News Analysis India

Category: News

  • K-pop star Moonbin of boy band Astro dies at 25

    By AFP

    SEOUL: K-pop star Moonbin, a member of the boy band Astro, has died, his music label and South Korean police said on Thursday, prompting an outpouring of grief from fans.

    The 25-year-old singer was found dead at his home in southern Seoul late Wednesday, a spokesperson for the National Police Agency said, adding that there was no evidence of foul play.

    Moonbin’s label Fantagio Music also released a statement on Thursday confirming his death but without disclosing the cause.

    “On April 19, Astro member Moon Bin unexpectedly left our world and became a star in the sky,” it said on Twitter.

    It asked that people “refrain from speculative and malicious reports” so that his family can pay their respects and honour him in peace.

    The label’s announcement prompted thousands of comments from grieving fans, many expressing disbelief.

    “Rest in peace, Moonbin. I hope the stars and the moon treat you well. I hope they give you all the comfort and love,” one wrote on Twitter.

    “I can’t focus on work now. This really hurts,” wrote another.

    Moon Bin — who performed as Moonbin — was a member of the group Astro and also performed with a sub-group called Moonbin & Sanha.

    He joined Fantagio’s trainee programme at an early age and was an actor and child model before debuting with Astro in February 2016.

    Prior to his passing, Moonbin & Sanha had been set to perform at the upcoming Dream Concert — one of the largest K-pop joint concerts in South Korea — in May.

    The group had also been in the middle of their Diffusion Fan Con Tour across Asia, and had launched an official fan community page on Weverse — the global fandom platform from K-pop megastars BTS’s agency HYBE — on Sunday.

    “While no passing from any artist is ever to be expected, Moonbin’s untimely passing was all the more shocking given how active the young star was, even the week of his death,” Jeff Benjamin, Billboard’s K-pop columnist, told AFP.

    “No one around him saw this coming, but what we can keep is his undeniable smile,” he added.

    “I’ve seen its brightness compared to the Cheshire Cat from ‘Alice and Wonderland’, and the wonderful music and performances he gave us.”

    Cut-throat business

    Beneath the glitz and glamour, the K-pop industry is also known for its cut-throat competition, a lack of privacy, online bullying and relentless public pressure to maintain a wholesome image at all times and at any cost.

    South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, citing an unnamed police official, reported that authorities believe Moon’s death is a case of an apparent suicide.

    Several other young K-pop stars have died of suspected suicides in recent years, including Goo Hara who passed in 2019. She had been abused by an ex-boyfriend who, after they split, blackmailed her over their sex videos.

    The suspected suicide occurred a month after her close friend, K-pop star Sulli, took her own life after a long struggle with online bullying, prompting demands in South Korea for stronger punishments for cybercrimes.

    Sulli’s death echoed that of fellow K-pop star Jonghyun, who took his life in 2017 after battling depression.

    “It’s always the people who smile the most who suffer the greatest,” one of Moon’s fans wrote.

    “When the sky shines beautifully we’ll think of you and when the stars shine bright we will think of you.”

    SEOUL: K-pop star Moonbin, a member of the boy band Astro, has died, his music label and South Korean police said on Thursday, prompting an outpouring of grief from fans.

    The 25-year-old singer was found dead at his home in southern Seoul late Wednesday, a spokesperson for the National Police Agency said, adding that there was no evidence of foul play.

    Moonbin’s label Fantagio Music also released a statement on Thursday confirming his death but without disclosing the cause.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “On April 19, Astro member Moon Bin unexpectedly left our world and became a star in the sky,” it said on Twitter.

    It asked that people “refrain from speculative and malicious reports” so that his family can pay their respects and honour him in peace.

    The label’s announcement prompted thousands of comments from grieving fans, many expressing disbelief.

    “Rest in peace, Moonbin. I hope the stars and the moon treat you well. I hope they give you all the comfort and love,” one wrote on Twitter.

    “I can’t focus on work now. This really hurts,” wrote another.

    Moon Bin — who performed as Moonbin — was a member of the group Astro and also performed with a sub-group called Moonbin & Sanha.

    He joined Fantagio’s trainee programme at an early age and was an actor and child model before debuting with Astro in February 2016.

    Prior to his passing, Moonbin & Sanha had been set to perform at the upcoming Dream Concert — one of the largest K-pop joint concerts in South Korea — in May.

    The group had also been in the middle of their Diffusion Fan Con Tour across Asia, and had launched an official fan community page on Weverse — the global fandom platform from K-pop megastars BTS’s agency HYBE — on Sunday.

    “While no passing from any artist is ever to be expected, Moonbin’s untimely passing was all the more shocking given how active the young star was, even the week of his death,” Jeff Benjamin, Billboard’s K-pop columnist, told AFP.

    “No one around him saw this coming, but what we can keep is his undeniable smile,” he added.

    “I’ve seen its brightness compared to the Cheshire Cat from ‘Alice and Wonderland’, and the wonderful music and performances he gave us.”

    Cut-throat business

    Beneath the glitz and glamour, the K-pop industry is also known for its cut-throat competition, a lack of privacy, online bullying and relentless public pressure to maintain a wholesome image at all times and at any cost.

    South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, citing an unnamed police official, reported that authorities believe Moon’s death is a case of an apparent suicide.

    Several other young K-pop stars have died of suspected suicides in recent years, including Goo Hara who passed in 2019. She had been abused by an ex-boyfriend who, after they split, blackmailed her over their sex videos.

    The suspected suicide occurred a month after her close friend, K-pop star Sulli, took her own life after a long struggle with online bullying, prompting demands in South Korea for stronger punishments for cybercrimes.

    Sulli’s death echoed that of fellow K-pop star Jonghyun, who took his life in 2017 after battling depression.

    “It’s always the people who smile the most who suffer the greatest,” one of Moon’s fans wrote.

    “When the sky shines beautifully we’ll think of you and when the stars shine bright we will think of you.”

  • Singer Aaron Carter drowned in tub from drug, inhalant, says coroner

    By Associated Press

    LOS ANGELES: Singer and rapper Aaron Carter accidentally drowned in his bathtub as a result of sedatives he’d taken and gas used in spray cleaners he had inhaled, a coroner’s report said Tuesday.

    Carter, the younger brother of the Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, was found submerged and dead at age 34 in the bathtub of his home in Lancaster, California, on Nov. 5, the autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner said.

    Sheriff’s deputies had been the last people to see Carter alive when they visited his house at 2 a.m. on Nov. 4 for a welfare check after he had been seen and heard “huffing” an inhalant on an Instagram live video, according to a police report included in the autopsy findings. He asked the deputies to leave, and they did.

    The autopsy found that the sedative alprazolam, often sold under the brand name Xanax, was found in his system, as was the compressed gas difluoroethane, which the report says is “a gas commonly used as a propellant in air spray cleaners,” which “can induce feelings of euphoria when inhaled.”

    The two substances incapacitated him in the tub, and caused the drowning, the report said.

    Later in the evening, after deputies checked on Carter, he missed an appointment with a drug counselor, the police report said.

    The following day, a person whom authorities called a house sitter at the time but whom the report identifies in quotes as a “housekeeper” came to Carter’s house to offer him coffee. She let herself in when she got no response and heard his dogs barking, according to the report.

    The woman found him submerged, wearing a T-shirt and necklace, in a Jacuzzi-style tub with the jets running, and called 911. The operator told her to pull him out and perform CPR, according to the report. Paramedics immediately declared him dead when they arrived.

    Investigators found several prescription bottles and multiple scattered cans of an electronic duster that he used for inhaling.

    The report referred to Carter as “a celebrity with a known history of substance abuse” who had “multiple interactions with local police relating to the substance abuse.” It cited a particular history of inhalant abuse, and a recent relapse.

    Carter began performing as a child in the 1990s, opening for acts including his brother’s boy band and Britney Spears. His career peak came in 2000 with the triple-platinum album “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” which produced hit singles including the title song and “I Want Candy.”

    He also acted on television shows including “Lizzie McGuire,” and appeared on the family reality show “House of Carters” and “Dancing With the Stars.”

    Carter for years had been open about his substance abuse struggles, detailing his issues with inhalants in a 2019 episode of the talk show “The Doctors.” He also said in the interview that he was taking medications for acute anxiety and bipolar disorder.

    Nick Carter said after his younger brother’s death that “I have always held onto the hope that he would somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed.”

    LOS ANGELES: Singer and rapper Aaron Carter accidentally drowned in his bathtub as a result of sedatives he’d taken and gas used in spray cleaners he had inhaled, a coroner’s report said Tuesday.

    Carter, the younger brother of the Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, was found submerged and dead at age 34 in the bathtub of his home in Lancaster, California, on Nov. 5, the autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner said.

    Sheriff’s deputies had been the last people to see Carter alive when they visited his house at 2 a.m. on Nov. 4 for a welfare check after he had been seen and heard “huffing” an inhalant on an Instagram live video, according to a police report included in the autopsy findings. He asked the deputies to leave, and they did.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The autopsy found that the sedative alprazolam, often sold under the brand name Xanax, was found in his system, as was the compressed gas difluoroethane, which the report says is “a gas commonly used as a propellant in air spray cleaners,” which “can induce feelings of euphoria when inhaled.”

    The two substances incapacitated him in the tub, and caused the drowning, the report said.

    Later in the evening, after deputies checked on Carter, he missed an appointment with a drug counselor, the police report said.

    The following day, a person whom authorities called a house sitter at the time but whom the report identifies in quotes as a “housekeeper” came to Carter’s house to offer him coffee. She let herself in when she got no response and heard his dogs barking, according to the report.

    The woman found him submerged, wearing a T-shirt and necklace, in a Jacuzzi-style tub with the jets running, and called 911. The operator told her to pull him out and perform CPR, according to the report. Paramedics immediately declared him dead when they arrived.

    Investigators found several prescription bottles and multiple scattered cans of an electronic duster that he used for inhaling.

    The report referred to Carter as “a celebrity with a known history of substance abuse” who had “multiple interactions with local police relating to the substance abuse.” It cited a particular history of inhalant abuse, and a recent relapse.

    Carter began performing as a child in the 1990s, opening for acts including his brother’s boy band and Britney Spears. His career peak came in 2000 with the triple-platinum album “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” which produced hit singles including the title song and “I Want Candy.”

    He also acted on television shows including “Lizzie McGuire,” and appeared on the family reality show “House of Carters” and “Dancing With the Stars.”

    Carter for years had been open about his substance abuse struggles, detailing his issues with inhalants in a 2019 episode of the talk show “The Doctors.” He also said in the interview that he was taking medications for acute anxiety and bipolar disorder.

    Nick Carter said after his younger brother’s death that “I have always held onto the hope that he would somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed.”

  • ‘Where God is Not’: Iranian filmmaker recounts torture with his new documentary

    By AFP

    PARIS: One man mimes his bones being broken, a woman recounts her surrender to religious brainwashing, and a third man replicates his confinement in a tiny prison cell.

    With his new documentary “Where God is Not”, French-Iranian filmmaker Mehran Tamadon hopes that the testimonies of former detainees who say they were tortured in Iran will “unsettle” some of their persecutors.

    All recount abuse that occurred before the protests that are now shaking Iran, from the brutal repression of the 1980s in the immediate aftermath of the revolution up until the last decade.

    Mehran TamadonBut “everything I am filming speaks of today,” said the director who was born to communist parents in Iran in 1972, but fled to France with his mother as a child.

    “Right now, there are people being tortured in prison in Iran.”

    Iranian authorities have arrested thousands since nationwide protests broke out following the September 16 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for allegedly breaching the country’s strict dress rules for women.

    Security forces have also killed 537 people during the crackdown, Norway-based Iran Human Rights watchdog says.

    “For 43 years,” since the 1979 revolution that installed an Islamic theocracy in the country, Iran has been in the grips of a “totalitarian system”, said Tamadon, an architect who turned to cinema in the first decade of the millennium when he lived in Tehran.

    After 2009 documentary “Bassidji” (“Basij”) in which he interviewed members of the paramilitary volunteer force, the atheist engaged in conversation with four clerics for his 2014 work “Iranian”.

    The authorities were so unhappy with him that they confiscated his passports.

    Russian roulette

    After they returned them to him in 2012, he decided to leave Iran, where he says violence has become so ingrained that, “like a Russian roulette”, it can strike at any time.

    In “Where God is Not”, which premiered at the Berlinale in February, 50-year-old Mazyar welds a metal bed frame like the one he was tortured on after being detained for alleged spying and murder.

    It was there the once business manager was tied up, and his torturers broke the bones of his feet with a metal rod, he says.

    When he was no longer able to walk, he was dragged in front of a camera to confess to crimes he had never committed.

    Also in the film, Homa, a Marxist woman who was detained in an overcrowded prison in the 1980s, breaks down in tears as she recounts being so blasted with endless religious chants that she woke up one day brainwashed and started to pray.

    Taghi Rahmani, a political activist who was locked up for 15 years for his views, re-enacts his confinement in a tiny Parisian cellar.

    “I spent six months like this,” he said, counting out the three steps between the two walls of a former cell.

    Rights groups have long lambasted the use of torture in Iranian jails, with Amnesty International in a September 2020 report detailing methods including beatings, floggings, electric shocks, stress positions, mock executions, water-boarding and sexual violence.

    The group said in March that in the crackdown on the protest movement child protesters as young as 12 were being subjected to torture that included electric shocks and rape.

    A torturer’s conscience

    In a second film also due out this year, “Mon Pire Ennemi” (“My Worst Enemy”), Tamadon asks award-winning Iranian-French actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi to step into the shoes of her interrogators.

    Becoming her victim, the filmmaker allows her to subject him to the same humiliation she says she endured at the hands of regime agents after a sex tape featuring her and her boyfriend was leaked online in 2006.

    In one scene, she forces him to strip down to his underwear.

    “I enjoyed destroying you with the words I said,” she says towards the end of the film.

    Tamadon says he hopes both works will be enough to make some members of the regime in Iran re-examine their actions.

    “Many of the questions I ask my characters about a torturer’s conscience are in fact directly aimed at them,” he said.

    “Maybe this will plant a seed that will grow into something later on.”

    Rahmani, the political activist who has lived in France for over a decade, does not believe either “Where God is Not” or “My Worst Enemy” can bring about any redemption.

    But everything in them “is happening at the moment in Iran. By speaking up, I’m trying to denounce it,” he said.

    His own wife, prominent rights defender Narges Mohammadi, is jailed in Tehran’s Evin prison.

    “As my wife is well known, she isn’t tortured physically. But she’s in solitary confinement,” he said.

    “Whenever she suffers, I also suffer.”

    PARIS: One man mimes his bones being broken, a woman recounts her surrender to religious brainwashing, and a third man replicates his confinement in a tiny prison cell.

    With his new documentary “Where God is Not”, French-Iranian filmmaker Mehran Tamadon hopes that the testimonies of former detainees who say they were tortured in Iran will “unsettle” some of their persecutors.

    All recount abuse that occurred before the protests that are now shaking Iran, from the brutal repression of the 1980s in the immediate aftermath of the revolution up until the last decade.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Mehran TamadonBut “everything I am filming speaks of today,” said the director who was born to communist parents in Iran in 1972, but fled to France with his mother as a child.

    “Right now, there are people being tortured in prison in Iran.”

    Iranian authorities have arrested thousands since nationwide protests broke out following the September 16 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for allegedly breaching the country’s strict dress rules for women.

    Security forces have also killed 537 people during the crackdown, Norway-based Iran Human Rights watchdog says.

    “For 43 years,” since the 1979 revolution that installed an Islamic theocracy in the country, Iran has been in the grips of a “totalitarian system”, said Tamadon, an architect who turned to cinema in the first decade of the millennium when he lived in Tehran.

    After 2009 documentary “Bassidji” (“Basij”) in which he interviewed members of the paramilitary volunteer force, the atheist engaged in conversation with four clerics for his 2014 work “Iranian”.

    The authorities were so unhappy with him that they confiscated his passports.

    Russian roulette

    After they returned them to him in 2012, he decided to leave Iran, where he says violence has become so ingrained that, “like a Russian roulette”, it can strike at any time.

    In “Where God is Not”, which premiered at the Berlinale in February, 50-year-old Mazyar welds a metal bed frame like the one he was tortured on after being detained for alleged spying and murder.

    It was there the once business manager was tied up, and his torturers broke the bones of his feet with a metal rod, he says.

    When he was no longer able to walk, he was dragged in front of a camera to confess to crimes he had never committed.

    Also in the film, Homa, a Marxist woman who was detained in an overcrowded prison in the 1980s, breaks down in tears as she recounts being so blasted with endless religious chants that she woke up one day brainwashed and started to pray.

    Taghi Rahmani, a political activist who was locked up for 15 years for his views, re-enacts his confinement in a tiny Parisian cellar.

    “I spent six months like this,” he said, counting out the three steps between the two walls of a former cell.

    Rights groups have long lambasted the use of torture in Iranian jails, with Amnesty International in a September 2020 report detailing methods including beatings, floggings, electric shocks, stress positions, mock executions, water-boarding and sexual violence.

    The group said in March that in the crackdown on the protest movement child protesters as young as 12 were being subjected to torture that included electric shocks and rape.

    A torturer’s conscience

    In a second film also due out this year, “Mon Pire Ennemi” (“My Worst Enemy”), Tamadon asks award-winning Iranian-French actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi to step into the shoes of her interrogators.

    Becoming her victim, the filmmaker allows her to subject him to the same humiliation she says she endured at the hands of regime agents after a sex tape featuring her and her boyfriend was leaked online in 2006.

    In one scene, she forces him to strip down to his underwear.

    “I enjoyed destroying you with the words I said,” she says towards the end of the film.

    Tamadon says he hopes both works will be enough to make some members of the regime in Iran re-examine their actions.

    “Many of the questions I ask my characters about a torturer’s conscience are in fact directly aimed at them,” he said.

    “Maybe this will plant a seed that will grow into something later on.”

    Rahmani, the political activist who has lived in France for over a decade, does not believe either “Where God is Not” or “My Worst Enemy” can bring about any redemption.

    But everything in them “is happening at the moment in Iran. By speaking up, I’m trying to denounce it,” he said.

    His own wife, prominent rights defender Narges Mohammadi, is jailed in Tehran’s Evin prison.

    “As my wife is well known, she isn’t tortured physically. But she’s in solitary confinement,” he said.

    “Whenever she suffers, I also suffer.”

  • Nigerian superstar Rema to tour India in May 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Nigerian music superstar Rema is set to perform in India for the first time in May this year.

    His upcoming tour, titled ‘Rema Calm Down India Tour’, is themed after his debut album ‘Rave & Roses’, which came out in 2022.

    The rapper and singer-songwriter, whose real name is Divine Ikubor, will perform in India in May 2023.

    He will play in multiple Indian cities between May 12 and 14.

    “I’m super excited to be visiting India, I’ve always been fascinated by the cultural landscape of the country and it feels amazing to be finally touring the country. Can’t wait to join all my lovely Indian fans in the arenas in May 2023,” the 23-year-old musician said in a statement.

    ‘Rema Calm Down India Tour 2023’ is presented and produced by Offline Guys, Yuvraj Entertainment, Grid Entertainment in collaboration with Afrodesh.

    Anant K Srivastava, founder of Offline Guys, said Rema enjoys a massive goodwill in India and is one of the few global artists who enjoys sustained growth and immense popularity on home turf.

    “We believe Afro music is here to stay and dominate not just the airwaves and charts but also the live music festival industry. We are looking at capitalising on the Afro music market which remains relatively untapped in the concerts and live events space in India since there is a massive potential for this genre to be on par with the dance music, rock and pop genre,” he added.

    Solomon Sonaiya, founder at Afrodesh, said the Afrobeats movement has a huge market in India.

    “The reception Afrobeats artists receive from India is quite incredible and we would love to explore the region in the coming few years by bringing down some stellar names from the genre to India,” he added.

    NEW DELHI: Nigerian music superstar Rema is set to perform in India for the first time in May this year.

    His upcoming tour, titled ‘Rema Calm Down India Tour’, is themed after his debut album ‘Rave & Roses’, which came out in 2022.

    The rapper and singer-songwriter, whose real name is Divine Ikubor, will perform in India in May 2023.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    He will play in multiple Indian cities between May 12 and 14.

    “I’m super excited to be visiting India, I’ve always been fascinated by the cultural landscape of the country and it feels amazing to be finally touring the country. Can’t wait to join all my lovely Indian fans in the arenas in May 2023,” the 23-year-old musician said in a statement.

    ‘Rema Calm Down India Tour 2023’ is presented and produced by Offline Guys, Yuvraj Entertainment, Grid Entertainment in collaboration with Afrodesh.

    Anant K Srivastava, founder of Offline Guys, said Rema enjoys a massive goodwill in India and is one of the few global artists who enjoys sustained growth and immense popularity on home turf.

    “We believe Afro music is here to stay and dominate not just the airwaves and charts but also the live music festival industry. We are looking at capitalising on the Afro music market which remains relatively untapped in the concerts and live events space in India since there is a massive potential for this genre to be on par with the dance music, rock and pop genre,” he added.

    Solomon Sonaiya, founder at Afrodesh, said the Afrobeats movement has a huge market in India.

    “The reception Afrobeats artists receive from India is quite incredible and we would love to explore the region in the coming few years by bringing down some stellar names from the genre to India,” he added.

  • Longtime Lennon-Ono insider Elliot Mintz writing memoir

    By Associated Press

    NEW YORK: Elliot Mintz, a longtime insider with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, will release a memoir next year that will weave in behind-the-scenes moments with the famous couple.

    The U.S. publisher Dutton and British publisher Transworld announced the deal with Mintz, who first met Lennon and Ono in the early 1970s and remained close to Ono after Lennon’s murder in 1980. The book is currently untitled.

    “I have waited fifty years to share my experiences with Yoko and John,” Mintz, 78, said in a statement Tuesday. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. It is a privilege to share my odyssey and include the reader in intimate portrayal of my two dearest friends.”

    Mintz, a spokesperson and radio and television host, has worked on various Lennon-Ono projects over the years, including hosting the radio documentary series “The Lost Lennon Tapes,” which featured unreleased recordings by the late musician. He has also served as a spokesperson for numerous other celebrities, from Bob Dylan to Paris Hilton.

    NEW YORK: Elliot Mintz, a longtime insider with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, will release a memoir next year that will weave in behind-the-scenes moments with the famous couple.

    The U.S. publisher Dutton and British publisher Transworld announced the deal with Mintz, who first met Lennon and Ono in the early 1970s and remained close to Ono after Lennon’s murder in 1980. The book is currently untitled.

    “I have waited fifty years to share my experiences with Yoko and John,” Mintz, 78, said in a statement Tuesday. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. It is a privilege to share my odyssey and include the reader in intimate portrayal of my two dearest friends.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Mintz, a spokesperson and radio and television host, has worked on various Lennon-Ono projects over the years, including hosting the radio documentary series “The Lost Lennon Tapes,” which featured unreleased recordings by the late musician. He has also served as a spokesperson for numerous other celebrities, from Bob Dylan to Paris Hilton.

  • American jazz piano great Ahmad Jamal dead at 92

    By AFP

    WASHINGTON: Ahmad Jamal, a towering and influential US pianist, composer and band leader whose career spanned more than seven decades and helped transform jazz, pop and hip-hop, has died at age 92.

    Jamal released about 80 albums, building friendships and influence with greats such as Miles Davis, and was sampled by rappers including Nas, helping to lure a larger pop audience to jazz.

    He won myriad awards over the course of his career, including France’s prestigious Ordre des Arts and des Lettres in 2007 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

    Born Frederick Russell Jones in a humble suburb of Pittsburgh in 1930, he first sat down at a piano when he was three years old and began studying music seriously when he was seven.

    He converted to Islam and changed his name when he was 20, though he avoided the more political side of the era’s Black Power movement, putting his focus on a “search for peace”.

    The jazz scene he entered in the 1950s was often characterised by a hectic, explosive style.

    By contrast, Jamal’s playing was spartan and reserved, surprising his audience with long empty stretches, sudden breaks and romantic flourishes.

    It took a while for people to catch on.

    “His musical concept was one of the great innovations of the time, even if its spare, audacious originality was lost on many listeners,” the New Yorker wrote last year.

    But many were paying close attention.

    Though they never collaborated, Davis often paid homage to Jamal. In his autobiography, Davis wrote: “(Jamal) knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrased notes and chords and passages.”

    He worked in a trio — most notably with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier with whom he recorded his breakthrough album, 1958’s “Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me”, which stayed on the Billboard magazine charts for more than 100 weeks, becoming one of the best-selling instrumental records of its time.

    ‘Alternative universe’US music critic Ted Gioia wrote that Jamal “opened up an alternative universe of sound, freer and less constrained than what we had heard before. The rules of improvised music were different after he appeared on the scene.”

    “The Awakening” from 1970 developed the sound — “a fine example of Jamal’s stately and understated elegance” in the words of Pitchfork — but it also had a long afterlife, influencing hip-hop artists in the coming decades, sampled most famously by Nas on his 1990s hit “The World is Yours”.

    Jamal never stopped experimenting, bringing in explosive percussionist Manolo Badrena in the 1990s and still recording critically lauded work into his late 80s.

    “I live an exciting life, and when you live an interesting life, you keep discovering,” Jamal told AFP during a visit to France in 2012.

    “Musicians blossom and build themselves. Some basic things are still there in my music, the melodic sense for example, but the density of sound has changed with age, and the rhythmic part has become more elaborate,” he added.

    His death, reportedly from prostrate cancer, was confirmed to US media by his family.

    WASHINGTON: Ahmad Jamal, a towering and influential US pianist, composer and band leader whose career spanned more than seven decades and helped transform jazz, pop and hip-hop, has died at age 92.

    Jamal released about 80 albums, building friendships and influence with greats such as Miles Davis, and was sampled by rappers including Nas, helping to lure a larger pop audience to jazz.

    He won myriad awards over the course of his career, including France’s prestigious Ordre des Arts and des Lettres in 2007 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Born Frederick Russell Jones in a humble suburb of Pittsburgh in 1930, he first sat down at a piano when he was three years old and began studying music seriously when he was seven.

    He converted to Islam and changed his name when he was 20, though he avoided the more political side of the era’s Black Power movement, putting his focus on a “search for peace”.

    The jazz scene he entered in the 1950s was often characterised by a hectic, explosive style.

    By contrast, Jamal’s playing was spartan and reserved, surprising his audience with long empty stretches, sudden breaks and romantic flourishes.

    It took a while for people to catch on.

    “His musical concept was one of the great innovations of the time, even if its spare, audacious originality was lost on many listeners,” the New Yorker wrote last year.

    But many were paying close attention.

    Though they never collaborated, Davis often paid homage to Jamal. In his autobiography, Davis wrote: “(Jamal) knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrased notes and chords and passages.”

    He worked in a trio — most notably with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier with whom he recorded his breakthrough album, 1958’s “Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me”, which stayed on the Billboard magazine charts for more than 100 weeks, becoming one of the best-selling instrumental records of its time.

    ‘Alternative universe’
    US music critic Ted Gioia wrote that Jamal “opened up an alternative universe of sound, freer and less constrained than what we had heard before. The rules of improvised music were different after he appeared on the scene.”

    “The Awakening” from 1970 developed the sound — “a fine example of Jamal’s stately and understated elegance” in the words of Pitchfork — but it also had a long afterlife, influencing hip-hop artists in the coming decades, sampled most famously by Nas on his 1990s hit “The World is Yours”.

    Jamal never stopped experimenting, bringing in explosive percussionist Manolo Badrena in the 1990s and still recording critically lauded work into his late 80s.

    “I live an exciting life, and when you live an interesting life, you keep discovering,” Jamal told AFP during a visit to France in 2012.

    “Musicians blossom and build themselves. Some basic things are still there in my music, the melodic sense for example, but the density of sound has changed with age, and the rhythmic part has become more elaborate,” he added.

    His death, reportedly from prostrate cancer, was confirmed to US media by his family.

  • Kylie Minogue, Jane Curtin join Netflix’s ‘The Residence’  

    By Express News Service

    Kylie Minogue, Jane Curtin, James Babson, Paul Fitzgerald and Ros Gentle have been added to Shondaland and Netflix’s upcoming series The Residence. The makers previously announced that Uzo Aduba will be heading the series.

    The Residence is a whodunnit set in and around the White House, with 132 rooms, one dead body and 157 suspects. One wildly eccentric detective played by Uzo Aduba takes it upon himself to solve the crime.

    The previously announced cast members of The Residence are, Andre Braugher, Susan Kelechi Watson, Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Al Mitchell, Dan Perrault, Bronson Pinchot, Isiah Whitlock Jr., EL Losada, Matt Oberg, Ryan Farell, and Alexandra Siegel and Mary Wiseman.

    The Residence is executive produced by Paul William Davies. Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers executive produce on behalf of Shondaland via the company’s Netflix overall deal. Liza Johnson will direct the first four episodes. The series is currently in production.  

    Kylie Minogue, Jane Curtin, James Babson, Paul Fitzgerald and Ros Gentle have been added to Shondaland and Netflix’s upcoming series The Residence. The makers previously announced that Uzo Aduba will be heading the series.

    The Residence is a whodunnit set in and around the White House, with 132 rooms, one dead body and 157 suspects. One wildly eccentric detective played by Uzo Aduba takes it upon himself to solve the crime.

    The previously announced cast members of The Residence are, Andre Braugher, Susan Kelechi Watson, Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Al Mitchell, Dan Perrault, Bronson Pinchot, Isiah Whitlock Jr., EL Losada, Matt Oberg, Ryan Farell, and Alexandra Siegel and Mary Wiseman.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The Residence is executive produced by Paul William Davies. Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers executive produce on behalf of Shondaland via the company’s Netflix overall deal. Liza Johnson will direct the first four episodes. The series is currently in production. 
     

  • ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ wrapped up filming  

    By Express News Service

    A Quiet Place: Day One, a spin-off to the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place, wrapped up filming. The director of the film Michael Sarnoski announced the news through his Instagram handle.

    Taking to Instagram by sharing a few photos from the set, Sarnoski wrote, “ I can’t properly express how much appreciation I feel for the incredible talents that came together to make this movie. I’ve felt challenged and supported in ways I’ll always cherish. Thank you all for coming on this journey,”

    A Quiet Place: Day One features Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o, Stranger Things breakout star Joseph Quinn, and Hereditary-fame Alex Wolff, among others.

    Michael Sarnoski, who has previously helmed Nicolas Cage starrer Pig (2021), wrote A Quiet Place: Day One based on the idea of John Krasinski, who wrote and directed the first two films in the franchise, A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II.

    The film is backed by Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller through Platinum Dunes, along with John under his production banner Sunday Night.

    A Quiet Place Part II opened to box office success and earned $297 million worldwide. A Quiet Place: Day One is currently scheduled to hit the theatres on March 8, 2024.

    A Quiet Place: Day One, a spin-off to the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place, wrapped up filming. The director of the film Michael Sarnoski announced the news through his Instagram handle.

    Taking to Instagram by sharing a few photos from the set, Sarnoski wrote, “ I can’t properly express how much appreciation I feel for the incredible talents that came together to make this movie. I’ve felt challenged and supported in ways I’ll always cherish. Thank you all for coming on this journey,”

    A Quiet Place: Day One features Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o, Stranger Things breakout star Joseph Quinn, and Hereditary-fame Alex Wolff, among others.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Michael Sarnoski, who has previously helmed Nicolas Cage starrer Pig (2021), wrote A Quiet Place: Day One based on the idea of John Krasinski, who wrote and directed the first two films in the franchise, A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II.

    The film is backed by Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller through Platinum Dunes, along with John under his production banner Sunday Night.

    A Quiet Place Part II opened to box office success and earned $297 million worldwide. A Quiet Place: Day One is currently scheduled to hit the theatres on March 8, 2024.

  • BTS to release soundtrack for upcoming Korean animated TV series

    By IANS

    SEOUL: K-pop supergroup BTS will release the lead song for the original soundtrack of a Korean TV animation series set to go on air next month.

    It will be the first release from BTS as a team since ‘Yet To Come’ in June, reports Yonhap.

    ‘Bastions’, set to premiere on the SBS channel on May 14, is a 3D animation series that tells the story of a rookie superhero who uncovers the identity of a villain responsible for environmental destruction and grows into a true hero by saving the Earth, according to Timos Media.

    “BTS is expected to provide an overwhelming sense of immersion to the emotions and action scenes of the series by singing the theme song in perfect harmony,” it added.

    Also participating in the original soundtrack will be the K-pop girl group Le Sserafim and soloists Heize and AleXa.

    SEOUL: K-pop supergroup BTS will release the lead song for the original soundtrack of a Korean TV animation series set to go on air next month.

    It will be the first release from BTS as a team since ‘Yet To Come’ in June, reports Yonhap.

    ‘Bastions’, set to premiere on the SBS channel on May 14, is a 3D animation series that tells the story of a rookie superhero who uncovers the identity of a villain responsible for environmental destruction and grows into a true hero by saving the Earth, according to Timos Media.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “BTS is expected to provide an overwhelming sense of immersion to the emotions and action scenes of the series by singing the theme song in perfect harmony,” it added.

    Also participating in the original soundtrack will be the K-pop girl group Le Sserafim and soloists Heize and AleXa.

  • Everyman actor: ‘The White Tiger’ fame Adarsh Gourav

    Express News Service

    If slow and steady had a face, it would be Adarsh Gourav’s. The actor, who shot to fame in 2021 with The White Tiger, now has a slew of projects this year. There’s Kho Gaye Hum Kahan with Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi, there’s Raj & DK’s Guns and Gulaabs, and his crowning glory—the recently released science-fiction series on climate change, Extrapolations, which also stars Hollywood stalwarts such as Meryl Streep, Edward Norton and Kit Harington among others.

    It is Gourav’s unassuming presence in the industry until a few years ago that makes his rise almost meteoric. His most popular role until The White Tiger was playing an engineering student in Hotel Daze, a comedy series on Amazon Prime, although he had appeared in evidently missable roles in My Name is Khan (as young Shah Rukh Khan), Sridev’s Mom (as one of the antagonists) and Anurag Kashyap’s short film, Clean Shaven, among a few others.   

    “I owe everything to The White Tiger. It gave me new opportunities and access to writers, directors and producers,” says Gourav, who bagged a BAFTA nomination for his portrayal of a chauffeur, who is a victim of class discrimination. The film also starred Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkummar Rao.

    In Extrapolations, Gourav plays a truck driver in rural India who, in the face of the worsening climate crisis, takes to smuggling seeds across the subcontinent to make money. He stars in the fifth episode of the series helmed by American filmmaker Scott Z Burns, best known for Contagion. The episode is directed by Richie Mehta of Delhi Crime fame. “It was a challenging role, especially from the preparation point of view. 

    I like to understand the character’s personal politics, relationship dynamics and world view. In this series, now that the world is going to end, my character’s only motivation is money, and when he finds out there are £10,000 involved in the smuggling business, he takes it up,” the actor says.

    For Mumbai-based Gourav though, simply following the script is not enough. He is a method actor, and feels the need to identify with his character emotionally. “I went to Nagpur and met farmers and some of the widows. 

    I learnt to drive a truck. Some days, I would just sit next to a truck driver, while he drove around for several hours, and just ask him questions––what does he do when he is away from his family? What does he eat? How does he unwind?” Gourav says, adding, “The entire reason for me to act and be a storyteller is because I am interested in people. When you get the opportunity to be someone else, you embrace all of their conflicts and victories.”

    Besides being based on a topical subject, Extrapolations also has a diverse cast, including actors with Asian, South American and African heritages such as Eiza González, Daveed Diggs, Forest Whitaker and Gemma Chan.

    Does that mean Gourav has more characters written for Asians coming his way? “Stereotypes are getting broken. It is, however, not just about colour-blind casting. What is also important is for diverse writers to be included in such setups,” he says, adding, “When there are more writers from the subcontinent in the West, they will be more responsible for accurate representations, or imagining us playing characters belonging to different professions. The West is slowly realising that India is the next big market and this will only get better for technicians, writers, directors and actors. It is a great time to be around,” he says.

    “I owe everything to The White Tiger. It gave me new opportunities and access to writers, directors and producers.” 

    If slow and steady had a face, it would be Adarsh Gourav’s. The actor, who shot to fame in 2021 with The White Tiger, now has a slew of projects this year. There’s Kho Gaye Hum Kahan with Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi, there’s Raj & DK’s Guns and Gulaabs, and his crowning glory—the recently released science-fiction series on climate change, Extrapolations, which also stars Hollywood stalwarts such as Meryl Streep, Edward Norton and Kit Harington among others.

    It is Gourav’s unassuming presence in the industry until a few years ago that makes his rise almost meteoric. His most popular role until The White Tiger was playing an engineering student in Hotel Daze, a comedy series on Amazon Prime, although he had appeared in evidently missable roles in My Name is Khan (as young Shah Rukh Khan), Sridev’s Mom (as one of the antagonists) and Anurag Kashyap’s short film, Clean Shaven, among a few others.   

    “I owe everything to The White Tiger. It gave me new opportunities and access to writers, directors and producers,” says Gourav, who bagged a BAFTA nomination for his portrayal of a chauffeur, who is a victim of class discrimination. The film also starred Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkummar Rao.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    In Extrapolations, Gourav plays a truck driver in rural India who, in the face of the worsening climate crisis, takes to smuggling seeds across the subcontinent to make money. He stars in the fifth episode of the series helmed by American filmmaker Scott Z Burns, best known for Contagion. The episode is directed by Richie Mehta of Delhi Crime fame. “It was a challenging role, especially from the preparation point of view. 

    I like to understand the character’s personal politics, relationship dynamics and world view. In this series, now that the world is going to end, my character’s only motivation is money, and when he finds out there are £10,000 involved in the smuggling business, he takes it up,” the actor says.

    For Mumbai-based Gourav though, simply following the script is not enough. He is a method actor, and feels the need to identify with his character emotionally. “I went to Nagpur and met farmers and some of the widows. 

    I learnt to drive a truck. Some days, I would just sit next to a truck driver, while he drove around for several hours, and just ask him questions––what does he do when he is away from his family? What does he eat? How does he unwind?” Gourav says, adding, “The entire reason for me to act and be a storyteller is because I am interested in people. When you get the opportunity to be someone else, you embrace all 
    of their conflicts and victories.”

    Besides being based on a topical subject, Extrapolations also has a diverse cast, including actors with Asian, South American and African heritages such as Eiza González, Daveed Diggs, Forest Whitaker and Gemma Chan.

    Does that mean Gourav has more characters written for Asians coming his way? “Stereotypes are getting broken. It is, however, not just about colour-blind casting. What is also important is for diverse writers to be included in such setups,” he says, adding, “When there are more writers from the subcontinent in the West, they will be more responsible for accurate representations, or imagining us playing characters belonging to different professions. The West is slowly realising that India is the next big market and this will only get better for technicians, writers, directors and actors. It is a great time to be around,” he says.

    “I owe everything to The White Tiger. It gave me new opportunities and access to writers, directors and producers.”