today was Memorial day where the fallen people of Israel are remembered. there was a nation-wide siren last night at 8pm but I was still at work so missed it. today was a public holiday, as is tomorrow for Independence Day - the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. at 11am this morning there was another siren. I left the apartment with about 1 minute to spare. the guy from upstairs ran down the stairwell just in front of me. he made it out the gate then the siren started. I was still in the front yard and I didn't want to move once it had started but I took a video from behind the green gate. the man from the laundromat was standing near his motorbike. another man stood by the car he was unpacking. a man stood on his balcony across the street - head bowed. another man put his grocery bags down and stood by them on the footpath across the road. the cars stopped. it was silent except for the ringing of the siren which could be heard across the city.

some sites with news of Israel

http://jerusalempost.com : Jerusalem Post - this is the online version of the Jerusalem Post newspaper

http://www.jerusalem-times.net - The Jerusalem Times - this is based in East Jerusalem and has Palestinian & Arabic news, though their website is often hacked so there's not much to read there

http://www.sderotmedia.com - Sderot Media - news and info about the city of Sderot which is targeted regularly and constantly by missiles from Gaza. myth busting site - here you can see that Israel actually helps Gaza residents and counter arguments against the propaganda that the media portray about the area.
articles with people living in Sderot

http://www.israelnationalradio.com - English radio documentaries and programs

http://www.israelnationalnews.com - Arutz Sheva - Israeli news site. you can receive daily email summaries of articles

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articles

most of the cafes and taxis here in Jerusalem listen to Galatz Radio - this is the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) station. army service is a part of everyone's life here in Israel with teenagers having to serve after they finish high school. they have a Hebrew news services & play popular Israeli and International music.

so I don't forget ... here's the events coming up at Uganda & Sira. I went to Music House today and bought some more Israeli / Jerusalem based music. the guy in the store told me about Uganda and Sira, a couple of places in Jerusalem where you can see / hear live electronic & experimental music.

Uganda myspace page

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Sira events :

right click to download the audio mp3 file

a sound walk through the old city of jerusalem

it snowed in Jerusalem for a couple of days. the first day many of the roads were closed. the stores close - the city shuts down. my workplace was closed for both days (so a long weekend for some!). the second day by mid morning the sun was out and sky was blue.

snow in the middle east! lots of fun!

the music is "Snow" by Severed Heads off the Gigapus album
http://www.sevcom.com/

30-31/01/2008, jerusalem, israel

http://blip.tv/file/get/AliaK-jerusalemSnow649.flv
http://blip.tv/file/get/AliaK-jerusalemSnow649.mp4
http://blip.tv/file/651524

The SALA-MANCA GROUP is a group of independent Jerusalem-based artists that creates in different fields: performance, video, installation & new media since 2000. Sala-manca's works deal with poetics of translation (cultural, mediatic and social), with textual, urban and net contexts and with the tensions between low tech and high tech aesthetics, as well as social and political issues.

THE KADIMA MUSICIANS COLLECTIVE is in the vanguard of creative improvised music in Israel. Focusing on fringe artists and their work, KADIMA supports and develops the rich cultural mix of Israeli artistic life.
KADIMA includes a recording label and recording facilities in Jerusalem. It promotes and co-produces studio releases and concerts, and helps develop and connect musicians in the field of free improvisation and creative music.
KADIMA was founded and is led by Jean Claude Jones, bassist and educator, and one of the pioneers of Israeli jazz.

no-org.net is a Jerusalem art network, launched in December 2003. It serves a platform for experimental projects in the area of netbased and digital art and for the exchange of independent information on contemporary art.

Since 1965, the House has served as home to the Association for Jerusalem Artists. In this capacity, the House has become a dynamic center for exhibitions, displaying unique and varied works of both Israeli and international artists. The annual exhibition plan includes a series focusing on prominent young artists exhibiting their works for the first time, as well as a series of retrospective works by veteran artists. In addition, the Artists House displays group exhibitions on a wide range of subjects, joint presentations between Israeli and international artists, as well as a variety of other activities.

The Naggar School of Photography, Media and New Music is a creative institute that allows students to achieve skills artistically, creatively and professionally in the fields of photography, digital media, video and new music, with an emphasis on inter-disciplinary work. The Naggar School is located within the Morasha (Musrara) neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel. visit http://www.naggarschool.com for more details

Art, Music, Culture in Jerusalem today - event listings and what's happening around Jerusalem

Click To Play

sections of the Jewish quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem

music is "Some Place (intro)" by Coolooloosh - a great local Jerusalem based / Israeli band

04/12/2007

original video @ http://blip.tv/file/518655
blog post @ http://www.aliak.com/node/14245

NaVloPoMo 14 - day # 14 Ben Yehuda B-Boys

source file = http://blip.tv/file/484657
blog post = http://www.aliak.com/node/14213

the bboys were back in Ben Yehunda mall as I was coming home from work tonight. usually I've seen them there Thursday nights (equivalent to Friday back home as the weekend is Fri-Sat here not Sat-Sun as it is back home). they were just warming up I think. trying a bit of popping & locking this time.

14/11/2007

NaVloPoMo 12 - day # 12 - drive to work in Jerusalem

http://blip.tv/file/479974 = source file
http://www.aliak.com/node/14209 = blog post

Watch the Video

this is about 3 and a half minutes of my drive to work in Jerusalem - taken this morning. most days the taxi driver takes me through the religious area. sometimes along the freeway 'begin north'. I like going through the suburbs as it's more interesting to see people on their way to work or doing their daily tasks in the morning. at night it's late and dark so it's harder to take video. I sometimes worry about filming people, but the compression and reduction in size has made the people unrecognizable, and yet enough to trigger my memory. I love the Jerusalem stone buildings (limestone I think) - there's a rule that says all the buildings in Jerusalem have to be made of Jerusalem stone. I think it helps keep it's character. the old buildings are large blocks of stones, the newer ones are just 1inch veneer and some are starting to incorporate plates of glass.

the song is "My Life" by Echotek, an Israeli artist - from the album "Life Is... Dimensions" on Israeli label BNE records. I bought a few of their releases during my last visit - great sounds!

12/11/2007

(it's just cut edited in QT pro with the raw clips and was a bumpy ride - I must go to a lot of places with potholes..)

the other night I got out of the taxi at the top of Ben Yehuda st and heard a loud BANG! then sirens started. I walked down the street to find that the main section of the mall had been blocked off. the police had just blown something up - maybe a tourist had left a bag unattended. the police man behind the truck was rolling up the wires and another walked back up the street. then it was all over. the street was only blocked off for about 10 mins. I walked down the street and took a look from the side - 2 mins later you would never have known it'd been blocked off. people were walking around again. there's so much security in Jerusalem - it feels really safe. ...

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by AliaK with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Watch the video

this lady plays the harp every night during the work week. beautiful sounds. I didn't get good footage of her as I don't like taking photos of people too closely, but it's enough to get the idea. still playing with recording audio along with photos. I like it - it lets me imagine the what's happening within the scene using the sounds as a guide. the video tells more of the actual story even though it only captures part of the information. 08/10/2007, Ben Yehuda St Mall, Jerusalem, Israel

the internet connection in the flat where I'm staying is driving me crazy!! it works for about half an hour a couple of times a week. the landlords are looking into it. so I've been going to cafes. and now the cafes connection is not working also. and being a holiday (& shabbath/saturdays also) most of the stores are closed. so now I'm sitting on a bench in Hillel St - there's a few open wireless networks in this street. I'm using a cafe one at the moment - the cafe is closed for the holiday. I tried out kismac but couldn't login from home - it was taking forever to collect enough packets to even attempt to work. so maybe I'm doing something wrong - or perhaps I need a different wireless adaptor.

but I did notice a cool feature where it can make sounds for the different wireless networks. so here's a couple of screenshots and sounds.

Jerusalem wireless - Shamai01

Jerusalem wireless - Shamai02

yesterday I bought a dvd on Arabic Percussion - it's a how - to / instructional dvd by Yinon Muallem, "Master of Percussion". I don't think I'd be able to carry a traditional drum around with me on my travels, and I thought they were made from wood & animal skin so wouldn't be allowed back into Australia by Customs anyway. I spoke to the guy from the shop and he had modern versions not made of wood or animal skin which sounded great when he played them but I said I'd think about it.. instead I found a couple of pairs of finger cymbals / zills - like the ones bellydancers use. the larger ones are the more professional versions and sound the best. the smaller ones are the cheaper ones found in most of the stores at the markets. but these fit my hands better so I thought I'd start with them. you wear them on the thumb and middle finger and can do a couple of strokes - hit together then open again for the higher 'ting' and hit together and stay together for the 'clap' sound. the store had a dvd also for bellydancing, hopefully it's got some English. their website lists the classes but it's in Hebrew so I can't read it yet..

http://www.arabesque.co.il/ - the arabic bellydancing & musicians site
http://www.yinon-muallem.com - the arabic percussion dvd site

Olam Qatan is a spiritual books and world music store in Emek Refaim St, Jerusalem, Israel. I spoke briefly with it's owner Ya'qub ibn Yusuf, who explained some of the music and books available in his store. Sounds like there's a fusion of East meets West happening in Israel and Turkey, which is really interesting to hear. It's great to speak with Independant store owners - their passion for music & books is contagious and it's great to discover new sounds and genres.

If you can't make it personally to the store, take a look at their website, http://olamqatan.com/. From September (2007) the music will be available to preview online. The Articles and About Us sections are of particular interest as they explain more about the store and it's history. They used to run classes after hours, at the "Olam Qatan School" at the store, where people could hear lectures, attend workshops and listen to concert performances. Now the store is branching out to publishing books and spreading the word of the local music releases and performers. So if you're not familiar with Israeli, Turkish and Middle Eastern sounds, check them out.

The videos below are of Ya'qub ibn Yusuf, the store owner, explaining the music & books that can be found in the store. He also gives a brief summary of independent music in the region today which is interesting to hear. And he gives plenty of recommendations if you're looking for some sounds to listen to or books to read.

There are 3 videos discussing music and some of the music releases, and one discussing the books.

(I had to lower the video quality slightly to make the file sizes more managable so apologies for the quality of the video. I have higher res versions)

You can find out more about these books & music albums by visiting the Olam Qatan website or emailing info@olamqatan.com

video part 1 : music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPc_RyRjw0w

video part 2 : music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5hkF6BtnJ8

video part 3 : music

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CG3m5GS4Wrc

video part 4 : books

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jffklfWlL-4