Sweden: Moroccan-Swede singer wins Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden: Moroccan-Swede singer wins Eurovision Song Contest

 

Germany: Iranian death threat sends rapper underground

Germany: Iranian death threat sends rapper underground

Norway: Anti-racists criticise musician

Norway: Anti-racists criticise musician

Via the Foreigner:

Norwegian NGOs are censuring singer-songwriter Hans Rotmo for being immigrant and Muslim-hostile following release of his new composition.

Mr Rotmo’s song, ‘Vi fra andre’, is allegedly a pastiche on a poem by Norwegian writer Henrik Wergeland (1808-1845) from 1841 called ‘Vi ere en Nation, vi med’, which advocates 17th May – Norway’s National Day – should also be for children.

However, the connections with Wergeland’s work become more clouded in the singer-songwriter’s version. Norwegian Centre Against Racism director Kari Helene Partapuoli thinks the text is mostly in “extremely bad taste” and “malicious at times.”

“The entire text is based on quite a few simplistic prejudices against immigrants and Muslims in Norway,” she tells Adresseavisen, “it is a cheerful mixture of misguided xenophobia and incorrect assumptions about the Muslim revolution.”

(source)

EU: Islamic terrorists issue threat against Eurovision

EU: Islamic terrorists issue threat against Eurovision

Via Irish Independent (h/t Bivouac-ID)

TERRORISTS have threatened to target Jedward and other Eurovision participants at the annual music competition in May.

The Azeri terrorists, an Islamic group, have said they will target the participants of the Eurovision song contest in Azerbaijan as they are “European scum”. It has threatened the use of “knives and chemical weapons” at the contest.

The terror group said in a statement yesterday “Blood of the European scum must be shed by the will of Allah.”

(source)

UK: How daytimers got young British Asians dancing

UK: How daytimers got young British Asians dancing

Via the Guardian:

It was the era of the nightclub, a time when dance music took hold in the UK. But the young British Asians who came of age during the 1980s and 1990s had, on the whole, conservative parents who disapproved of their children going to sweaty nightclubs, getting drunk and hooking up with the opposite sex.

Against this repressive backdrop, something new emerged that passed largely unnoticed by the mainstream: club events where thousands of young Asians would listen to music – bhangra mainly – performed by bands and later played by DJs. These events took place not at night but during the afternoon, when those kids were thought to be at college, school or the library. And so they were christened daytimers.

"They were a national phenomenon," says Rajinder Dudrah, author of Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond. "In Nottingham, Bradford, London, Manchester, Birmingham and Luton, kids were getting on buses to go to a club where there would be 2,000 Asians dancing away. The trick was to arrive back spotless, as if nothing had happened, so you'd live to tell the tale."

(source)

Paris: Arab nudes defy taboos in new exhibit

Paris: Arab nudes defy taboos in new exhibit

Vienna: "Diversity and Tolerance" contest

Vienna: "Diversity and Tolerance" contest

First Prize winner of the U. S. Embassy Vienna Video Contest "Diversity and Tolerance"

Vienna: Boys Choir Backs Integration Through Music

Vienna: Boys Choir Backs Integration Through Music

Via the Austrian Times:

Immigrant children in Austria are being given singing lessons organised by the Vienna Boys choir as part of a project to encourage integration through music.

The idea that started as a pilot scheme three years ago has now grown so popular that more than 600 children across the capital Vienna are now getting free singing lessons.

(source)

Belgium: Mixed Kebab, the story of a gay Belgian Turk

Belgium: Mixed Kebab, the story of a gay Belgian Turk

Ibrahim chooses to fall for young and handsome Kevin over marrying his cute but expensive cousin Elif while kid brother Furkan converts to Islamic fundamentalism.

Switzerland: Radical Muslim group to launch TV station

Switzerland: Radical Muslim group to launch TV station

Via the Local:

The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) has announced plans to set up an internet TV channel, while it is also in talks with various companies to provide its members with a Swiss-Muslim discount card.

The new TV studios, due to become operational this summer, will play host to a political show, a weekly series on a range of topics seen from a Muslim perspective, and a sermon series, newspaper SonntagsZeitung reports. Sermons are to be given mainly in German, but also in Arabic, Bosnian and Albanian. German subtitles will also be available.

(source)

Belgium: Youth theaters complain about 'Muslim prudishness'

Belgium: Youth theaters complain about 'Muslim prudishness'

Via De Telegraaf (Dutch, h/t NRP):

Jo Roets, artistic head of the Laika threater group, told newspaper De Morgen that prudishness among immigrant youth will be a hot item in the coming years. Immigrant teenagers shut their eyes or avert their heads when it comes to naked scenes.

Theater maker Jan Decorte says that a woman leading a group of children asked before a show whether there would be any nudity "because our Muslim youth may not see naked people." Decorte says it's a form of censorship.

Greece: Turkish TV shows dominate ratings

Greece: Turkish TV shows dominate ratings

Norway: Anti-Islam lyrics no barrier to Norway music prize

Norway: Anti-Islam lyrics no barrier to Norway music prize

Spain: Iran, Saudi Arabia launch Islamic TV Channels

Spain: Iran, Saudi Arabia launch Islamic TV Channels

Tatarstan: Islamic graffiti contest

Tatarstan: Islamic graffiti contest

The Russian republic of Tatarstan held an Islamic graffiti contest. All designs were approved in advance by the Muslim Religious Board and could not include humans and animals. The winning creations will be used as logos for future activities. (Via Diario de Navarra, Kazan Times, KP)

Russia: World's Largest Koran To Be Presented To Tatar President

Russia: World's Largest Koran To Be Presented To Tatar President

Germany: Project pictures the plight of immigrants

Germany: Project pictures the plight of immigrants

(full video)

Tatarstan: Controversy over Muslim festival award to former porn star

Tatarstan: Controversy over Muslim festival award to former porn star

Via RT:

The 7th Muslim Film Festival that took place in the Russian city of Kazan in September has ended in a sex scandal. The issue related to a former porn actress who was awarded at the festival.

Rewarding of German actress with Turkish roots Sibel Kekilli known for criticizing Islam and having starred in several porn films in the past caused major disappointment in the Islamic community. The scandal emerged at the suggestion of the Tatarstan Muslims spiritual leader Ildus Faizov.

The local Culture Ministry, represented by Deputy Minister Guzel Nigmatullina, stated that the representatives of the Islamic Council of the republic under Ildus Faizov himself consulted the selective committee of the festival on religious matters.

(source)

France: New movie tells story of Muslim Resistance fighters

France: New movie tells story of Muslim Resistance fighters

Frankfurt: Syrian-French poet wins Goethe Prize

Frankfurt: Syrian-French poet wins Goethe Prize

Why isn't Adonis considered a French poet?

Via AP:

Syrian-born poet Adonis has become the first Arabic-speaking author to receive one of Germany's most prestigious literary awards, the Goethe Prize of the city of Frankfurt.

The 81-year-old Adonis accepted the award on Sunday in Frankfurt.

Born Ali Ahmad Said in northern Syria, Adonis fled his homeland for political reasons as a young man. He now lives in Paris but still writes in Arabic.

(source)