes its toll on the mood of the young people, who are disaffected with the society and over-enthusiastic about the social and economic ‘paradise’ promised by Joseph Stalin.

Platts-Mills is no exception. At first he hopes that luck may strike closer to the British Isles as he gives his support to the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. That was not to be. For a moment it seems that his political sympathies go astride the main flow of the British establishment, as he is not considered good material to enroll as a RAF pilot during the war. Earlier on, in 1932 he is called to the Inner Temple, but will not become a King’s Council for a long time, because of his political sympathies.
However, at the beginning of the war the Allied troops suffer many set backs, which cause Platts-Mills’ fortunes to change for the better, as Churchill calls on him and urge him to be a go-between with Stalin’s Russia. This is the time when Platts-Mills throws himself arduously into Soviet-British PR, forging endless Soviet-British friendship societies all over Britain. Yet, on the political board of snakes and ladders fortunes change quickly and with the advent of the cold war the maverick barrister looses his political clout: in the process he also looses his Finsbury seat in Parliament, as he is expelled from the Labour Party. But hard luck turns to good fortune as his reputation precedes him. He becomes a much sought-after lawyer in some of the most controversial legal cases, defending the Kray brothers, the Great Train Robbers, the Shrewsbury two. He also acts as a secret adviser of Trade Union leader Arthur Scargill in the miners’ strike of the 1970s, which caused the fall of Edward Heath’s government. He appears on the Grunwick picket line and acted on the Bloody Sunday inquiry in Londonderry.

But before he becomes involved in these high-profile cases Platts-Mills takes care to pay his last respects to “Uncle Joe”, as he dies in the Kremlin, in 1953.

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Hungarian ‘Savoir-faire’ and Romanian Navel-gazing

November 1st, 2010 · 1 Comment · Art Exhibitions, OPINION, Reviews

The Hungarian savoir-faire and Romanian narcissism:

Footnote to the Hungarian Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, Piccadilly on: “Treasures from Budapest – European Masterpieces from Leonardo to Schiele”

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Can’t find the Word for Democracy!

October 25th, 2010 · Comments Off on Can’t find the Word for Democracy! · Art Exhibitions, International Media, quotations

Calman cartoon in the Times of London – alluding to the mob-rule by Romanian miners called by President Iliescu and Prime Minister Petre Roman to quell the fledgling Democracy movement in Bucharest.
Under the title “Fear of mob-rule grips Romania (June 1990) the caption says:
“Can’t find the word for Democracy in Romanian Phrase book” – caption

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Vera ATKINS – a Romanian MATA HARI in the services of the SOE

February 16th, 2010 · 15 Comments · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, quotations, Reviews

Before the occupation of France Vera enrolled as a student in modern languages at the Sorbonne, followed by one year course at a finishing school in Lausanne, a privileged education in an incubator reserved for the young ladies of upper class families. This background was going to keep her in good stead as an intelligence operative during WWII, a role defined by Ian Fleming in his classic retort:

“In the world of spies, Vera Atkins was the boss.”
In 1940 Vera returned to England, where her career as an SOE operative took off under Maurice Buckmaster (1902-1992). During her career as an SOE officer the indomitable Atkins sent 470 agents including 39 women behind enemy lines into German-occupied French territory. Her spying persona inspired film makers as she became Miss Moneypenny in a James Bond movie and also the main character in Genevieve Simms movie Into the Dark.

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Confluente culturale Anglo-Romane – Romancele la Londra

November 28th, 2009 · Comments Off on Confluente culturale Anglo-Romane – Romancele la Londra · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, quotations

CONFLUENTE CULTURALE ANGLO-ROMANE (I) – ROMANCELE LA LONDRA Hotelul Savoy, din Strand, in inima cartierului Westend, era uneori resedinta Martei Bibescu cand trecea pe la Londra si care consemna in jurnalul ei: Regele mi-a intrerupt visarea cu un mesaj de bun-venit – dar refuz sa fiu deranjata. Personajul acesta era George al V-lea, varul reginei […]

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Orwell Diaries (ed. Peter Davison, Harvil Secker, London 2009)

November 17th, 2009 · Comments Off on Orwell Diaries (ed. Peter Davison, Harvil Secker, London 2009) · Books, Diary, PEOPLE, quotations, Reviews

Orwell Diaries 1931- 1949 Edited by Peter Davison, Publ: Harvil Secker ISBN 9781846553295 (sourced from ten original diary notebooks) I bought Orwell’s Diaries thinking that I could glean more information about his philosophical conversion from Spanish Republicanism to what had become later a lucid critic of left-wing dictatorship. It appears, sadly, that two notebooks of […]

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An Alternative Anthology of Romanian Women

April 26th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Books, PEOPLE, quotations, Reviews, Translations

‘Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women’
An E-Book Anthology by Constantin ROMAN
Synopsis

A Spanish grandee and Ambassador to the Court of St James’s once compared the success of an Anthology to that of a culinary chef d’oeuvre: for Santiago de Mora Figueroa y Williams, Marques of Tamarón, a great Anglophile but also a refined European:

The perfect anthology, like the perfect hors d’oeuvre, should turn us into gluttons. The many small dishes add up to a balanced and nourishing meal, but they are so exquisite that they whet one’s appetite for more. And the anthology should also include unexpected delicacies, things that even the literary gourmet had not heard about.

blouse-roumaine-cover2On a deeper reflection, Tamarón’s metaphor encapsulates perfectly well the ethos of the ‘Blouse Roumaine’. Yet, as an Anthology of Romanian women, this corpus was initially conceived to connect with a French painting of Henri Matisse – the eponymous canvas, ‘La Blouse Roumaine’ (1940), which hangs today in the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris: for every and each biography contained in this Women’s Anthology is like a minutely embroidered stitch on an ethnic tapestry, such as we have admired, not so long ago in the Retrospective exhibition of Matisse’s collection of textiles, presented at the Royal Academy in London and later also shown in New York. For those of us who missed this exhibition the analogy to the current book is like a roll call of women presented in a sequence of biographical cameos. These sketches are displayed like a series of miniatures in a virtual National Portrait Gallery: they are all glittering stars from Western galaxies and Eastern nebulae, in all 160 of them…

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ROMANIA VAZUTA DE LA LONDRA –

September 6th, 2006 · Comments Off on ROMANIA VAZUTA DE LA LONDRA – · Diary, Diaspora, International Media, OPINION

ROMANIA VAZUTA DE LA LONDRA – problema copiilor Abandonati

ROMANII – RUDELE SARACE ALE EUROPEI:

Sunt cam deprimat de cand, pe canalele englezesti ale televiziuniii, tot ce se discuta este despre valul iminent de imigranti romani si bulgari care ar incerca sa vina sa lucreze in Marea Britanie odata cu noua extindere a UE.
Motivul acestei ingrijorari? “Sunt deja prea multi straini (Polonezi) la munca, veniti in Marea Britanie”. Numarul lor nu se stie precis, dar se pare ca ar fi circa 450,000 – adica aproximativ cam de zece ori mai multi de cat prevederile cifrelor oficiale.
Alt motiv al ingrijorarii?
“Romanii sunt corupti si criminali”.

Da, ori si cat ar fi de umilitoare si de incomoda eticheta care ni se da, asta este perceptia in occident – falsa si nedreapta, gandim noi, dar asa este! Aceasta eticheta a conducatorilor si a politicienilor nostri de azi acum se lipeste omului de rand, care vrea sa castige o bucata de paine, muncind cinstit in strainatate.
Dar ca si cum aceasta perceptie negativa nu ar fi fost destul ca sa ne otraveasca viata, mai recent jurnalisti britanici au filmat in orfelinatele din Romania:
Desigur am fost prea naiv ca sa dau crezare afirmatiilor guvernului de la Bucuresti, conform caruia aceasta racila a trecutului disparuse, doar ca sa aflu ca este aceeasi ca acum 17 ani – cu singura diferenta ca acum realitatea se ascunde sub pres: copii abandonati, infometati, piele pe os, legati cu mainile la spate sau legati de pat, fara stimulatie de nici un fel, lasati sa stea in pat toata ziua si toata noaptea fara a fi schimbati, personal insuficient, ingirijire medicala zero – copii destinati sa devina niste zarzavaturi umane vestejite, inainte sa infloreasca: era o viziune de cosmar medieval.

Pana acum dadeam vina pe Ceausescu si pe comunism – dar acum, dupa 17 ani de “tranzitie”?
Acum trebuie sa dam vina pe ipocrizia si dublele standarde, pe prefecatoria institutionala si politicianista care da praf in ochi publicului autohton si strain, asigurandu-ne ca “totul este bine”, ca “suntem la nivel European, sau aproape.” Cu alte cuvinte, asa cum ar spune englezul, “cloud cuckoo-land”, sau “Alice in Wonderland”: totul factice!

UNDE ESTE SPIRITUL CIVIC ROMANESC?

De fapt, de ce suntem in starea asta de abandon al aproapelui? Nu sunt acestia copiii nostri? Generatia de maine? Nu, nu are importanta! Societatea Civila nu are inca forta, spiritul civic nu s-a format. Aveam, chiar acum o suta cinci zeci de ani spiritul de ajutorare, de civism si de caritate patronat de Elena Doamna, de Carmen Silva, de Regina Maria, care prin exemplul si dedicatia lor au antrenat in aceasta activitate nu numai pe barbatii lor, oamnei politici si de stat, dar si pe doamnele inaltei societati: regimul communist s-a inversunat sa distruga tot ce se cladise cu truda de cateva generatii si sa stinga spiritul de civism in cele mai inumane inchisori si lagare de concentrare, in domiciliul fortat al Baraganului nesimtirii noastre viscerale. Ar cam trebui nevestele si amantele tovarasilor, incepand cu cei cu dosare de retea si de informatori sa-si ispaseasca pacatele facand opera de caritate – sa-si vanda termopanele ca sa le ofere copiilor nostri o existenta civilizata si umana. La fel cu nevestele oamenilor din aparatul de guvern si de stat, sau ale oamenilor cu profil inalt; sa se demarcheze, sa se declare, sa se implice in opere de caritate.Si aici o precizare; ma refer nu la caritatea personala, pt conurile de banca proprii, gen Matusa Tamara.

Bani in prostie de la UE au venit, ba au fost dati mai multi decat i-am fi meritat, sau care i-am fi putut fura prin coruptia ministeriala si de la toate nivelele (vezi scandalul Palatului Justitiei).

ASCUNS SUB APARENTE:

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