Recommended Reading #3: Hiphop is not a crime
Recommendations, musings, and your next weekend's recommended reading, lovingly curated by Aida Baghernejad.
Hi and Hallo dear reader,
I’m in Cologne! Or maybe already on the train back, depending on what time you’re reading this. Either way, welcome everyone, and a particularly excited welcome to all the new readers here. I hope you won’t end up like this dapper cat:
Some ground rules so we don’t end up like an dissociating Radiohead cat: don’t feel bad about not catching up on all the stuff I’m posting here. You have my *explicit permission* to simply skim this email until you find something that speaks to you. Having a bad conscience is the only taboo we do over here.
This week, I finally manage to write a shorter letter to you all! And I chose a bit of a focus on Iran, due to upsetting news coming out of the country: we’ll celebrate the resilience of Iranian women by looking at modernist poetry from the 60s, and advocate for the Iranian rapper Toomaj who has recently received a death sentence for speaking truth to power in rhyme. But we’ll also look into how climate change and manmade natural disasters affected a community in California, we’ll be horrified at how celebrity culture and cyber warfare intersect (and this will not be about Trump, surprisingly), and, of course, we’ll also listen to more great music – some boundary pushing and intense, some beautifully tender, some all, some neither.
Let’s dive in!
Photo essay: Community in adversity
Originally, I wanted to tell you about this piece from the NYT in the last issue, but I had already overdone it with content there, so here it is this week. It’s a beautiful one. Also a little depressing. But mostly beautiful: An Idyll on the Shores of a Toxic Lake. This guest essay at the NYT by author Jaime Lowe is a glimpse into a future that might not be too distant considering how climate change is already impacting our lives everywhere. Even over here in Germany, we’re already seeing effects such as droughts, way too early bloom of crops, and extreme weather events.
The author and photographer Nicholas Albrecht travelled to Bombay Beach, a community south of Joshua Tree. It’s known for its artist gathering every March, and decaying art pieces that are left over from it every year. But there are people living in the community year round – and living there means living with regular tremors from the San Andreas fault, toxic air due, but not limited to pesticide use, drought, extreme heat, and a lake which is toxic from agriculture runoff and has a salinity that is now 50 percent greater than that of the ocean. As you can imagine, this wasn’t always the case, once upon a time it was a tourist destination. Survival in these Mad Max-esque conditions means having to rely on a tight-knit community, which Lowe beautifully portrayed – and which could tell us a thing or two about survival in increasingly adverse conditions. A glimpse into the future, if you so will.
I also watched this NYT Beyond Reporting video about a trip to the frontlines of a civil war in Myanmar with journalist Hannah Beech by chance on Instagram and keep thinking about the incredibly young fighters joining a pro-democracy rebel army in Karenni state. I’ve got to be honest with you, I had no idea the Kayah insurgency in East Myanmar was still ongoing? Which brings me to my perpetual recommendation to subscribe Sham Jaff’s newsletter What Happened Last Week?, where she curates news from the so-called Global South and which will leave you better informed about the state of the world at large.
Podcast: When cyber warfare intersects with celebrity frenzy
The other week, at a lovely dinner (thank you, Jonas!), my dear friend Helge and I had a little dispute: why dedicate our time and brainspace to following and trying to understand celebrity news and celebrity culture while the world is burning? Well, while I do understand why others engage in cultural pessimism, I personally have a different stance (would be weird if I didn’t as a culture critic lol) as I believe I don’t need to be particularly interested in “celebrities” as such to try to understand what they signify for the contemporary discourse. And, let’s be honest, the world is already tough enough, this bitch needs some diversion, and if it’s Vanderpump Rules, so be it.
Which brings me to this podcast that concluded about a month ago, and was brought to my attention through a review my ever so well-informed colleague Hagen Terschüren did for Kompressor: Tortoise Investigates: Who Trolled Amber? I remember being utterly irritated when the Heard/Depp frenzy was at its peak, and the profound misogyny and power imbalance in a discourse that not only bordered on, but was steeped in mass hysteria. This podcast investigates the links to organised trolling farms, state actors, and what I would perceive as cyber warfare to destabilise other states. No, I’m unfortunately not kidding. The story really gets going from episode three onwards when the authors make the connection to political interests.
You’d rather listen to something in German? I got you. A new season of ARD’s Seelenfänger, a really well-made investigative podcast on abusive religious sects, was released a few days ago. This season, the team looks into the yoga group Atman, and saying it’s shocking doesn’t even cut it.
Book: Sense and sensuality
The past few weeks in politics were… beyond depressing, infuriating, and terrifying. The international saber rattling of the Iranian regime coincided with horrific and brutal crackdowns domestically. Women were beaten up, assaulted and abused publicly and I fear this is just the beginning for another neverending high in the season of horror after the murder of Jina Amini. So, this week’s book recommendation is inspired by the resilience and hunger for freedom of the women in Iran (and beyond!): Forough Farrokhzad’s poetry collection Sin.
Truth be told, I’m not the most regular reader of poetry, but it’s something I enjoy greatly from time to time (btw here’s one of my favourite poems, I return to it again and again) and even dabbled in writing it myself every now and then. There are myriads of reasons why a lot of people cannot really connect to poetry, and I think the way it was mostly taught (at least when I went to school) didn’t really help, either. But Farrokhzad’s poems are different. They’re intense, they’re full of desire and longing, sometimes, they’re almost too intimate to bear. No wonder she sparked scandal when she published her first volume of poems – a departure from traditional Iranian poetry in both style and themes. A woman bearing her innermost thoughts and her desires, how could she! It was nothing less than revolutionary, and reading her words still feel revolutionary today. It’s not that we ever gave up slutshaming, obviously not in Iran, but neither in the so-called Global North. But I digress.
Unfortunately, my Farsi is too poor to enjoy her writing in its original language, and the German translations have been criticised by German-Iranian artists and literature critics. You can, however, get her work in English translations, even online – for example here. But I would recommend the collection I have, as it was translated by an Iranian-American poet and comes with a brief biography of this exceptional artist (whose life was tragically cut short, as was her brother’s, which is a whole other tragedy). I’m now already older than she was at the time of her death – and I’m not sure my mind has ever been as free as she dared to be while living in an incredibly repressive society. If I can ever travel to Iran again, I’ll make sure to visit her grave in my beloved and dearly missed Tehran and leave some flowers.
Forough Farrokhzad also made a film, The House is Black, a documentary about a leper colony in Tabriz. It was, just like her poems, immediately influential and is today seen as an important precursor to Iranian New Wave cinema – you can watch it online
While you’re at it, this short documentary on the struggle of Iranian women is worth a watch:
Music: A death sentence for art
I’m going to stick with Iran for a minute as I wish the the headline above was a metaphor. Sadly, it is not: Iranian rapper and activist Toomaj has received a death sentence. Since the murder of Jina Amini, he had become a voice and face of the ongoing revolutionary struggle in the country. As a prisoner of conscience, he has spent months and months in prison, suffering from physical and psychological abuse and torture. He did not let it deter him and talked about his ordeal publicly while he was released for a short minute. Now, his death sentence for “spreading corruption on earth” has been delivered, a bogus charge used to silence dissidents. It was reported that Toomaj did not want to communicate the news publicly to not scare or sadden his followers, but it has been confirmed by his lawyer.
The German rapper Jalil has started a petition to gain attention and stop his impending death. I’ll leave my role as a journalist for a second and urge you as someone who cares for Iran and for the freedom of art and discourse everywhere, to make his name and case known, and, most importantly, write to your parlamentary representatives to advocate for pressure on the Iranian government to suspend this sentence, whereever you are based.
Hiphop has always been the music of dissent, and delivering a death sentence for speaking truth to power in rhyme should enrage and incite artists everywhere. In his lyrics, Toomaj is a sharp and eloquent critic of the Iranian government and society, and his flow is impressive even if you do not speak nor understand any Farsi.
More Music:
I really had to convince ME review editor Thomas to consider this solo debut! And I’m so glad I was successful: Lord Spikeheart, the vocalist of the Kenyan-by-way-of-Uganda grindcore/noise band Duma, released The Adept last week. And while Duma is already quite an intense band, The Adept, inspired by Lord Spikeheart’s great-grandmother Field Marshal Muthoni wa Kirima’s role in the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya (!!!), manages to push the boundaries of noise, hiphop and experimental electronic music even further.
Thomas’ first feeling was that this was just too out-there for the average music nerd – and he is right, it is extreme and it really is not music for everyday use, but I absolutely love it. It’s bleak, it feels like a descent into hell, it’s so layered and overwhelming, and will most definitely make you feel all the things. Mostly fear. But that’s alright, experiencing fear and uncertainty in a safe setting is probably healthy, I guess? This kind of boundary pushing intensity is exactly why I fell in love with Duma in the first place after seeing them in an insane performance at Roskilde two years ago. Look at how overwhelmed and happy I looked! (photographer extraordinaire Björn Buddenbohm snapped me at the exact right moment!)
Arooj Aftab is back at it! I was really excited when I saw the announcement for the new record Night Reign (which I will obviously write about here when it’s released in a few days time). The single Raat Ki Rani is, of course, a thing of beauty, and you should listen to it immediately. And watch the video!
St. Vincent is truly a musician’s musicians, and a music nerd’s heroine. While I appreciated her work, I’ve never really got into it. Maybe it’s always a little bit too clever and too perfect? Maybe I never felt like I could closer to the enigma that is Annie Clark? I’m not sure. But All Born Screaming, her new record released today, really did a number with me. It feels like a meditation on anger, and I’m obsessed with Hell is Near since I first heard it.
New Nilüfer Yanya! Cue me swooning over Like I Say (I runaway) all summer. I adore how the lightness in her voice counteracts the distorted grunge of her sound, and this new single might already be one of her best songs yet.
Sorry, but I’m really feeling the very oldschool house-y new Jamie XX tune Baddy On The Floor feat. Honey Dijon. Can’t provide any intellectual Überbau, it simply makes me want to dance. And I haven’t had that in a while!
New work by Yours Truly:
Every single time I’m invited to the Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio show and podcast Kompressor Casual Friday, I am excited. It’s one of my very own favourite programmes, so it’a always lovely to be a part of the conversation. Last week, my dear colleague Tobi Müller and I had major disagreements about the artist Ruth Patir’s pavilion at this year’s Venice biennale live on air, which was nervewracking – and so much fun. And I talked about this newsletter!
In my most recent column for Musikexpress I wrote about monopolies in the music industry, who benefits from gripping all the attention and who loses out – and what we loose when there’s no air left for subcultures to germinate. Also I went to a really fun punk show and I wanted to tell you all about it. In fact, I’m wearing the shirt I bought that night right now!
Tonight, on Friday 26th, I’ll be back on Radioeins’ Soundcheck, and I’ll be discussing Hyperdrama, Justice’s only fourth studio record in over 20 years. You can listen back to the live show in their podcast feed or online!
…not done talking about Justice though, because I’ve also worked on a short radio piece which you can listen to tomorrow on Deutschlandfunk Corso (and afterwards online in perpetuity, or close to). It was such an unexpectedly fun interview? They’re like… actually cool? And were so funny?
The new tipBerlin is out at the magazine stand with two small restaurant reviews (a big story I wanted to do didn’t work out in the end, which was a bummer) I wrote and a long piece on one of my favourite festivals, Xjazz! I met its founder, Sebastian Studnitzky, and artistic director, Sebastian Hecht. So many Sebastians.
This is it for this week’s Recommended Reading. Let me know how you liked this one! Was it too short? Was it just right? What do you like to read about? Send me some feedback, if you feel like it, leave a like on Substack, let me know if you ended up reading or watching anything I posted here, and feel free to send the newsletter to friends and foes who might enjoy it, ok? Cool! If you really, really liked this newsletter, you can also buy me a coffee here (or IRL!).
The next newsletter will be most likely delayed for a week or so, as I have an upcoming surgery. Which means I’ll spend the week after in bed, reading voraciously, and will be dying to tell you about all the new things I’ve watched and listened to and thought about. So be prepared!
Speak soon
Aida