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Ready Freddie!
On September 5th, 1946 Farrokh Bulsara was born on the isle of Zanzibar, just off the coast of Tanzania. Farrokh was regarded as a bright student who excelled in several sports, however he was also noted as being quiet and shy with a “great deal of interest in music.”
At the age of 17, his family fled to London as a result of the Zanzibar Revolution. From 1969 to early 1970, he participated in several bands – none of which went anywhere. In April of 1970, Farrokh joined with a guitarist named Brian May and a drummer named Roger Taylor. Queen was born. He also legally changed his name; Freddie Mercury emerged.
Freddie Mercury is regarded as one of the best (if not the best) voices in rock and roll history. He possessed a crisp and vibrant tenor whose range spanned four octaves. One of Queen's most noted performances came in 1985 at the Live Aid concert. The entire stadium of 72,000 people clapped, sang and swayed in unison to the performance. This performance at Live Aid is often regarded as the single best given in rock history.
On November 23rd, 1991 an announcement was made to the press on behalf of Mercury: he had tested positive for the HIV virus. He passed the next day.
Though notorious for being ferociously private and rarely granting interviews, he was once quoted as saying “What will I be doing in twenty years' time? I'll be dead, darling! Are you crazy?”
It just doesn't seem fair that we lost him nearly seventeen years ago. It is adding insult to injury in light of knowing how some performers abuse the privilege of producing music (term used loosely) these days.
In any case, I'd be remiss in not recognizing the day.
Happy Birthday, Freddie. On September 5th, 1946 Farrokh Bulsara was born on the isle of Zanzibar, just off the coast of Tanzania. Farrokh was regarded as a bri... more -
Gli aiuti umanitari all'Africa finanziano le guerre civili
Bono Vox, il leader degli U2, è ormai considerato la 'voce' della coscienza mondiale. Ma, a quanto pare, tra impegno in Africa e strigliate ai potenti della terra [*1], anche il nostro implacabile esattore umanitario ha qualche scheletro nell'armadio:
[*nzherald] Billions of dollars raised for African famine relief by celebrities Bono and Bob Geldof have instead funded civil war across the continent, says terrorism expert Dr Loretta Napoleoni. London-based Napoleoni, in Auckland to appear at the Writers & Readers Festival, has written two books, Terror Inc: Tracing the Money Behind Global Terrorism and Insurgent Iraq: Al-Zarqawi and the New Generation, on the economics of terrorism. Her latest book, Rogue Economics, studies the destabilising effect of economic globalisation, focusing in part on why more than half a trillion dollars worth of aid sent to Africa since the 1960s failed to reach the intended destination - developing the nations’ economies. That huge amount of aid, which includes money from the United Nations and donations generated by Live Aid for Ethiopia, organised by Geldof, and the Live 8 concert in 2005, organised by Bono, has instead “served as a rogue force, notably as an important form of terrorist financing” in countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Kenya. Ethiopia, for example, received $1.8 billion in foreign aid between 1982-85, including a large contribution from Live Aid; $1.6 billion of that, she points out, was spent on buying military equipment.
In sintesi, secondo l'italiana Loretta Napoleoni, una delle più importanti esperte di terrorismo in circolazione, i miliardi di dollari raccolti da Bono Vox e Bob Geldof via Live Aid, non vanno a finire in aiuti umanitari per l'Africa, ma finanziano gruppi terroristici o l'acquisto di armamenti in stati come l'Etiopia, la Somalia, il Sudan, lo Zimbabwe, la Tanzania e il Kenia. Insomma, nazioni in cui si stanno consumando sanguinosi conflitti che inevitabilmente portano a crisi umanitarie. Bono Vox, il leader degli U2, è ormai considerato la 'voce' della coscienza mondiale. Ma, a quanto pare, tra impegno in Afri... more
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Live aid
