Cultural Reads 12: Afro-Folk, Indonesian Revolution & Rumi

Good morning all, and apologies for the one-day delay.

I hope everyone celebrating Christmas had a great one 🙂

Welcome to the 12th issue of the Cultural Reads Newsletter! A bi-weekly book, music, and movie recommendation from different countries all around the world.

In this week’s newsletter: South Africa, Netherlands/Indonesia, Turkey.

🎧 Bongeziwe Mabandla (South Africa)

Bongeziwe Mabandla is a South African musician based in Johannesburg. His music is often described as Afro-folk. A completely new and soulful genre, sung in Xhosa (a language spoken by ~18% of the South African population) and accompanied by a guitar.

Mabandla grew up singing in church and at home. He recorded his first professional album in 2012, which quickly got traction in France. He launched his second album in 2017 and earned several nominations. His most popular Spotify song Ndokulandela is part of this album and has more than 10 million plays.

🎞️ The East (Indonesia/Netherlands)

The East is a movie about the Indonesian National Revolution between 1946-1948. Director Jim Taihuttu has a Moluccan grandfather who fought during this war but realized he knew little about it.

For a long time, the Dutch government referred to this period as police actions, instead of the Indonesian National Revolution. Taihuttu’s “The East” aims to provide the public with a new historical perspective.

The movie was released over 70 years after the war but is highly controversial, especially amongst family members of Dutch veterans. The film was even taken to court for a disclaimer, which the court denied.

The director indicates that he tried to give everyone a voice, saying that a single truth doesn’t exist in war. This view is reflected in the loving and complex way of depicting the Dutch (often teenage) soldiers who gradually start having doubts about the war’s righteousness.

I’d highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in history or who simply enjoys Hollywood-style Vietnam war movies. For those who want to learn more, check out the movie website (Dutch only) or the Wikipedia page.

The movie can be found on Amazon Prime.

📔 The Forty Rules of Love – Elif Shafak (Turkey)

Ella is a homemaker and editor stuck in an unhappy marriage. She feels unfulfilled, but all of that changes when she’s asked to review a book about Rumi (the Sufi poet).

As the story draws her in, she becomes more and more curious about its author. When she decides to reach out to him, an intimate relationship soon develops, drastically changing the way she’s been living her life.

The Forty Rules of Love alternates between Ella’s novel and her “real” life. Although her life story is not the most intriguing, the one about Rumi is. I didn’t know much about the 13th-century poet, but Shafak’s novel felt like a great introduction. 

The visual account of Rumi’s life led me to buy the actual poems. Moreover, the historical context made it much easier to grasp the message.

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