Happy Tuesday All,
And welcome to the Cultural Reads Newsletter! A bi-weekly book, music, and movie recommendation from different countries all around the world.
In this week’s newsletter: Music from Portugal, Greenland & Senegal, a Brazilian movie, an African book, and culture from Indonesia and Japan.
🎙️ How To Know And Feel Fado Music | Sara Paixao
Fado is a traditional music style from Portugal. The UN recognized Fado as a cultural heritage, and it’s increased in popularity ever since.
In my interview with Portuguese Fado singer Sara Paixao, we discuss the history of Fado, Sara’s career, and where to go in Lisbon for the traditional music.
Check out the interview here.
🎸 Nanook (Greenland)
Nanook was the master of bears in the Inuit religion who would decide whether hunters deserved to find and kill a bear.
This mythological creature is also the inspiration for the band Nanook, founded by the Danish-Inuit brothers Christian and Frederick.
The band cares about its cultural heritage and refused an offer from Sony when the record label wanted them to switch to English.
Their music style is soft and melodic indie rock and won the Best Album prize at the Greenland Music Awards in 2010 and 2014.
My favorite song is Ataasiusutut Misigissuseq.
🎞️ City Of God (Brazil)
City of God, or Cidade de Deus in Portuguese, is one of the best Brazilian movies ever made. It is #23 on IMDB’s best movies of all time list and was nominated for four Academy Awards in 2004.
The film tells the story of a group of children growing up in Brazil’s favelas. Due to the lack of opportunities, these young kids transform into criminals who eventually write the neighborhood’s laws with terrible outcomes.
Director Fernando Meirelles (also known for The Two Popes) recruited kids directly from the favelas with no formal acting experience. Famous Brazilian singer Seu Jorge also plays a role in the movie (you can find more info about him here).
You can watch the movie on Amazon Prime.
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📙 The Sex Lives of African Women (Ghana)
Sex sells, and that’s likely why people would buy this book. But don’t be fooled by the title.
The Sex Lives of African Women is primarily about relationships (with others and yourself), intimacy, and emotional maturity. It won several awards and became an economist book of the year.
Author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah runs a prize-winning blog, The Bedroom Adventures of African Women, wrote for The Guardian, and started several successful artistic and feminist initiatives.
She spoke to 30+ worldwide for her book, sharing their lessons about themselves, sexuality, and relational wisdom.
The stories are entertaining, courageous, and intimate and help build understanding and empathy for black women worldwide, the LGBTIQ community, and sex workers.
🌏 How To Understand Japanese and Indonesian Culture
Last week I found two interesting articles on Derek Sivers’s blog (a famous American entrepreneur).
Both pieces are guest posts that aim to help understand Japanese and Indonesian culture.
Here are the links to the Japanese and the Indonesian article.
🎵 Top 3 Senegalese Music
This week, a top 3 songs from Senegal with much more of a dancy vibe.
1. Reguine tass
2. Def Patt
3. Natural Love
If you want your country’s top 3 featured, please share it with me by replying to this email!
📚 One Sentence Book Takeaway
Clean your house per category from generic to personal to avoid getting stuck. The order should be (1) clothes, (2) books, (3) documents, (4) miscellaneous/accessories, (5) sentimental. Lay all items per category on the ground and keep what sparks a sense of joy. The rest should go – Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.
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