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Monday Oct 21, 2024
Monday Oct 21, 2024
2024 was an even more successful year for Zurich Film Festival than its organizers expected.
It was an important year as the Zurich Film Festival festival celebrated its 20th year. The dates moved to the beginning of October, but that didn't stop the visitors. This year the festival attracted 140’000 visitors (even more than the previous year). A total of 107 films were shown, including 17 world premieres, 8 international premieres, and 11 European premieres – every 3rd film is a world, international, or European premiere.
First held in 2005, Zurich Film Festival established itself very quickly on the national and international film festival scene. The formula for its success it's probably a mix of an attractive location: an international but small city of Zurich; a great selection of movies and different programs/events like ZFF Masters, ZFF for Kids, and a few others. I loved that this year most of the movies were shown in the cinemas I prefer: Frame, Corso, and Arthouse. I love these cinemas for their quality and awesome location (close to my house 😎).
Looking at all these years I have been visiting or reviewing (since 2017) Zurich Film Festival. The way I like to explain its success is to quote/paraphrase the sentence I found in the industry booklet a few years ago. Basically, the organizers agree on a few basics for a successful film festival: "Content is king, Collaboration is key and Encounters among creative folks are essential". I am glad to confirm that even after many years, the organizers are still taking "these basics" seriously while developing the festival further and, most importantly, in the right direction.
This is why I keep coming back and reviewing Zurich Film Festival.
From the perspective of Gimme A Beat, exploring *the female factor* of the festival is easy. Zurich Film Festival always provides a significant number of female stories and movies from female directors, and a good balance of different genres, aspiring filmmakers, and (potential) blockbusters.
As listeners of Gimme A Beat (and my family and friends) already know, having a busy schedule is business as usual for me, and with so many great movies, definitely a pleasure. For me, Zurich Film Festival is all about watching movies. My most enjoyable moment is sitting in the dark cinema, fully immersed in the storyline. This year, even if many fabulous events were happening on the festival grounds, I haven't attended/seen any of them.
Most importantly, I have seen almost 35 movies and managed to get together with 5 female filmmakers and 2 lead actresses.
With so much more material I decided to dedicate several whole Gimme A Beats to Zurich Film Festival, the one happening tonight and a few others later on. In most cases, I will adapt my radio show to the Swiss screenings of movies, to make sure that these movies receive the attention they deserve.
Considering the number of movies I've seen (almost 35), I will not be reviewing all the movies and posting them on the Gimme A Beat page. But, I will continue posting the reviews after tonight's show until the end of the year since most of the movies from the festival are coming to the cinemas next year. This year again I will be focusing on my highlights only. To find them you should follow the search with the following hashtags: #zff #zff2024 #highlight #gimmeabeat.
In tonight's Gimme A Beat, I will be focusing on the following movies:
- Black Box Diaries, the documentary directed by Shiori Ito, who I had a chance to interview. Swiss official release on October 31st.
- Es Gehts um Luis / About Luis, directed and written by Lucia Chiarla, with Natalia Rudziewicz as a lead actress. I had a chance to interview both of them. Swiss official release is not known yet, but I will keep you posted.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (21.10.2024) tonight to hear my impressions of the Zurich Film Festival, the reviews of the movies in the focus, and interviews with Shiori, Lucia, and Natalia combined with music selected by Lucia and Natalia and music from Freya Arde, who wrote the music for another one of my highlights, Riefenstahl. While that soundtrack is not out yet, this was another opportunity for me to celebrate female talent.
Tune in for...
Black Box Diaries and About Luis at Zurich Film Festival 2024
with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat's movies reviews at ZFF 2024
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Sep 16, 2024
Monday Sep 16, 2024
It's 2024, and I am back again with a bunch of my favourite NPR Tiny Desk concerts.
NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts were always one of my favourite things to listen to, but with the pandemic, my interest turned into an obsession. In 2020, I did two shows dedicated to them: Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2020 Part I and Part II, in 2021 I did one more, in 2022 another one and last year one as well.
So what is it about NPR Tiny Desk Concert series that I love?
It is very simple, this series brings an intimate concert vibe through approx 20-minute video performances, recorded either live at the desk of All Songs Considered host and producer Bob Boilen or, during the pandemic, at someplace that feels like an artist's home. The latter unsurprisingly called Tiny Desk (home) concerts. Bob Boilen retired in the meantime, but he created music history with NPR Tiny Desk Concerts and his legacy continues.
During the pandemic, we couldn't attend gigs or music festivals, so, for me, NPR Tiny Desk Concerts were the closest thing I had to live gigs. Even today, this is still my favourite place when I need to do something at work that requires deep concentration. Also, when I am craving a live and more intimate experience.
Let's be honest, how often are you able to see your favourite (or newly discovered favourite) artist performing in a small, intimate venue? Unfortunately, not that frequently.
And this is why my yearly Obsessed with Tiny Desk is here to stay. Minimum once per year and sometimes even more than that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (16.09.2024) to hear my selection of NPR Tiny Desk Concerts sung by female artists. For NPR, you can donate here.
Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2024 from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio LoRafeaturing:npr tiny desk selection on youtube
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Jun 17, 2024
Monday Jun 17, 2024
Last month I did the first part of the review of m4music festival 2024.
This month I will continue with the review of m4music festival and share two more artists who were part of my exploration of the "female factor" of the festival.
In tonight's show, I will keep my focus on the Swiss music scene, covering the fascinatingly cool band and music label Sirens of Lesbos and über talented young singer-songwriter Mary Middlefield.
For impressions of their performances at m4music festival, check here, and here, respectively. You can also check overall impressions of the festival here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (17.06.2024) tonight to hear interviews with Jasmina and Nabyla of Sirens of Lesbos and Mary Middlefield combined with the music from their latest releases.
Tune in for…
Sirens of Lesbos and Mary Middlefield at m4music 2024
with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat at m4music
Kisses, Babymonster
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(please note that it sometimes take 24h until the podcast is propagated to other platforms)
For the info about old shows, please go to previous entries
Monday May 20, 2024
Monday May 20, 2024
Since 1998, m4music festival takes place every March here in Switzerland: two days in Zurich and one day in Lausanne. This festival is a project from Migros Culture Percentage. This is a flawlessly organised festival at one of the coolest locations in Zürich: Schiffbau; with many concerts happening on the seven (+1) stages, at or close to the main building.
M4music festival is more of a cultural platform than a typical music festival. It is a place where artists and industry experts meet and exchange ideas, experiences and visions of the future. There are several ways this festival makes this happen. By offering interesting panel discussions and workshops on the latest hot issues in the music business; competition for the next generation of musicians (Demotape Clinic) and simply by providing the chance to mingle with many local, national and international people at the venue, talk, share opinions and knowledge.
I was visiting and reviewing this festival for many years until the pandemic. This year I realized that I missed m4music experience, so I decided to come back.
As usual, it was a very busy two days, but most importantly for Gimme A Beat, in my exploration of "female factor" of the festival I managed to get together with 4 very talented artists for interviews. In order to give all artists focus they deserve, I will break down the show in two.
In tonight show I will focus on one band: a fabulous, female-led band Say She She and one solo artist, young talented artist Hannah Jadagu. Both are based in NYC.
For impressions of their performances at m4music festival, check here, and here, respectively. You can also check overall impressions of the festival here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (20.05.2024) tonight to hear interviews with Say She She and Hannah Jadagu combined with the music from their latest releases.
Tune in for…
Say She She and Hannah Jadagu at m4music 2024
with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat at m4music
Kisses, Babymonster
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(please note that it sometimes take 24h until the podcast is propagated to other platforms)
For the info about old shows, please go to previous entries
Monday Apr 15, 2024
Monday Apr 15, 2024
In October's and December's Gimme a Beat, I reviewed the 19th edition of Zurich Film Festival.
I have been exploring the female factor of the Zurich Film Festival for several years now. But this year, I had a chance to get together with so many female filmmakers and actresses that I decided to breakdown my review of the ZFF into several shows.
While I've seen 30+ movies during the festival, I haven't reviewed all of them. But the ones that I did, you can find if you follow the search with the following hashtags: #zff #zff2023 #highlight #gimmeabeat.
In tonight's Gimme A Beat, I will be focusing on Maria Montessori / La Nouvelle Femmes, a feature debut directed and co-written by Lea Todorov about Maria Montessori.
I knew a story about Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, educator, and innovator, best known for her revolutionary Montessori method. But I never knew Maria’s private story and Maria as a woman, mother, and lover. Lea Todorov tells us this story.
Maria Montessori / La Nouvelle Femmes is a movie not just about one woman ahead of her time, but women’s emancipation and empowerment, at times connected or even depending on difficult choices. This movie also reminds us that many of the issues women faced almost a century ago still exist in today’s society, and that solving those even today needs the power of women working together to change it. You can find the review of the movie here.
A few days after I saw the movie, I had an opportunity to get together with Lea as well as with Jasmine Trinca, who was outstanding in the leading role as Maria Montessori. With Lea, I talked about why it was important for her to tell us Maria Montessori’s story, moving from documentary to feature filmmaker and about her personal experiences as a daughter and mother. With Jasmine, I talked about why she accepted the role of Maria, her work with Leila Bekhti (who portrayed Lili d'Alengy, a fictional character) and how she became the actress she is today.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (15.04.2024) tonight to hear interviews with Lea and Jasmine as well as cherry-picked music sung by female artists that I heard in various movies throughout Zurich Film Festival.
Tune in for…
Maria Montessori at Zurich Film Festival 2023
with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat movies reviews at ZFF 2023
Kisses, Babymonster
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(please note that it sometimes take 24h until the podcast is propagated to other platforms)
For the info about old shows, please go to previous entries
Monday Feb 19, 2024
Monday Feb 19, 2024
Last year, sometime in June I got an email from the 57th Montreux Jazz Festival about new names on their programme. The email included Swiss singer-songwriter NNAVY.
She was already well-known to Montreux Jazz Festival audiences, as she performed there earlier. In addition to this, in 2022, she was the first Swiss artist ever to play one of the COLORS SHOWS. And last year, she was celebrating her comeback to the festival and grand premiere on the Auditorium Stravinski stage, as an opening act for Lionel Richie.
This was the first time I heard about NNAVY.
Curious to find out more, I went and listened to her music. And I loved it 💙
So I decided to reach out to her management and ask them for an opportunity to interview NNAVY (real name Florine Gashaza). They said yes and a few days after, I was sitting on the Zoom call, chatting with her, asking her questions about her life and her music. The interview with NNAVY went well, she was genuine and easy to talk to.
I wanted to also see her live, but none of her gigs last year fitted into my busy schedule. But with NNAVY coming to the m4music festival this year, in a few weeks, I will (finally) have the chance to see her performing as well.
It took me a while to get this interview out. The main reason is that my 2023 was super busy and I had loads of material I had to cover first. But I always believe that there is a reason for anything. And that things happen when it's the right time for them.
One of the reasons is definitely that people in Zurich (including me) will be able to see NNAVY live very soon, on Saturday, March 23 at the m4music festival. Another one is that I recently enjoyed a fabulous vacation in Belize, where I found myself surrounded by blue. From the mesmerizing Great Blue Hole to the vast blue skies and ocean stretching as far as the eye could see… And that reminded me of NNAVY, her music and the interview I had with her last summer.
So I decided to embrace the blue for a little while longer, at least for this evening.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat tonight (18.02.2024) to hear my interview with NNAVY and my choice of her music.
Tune in for…
Into the Blue with NNAVY
with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster
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(please note that it sometimes take 24h until the podcast is propagated to other platforms)
For the info about old shows please go to previous entries
For the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Rolling Stones' 100 Greatest R&B Songs of the 21st Century created lots of buzz since it came out on January 3rd 2024. Some people loved it, others pointed out what was missing, and the artists featured in it, celebrated. But as we know, music is a very personal thing, and what one person likes is not necessarily the other person's favourite.
I have always been a huge fan of R&B, the classic and contemporary one.
What is not to like about it? Soulful voices with funky, contagious beats that can bring out a plethora of emotions, comforting, happy and nostalgic. And growing up in the 90s, the golden era of contemporary R&B when we saw this genre being combined with hip-hop, pop, soul and electronic music, it was impossible to miss it. That genre expansion brought the most amazing iconic songs and chart-topping hits. The trend continued in the 21st century, especially in the first decade.
So I decided to create my own list and share it with you tonight. While I was inspired by Rolling Stones' list, I looked into my personal favourites, the songs that I am still listening to even if they came out more than two decades ago. Putting this list together was like walking down the memory lane, most of these songs reminded me of the past times, boyfriends, lovers, and fun times with friends.
There were so many songs, that I am breaking this show into two, both having almost 40 tracks of the pure R&B pleasure.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (15.01.2024) tonight to hear my selection (Part I) of the 21st Century R&B songs featuring Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Lianne La Havas, Joss Stone, Nelly Furtado, Sade, Kelela, Aaliyah and many more.
Tune in for…
Representing 21st Century RnB
with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
(please note that it sometimes take 24h until the podcast is propagated to other platforms)
For the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Dec 18, 2023
Monday Dec 18, 2023
In my previous Gimme a Beat, I reviewed the 19th edition of Zurich Film Festival.
I have been exploring the female factor of the Zurich Film Festival for several years now. But this year, I had a chance to get together with so many female filmmakers and actresses that I decided to breakdown my review of the ZFF into several shows.
While I've seen 30+ movies during the festival, I haven't reviewed all of them. But the ones that I did, you can find if you follow the search with the following hashtags: #zff #zff2023 #highlight #gimmeabeat.
In tonight's Gimme A Beat, I will be focusing on Las Toreras, a documentary written and directed by Jackie Brutsche, a successful, multifaceted Swiss-Spanish artist.
Seven years in making, Las Toreras documents Jackie's journey of discovering more about her mother, her mother's mental illness and how it affected the family and its dynamics. I was impressed by Jackie's art of storytelling and directing, as well as her courage to connect (with her) family to demystify painful, personal topics, ultimately seeking closure for herself and her loved ones.
A few days after I saw the movie, I reached out to Jackie to share my impressions and request an interview. She agreed, and I had the pleasure of meeting with her to learn more about her story, her family, her art, and, of course, her documentary.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (18.12.2023) tonight to hear my interview with Jackie Brutsche and selected music from her two bands: The Jackets and The Sex Organs.
Tune in for…
Las Toreras at Zurich Film Festival 2023
with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat movies reviews at ZFF 2023
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
(please note that it sometimes take 24h until the podcast is propagated to other platforms)
For the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Oct 16, 2023
Monday Oct 16, 2023
2023 was another successful year for Zurich Film Festival.
The 19th edition of Zurich Film Festival attracted 130’000 visitors (slightly less than the previous year). A total of 150 films were screened, 52 of them as World or European premieres – more than ever before.
First held in 2005, Zurich Film Festival established itself very quickly on the national and international film festival scene. The formula for its success it's probably a mix of an attractive location: an international but small city of Zurich; a great selection of movies and different programs/events like ZFF Masters, ZFF for Kids and a few others. This year the festival brought back to life ex-Kosmos, emerging as a Frame, and continuing to be my favourite place to watch movies. Based on the feedback, this cinema complex was also a crowd-puller for the rest of the audience.
The best way to explain Zurich Film Festival's success is to quote/paraphrase the sentence I found in the industry booklet a few years ago. Basically, the organizers agree on a few basics for a successful film festival: "content is king, collaboration is key and encounters among creative folks are essential". I am glad to confirm that even after this many years, the organizers are still taking "these basics" seriously while developing the festival further and, most importantly, in the right direction.
And this is why I keep coming back and reviewing this festival.
From the perspective of Gimme A Beat, exploring the female factor of the festival is easy. Zurich Film Festival always provides a significant number of female stories and movies from female directors, and a good balance of different genres, aspiring filmmakers and (potential) blockbusters. As listeners of Gimme A Beat (and my family and friends) already know, having a busy schedule is business as usual for me, and with so many great movies, definitely a pleasure. For me, Zurich Film Festival is all about watching movies. My most enjoyable moment is sitting in the dark cinema, fully immersed in the storyline. This year, even if many fabulous events were happening on the festival grounds, I haven't attended/seen any of them.
Most importantly, I have seen 30+ movies and managed to get together with 4 female filmmakers and two lead actresses.
With more material than ever before I decided to dedicate two whole Gimme A Beats to Zurich Film Festival, the one happening tonight and another one in November.
Considering the number of movies I've seen (30+), I will not be reviewing all the movies and posting them on the Gimme A Beat page. But, I will continue posting the reviews after tonight's show until the end of the year since most of the movies from the festival are coming to the cinemas next year. Different than in previous years, this year I will be focusing on my highlights only. To find them you should follow the search with the following hashtags: #zff #zff2023 #highlight #gimmeabeat.
In tonight's Gimme A Beat, I will be focusing on the following movies:
- Wald / Woodland, directed and written by Elisabeth Scharang, with Brigitte Hobmeier as a lead actress. I had a chance to interview both of them.
- Dead Girls Dancing, directed and written by Anna Roller, who I had a chance to interview.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (16.10.2023) tonight to hear my impressions of the Zurich Film Festival, the reviews of the movies in the focus and interviews with Elisabeth, Brigitte and Anna combined with music from Hania Rani, who wrote the music for Wald and selected music from female artists played in a variety of movies I saw.
Tune in for...
Wald and Dead Girl Dancing at Zurich Film Festival 2023
click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat movies reviews at ZFF 2023
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Sep 18, 2023
Monday Sep 18, 2023
The first time I heard Little Dragon was back in 2007, just after they released their debut album. From that moment on, I was completely captivated by their unique sound.
A few years later, seeing them live for the first time only confirmed their talent and deepened my interest.
Over the years, I followed their work and saw them live many times, and I even had a chance to interview Yukimi, singer-songwriter and the lead vocalist of the band. They are one of those bands who are good in any form, on the recorded material and live. During the live gigs, Yukimi, the lead singer of the band, is the one who gets you going, but once you are there, it is the synergy of the band members and the quality of the music delivery that keeps you in their world. There is something comfortable, familiar and cosy in Little Dragon's world that I could feel when seeing them live but also when listening to their material. Their sounds make me melancholic, a little nostalgic but also content and hopeful. And that complexity of the emotions that music can bring out in you is what I consider magic.
And who doesn't need a bit of magic in their life🌟?
Nowadays, even more than ever before.
Fast-forward to the busy summer of 2023 and the 7th of July, when I got a promo email from Ninja Tune, their label, with the link to their new album, *Slugs of Love*. I was in a desperate need of a new, fresh sound to get me going through those long working hours. Once I started listening to the album, I couldn't stop.
The only moment I stopped, was to reach out to Ninja Tune and request an interview. With the interview approved, I had the pleasure of connecting (via Zoom) with Yukumi Nagano, on a hot summer night in August. We talked about their beginnings, favourite collaborations, their latest album and up-and-coming tour.
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Tune in to Gimme A Beat tonight (18.09.2023) to hear my conversation with Yukimi of Little Dragon, while listening to the music from Little Dragon's latest album, Slugs of Love, and the selection of my favourite songs from their previous releases.
Tune in for…
Catching Up with Yukimi of Little Dragon
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Jun 19, 2023
Monday Jun 19, 2023
Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as simply Primavera) is an annual music festival held in Parc del Fòrum, a park situated directly at the Mediterranean seafront in Barcelona, Spain. The festival takes place between the end of May and the beginning of June, every year since 2001. In addition to the best-known edition in Barcelona, Primavera Sound expanded to other locations as well: since 2012, there is a Primavera Sound Porto Edition; in 2022, the festival hosted its first editions in Los Angeles, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires and São Paulo. In 2023, for the first time, there was an edition in Madrid with nearly the same line-up.
This year Primavera Sound in Barcelona brought together 193,000 festival goers during the three main days in a Parc del Fòrum. Compared to the previous years, there were some changes in the layout of stages and the variations in bars and rest areas; This has led to an even more pleasurable experience. Of course, the best part of it is its exciting program.
I've been following Primavera Sound for a while now, for several reasons. Not only that Primavera always had an impressive line-up and it is happening in Barcelona, one of my favourite European towns, but this festival has been a leader in the gender-balanced line-up, not just in Europe but worldwide.
And this, by default, makes Primavera Sound a perfect festival for Gimme A Beat.
It is a bit embarrassing that I waited 21 years to attend Primavera, but the dates just never worked for me. Attending Coachella and then road-tripping for a few weeks after created no space for me to go to another festival immediately after my return to Europe. But, with my interest in Coachella not being in focus anymore, I decided (already last year) that in 2023 I will be attending Primavera Sound in Barcelona.
Fast forward to the end of May, I packed my festival gear (dancing shoes and my voice recorded) and headed to Barcelona. I was already prepared to be blown away by all the artists I was going to see and I was hoping that everything else would follow.
And this is exactly what happened.
Everything worked perfectly: superb organisation, collaborative weather: sunny but not too warm with a continuous sea breeze; great food, easy-to-move-around festival layout and perfect location. All of this, combined with friendly and energetic festival-goers, local and international crowds excited to be there, created a unique, unforgettable atmosphere.
And, of course, being in Barcelona ensures good vibes before and after the festival.
With an impressive, carefully curated line-up, exploring the *female factor* of Primavera Sound with my Gimme A Beat lenses (or better said sunglasses) was easy. Even before I arrived, I discovered so many, for me, new artists just by studying the program. And I knew that I would see some of my favourite ones that will move me to the core.
The clue that I was in for a great experience was already on the pre-day of the festival, the day I didn't even plan to attend, which magically opened for me in all its Pet Shop Boys glory.
Finally, when I got to the official festival, the time seemed to fly by. I would arrive early at the festival ground and leave in the wee morning hours with feet and back pain from all the dancing, standing and exploring. Still, then tomorrow, as I was recollecting memories and writing a review of the day before, I couldn't wait to go back and do it again.
I've seen so many great gigs that it was hard to keep this on only a few posts, but here they are for day 1, day 2 and day 3, with the depeche mode awesomeness on day 2, which deserved a separate post. You can also see my reviews via Gimme a Beat Facebook search.
In tonight's show, I will focus on two über talented female artists: Dagger Moth, the one-woman band from Italy and Last Apollo, an up-and-coming artist from Dublin. Both of them are great performers and were kind enough to get together with me for short interviews. Interestingly, even though they are in different stages of their careers, both artists choose solo/independent paths to avoid compromising their art and creativity.
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Tune in to Gimme A Beat tonight (19.06.2023) to hear the review of Primavera Sound Barcelona 2023, interviews with Dagger Moth and Last Apollo, combined with the music from their latest releases and selected songs from other female artists who performed at the festival.
Tune in for…
Dagger Moth and Last Apollo at Primavera Sound Barcelona 2023
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Apr 17, 2023
Monday Apr 17, 2023
NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts were always one of my favourite things to listen to, but with the pandemic, my interest turned into an obsession. In 2020, I did two shows dedicated to them: Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2020 Part I and Part II, in 2021 I did one more and in 2022 another one.
So what is it about NPR Tiny Desk Concert series that I love?
It is very simple, this series brings an intimate concert vibe through approx 20-minute video performances, recorded either live at the desk of All Songs Considered host and producer Bob Boilen or, during the pandemic, at some place that feels like an artist's home. The latter unsurprisingly called Tiny Desk (home) concerts.
During the pandemic, we couldn't attend gigs or music festivals, so, for me, NPR Tiny Desk Concerts were the closest thing I had to live gigs. Even today, this is still my favourite place when I need to do something at work that requires deep concentration. Also, when I am craving a live and more intimate experience.
Let's be honest, how often are you able to see your favourite (or newly discovered favourite) artist performing in a small, intimate venue? Unfortunately, not that frequently.
And this is why my yearly Obsessed with Tiny Desk is here to stay. Minimum once per year and sometimes even more than that.
It's 2023, and I am back again with a bunch of my favourite NPR Tiny Desk concerts.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (17.04.2023) to hear my selection of NPR Tiny Desk Concerts sung by female artists. For NPR, you can donate here.
Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2023 from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio LoRafeaturing:npr tiny desk selection on youtube
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Feb 20, 2023
Monday Feb 20, 2023
I discovered Arooj Aftab, like many others, through her Mohabbat song. After hearing this song, I listened to her's Vulture Prince album and fell in love with it. Then I heard her NPR tiny desk session and loved it so much (I was literally obsessed with it) that I included it in my (latest) *Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2022* Gimme a Beat.
From that moment on, I wanted to see her live and feature her in Gimme A Beat. Around that time (early 2022), I reached out to her management and asked for an interview, but I never heard back.
Until August 2022, when Arooj's tour brought her to Switzerland and I got a chance to attend her concert and interview her.
I just returned from the Flow Festival, so I was tired from the travel and experience. Also still a bit overwhelmed by all the great gigs I saw and interviews I did. But I knew that I was in for something special, so there was no way that I would miss this.
Arooj's concert was part of the Winterthurer Musikfestwochen, but it was happening in a totally different setup than the rest of the festival: the city church of Winterthur. She performed in a minimalistic setup, only with Gyan Riley on the guitar and Petros Klampanis on the double bass. They played on the church stage, under the church arches, in the dark, only with dimmed neon lights. The audience was engaged, focused, involved: quiet during the performance, cheering and clapping during the breaks. Combined with mesmerizing Arooj's voice, this created a beautiful, emotional experience.
I was blown away by this experience and, more than anything, happy that I made an effort to be there. Follow the link for the Instagram post with my impressions and snippets of the performance.
After, I had a chance to get together with Arooj for a short interview. Even though she was tired (after all, this was her 18th city in a row), she was friendly and open to talking about the performance, her music, her favourite award and future plans.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (20.02.2023) tonight to find out more: I will be sharing my impressions of Arooj Aftab's performance, an interview with her and my selections of her music.
Tune in for...
Arooj Aftab in Winterthur
with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Yaaay, it's Xmas time again!
Xmas time is definitely one of my favourite times of the year, when people get more friendly and pleasant and everywhere you go it smells like gluehwein and Xmas cookies.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (19.12.2022) tonight for Xmas session, an eclectic playlist of Xmas songs sung by female artists.
Tune in for...
Eclectic Xmas
with click-to-play or playlistfrom 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Nov 21, 2022
Monday Nov 21, 2022
First held in 2005, Zurich Film Festival established itself very quickly on the national and international film festival scene. The formula for its success it's probably a mix of an attractive location: an international but small city of Zurich; a great selection of movies and different programs/events like ZFF Masters, ZFF Talks, Film Music Competition, ZFF for Kids and a few others.
The best way to explain Zurich Film Festival's success is to quote/paraphrase the sentence I found in the industry booklet a few years ago. Basically, the organizers agree on a few basics for a successful film festival: "content is king, collaboration is key and encounters among creative folks are essential". I am glad to confirm that even after this many years, the organizers are still taking "these basics" seriously while developing the festival further and, most importantly, in the right direction.
2022 was another successful year for Zurich Film Festival.
The 18th edition of Zurich Film Festival broke all records and attracted 137'000 visitors (20k more than in 2019), had 580 screenings, with 90 sold-out ones, 38 world and European premieres and, at 41.4%, the highest proportion of female directors than ever before.
As usual, the organisation was impeccable, thanks to the brilliant team behind Zurich Film Festival and dedicated volunteers. The press team was supportive and helpful, especially Claudia Wintsch, handling the interview requests and Fabienne Kipfer from her team. This year I also attended the press conference for the first time and realized that I should do this every year. All because of Christian Jungen, artistic director of the festival who held our attention throughout the press conference with excellent summaries that showcased his knowledge and personal excitement for the movies.
In addition to providing a significant number of female stories and movies from female directors, Zurich Film Festival continued with #FemaleFilmmakers and #FemaleLife hashtags, making it easy for me to follow them and select female-related movies of my choice. I also managed to see much more, and as in previous years, I was again truly impressed by the balance of different genres, aspiring filmmakers and (potential) blockbusters.
All of this made it easier for me to explore the female factor of the festival as Gimme A Beat. I still had to manage the busy schedule, running around the town's cinemas to see all the planned movies and catching some female directors for interviews. What helped to get more organized was the fact that this year, press ticket purchasing got digitalized as well. Instead of running to the press centre every day, I could order my tickets online and have them all saved in my phone wallet. Super easy, practical and a huge time saver for me.
As listeners of Gimme A Beat (and my family and friends) already know, having a busy schedule is business as usual for me, and with so many great movies, definitely a pleasure. Zurich Film Festival is all about watching movies. My most enjoyable moment is sitting in the dark cinema, fully immersed in the storyline. This year, even if many fabulous events were happening on the festival ground, I haven't attended/seen any of them.
Most importantly, I have seen 30 movies (only a few less than the last year) and managed to get together with 3 female directors, one lead actress and one movie inspiration for quick interviews.
Considering the number of movies I've seen (30), I will not be reviewing all the movies and posting them on Gimme A Beat page. But, I will continue posting the reviews after tonight's show until the end of the year since most of the movies from the festival are coming to the cinemas next year. If you follow the search with the following hashtags: #zff #zff2022 #gimmeabeat you'll find the ones that I reviewed until today (10) and the new ones. You can also find my highlights if you follow the search with the following hashtags: #zff #zff2022 #highlight #gimmeabeat (8 until today).
In tonight's Gimme A Beat I will be focusing on the following movies:
- The Swimmers, directed and co-written by Sally El Hosaini. I had a chance to interview Sally, Nathalie Issa, lead actress and Yusra Mardini, movie inspiration
- Unruly / Ustyrlig, directed and co-written by Malou Reymannm, whom I had a chance to interview.
- Blue Jean, directed and written by Georgia Oakley, whom I had a chance to interview.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (21.11.2022) tonight to hear my impressions of the Zurich Film Festival, the reviews of the movies in the focus and relevant interviews combined with selected music from female artists.
Tune in for...
Zurich Film Festival 2022
with click-to-play or playlistfrom 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat reviews movies at ZFF 2022Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Oct 17, 2022
Monday Oct 17, 2022
I had the pleasure of attending and reviewing Flow Festival (commonly known as Flow) this summer.
You can find more details about the festival, my impressions, interviews with Marcia and Helena and selected DJ mixes in Part I: Marcia Carr and Helena Star at Flow Festival 2022
You can also check my reviews for each day of Flow Festival 2022: day 1, day 2 and day 3, with some additional highlights on day 1 and day 2.
In tonight's show, I will be focusing on Part II of my Flow Festival 2022 review and two other artists that I had a chance to discover, experience and interview: über talented Finish singer-songwriter Lxandra and amazing Barbara Boeing, Brazilian DJ, currently based in Milan.
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Tune in to Gimme A Beat tonight (17.10.2022) to hear Part II of Flow Festival 2022 review, featuring interviews with Lxandra and Barbara Boeing, a selection of the music from Lxandra and Barbara's DJ mix
Tune in for…
Lxandra and Barbara Boeing at Flow Festival 2022
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Sep 19, 2022
Monday Sep 19, 2022
Flow Festival (commonly known as Flow) is an urban music and arts festival in Helsinki, Finland. It was created by the Finnish music producer Tuomas Kallio and his friends from the Helsinki-based music collective Nuspirit Helsinki. Since 2004, the festival has been organized annually. Over the years the festival grew from 4000 visitors to 90'000. In 2007 the festival moved to Suvilahti, the former power plant that brings a special vibe to the whole event.
I've been following Flow for the while now, it caught my attention because of an impressive and well-balanced line-up, with loads of female artists, a great combination of known and less known artists and a variety of genres. And of course, I've seen some great photos (and recordings) of its surroundings and the atmosphere.
Back in 2019, after seeing some great acts performing, I decided that in 2020, I am going to pack my dancing shoes and voice recorder (usually my phone) and head to Helsinki. Flow seemed like a perfect festival to explore its *female factor* with my Gimme A Beat lenses. I was not only excited to attend a festival that I haven’t attended before but also to travel to Finland since I’d never been there.
But 2020 as well as 2021 had something else planned for us, so because of the pandemic, I had to wait until 2022 to finally experienced it.
But this was a festival definitely worth a wait.
I knew that the line-up was great, but I was blown away by everything else: impeccable organisation, amazing crowds, a very kind and helpful press team and its perfect location. We were also blessed with perfect summer weather, warm and pleasant, but not heavy and too hot, exactly like our summers used to be. In addition, I took some time before and after the festival to explore Helsinki and THAT was another great experience that I truly enjoyed.
During the festival, I had a chance to dance a lot, and this was not only because I really needed it, as I didn’t have much of that during the pandemic, but it was also because there were so many great acts, especially DJs that I can’t imagine anyone being able to resist it.
Consequently, my review of the Flow Festival will feature 3 amazing female DJs: Marcia Carr, Helena Star and Barbara Boeing and one über talented singer-songwriter: Lxandra. And because there is so much material that I brought home, to my dear Gimme A Beats listeners, I will be sharing this in two radio shows, one happening tonight and another one in October.
In the meantime, you can check my reviews for each day: day 1, day 2 and day 3, with some additional highlights on day 1 and day 2.
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Tune in to Gimme A Beat tonight (19.09.2022) to hear the review of Flow Festival 2022, interviews with Marcia and Helena and selected DJ mixes showcasing their passion for music and skills.
Tune in for…
Marcia Carr and Helena Star at Flow Festival 2022
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Monday Jun 20, 2022
My personal experience with music in the movies is that if chosen correctly, hearing the music when watching the scene will make it more intense and therefore memorable.
My rationale behind this is simple: there is an emotion that music triggers in us because of the music itself or/and the lyrics of the song. For me and I can imagine that this is the same for many people, the great songs trigger images as well. And when we are watching the movie, if the storyline and casting are done well, so that we can dive deep into the story, it will also trigger the strong emotions in us.
If both: music and images (in the movies, tv series and even videos) are perfectly aligned, we will get an amplification of emotions. And with all our senses being involved we will automatically remember this feeling, making what we see more memorable.
I was reminded about this recently.
A few weeks ago one of my favourite songs of all time: Kate Bush's *Running Up That Hill* was featured in the popular TV series, Stranger things. This was not only the one of the most memorable moments of season 4, but also the moment that brought this phenomenal song back to the chart, 37 years after it was originally released. The song is still number one in many countries, only being overshadowed by a few other artists with current hits.
Even if I had a clear memory of the video for this song, this new experience brought me new images. So now, every time I watch the scene from the stranger things, I have the intense, goosebumps emotion that I used to have when watching the original video.
And this is why I decided to dedicate (yet) another Gimme A Beat to the music from TV series, not just one, but three, just to prove my point that: Music Makes Better TV.
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Tune in to Gimme A Beat tonight (20.06.2022) to hear more about these TV series: Physical, Stranger things and Everything I Know About Love, and my selection of the songs from their soundtracks, sung by female artists.
Tune in for…
Music Makes Better TV
with click-to-play or playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday May 16, 2022
Monday May 16, 2022
I love this part of the year!
That time of the year when we are almost in summer, but not fully there yet. The mornings are still cool and refreshing, days are warm and sunny and evenings are warm enough to hang outside but still with enough breeze to make the night cosy and pleasurable.
This kind of weather reflects my mood, it makes me happy, hopeful and chilled at the same time. This also transfers into the music that I am listening to at the moment.
So I was in exactly that mood when I received one of the promo emails from Mouthwatering Records, a Switzerland based independent label publishing, management and artist development company, about the new single they are releasing. I listened to it, and I loved it!
I was especially impressed by the featured female vocals in the single, sung by Ay Wing.
What I've discovered is that Ay Wing (aka Alexandra/Alex Landtwing) is ueber talented singer-songwriter and producer, with great material that I enjoyed as much or maybe even a bit more than the new single.
A few days after, I connected with Alex and (zoom) interviewed her. This was a great interview, chilled with lots of positive vibes and giggles, very much aligned with her music and the mood that I am in at the moment.
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We talked about many things, her new album currently in the making, her new single, and her latest EP; looked back at her beginnings and talked about exciting things that are coming up.
Tune in to Gimme A Beat tonight (16.05.2022) to hear all of this and more while listening to Ay Wing's latest EP: No Wonderwoman, her new single and some of her previously released songs.
Tune in for…
Summer Vibes with Ay Wing
with click-to-play or playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Apr 18, 2022
Monday Apr 18, 2022
NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts were always one of my favourite things to listen to, but with the pandemic, my interest turned into an obsession. In 2020, I did two shows dedicated to them: Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2020 Part I and Part II, and in 2021 I did another one.
So what is it about NPR Tiny Desk Concert series that I love?
It is very simple, this series brings an intimate concert vibe through approx 20-minute video performances, recorded either live at the desk of All Songs Considered host and producer Bob Boilen or, since mid last year, at some place that feels like an artist's home. The latter unsurprisingly called Tiny Desk (home) concerts.
During the pandemic, we couldn't attend gigs or music festivals, so, for me, NPR Tiny Desk Concerts were the closest thing I had to live gigs. And even now, when the pandemic is getting more under the control and the music world is coming back to live gigs and festivals, this is still my favourite place to go to. Especially when I am craving the live and more intimate experience.
Let's be honest, how often are you able to see your favourite (or newly discovered favourite) artist performing in a small, intimate venue? Unfortunately, not that frequently.
And this is why my yearly Obsessed with Tiny Desk is here to stay. Minimum once per year and sometimes even more than that.
It's 2022, and I am back again with a bunch of my favourite NPR Tiny Desk concerts.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (18.04.2022) to hear my selection of NPR Tiny Desk Concerts sung by female artists. For NPR, you can donate here.
Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2022 npr tiny desk selection on youtubefrom 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio LoRafeaturing:gimme a beat npr tiny desk selection
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Mar 21, 2022
Monday Mar 21, 2022
Roadtrips are my favourite type of travelling.
My favourite roadtrips are the ones where I travel alone. There is no better feeling than driving in the car by yourself for miles, on, if lucky, empty roads, enjoying your music or only your thoughts in your mind in silence, while soaking up the nature around you. Every year I do at least one road trip, to recharge my batteries and get back my (un)usually high energy levels. My most loved road trips happened in the US, exploring national parks, driving down Pacifica and through Big Sur, or nowhere(?) but not just there, I turn even island hopping and the drive to my holiday home, into a mini roadtrip.
The Covid19 changed our lives and with that my travelling habits, so this January, as I was in-between jobs, I realized that I was craving travelling. So I've decided to take a roadtrip around Iceland: self-driven Icelandic ring road.
I planned to visit Iceland for many years now, I think that this roadtrip was on my mind since 1997 when I first heard and saw the video Joga from Björk. The beautiful, raw, emotional landscape combined with Björk's voice made a timeless, goosebumpy impression on me and this is still one of my favourite songs of all time. Even if the video was 'only' a computer animation, I knew that one day I need to experience this mesmerizing place in person.
And even though January is not the best time to do this kind of roadtrip, because of the moody weather, icy roads and the short days, this turned out to be one of the most amazing roadtrips that I have ever done! My very conservative selection of grouped photo impressions: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th don't do it justice, still, they are a great teaser for anyone considering doing the same.
One of the things that I love doing on the roadtrip is listening to music, not just my own, but the local radio to find out what is going on around the place where I am road-tripping. There was one Icelandic song that caught my attention because it was beautiful and it was on the repeat on all local stations. Even without understanding the lyrics, I was caught by its emotion and how it made me feel. Based on the melody that I kept on humming when I was not driving, I did the research and found out that this is Rólegur kúreki from Bríet, über talented Icelandic singer-songwriter.
I continued listening to the rest of Bríet's music, her last album, previous EP, the singles... and this beautiful music became my Icelandic roadtrip soundtrack. After listening to it for two weeks while on the road, I decided to reach out to Bríet's management and ask for an opportunity for an interview. So here we are this Monday eve...
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Tune in to Gimme A Beat (21.03.2022) to learn more about Bríet, her beginnings, her creative process, and how did she become the artist she is today while listening to her last album, selected early songs and new releases.
Tune in for...
Briet in Reykjavik
with click-to-play or playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Dec 20, 2021
Monday Dec 20, 2021
Sónar CCCB 2021 is/was a 2 day festival of music, debate, experimentation and inspiration, with more than 60 activities spread over 5 spaces, with 40 concerts and DJ sets and an extensive program of lectures, debates, presentations, workshops and an exhibition space with local and international projects. This festival and its program was set in place to connect the world of art, science and technology.
The festival happened on 29th and 30th of October of 2021 at the CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona), for attendance in person and via streaming through live.sonar.es and its social network.
I was supposed to travel to Barcelona that weekend and when I realized that Sonar CCCB is happening I decided to attend it and in my usual Gimme a Beat manner, explore female factor of the festival.
I only attended one day but that was enough for me to get excited about live events and in-person experience again (while keeping it covid19 safe). The festival was very well organized and press team helpful and always available, supplying us with photos, videos etc., all material needed to stay informed and cover the festival in the professional manner.
On the day of the festival, I enjoyed exploring CCCB and festival area.
The exhibition area was small but interesting, my favourite was exohive by BAU Barcelona, an impressive hive looking collection of beings, based on the swarm intelligence concept, that reacts on external stimulation with movements and change of light. This could be an extra terrestrial life we would find 500 light years from earth. I met Javi Albo, one of the people behind the concept & design, who created exohive together with Heidi Valda Lanza. He took some time to explain the whole concept in detail and even showed me some of the electronics behind exohive behaviour.
My musical highlight of the day (and therefore the festival) was Bikoko (real name Nei ), a young, ueber talented artist from Barcelona who is part of lexa.services collective
The interview happened day before the festival and via the zoom call. We talked about many different things: her upbringing, the artist that she is today, her latest EP Aura Aura and the new material that she is working on. Nei told me how important her dad (original Bikoko, also a musician) is for her creative process as well as stage performances.
I was impressed with this young lady, who has so much talent but is still firmly on the ground with the right mindset and attitude. In a world where fame is everything, I was happy that I came across a true creative soul that ultimately wants to be able to keep on creating the music that she would listen to.
Consequently, I had high expectations from Nei, and her gig didn’t disappoint. Together with the rest of the audience in the sonar hall of Sónar CCCB 2021, I was mesmerised by her stage presence and enjoyed every song that she played.
The gig was short but brought good vibes and literally made my day.
For impressions of Bikoko's gig and Sónar CCCB 2021, go to instagram and facebook
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Tune in to Gimme A Beat (20.12.2021) tonight to hear my review of Sonar CCCB 2021, interview with Bikoko combined with her music.
In the second part, I'll put my Xmas hat 🤶 on and bring you Xmas spirit with selection of classic Xmas songs sung by female artists.
Tune in for...
Bikoko at Sonar CCCB 2021 and some Xmas vibes 🎄🤶 🎄🤶 with click-to-play or playlist, for the 1st part
with click-to-play or playlist, for the 2nd partfrom 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat reviews Sonar CCCB 2021 on instagram and facebook
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Oct 18, 2021
Monday Oct 18, 2021
First held in 2005, Zurich Film Festival established itself very quickly on the national and international film festival scene. The formula for its success it's probably a mix of an attractive location: international but small city of Zurich; great selection of movies and different programs/events like ZFF Masters, ZFF Talks, Zurich Summit, ZFF for Pupils, ZFF 72 and few others.
The best way to explain Zurich Film Festival's success is to quote/paraphrase the sentence that I found in the industry booklet a few years ago. Basically, the organizers agree on a few basics for a successful film festival: "content is a king, collaboration is key and encounters among creative folks are essential". I am glad to confirm that even after this many years, organizers are still taking "these basics" seriously, while they are developing the festival further and most importantly, in the right direction.
This was another year with Covid19, but the festival, again, handled it very well. There was a protection plan and this, in the nutshell, meant that the attendance was allowed only with a covid certificate (and photo id) and everywhere one went there were enough hand sanitizers.
As a result, the 17th edition of Zurich Film Festival attracted 102'000 visitors and managed to screen 164 films, from 53 countries. The amount of visitors increased again and it was 50% of the amount from last year. This only confirmed that ZFF's motto: "Life is better with Movies" is more than appropriate, as the festival brought again a bit of normality into Zurich and people rushed to the cinemas to see the movies.
This year I achieved my own personal goal and managed to see 32 movies and interview 3 female filmmakers. Luckily, Zurich is a small town so it was not a big deal to run from one location to another, but not all the cinemas were included and some were further out, so I had to be very well coordinated to get to see everything I wanted. And even if there were many fabulous events happening on the festival ground, I haven't attended/seen any of them. For me, Zurich Film Festival is all about watching the movies and my most enjoyable moment is when I am sitting in the dark room of the cinema getting fully immersed into the storyline.
I've only stepped out of the dark cinema to attend two events from the ZFF Masters session, thanks to Hannah from ZFF's team: Conversation with Sharon Stone and ZFF Masters with Paul Schrader. And this was a great decision as I got a chance to see these two legends, as close as I ever will.
Since Gimme A Beat is focused on female related subjects, as in previous years, through my review of the Zurich Film Festival I explored *female factor* of the festival and therefore I focused on either movies made by female filmmakers or movies showcasing female life, or movies that cover both topics. Festival uses hashtags to mark the movies so finding the movies I wanted to focus on was easy: I just followed #FemaleFilmmakers and #FemaleLife hashtags. I also used them in my reviews. And even though I had my focus, I've also managed to see more, and I was truly impressed with movie selection, great balance of different genres, aspiring filmmakers and (potential) blockbusters and an overall strong women presence, something very important to me.
In addition and as in all previous years, the organization was impeccable, and team behind Zurich Film Festival was simply brilliant. People were not just being professional but also super nice, helpful and easy going. All of this while keeping us safe.
Considering the amount of movies I've seen (32), I was not able to post reviews of all of them on Gimme A Beat page. Regardless, if you follow the search with the following hashtags: #zff #zff2021 #gimmeabeat you'll find the ones that I did review (14 until today). You can also find all of my highlights if you follow the search with the following hashtags: #zff #zff2021 #highlight #gimmeabeat (11 until today). I would still like to share a few more highlights so I will probably do this in the next two weeks.
In tonight's Gimme A Beat I will be focusing on the movies of the directors I interviewed: Ninjababy, directed and co-written by Yngvild Sve Flikke; Noura Reve / Noura's Dream, written and directed by Hinde Boujemaa and Aloners, written and directed by Hong Sung-eun.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in to Gimme A Beat (18.10.2021) tonight to hear the reviews of the movies in the focus, interviews with directors of those movies combined with music selected by them as well as my own impressions of Zurich Film Festival
Zurich Film Festival 2021
with click-to-play or playlist (for the streamable songs)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat reviews movies at ZFF 2021Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Sep 20, 2021
Monday Sep 20, 2021
NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts were always one of my favorite things to listen to, but with pandemic my interest turned into an obsession. Last year I did two shows dedicated to them: Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2020 Part I and Part II.
So what is it about Tiny Desk Concert series that I love?
It is very simple, this series brings an intimate concert vibe through approx 20 minute video performances, recorded either live at the desk of All Songs Considered host and producer Bob Boilen or, since mid last year and until the foreseeable future, at some place that feels like an artist's home. The latter unsurprisingly called Tiny Desk (home) concerts.
Since I haven't attended any gigs or music festivals since the beginning of Covid19 pandemic, Tiny Desk Concerts are still the closest thing I have to the live gigs. And if I concentrate and just focus on the music and emotions that comes out of it I can almost feel like I am in a small, intimate venue listening to my favorite musician or discovering my new favorite one.
So here I am in 2021, back again, with a bunch of my favorite Tiny Desk concerts. There were so many, I will probably go with part II, very soon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat at home edition (20.09.2021) to hear my selection of Tiny Desk Concerts sung by female artists. For NPR, you can donate here.
Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2021 youtube playlistfrom 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lorafeaturing:gimme a beat npr tiny desk selection
Kisses, Babymonster————————————————————————–for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Jun 21, 2021
Monday Jun 21, 2021
Last weekend, I was reorganising my vinyl collection and reminiscing about the good times, before the pandemic. The time when nights were never ending and standing closer to the people meant that you were having good times. Frankly speaking, I already stopped going out to the clubs regularly long before the pandemic. As a matter of fact, I stopped DJ-ing because I didn't see the point in only going to the club to play the music; it only made sense for me when I was balancing the two: going out and dancing or DJ-ing and dancing. And when I stopped enjoying the club scene, I turned even more to the live music: going to the festivals and gigs totally replaced my 30 something years clubbing habit.
Nevertheless, when I was going through my vinyls, I remembered those, almost forgotten, club days: packed clubs, people mesmerized by the combination of the music, drinks and heated rooms, dancing their night away.
As you can imagine, the whole activity took a bit longer than planned. I started playing one record, then the remix, then the one that I usually played together with the last one... so, what started as an organizing activity turned out to be a very long DJ session. And it even ended with at-home, after party, when I got to those vinyls that I never took "clubbing" and that instead, I played on easy, intimate evenings at home..
All of this inspired me for tonight's show, so I've decided to play a selection of those vinyls that brought back the strongest memories. But there is also an additional twist ... Throughout the month of June Black Music Month was/is all over my social media and that actually triggered a vinyl reorganisation.
Basically, what started as a search for one single (Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody) ended up as a walk down memory lane and the inspiration for tonight's show.
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Tune in tonight (21.06.2021) for Gimme A Beat #athome edition, to hear a selection of the songs from my favourite vinyls sung by black female artists.
Tune in for.. Black Music Month with My Vinyls
with click-to-play or playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Mar 15, 2021
Monday Mar 15, 2021
As we entered the second year of Covid-19 pandemic, I am craving traveling, festivals, concerts.. live music in any form! Since it is obvious that this will not happen any time soon, I like to explore the next best thing: recordings of the live music.
I've already covered my ultimate favorite: NPR's tiny desk concerts in April and May 2020. This time I will explore the female factor of Deezer Sessions, an exclusive series of live sets recorded in different venues, mostly in London and Paris. These sessions are curated by Deezer's dedicated editorial team, who have hand-picked some of the hottest up and coming bands as well as established names from around the world.
Deezer is a French online music streaming service created in 2007, in Paris. As of January 2019, it has 56 million licensed tracks in its library, over 30,000 radio channels, 14 million monthly active users and 7 million paid subscribers. I start listening to Deezer many years ago, after learning about it at Rock en Seine festival. A few years ago I subscribed to its Premium service and I never looked back.
Deezer Sessions are a great opportunity to hear and feel the live vibe while being at home. In addition, last year they were extended with Deezer Home Sessions, sessions appropriately recorded at the home of the selected artists.
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Tune in tonight (15.03.2021) for Gimme A Beat #athome edition, to hear my choice of Deezer Sessions sang by female artists.
Tune in for.. Female Empowered Deezer Sessions
with click-to-play playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Feb 15, 2021
Monday Feb 15, 2021
Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections after a referendum in February 1971. Even though the fight for women’s suffrage in Switzerland started in 1863 (canton Zuerich), women had to fight for more than 100 years to get it. And in some cantons it took a bit longer to get there.. last canton to grant women suffrage was Appenzell Innerrhoden (AI) and this only under an order of a Swiss Federal Tribunal.
Nevertheless, February 1971 is considered as an official date, which means that this February we are celebrating 50 years of women's suffrage (Frauenstimmrecht).
So in tonight show I've decided to focus on Swiss🇨🇭female artists. I've put together the playlist that includes artists that I know very well, that I've interviewed in the last few years and artists that I discovered recently. The selection was not easy, but I tried to keep it diverse and include a variety of genres. And for every artist I'll play in tonight show, as usual, I'll give you a bit of a trivia/background.
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Tune in tonight (15.02.2021) for Gimme A Beat #athome edition, to celebrate 50 years of women's suffrage in Switzerland with me while listening to my selection of the songs from Swiss 🇨🇭 female artists/bands with female vocalists..
Tune in for.. Frauen First with click-to-play or playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
Kisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Dec 21, 2020
Monday Dec 21, 2020
Xmas is one of my favorite times of the year
It is usually a time of the year when things start slowing down, everybody gets a bit friendlier and merrier, and everywhere you go it smells like xmas cookies and gluehwein.
But this is 2020, year of Covid19 pandemic and with everything happening around us, it feels like Xmas vibe has lost its charm and jolly, festive spirit. And we can either get into the gloomy mood and "cancel it" or still use an opportunity to slow down, stay within a small circle of friends/family and count our blessings. I definitely choose the latter, using the break over Xmas to recharge my energy and hope for a pink skies ahead.
But before officially stepping into the Xmas, I decided that my last Gimme a Beat of the year (Xmas edition as I like to call it) will be even more special than usual. Looking into making it into another level of personal, I decided to try and bring into the focus female artist that both excites me musically and that shares (similar) roots with me.
Consequently, a few weeks ago I had the pleasure to zoom-interview Tijana T, an impressive, versatile, ueber talented DJ from Belgrade, Serbia, my home country.
The planning was at minimum, as many of my listeners know, I like to have a conversation with artists that I interview, without prepared questions or/and answers, maintaining the organic vibe and ensuring natural flow. As a result, the interview lasted much longer than we originally planned (half an hour) and it was deep, genuine, dark and funny at the same time.. similar to a mentality of "our people".
Tijana T's beginnings, musical influences, how she became the successful DJ she is today and how was/is she, personally and professionally, affected by covid19 pandemic. We laughed, talked with our hands (maybe this is Serbian/Balkan 'thing'?) and at the same time when explaining something we feel strongly about and kept on finding topics to talk about.
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Tune in tonight (21.12.2020) for a special, extended (more than 3h show), Xmas edition of Gimme a Beat, featuring itw with Tijana T, her choice of music and few selected DJ mixes
Tune in for..
Zooming with Tijana T
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora
After the show, thanks to kind producers at radio LoRa, in a true Xmas spirit, we will continue in the same vibe, turn the night into Tijana T Experience and play Tijana's dj mixes until 6am
Kisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Oct 19, 2020
Monday Oct 19, 2020
First held in 2005, Zurich Film Festival established itself very quickly on national and international film festival scene. The formula for it success it's probably mix of an attractive location: international but small city of Zurich; great selection of movies and different programs/events like ZFF Masters, ZFF Talks, Zurich Summit, ZFF for Pupils, ZFF 72 and few others.
Few years ago I read the sentence in an industry booklet I received with my accreditation and this stayed with me as a logical reason behind Zurich Film Festival's success. Basically, the organizers agree on few basics for a successful film festival: "content is a king, collaboration is key and encounters among creative folks are essential". It is obvious that they are taking "these basics" seriously every year while they are developing festival further and most importantly, in the right direction.
This year, due to Covid19, everything was different. Until the last moment I wasn't sure that the festival will really happen.
But brilliant Team behind Zurich Film Festival made it happen. And even with all the security measures, spaces between seats, mandatory masks, etc., this brought a bit of normality to the city vibe and anyone attending the festival. As a result, the 16th edition of Zurich Film Festival attracted 68'000 visitors and managed to screen 165 films, including the record number of 23 world premiers (11 in 2019). The amount of visitors was 50% of the amount from last year, but if we consider that due to security measures movie theaters had limited capacity this is in pair with previous year and even much more than expected.
Fortunately for me, with great movie selection like in previous years I had to heavily prioritize and choose wisely which movies I will see. Zurich is a small town so it was not a big deal to run from one location to other, but not all the cinemas were included and some were further out, so I had to be very well coordinated to get to see everything i want. As usual I haven't attended many events because for me it's all about watching the movies; my most enjoyable moment is when I am sitting in the dark room of the cinema doing only that.
And as Gimme A Beat is focused on female related subjects, through my review of the Zurich Film Festival I explored *female factor* of the festival and therefore focused on two type of movies: movies made by female filmmakers and movies showcasing female life. As in all previous years the organizers used hashtags to mark the movies so finding the movies that I potentially liked and that fit my exploration was easy, I just followed #FemaleFilmmakers and #FemaleLife hashtags. I also used them in my reviews. And even though I saw tiny piece of the whole festival I was truly impressed with movie selection, great balance of different genres, aspiring filmmakers and (potential) blockbusters as well as strong women presence. In addition and as in all previous years, the organization was impeccable, especially media center that was always available and ready to take care of press needs.
All of this while keeping it safe.
Movies selection wise I've seen many movies and posted reviews of most of them on Gimme A Beat page. Just follow the search with hashtags #zff #zff2020 #gimmeabeat. In tonight's Gimme A Beat I will try to cover most of those movies again and in more details, or at least my favorite ones. You can also find them here or if searching with #zff #zff2020 #highlight #gimmeabeat. You can also find all the highlights in my last post.
And I even managed to interview two female directors and one leading actress: Frederike Migom, director and writer of movie Binti, Jeanette Nordahl, director and Sandra Guldberg Kampp, leading role of the movie Wildland - Kød & blod.
In tonight's show I will be focusing on these two movies. You can find the review for Binti here, and review of Wildland - Kød & blod here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To hear the interviews with Frederike Migom , Jeanette Nordahl and Sandra Guldberg Kampp, my impressions of Zurich Film Festival, more about movie Binti, Wildland - Kød & blod and other highlights movies I've seen.
tune to Gimme A Beat (19.10.2020) tonight for ..
Zurich Film Festival 2020 with click-to-play or playlist (for the artists available on Spotify/Deezer)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora featuring: gimme a beat reviews movies at ZFF 2020Kisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday May 18, 2020
Monday May 18, 2020
Last month I did this year's Obsessed with Tiny Desk edition. But two hours Gimme A Beat just wasn't enough for me to play all the music I wanted. Especially since due to Covid19 pandemic all summer festivals are already canceled and I can imagine that the same will happen for the ones planned in the second part of 2020 as well.
At this point of time NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts are the closest we have to the live gigs, so I've decided to do another session already this month and share with you more of my favorite Tiny Desk concerts 😎
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat at home edition (18.05.2020) to hear my selection of Tiny Desk Concerts sang by female artists. To support NPR, don't forget to donate here.
Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2020 - Part II youtube playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on: webradio lora featuring: gimme a beat npr tiny desk selection
Kisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Apr 20, 2020
Monday Apr 20, 2020
I've been obsessed with NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts for a while now. But I covered them for the first time only last year in Obsessed with Tiny Desk
So what is it about Tiny Desk Concert series that I love?
It is very simple, this series brings intimate concert vibe through approx 20 minute video performances, recorded live at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. And when I am not attending concerts or the festivals, I love feeling like I am there and in this case, in a small, intimate venue listening to my favorite musician or discovering my new favorite one.
The first Tiny Desk Concert came about in 2008 (after Boilen and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson left a bar show frustrated that they couldn't hear the music over the crowd noise. Thompson joked that the musician, folk singer Laura Gibson, should just perform at Boilen's desk. A month later (on April 21st, 2008) Boilen arranged for her to do just that, making an impromptu recording and posting it online. Even the name of the series is connected to Boilen: it was taken from his 1970s psychedelic dance band called Tiny Desk Unit.
Fast forward to today and this series included more than 800 concerts viewed a collective 2 billion times on NPR Tiny Desk YouTube channel.
This year, due to Covid19 pandemic all the festivals were either cancelled or postponed. So I haven't attended any festivals or gigs since beginning of this year. At this moment, Tiny Desk Concerts seems the closest we have to the live gigs, so I've decided to do another session this year dedicated and share with you some of my favorite Tiny Desk concerts again. And since I can only share few of them during my 2-hour show, I will probably do one more session later on. Maybe even next month 😎
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat at home edition (20.04.2020) to hear my selection of Tiny Desk Concerts sang by female artists. For NPR, you can donate here.
Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2020 youtube playlistfrom 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora featuring: gimme a beat npr tiny desk selectionKisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Nov 19, 2018
Monday Nov 19, 2018
Zürich Openair started in 2010, but I attended it and reviewed it for the first time only in 2016, because somehow I was always busy at that particular time with some other festivals across Europe. This year I've decided to keep it local, stay in Zürich and re-visit it.
Regardless of my attendance :-), this fairly young festival seems to attracts more and more people every year, not just from Switzerland but also from other parts of the Europe and even world. The lineup is usually very good with a great balance of rock, indie and electronic music and as many festivals nowadays, with relatively balanced fresh, unknown or currently popular bands and some well known artists, perfect for nostalgic crowds. The location of the festival is great and it is easily reachable via train from the town or from the airport. This year the weather was playing autumn at times, but that didn't stop crowds of people attending it and even staying in the camp.
I've attended the festival for all 4 days, and as usual didn't just go for concert but also to explore everything else. The organization improved a lot from 2016 and this year the only downer was the weather, but this is something that organizers couldn't do much about it. They did however organized themselves quickly and were giving rain coats with the first drops of rain. It is awesome to see the festival growing and improving, because this means that organizers care and most importantly listen to the festival goers. I loved an overall focus on the local, especially regarding the food and drinks but also related to everything else and even recycling, something that we are very conscious about here in Switzerland.
I've seen many great gigs over the 4 days and you can find my day by day reviews and an overall impressions on gimme a beat posts. But since reviewing of the festival as Gimme A Beat means that I explore the *female factor* of the festival, in tonight's show I will focus on Len Sander, über cool band from Zurich and Evelinn Trouble, Swiss artist out of space.
My 3rd day of the festival started very early, but I didn't mind, because I wanted to catch Len Sander and their early gig at 3pm. The festival grounds were still recovering from Thursday nite storm, but this didn't stop curious audience joining with the first sounds. The band owned the stage, they sounded great and looked comfortable while going through the songs of their last album.
Some time after the gig, i had a chance to sit down with Blanka Inauen, the band vocalist, for an interview. Comfortable vibe continued, while Blanka told me about their underground (literally!!) beginnings and the band story until today. We also talked about creative process behind their music and how on Len Sander's latest album *The Future of Lovers* Blanka changed the focus from the mind toward the feelings and more of the whole body, emotional experience.
Another artist that I will focus on tonight with this review is Evelinn Trouble. I discovered her back in 2013 at m4music Festival and immediately liked what i heard: her voice, songs as well as her stage presence. And I liked her even more after I had an itw with her. Now in 2018, it was a time to revisit her music and hear from her what happened in the meantime. Her gig was the first one of many I've see on the last day of Zürich Openair and it was as expected, playful, intense and energetic. Linnea (Evelinn Trouble's real name) seemed in the good mood, happy to be there and with the band; chatting with an audience and even directed them(us) at one point.
After the gig we had a chance to sit down again for an interview. she told me about her past few years, life in London and Berlin and why she decided to come back home🇨🇭. We also talked about Swiss Music Prize that she just won before the festival as well as about her latest release and future projects.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the full review of my *female factor* exploration of the festival, interviews with both: Blanka from Len Sander and Evelinn Trouble and music from their latest albums tune in..
Tonight (19.11.2018) to Gimme A Beat and
Len Sander and Evelinn Trouble at Zürich Openair 2018 📻
with playlist and click-to-play
from 22:00 - 00:00 on: webradio lora featuring: gimme a beat on zurich openair Kisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Apr 16, 2018
Monday Apr 16, 2018
Since 1998, m4music festival takes place every March here in Switzerland: two days in Zurich and one day in the chosen city in the French part.It is flawlessly organized at one of the coolest locations in town: Schiffbau; with many concerts happening on the seven (+1) stages, at or close the main building.
M4music festival is more of the cultural platform than a typical music festival. It is a place where artists, industry experts meet and exchange ideas, experiences and vision of the future. There are several ways this festival makes this happen: by offering interesting panel discussions and workshops, conferences on latest hot issues in music business, competition for the next generation of musicians (Demotape Clinic) and simply the chance to meet many local, national and international people at the venue, just hanging around, talking, sharing their opinions and knowledge.
I was visiting this festival for many years now, but only start reviewing it last few years.But almost every year, I keep on coming back to it, not only because its convenient location (here in Zürich), but because every year I discover new band(s), have a chance to interview interesting female artists/bands, meet great people (from music and non music industry) and see again some local people that I rarely find time to catch up during the year and with our busy schedules.
As usual, it was a very busy two days, but most importantly, as Gimme A Beat, in my exploration of "female factor" of the festival I managed to catch 5 very talented artists for interviews. Of course I also saw them live, but next to their gigs I've managed to see many others as well.
Therefore in order to cover all the artists properly, I will need to break my review in two 2-hour shows.
In 1st part of a review I will be focusing on KT Gorique, Veronica Fusaro and Ta'Shan. For review of their gigs and interviews check here, here and here, respectively.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tune it tonight to Gimme A Beat (16.04.2018) to hear my impressions of the m4music festival and gigs I've seen .. as well as all the interviews and the music of the artists that I’ve chosen for the first part of a festival review:
KT Gorique, Veronica Fusaro and Ta'shan at m4music 2018 with playlistfrom 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora featuring: gimme a beat at m4musicKisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Dec 18, 2017
Monday Dec 18, 2017
Insecure is HBO's original series, created by Issa Rae and Larry Wilmore, starring Issa and Yvonne Orji as two young black women, best friends since university. Shot on location in the Los Angeles area, the show closely follows Molly (Orji) and Issa's friendship as they cope with their own flaws, insecurities relationship troubles, and the general difficulties of young adulthood, all packed in an endless series of uncomfortable everyday experiences.
I discovered Insecure by accident while flipping through the TV channels in the hotel room in Chicago. The trailer was announcing season 2 and after watching it for only few seconds I knew that I will love it. Once I started watching the show I realized that the music featured in the show is phenomenal. Especially in the season 2 where many of the artists featured in season 1 created original tracks for the show. Music supervisor of the show is Kier Lehman, but the music choice is really driven by Issa Rae: she is given direction and making final choices, based on an itw I've seen with both of them. She also does these funny interludes, short rhymes in the show that are included in the soundtrack as well. Most importantly, the music in the show is fresh, current and exciting and while I knew many of the artists, the show introduced me to many more and some of them instantly became favorites.
Looking back at 2017, this was a roller coaster year for me. Some really awesome things happened and I enjoyed success on several levels, but I also experienced heavy stuff and heartbreaking moments, especially in the second part of the year. And in those moments the only thing that kept me balanced and sane, next to my family and friends, were music, movies and tv series, very important in the life of self proclaimed TV addict. Insecure stood out for me this year, as this show combines everything that I love: quirky humor, urban storyline that I can relate to and great choice of music.
So I decided to finish this 2017 on a high: with some infectious beat, sassy lyrics and lots of female attitude.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And since, from Gimme A Beat perspective, Insecure features so many awesome female artists, during my two-hour show, I will have enough music and time, to share my love for the show and it's music with my listeners.
Tune in to Gimme A Beat (18.12.2017) tonight for..
Inspired By Insecure
with following playlist and click-to-play or playlist (for the artists available on Spotify/Deezer)from 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora featuring: gimme a beat, inspired by insecureKisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
First held in 2005, Zurich Film Festival established itself very quickly on national and international film festival scene. The formula for it success it's probably mix of an attractive location: international but small city of Zurich; great selection of movies and different programs/events like ZFF Masters, ZFF Talks, ZFF 72.
Personally, I feel that logic behind Zurich Film Festival's success is well explained by the sentence from an industry booklet ('everything you need to know book') that I received when I picked up my accreditation. There, the organizers agree on few basics for a successful film festival: "content is a king, collaboration is key and encounters among creative folks are essential". It is obvious that they took "these basics" seriously since this year, for it's 13th Edition, Zurich Film Festival played 160 movies across the cinemas of Zurich (Arthouse theaters, Corso, Arena, Filmpodium, etc.), inclusive 4 new festival theaters at Riff Raff cinema, and organized so many events and happening that for me, it was hard to catch up and I had to heavily prioritize and choose wisely. It's success can also be measured in numbers: this year the festival attracted not only the professional industry crowd in big numbers but in general number of visitors as well: 98'300, 8.5% increase from previous year.
This was my first time to review any film festival, and it's not a surprise that I started with Zurich, town that has been my home for last 17 years. As Gimme A Beat is focused on female related subjects, through my review of the Zurich Film Festival I explored *female factor* of the festival and focused on two type of movies: movies made by female filmmakers and movies showing female life. The organizers of the festivals used hashtags to mark the movies so finding the movies that I potentially liked and that fit my exploration was easy, I just followed #FemaleFilmmakers and #FemaleLife hashtags. I also used them in my reviews. Since I had to juggle my busy work life with festival, I focused on movies and attended the events very selectively. Nevertheless, even though I saw tiny piece of the whole festival, next to the movie selection with great balance of different genres, aspiring filmmakers and (potential) blockbusters as well as strong women presence, I was sincerely impressed with the organization, especially media center that was always available and ready to take care of press needs.
Movies selection wise I've seen 16 movies and posted review of them on Gimme A Beat page. Just follow the search with hashtags #zff #zff2017 #gimmeabeat.
In tonight's Gimme A Beat I will cover all of those movies again and in more details, or depending of time, try to cover at least my favorite ones. In addition, I will give bit more attention to following movies: My Life Without Air (Moj Zivot Bez Zraka), The Wife (will include press conference material and itw with leading cast: Glenn Close, Annie Starke; director Björn Runge and producer Claudia Bluemhuber), Matar a Jesus (Kiling Jesus), (will include Q&A session with director Laura Mora, after the movie projection) while exclusively playing music from Jeunne Femme (Montparnasse Benvenue) soundtrack
After the movie projection of My Life Without Air (Moj Zivot Bez Zraka), I had a chance to sit down with Bojana Burnac, young, talented Croatian director and cinematographer of the movie. We talked about the movie, Goran Colak, world champion in free diving and movies's subject as well as Bojana's own life journey: as a cinematographer, director and free diver.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To hear the interview with Bojana, my impressions of Zurich Film Festival and more about films I've seen, tune to Gimme A Beat (16.10.2017) tonight for ..
Zurich Film Festival 2017 with following playlistfrom 22:00 - 00:00 on:webradio lora featuring: gimme a beat reviews movies at ZFFKisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– for the info about old shows please go to previous entries