Friends of Borges

Events

"Freud, Gandhi, Marx...are important. Movie acting is just dull, boring, childish work. Everybody acts - when we want something, when we want someone to do something; we all act all the time."
Marlon Brando

Music & Dance :

2008

February

Interview with Will.I.Am. producer of the Barack Obama Song "Yes We Can":
Here's the lyrics:
"It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom. Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness. Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountain-top and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality. (yes we can) Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can. Si Se Puede.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We want change!
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
We want change! I want Change.
The hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America's story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea - Yes. We. Can."

Celebrities featured include: Scarlett Johansson, Tatyana Ali, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Amber Valetta and Nick Cannon

2007

October

Damien Rice performs tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi
Wembley Arena, London
Saturday 6th, nigth

As tens of thousands of people across the world take to the streets as part of a global day of action on Burma, Damien Rice will lend his support with a special performance of a song he has written for Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained leader of Burma’s democracy movement.

Damien Rice will perform the song – Unplayed Piano – during a concert at Wembley Arena this evening. The song will be introduced by a Burmese political exile, Zoya Phan, whom Damien first met at a health clinic for refugees during a trip to the Thailand Burma border. Members of the Burmese community, wearing traditional dress, will then recite the same Buddhist chants that the Monks on the streets of Rangoon did before the regimes brutal crackdown.

“Damien Rice came to find out what was going on and how he could help at a time when the world was ignoring what was happening in Burma,” said Zoya Phan. “I really appreciate his continuing support at this critical time. We must keep pressure on governments to take action.”

For more information contact Suki Dusanj, Events Manager at Burma Campaign UK, on Tel. 02073244710.

Watch the Jazz legend Charlie Haden, an ethical citizen of the world, interwieved by Amy Goodman at DEMOCRACY NOW

And click on the screen to enjoy Charlie Haden (bass), Edgeberto Gismonti (guitar) and Jan Garbareck (sax soprano) performing "Magic".

A tango in Madrid

click to enjoy the dance at the Opera Place, music by Astor Piazzola.
Do you know who are the wonderful dancers?

A tango-waltz

click to enjoy the dance,
Do you know who are the wonderful dancers?

A milonga

click on the screen to enjoy the milonga
Do you know who are the wonderful dancers?

Another milonga

click on the screen to enjoy the milonga
Do you know who are the wonderful dancers?

Our thanks to YouTube for the video clips.

If you want to learn or improve dancing tango and milonga in the United Kingdom check in DanceWeb for a course that suits you..

8th August to 1st September 2006:
The Eastern Divan orchestra, formed by Arabs and Israelis united in the love of Music, directed by Barenboim will start in Sevilla its annual world tour to promote Peace, namely in the Middle East. Next 10th August will perform in the Mayor Place of Madrid the Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven, Ode to Joy, intended as an hymn to brotherhood and peace among humanity.. more information in the official web site of Maestro Daniel Barenboim.

Click on the screen to enjoy Schubert's Piano Quintet "The Trout", in the legendary 1969 interpretation by Daniel Barenboim, piano; Zubin Mehta, double bass; Itzhak Perlman, violin; Jacqueline Du Pre , cello; and Pinchas Zuckerman, viola.

Click on the right screen to enjoy Jessye Norman singing "Deep River" in the Carnegie Hall of New York.
An the other one click to take part with Jessye Norman in the fun with Kathleen Batle; thanks to YouTube.com

Piano´s poet Michel Petrucciani performing jazz

Theatre & Opera :

In aid of Freedom and Democracy in Burma

Festival des libertés

du 25 février au 3 mars 2008

à Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique

Pour le respect des droits humains et la défense des libertés individuelles:
expositions de photos, conférences, actions symboliques, tables rondes et concerts.

Season 2008
A once in a lifetime opportunity to see Shakespeare's complete History Cycle performed by one ensemble company of actors.
The Histories play in The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon-Avon until 16 March 2008
before transferring to the Roundhouse, London from 1 April - 25 May 2008.
To check when and where each play will be shown please click here

Click on the screens to watch Marlon Brando performing Shakespeare's Marc Anthony funeral speech on Jules Cesar

"My name is Rachel Corrie", at the Minetta Lane Theatre, New York
First it was a hit at The Royal Court Theatre in London. As directed with precision and simplicity by Rickman on a clever set by Hildegard Bechtler and as acted by the luminous American actor Megan Dodds, we follow Rachel (Corrie) from her red-walled postcard-pasted typical teenage room in the idyllic Northwest of this country to a bullet-pocked concrete manse being ravaged by a strong and skillful enemy in a Mideast of seemingly endless war. ...read the review by Polly Wittenberg - and read the eloge by the famous writer Mario Vargas LLosa (in Spanish but free translators are available online) - and watch interview to Vanessa Redgrave and many others at the independent free internet channel Democracy Now - more about this civic heroe in Wikipedia.

Cinematographie :

The Merchant of Venice
directed by Al Pacino

Click on the screens to watch fragments of A Tiger made of paper

"Four men in a raft" a film by Orson Welles recently found
And in the following screen click to watch Orson Welles speaking on "The creative process"

Watch "La Ricotta", a film by Pier Paolo Pasolini with Orson Welles

Mon fils à Moi [My Son, mine]: A new version of the total power of Yocasta over her child, in particular when the father don´t care and society cares not for the Law.
``Mon fils a moi,'' Fougeron's first feature film, tells the story of a preadolescent boy who is a prisoner of his mother's love. He is controlled by her and subject to cruel psychological bullying. The film relates his desperate struggle to break free.
One of two winning films at the San Sebastian international film festival, Martial Fougeron's Mon Fils à Moi, was booed by critics at the weekend when it was announced that it had won the top accolade. Several journalists at the Spanish speaking world's most important film festival shouted "no, no" while others made thumbs down gestures to show their preference for the Iranian film Half Moon, which shared the Golden Shell for best film..."Half Moon,'' by the Kurdish Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi and "Mon fils a moi'' ("My Son'') by France's Martial Fougeron each won Golden Shell awards for best film at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Watch the trailer clicking on the screen.

Award winning from the 62th Venezia International Film Festival and many other film Awards

Into the Great Silence an extraordinary film by Philip Gröening about the medieval Christian order of the Carthusian monks (Order founded by St Bruno in the XII century), who also founded Can Mossenya in XIV century within The Royal Chartreuse of Jesus of Nazareth, Majorca. This film is beating records of audience in Germany and Italy ... see the theatrical trailer cliking here.
Also for more information visit the website of the UK distributor SODA PICTURES

Watch Charlie Chaplin in "The Dictator"

"The Queen" with actress Helen Mirren interpreting HM Elizabeth II, directed by Stephen Frears, harvest a great ovation in The Venice Film Festival - more in The Times - The Telegraph - watch the trailer clicking here.

The beat my heart skipped
We invite to watch the excellent film by Jacques Audiard where he portraits the new cancer of real state mafias versus artistic vocation, creative freedom and democratic life ... watch the trailer and an interview with Jacques Audiard and the actor Romain Duris

International Film Festival of Berlin:
Silver Bear - Best Director 2006 awarded to
Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross for
The Road To Guantanamo / watch the trailer cliking here .

"The feast of the goat" by Mario Vargas LLosa
starring Isabella Rossellini / watch the trailer clicking here .

Watch the legendary Marylin Monroe with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in the trailer of "Someone like it hot", from genial director Billy Wilder.

Lectures & Interviews :

"In the Beginning was Sound"
Reith Lectures 2006 by Daniel Barenboim
In this year's Reith Lectures musician and conductor Daniel Barenboim discusses the interplay between music and society.
You will be able to hear the lectures again, or download a full transcript, after the broadcast.
Find out more about the lectures in the BBC

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
Legendary actor Vanessa Redgrave denounces the cancellation of “My Name is Rachel Corrie” (crushed by an Israeli bulldozer while she was protecting a Palestinian family) in New York as an “act of catastrophic cowardice” ... watch the interview in Democracy Now

Exhibitions :

HOCKEY & TURNER
at The Modern Tate

Free Entry [until 3 February 2008]
"a hugely enjoyable and very beautiful exhibition" The Daily Telegraph
"breathtaking beauty" The Times
Dazzling, evocative and sublime, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to see some of JMW Turner's most spectacular works. Usually outnumbered by his grand oil paintings, around 150 of Turner’s beautiful watercolours are displayed, giving a comprehensive view of the artist’s astonishing use of watercolour, his techniques and his influences.
At the heart of the exhibition another seminal British artist, David Hockney, presents his own selection of Turner's unique colour studies or 'beginnings' and also provides commentary on the artist's techniques.
The exhibition tracks Turner's watercolour work through time. From architecture to topography, ideal and historic landscape to nature studies, and finished works to private sketches, the selection reveals Turner's extraordinary range as a watercolourist. At the same time, it shows the development of the virtuoso techniques that enabled him first to paint watercolours that could compete with oil paintings, and later to transform all aspects of his art by their example.

Asterion Events:

Short Play for Virtuoso
follow by Literary Salon
booking@AsterionPlayers.net

ONLY FOR MEMBERS Literary Cafe every month - in English, French and Spanish - from London, Paris, Madrid, Copenhagen and other cities on the world directly to your Salon through video conference via OrbisTertius.net
Book now

Asterion New Plays :

The company is taking the time to prepare its own repertory in order to start all year round performances as soon as possible. If you want to support the undergoing work, please contact us. And thanks for bearing with us.

Asterion Recent Events :

"Celebrating Shakespeare"

A lecture:

"The Dark Lady Syphilis in times of Shakespeare & Cervantes"
by Dr Fernando Vázquez, of the Royal Academy of Medicine of the Principality of Asturias,
associated to The Institute of Spain;
chaired by Professor Kate McLuskie, Director of The Shakespeare Institute.

...to pry into the mystery of his sin or of the sin, if such it was, of the great poet who had so dearly loved him. 'I am that I am'...
from "The portrait of Mr W. H." by Oscar Wilde

I discerned a fault at the very bed of his memory. I didn't try to define it; Shakespeare has done that forever. Suffice for me to declare that this fault has nothing in common with perversity...
from "The memory of Shakespeare" by Sir Jorge Luis Borges

We are delighted to invite all readers and fans of Shakespeare to a historic lecture by a distinguished member of The Friends of Jorge Luis Borges Worldwide Society, Dr Fernando Vázquez, who is an eager reader of Shakespeare as well as an outstanding medical scientist.

Dr. Vázquez will uncover the unsuspected identity of the mysterious "Dark Lady", which became famous as the interfering evil between the Lover-Poet and the beloved-of the Sonnets.

His findings will shake prejudices and puritan efforts in their attempt to tie such unclassifiable dramatist and poet to “normal” sexual appetite, while these findings will add support to the analyses of Oscar Wilde and Borges about the extra-ordinary humanity of the grey man who wounded by Eros become Will-I-am Shake-speare.
The lecture will be followed by a discussion with the audience and by a wine of honour.

Sun 24 April 2005
Stratford-upon-Avon
The Shakespeare Institute
17h00

Mon 25 April 2005
London
The Actors' Church, Covent Garden
18h00

A NEW PLAY:

'No One without the Other'
From the 22nd to the 25th of April this year, we invite you to join in the celebration of Shakespeare, “the Lord of all words”, as Borges qualified the beloved master and greatest Poet of all times and languages.

The Asterion Players will perform “NO ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER”, a new play in two acts: the first one invites audiences to discover Sir Jorge Luis Borges, the great intellectual poet produced by a favourable conjunction of Quixote genius with his father’s English library, the other acts a lifelong tribute to Shakespeare.

The play stages an intimate dialogue between disciple and master, showing the ways of the Spirit to determine each one’s filiations, the role of a Muse to awake the sacred fire of Poetry and everything you ever wanted to know (but never dared to ask) about that pound of flesh and true goad of desire palpitating at the secret heart of an artistic vocation.

Conceived as a metaphysical thriller and rooted in the human desire for eternity and the quest for the Other who shapes everlasting poetry, NO ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER casts light on the dialectic between man and creator, recounting the story of a man who longs to become someone. Thanks to an extraordinary encounter – which some call destiny – our hero is offered a fantastic opportunity to make true the dream of his life. In his quest for the One of his dreams, the man will become other, yet in a manner that no one could have suspected…

Fri 22, Sat 23, Sun 24 April 2005
Stratford-upon-Avon
The Shakespeare Institute
19h30

Mon 25 April 2005
London
The Actors' Church, Covent Garden
20h00