Angelique Kidjo’s voice is slightly deep and raspy. It tells you that she is not a woman to be trifled with. With her closely cropped hair, glowing brown skin and almond eyes, she struts across stages in pantsuits and printed shirts, casting spells on riveted audiences. To list all of Read More…
In the waiting room of Oakland’s Highland Hospital, there is much at stake. Faces loom and hover, and almost always provoke. Some are creased with lines of sorrow, others sag with fatigue, and a few glow with mirth. This amalgam of emotions reflects what we undergo as we watch the Read More…
The best way to enter the exhibit “Six Lines of Flight” is to walk up the SFMOMA’s four flights of stairs, through an arch and onto an indoor bridge where the walls are bathed with light and you are in a sort of whitewashed paradise. Before you is a giant Read More…
The SF International South Asian Film Festival runs Sept. 19-23 and 30. Here is a selection of films being shown. Jagte Raho When: Sept. 23, 12:15 pm, Where: Little Roxie Theater “Jagte Raho” is a 1956 film directed by Amit Maitra and Sombhu Mitra. The film stars “The Showman,” also known as the great Read More…
When Muhammad Hassan made his debut on WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) RAW in 2004, he was accompanied by his sidekick, Daivari, ranting in Persian, interrupting a tribute to the soldiers in Iraq. Raucous boos arose, and the crowd began chanting “USA!” Here was the enemy: a perfectly crafted, predetermined, suspicious Read More…
At the Aurora Theatre in downtown Berkeley, amidst a motley congregation of people, a trembling poet from Hampton Roads, Virginia walked up to a microphone. She was here for the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival, put on by Youth Speaks. The poet began her poem with a Read More…
The community historian, Anirvan Chatterjee, stood near Haas Pavilion on Sunday. Hands raised high, his voice boomed as he recited a poem from the early 20th century by Kartar Singh Sarabha, a UC Berkeley student and Indian freedom fighter who was hung by the British at the age of 19. Read More…
A man stands at a crossroads. Hunched over, at the point of intersection between two large steel bars, he is perched on Toreo Stadium, about to commit suicide. Slowly, two men inch toward him hoping to stop him. But he puts his arm out, telling them to stop where they are. Read More…
While rain puddled on the roadside, artists clustered inside, huddled around one long table. They drew flags, painted dots and cooked Shrinky Dinks in the oven. The air teemed with the buzz of collaboration, the twitter of conversation and the din of laughter. Known as The Community Access Studio, the Read More…
The fat underneath their chins sways, their heads wobble and bobble, their hands flit faster than hummingbird wings — these are men in a trance. They speak to each other without opening their mouths, but with looks and nods, with the subtle variations of the tones of their instruments. They Read More…
