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Good morning,
And welcome to the Cultural Reads Newsletter with worldwide book, music, and movie recommendations.
In today’s newsletter: New Music Trend, Soccer Books, North Sea Jazz, Serbian Folk Dance, Korean Series & Bosnian Novel.
There’s a new trend, especially in Europe, of bands mixing Western and global music.
Are you curious how that sounds?
Here are the 10 bands you should check out now!
Soccer is THE sport that connects us worldwide.
That’s why we’re diving into this subculture today.
Check out the 10 best soccer books that highlight different angles of the game!
North Sea Jazz is the biggest indoor music festival in the world, with almost 100,000 visitors and legendary guests like Miles Davis and BB King.
It was my first time, and I loved the quality, diversity, and power to connect people through music.
Some highlights were Olivia Dean, Avisha Cohen Banda Iroko, PJ Morton, Dhafer Youssef, Chief Adjuah, Arooj Aftab, Jazmine Sullivan, Masego, Obongjayar, Yin Yin, Benjamin Clementine, Cami Laye Okun, Noname, The Cavemen, Bamba Wassoulou Groove, Ibrahim Maalouf, Mahalia, Faada Freddy.
Here’s the official festival playlist.
“There is no dance show?” my girlfriend asked the Serbian bar owner.
No, it’s the correct address, but we don’t have any shows here today.
My girlfriend was visibly disappointed as she expected to see a Serbian folk dance performance there.
“But….” the bar owner continued.
“You and your boyfriend could come back another day and talk to my bartender because she is part of one of those dance groups.”
So, two days later, we were back in the small bar, having a crispy cold Serbian beer, watching the Netherlands beat Romania in the Eurocup.
Life was good.
And it got better because the bartender was working and invited us to a performance in an international contest the next day. “It is in a small village, though.”
I looked at my girlfriend, and I could see she was thinking the same. Fuck it, let’s go. This seems like a fun adventure.
So, the next day, after 2.5 hours on local buses, we arrived at a primary school square in an obscure Serbian village.
We bought a cheap hotdog, crammed ourselves into the black plastic chairs next to an older chain-smoking couple, and the show started.
Curious what it looked like? Here’s the video.
And here are all the best spots we saved for Serbia on Google Maps.
Are you looking for a sweeping Korean family saga?
Check out Pachinko, a TV series about the hopes and dreams of a Korean immigrant family across four generations as they leave their homeland in an indomitable quest to survive and thrive.
This 8+ rated series is based on a New York Times bestseller I featured in my top 10 Korean books post.
When I asked my friends from the Balkans for their favorite books, most recommended Bridge on the Drina by Nobel Prize winner Ivo Andric.
Andrić was an ethnic Serb born in Bosnia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
This legendary novel takes place around a bridge in a Bosnian village that endures centuries of tumultuous history, revealing the complex cultural tapestry of Yugoslavia and Bosnia.
