Author, Lecturer, Broadcaster & Cultural Arts Expert;
President of Art Collage JANG/J Music/J Art/J Books & Media.
Author of over 40 books published on Amazon, including The Crimson Horror series and The Great and Immortal Painters’ Stories series.
Dedicated to sharing insights into art, culture, literature, and creative expression through writing, lectures, media, and content creation.
I had 50th live broadcast of “Pops
Lounge” yesterday in TBN Ulsan Traffic Broadcasting Network’s “Studio1041”. The
greatest popular musician in music history I introduced yesterday was “ABBA”.
I uploaded content of yesterday's
broadcast on YouTube.
Studio 1041 “Pops Lounge” of TBN
Ulsan Traffic Broadcasting Network will be continued at 10:30 am every Tuesday.
“Edvard Munch” is a 1974
biographical film about the Norwegian Expressionist painter Edvard Munch,
written and directed by English filmmaker Peter Watkins.
Self Portrait with Skeleton Arm, Edvard Munch (1895)
The film was
originally produced as a three-part miniseries co-produced by Norwegian and
Swedish national television networks NRK and SVT, but was later produced in
1976 as a three-hour version and released at American theaters.
It covers about
Munch's life for about 30 years, focusing on the influences that shaped his
art, especially the disease and death of his family, and the love affair with a
married woman.
The Sick Child, Edvard Munch (1907)
The film was screened at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, but
failed to enter into main competitions.
Like Watkins' other films, this film
uses a docudrama approach. The scenes of Munch's life are mostly reenacted by a
large cast mostly made up of Norwegian non-professional actors, but Watkins'
voiceover narration is also featured, and the characters speak directly to
camera, as if they are interviewing about their own lives or their opinions
about Munch. Some of the dialogue was improvised by the cast, especially in the
interview section.
In order to convey the hostile response to Munch's work
frequently received during his lifetime, Watkins recruited Norwegians who
genuinely disliked the paintings.
Movie
Review
“Amazing”
“Painter's
Biopic like no others”
“The
best artist-biography I have ever seen”
“Mystical
experience”
“Immersive
documentary of a great artist”
“A Definitive
Film of Art History”
Interesting
stories about the film
1. Since its initial
broadcast, the film has been a brief international success, but has not been
widely distributed for many years afterward. For that reason, Watkins said TV
network officials tried to suppress its distribution and prevent competition in
the Cannes Film Festival. After NRK gave up rights to the film in 2002, the
film could be released more widely worldwide.
2. Ingmar Bergman, a
Swedish filmmaker, described the film as "work of genius."
“The Adventures of
Picasso” is a Swedish surrealist comedy film in 1978 directed by Tage
Danielsson, starring Gösta Ekman as the famous painter Pablo Picasso. The film
has the tag line "A thousand loving lies by Hans Alfredson and Tage
Danielsson". It won the award for Best Film at the 14th Guldbagge Awards
presented by the Swedish Film Institute.
The film features multiple languages
including Spanish, French, Swedish, German, Finnish, Italian, English, Russian,
Norwegian and Latin. The backgrounds of the film are Spain, London, Paris, Côte
d'Azur and America, but most of the film was shot in and around the Swedish
town of Tomelilla. All of Picasso's paintings featured in the film were made by
a Swedish artist and director of animated films, Per Åhlin.
Railway station, Tomelilla
Movie
Review
“Brilliant film”
“Picasso's life in a fun-house mirror!”
“One of the best movies ever!”
“In the top 5 comedies ever made”
“Picasso would love this”
“Very amusing”
Interesting
stories about the film
1. When actor Gösta Ekman, who
starred as Pablo Picasso in the film, went on vacation to Budapest, he found
that the locals were looking at him in a very odd way. Ekman eventually
understood why when a local asked him if he were Picasso, and he replied to
this question, "If you mean that I played Picasso in a movie, that's
right." After the movie was released, this film had great success in
Hungary and it had been playing at a Budapest cinema every year.
2. Hans Alfredson and Tage
Danielsson, who wrote the script for this film, first thought of making a film
about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but they gave up the film because Mozart's life
was too short.
3. The original idea for this film
came from actor Gösta Ekman, starring Pablo Picasso in the film. He thought it
would be funny to write a guide to a place where people had never been to.
Then, he thought it would be also funny to write a biography over a famous
person like Picasso, whom people never met.
4. The Finnish song, repeatedly
sung by Sirkka in the film, is a recipe of Kalakukko, one of the traditional
Finnish foods with fish baked inside a loaf of bread.
The 21st lecture for today is "World Music: Nordic".
This lecture was the 21st lecture of “ACJ Music Academy”, which was held on 5 September 2015.
Nordic countries typically include Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
Among them, I will briefly introduce the folk music of Iceland, Norway and Sweden today.
Due to the geographical isolation, it was difficult for Iceland to access the music of continental Europe.
Therefore, its similarities with other European countries are very low, and the music of the Middle-Ages prevailed the music of Iceland until the 19th century.
The music of Iceland has a very long tradition, and some of the songs made in the 14th century are still sung today.
Folk songs generally deal with love, harsh winters and mythical creatures, and are very secular and humorous.
For Norway, more than half of the land is located in the north of the Arctic Circle, and northern Norway is characterized by continuous white nights in summer.
Norway's most representative instrument is the fiddle, which is shorter than those of other countries, and it features a higher pitched sound than standard-sized fiddles.
The Norwegian fiddle is called the ‘Hardingfele', named after ‘Hardanger’, the southwestern part of Norway, and it has been used since the mid-17th century.
Sweden is the most influential countries in the pop and rock music market in the world among the Nordic countries, producing many worldwide stars that have gained great popularity, such as Abba, Ace of Base and Yaki-Da.
Recently, however, Swedish folk music has begun to attract global attention, which is the result of a movement to establish a "national identity" like other Scandinavian countries.
Despite these movements, however, the main trend of Swedish culture is characterized by a tendency to actively embrace the culture of the outside world and enjoy it as a global culture, rather than adherence to tradition.
Thus, unlike many Nordic countries, it is characteristic that Sweden is hard to find a rigorous folk tradition.
Today, I will introduce 3 Nordic music as follows:
1. Ólafur Liljurós (Iceland)
2. Khoom Loy-Annbjørg Lien (Norway)
3. Vallåtar från gammelboning (Sweden)
You can listen to all the songs from following YouTube link.
