Podcasts about Shaabi

Electro-acoustic sound-manipulation rubs shoulders with extended techniques on acoustic instruments, while influences from ’80s industrial, ’70s krautrock, ’00s folktronica and ’90s dub techno can be found alongside indie rock, breakbeat, and good ol’ classic freeform noise. It’s Sunday. It’s Utility Fog. LISTEN AGAIN to good ol’ classic freeform ‘fog. Stream on demand at fbi.radio, podcast here. Bibi Club – A Different Light [Secret City Records/Bandcamp] Bibi Club – Le Styx [Secret City Records/Bandcamp] The Montréal duo of Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque are Bibi Club, a name which presumably makes more sense to French speakers, but their songs are split fairly evenly between French & English. Their quirky indie pop, part jangly guitars and part electronic, owes something to the British-French band Stereolab (who they covered last year), as well as Francophone indie music that often gets tagged with “chanson”, the French word for “song”. From their lovely third album Amaro, I started tonight with a driving piece of postpunk that clearly shows their debt to Blonde Redhead, which segues into an instrumental that loops part of the krautrocky groove and introduces hovering drones and sampled operatic voices. This might just be the emotional avant-garde indie rock you’ve been looking for. The Notwist – The Turning [Morr Music/Bandcamp] In 2001, German band The Notwist, having begun as hardcore punks and transitioned through emo to some kind of indie rock, released their breakthrough album Neon Golden – a significant date only in that a couple of years later was when I started Utility Fog on the newly-official FBi Radio. Arguably with their 1998 album Shrink, The Notwist were well on the way to their hybrid genre that we perhaps briefly called “indietronica”, with influences from IDM, drum’n’bass and techno as well as krautrock combined with indie rock. Meanwhile, Thomas Morr founded his Morr Music label in 1999, which quickly became a home to a similar clade of indie/IDM, shoegaze-tronic bands – many of which involved members of The Notwist, particularly brothers Micha and Markus Acher. It wasn’t actually until 2020 that The Notwist themselves signed to Morr Music, but it’s always seemed their spiritual home. The band’s new album News from Planet Zombie is perhaps their most “rock” album for some time, intentionally splitting from their studio-mediated workflows by bringing the whole band together to write & perform these songs in person. 10 years ago Superheroes, Ghostvillains + Stuff documented The Notwist’s live setup at the time, with modular synths & other electronics prominent alongside the (kraut)rock instruments; here the electronics are less prominent but clearly an integral part of whatever The Notwist does; but it’s the undeniable, distinctive songwriting that can’t help but shine through. Daniel Jumpertz – I Would Never Do That To You [Feral Media/Bandcamp] In the early days of Utility Fog/FBi, Danny Jumpertz was a strong supporter of Utility Fog, and the indietronica, folktronica and postrock sides of the playlists were reflected in the sorts of music he released on his Feral Media label. For a while now the in-the-family indie rock band Clairaudience has been his main musical outlet, but he’s now begun releasing a cache of solo songs, I believe once a month, starting with the stirring “Everything Is Lost” and now followed by the pretty krautrocky “I Would Never Do That To You“. From Jumpertz’ time in NYC, producer Abe Seiferth contributes “wig-out Moog mayhem”, which you’ll recognize as soon as you listen to the song! Looking forward to more in coming months. Praed – Assarab السراب [Ruptured Records/Bandcamp/Annihaya Records/Bandcamp] Now 20 years old, Praed is the combination of two Lebanese musicians, clarinettist/composer/more Paed Conca (part-Switzerland-based) and bassist/sound-artist/more Raed Yassin (part Berlin-based). The music – sometimes billed as “PRAED Orchestra” with friends from the MENA/SWANA region and Europe – draws from Egyptian street music (Shaabi, now mutating into Mahraganat) and the traditional Sufi spiritual/trance music Mulid, both in their ways based around hypnotic, repetitive beats. It’s always psychedelic, swirling, extremely rhythmic, a free jazz of Lebanese & Egyptian music. While new album Al Wahem الوهم is back in duo formation, they are still joined by many talented Beirut musicians (the album was recorded at Tunefork Studios in Beirut). As always this music is full of joy and yearning, and neverending forward motion. Simo Cell & Abdullah Miniawy – Living Emojis [Dekmantel/Bandcamp] Simo Cell & Abdullah Miniawy – Easing The Hearts [Dekmantel/Bandcamp] In 2020, French beatmaker Simo Cell and Egyptian singer, poet, trumpeter, composer & more Abdullah Miniawy teamed up for a frankly game-changing mini-album, Kill Me Or Negotiate. Simo’s music is equal parts UK bass, US bass and French club, transforming the Arabic vocals and jazz-trained trumpet of Miniawy, who had collaborated extensively with the post-dubstep kraut-tronic band Carl Gari (not to mention his own laptop experiments, no longer available online). The pair are not afraid to abstract Miniawy’s lyrics into cut-up samples, nor are they afraid to let him fly with gorgeous melodicism. Their second outing together is the brilliant album Dying Is The Internet, whose title couldn’t be more apposite really – it feels like it’s bringing the world down with it, and while you probably couldn’t blame Netanyahu on the internet, surely Trumpianism is as much a product of what the internet’s become as, well, all the other shit. There’s real humanity in these tracks, as well as futuristic technology; high drama and low grooves. If the internet’s dying, let this be the future. Damos Room – Molars [Limbo Tapes/Bandcamp] I’m not sure who Damos is or what’s in their Room, but signs point to it being three guys: Luke Miles, Nicholas Elson & Huw Oleskar. I’ve just found out (because they told me, nothing underhand) that Huw Oleskar is also known as Elijah Minnelli, responsible for some of the most interesting and lovely dub-folk hybrids in recent times, ostensibly under the auspices of Breadminster County Council. As for Damos Room, you can find a series of fantastic, weirdly-shaped releases on their Bandcamp, including a mixtape of two bizarre 40-minute radio pieces, some quasi-singles of abstracted dub/spoken-word/electronics, and the experimental electronics of their collaboration with rapper LYAM, which I played on this show a few years back. The band finally have an album coming, and Walk With The Militia… is not that album. It’s a mixtape, entirely in keeping with the mystery what all this is about. It collects a whole lot of weird shit, but it’s all dub-based experimental electronics, with Minnelli’s distinctive spoken word & low-key singing, odd radio interludes and noise bits and so on. It’s really fantastic. No doubt All Shall Go, the real album, will be well worth bending your ear to when it comes out in only a few weeks! New Age Doom featuring H.R. – We’re All the Same [We Are Busy Bodies/Bandcamp] Having previously collaborated with Lee “Scratch” Perry, Canadian collective New Age Doom know a thing or two about combining freeform psychdedelic noise with dub. Their latest collaborator H.R. co-founded Bad Brains, some of the earliest hardcore punks who combined rasta philosophy and reggae with their punk music. It appears that for all the peace-and-love preaching, H.R.’s fundamentalist religious outlook inherits the homophobia rampant in Rastafarianism, but that’s not apparent in these songs, thankfully. This is swirling dub with some excellent electric violin from Alina Petrova. DJ Sprinter – Floaterr [unreleased] Oslo’s DJ Sprinter has popped up in the last year and a bit as an absolutey top-tier producer of bass-heavy breakbeat. You can find a whole lot on his Bandcamp, but the other day he invited followers to message him on Instagram for some unreleased cuts, so I did, and I’ve brought you one tonight. Just as great as the plethora of stuff he’s already put out there, irresistible grooves. Rotate – Hot Glue [YUKU/Bandcamp] UK producer Rotate is also known as RWB, making dubsteppy, garagey cuts galore. Not sure what warrants being a Rotate track rather than RWB, but the more serious, full releases, especially for other labels, seem to be under Rotate. This is still absolutely bass music, wobbly and spacey, with just enough of that experimental edge to be very comfortable in the YUKU yuniverse. Teerath Majumder – Dust [Infrequent Seams/Bandcamp] Bangladeshi artist Teerath Majumder, based in Chicago, creates interdisciplinary art & music that explores the interaction between audience and artist/composer through technology, as well as producing music & sound-design in collaboration with other artists, directors & musicians. His new album Dust To Dust, however, is an entirely solo work, from the music & production to mastering & artwork. Here there are flittery synths, Bangladeshi samples at times, and when there are beats they skitter and thump. This album may have come from Majumder’s contemplation of death, but it’s teeming with life. MATA – Adolf Hippy [CÆR (Chiærichetti Æditori Recordings)/Bandcamp] MATA – Compro Oro Et Laboro [CÆR (Chiærichetti Æditori Recordings)/Bandcamp] Where did this even come from? Well… Italy. Italy is where the trio named MATA come from, making industrial/noise/glitch which could almost look like a typical rock band – guitar/vocals, bass, drums – if you ignore the electronics through everything. This is the kind of music where anything can happen, often grating, often strangely catchy? The label CÆR is the musical arm of Chiærichetti Æditori Recordings who also publish an underground comix anthology called LEGIONE, and I look forward to reading some when the package finally reaches Australia. Noémi Büchi – dislocated bodies (feat. Anushka Chkheidze) [-OUS/Bandcamp] With last year’s excellent Liquid Bones EP, Swiss/French composer Noémi Büchi shifted from dense electronic orchestrations to a somewhat lighter touch, with rhythm more to the forefront. Her new album Exuvie is body music made of deceptively simple parts that are bent and shuffled into unexpected shapes. It’s great, not least on this track, a collaboration with Georgian composer & producer Anushka Chkheidze. Roman Rofalski – Monday [Oscillations/Bandcamp] German musician Roman Rofalski is a classically-trained pianist and a jazz musician, releasing recordings of contemporary composers as well as jazz piano trios. He’s also interested in extending these forms into electronic realms, and we’ve heard him on this show as one half of electro-acoustic duo Saving Kaiser. In 2024, we heard him deconstructing his piano on the album Fractal, released by London-based Oscillations Music. He’s now followed that up with Awaiting PM, combining the inside & out of a new grand piano with distorted Akai MPC 2000 beats. There’s a sense of tension and expectation to these tracks, which were recorded while awaiting the birth of his son. It’s excellent stuff, and I’m glad to note that he’s got another release coming hot on its heels, which you’ll hear here in a couple of weeks. Autistici & datewithdeath – Grusch’s Biologics [Audiobulb/Bandcamp] Sheffield-based sound-artist David Newman has run the Audiobulb label since the netlabel days of the early 2000s, and for a similar length of time he’s made exploratory sounds as Autistici of a similar aesthetic to the label – post-IDM beats, glitchy sound processing, an electro-acoustic approach to found sounds, field recordings and instrumentation. Artistic collaboration has been a big part of what Newman’s done as Autistici and Volume Objects – the 2010 remix album Resonating Wires was a favourite release back then, but even his “solo” releases have often featured guests. Last year, two of three “familiarity” EPs came out from Autistici on Audiobulb – Familiarity Folded and Familiarity Enfolded, both of which featured simpatico either artists remixing Autistici or working with him, creating meticulous sound-art, sometimes with beats, usually mixing acoustic sounds with electronic approaches. Those two releases have limited CD editions; the third, out now, is Familiarity Unfolded, which can be found on vinyl as well. One of the best collaborations is with St. Augustine, Florida musician & writer Travis Johnson, who worked for many years under the alias datewithdeath, as well as running the Poverty Electronics label. Following an illness, datewithdeath has been retired – although not without clearing the cupboards with some stunning collections, including the collaboration/remix album Culotte Sine and the posthumous (so to speak) album Apple Tree Brightness. Johnson can now be found prioritising writing with Frolic Press, but there’s still a musical arm – Frolic Press Recordings that will feature his & others’ work – forthcoming is a novella from Aidan Baker of Nadja, with an accompanying solo album out for pre-order now. In any case, the glitchy & detailed “Grusch’s Biologics” is one of my favourite tracks from Autistici’s trio of releases. Bruce Russell – The Letter [Marhaug Forlag/Bandcamp] Lasse Marhaug – Turntable Oil Blues [Marhaug Forlag/Bandcamp] This one’s a huuuge deal in the noise world, or at least to me it is. Bruce Russell is a member of New Zealand’s iconic experimental rock trio The Dead C, a highly influential band across indie, shoegaze and noise. Lasse Marhaug is a giant of the noise scene, and also a producer of many surprising Norwegian & other artists including Korean jazz/experimental cellist Okkyung Lee, Jenny Hval and Kelly Lee Owens. As befits the noise scene, both are very intuitive workers with sound, and that’s where part of the joy of this release comes from. It’s actually their second collaboration, but Re-Make Re-Model came out of the idea of remixing each other, and thus is released as a 2CD set, each credited to the artist who completed the work (the remixer). It also comes in a beautiful open-spine hardcover book published by Marhaug (whose Marhaug Forlag also publishes the Personal Best magazine of noise music – the 2011 first issue of which included a feature on Bruce Russell), with photos & essays by both musicians about their relationship and their musical practice, and fascinating, detailed descriptions of how each track was made. Thus: Bruce Russell’s “The Letter” is based on Marhaug’s 2005 work Carnival of Souls, which is a soundtrack to a short film called The Letter. Russell chopped out tasty bits of the original, which he re-pitched, pushed the right & left channels out of sync & further tampered with. The results are deeply sinister. On Marhaug’s “Turntable Oil Blues”, he’s messing with Russell’s “Nigerian Delta Oil Well Blues”, a short track from his 21st Century Field Hollers And Prison Songs LP. The funny thing is, the ascending & descending slides aren’t a turntable slowing down & speeding up – they’re in Russell’s track. This is as directly a remix as it is a destruction of the original work, progressively distorting the original (played at the wrong speed) over a number of run-throughs. Ultimately noise is doing whatever the fuck you want with sound, and finding some artistry in it, and these two are past masters of the art of noise. Nabelóse – Niriides [Trost/Bandcamp] Pianist Ingrid Schmoliner and French horn player Elena Kakaliagou have played together for about a decade, making music that sits somewhere between contemporary composition and free jazz. Both also contribute voice to their Nabelóse project, including layers of spoken work, and – with prepared piano and horn that produces breathy wind as often as warm, slow melodies – their third album HAAR is a thing of mysterious beauty. Their previous albums – 2017’s Nabelóse and 2022’s OMOKENTRO – feature more singing that draws from their respective folk musics (Schmoliner is also a yodeler), but share this album’s patience and sonic exploration. Rosenau & Sanborn – Harm [Psychic Hotline/Bandcamp] Chris Rosenau of Collections of Colonies of Bees and Volcano Choir, and Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso have been friends for a long time, and made their first EP under their surnames back in 2019. The sequel (what Americans would call a “sophomore” effort) shares with the first a love of folky guitar, studio electronics and incidental found-sound. To me this is bliss, as it recalls the laptop folk of The Books and other airy, homespun folktronica of the early ’00s. Absolutely a little gem, do not miss. Booker Stardrum – Inside Sounds [WeJazz/Bandcamp] New York percussionist & composer Booker Stardrum is a member of Los Angeles (post-)jazz supergroup SML, and music runs in his family – his surname is adopted from the names of his parents, both avant-garde musicians themselves: flautist Stefani Starin and microtonal composer & instrument maker Dean Drummond. So Close-up On The Outside might be expected to be an avant-garde release, and in some ways it is, but in a very friendly, warm manner. Many friends from SML and the broader scene appear as guests on these compositions, but they flit in & out around careful edits; the main focus is on pitched and un-pitched wooden percussion, and glinting loops. There’s a low-key, positive outlook to the album which is uncommon and welcome. Richard Pike – I. “What Happened” [Salmon Universe/Bandcamp] Sydney’s Richard Pike, alum of PVT, is now based in London. He can be found in various ensembles, including with Joe Quirke, with whom he co-runs the Salmon Universe label, and under his own name has been making ambient-techno-hybrid-orchestral soundtracks for TV. Outside of that, he’s released solo music under the alias DEEP LEARNING on Oxtail Recordings, based around subtly rhythmic glitchy loops, but now returns to his own name for album that mixes late-night piano and glitchy dub-techno. It’s not surprising to discover that the creation of this music was directly triggered by the death of Ryuichi Sakamoto, but the music takes darker paths than the Japanese master. The full album’s out later in May, but the singles so far are rich & murky. Listen again — ~224MB

In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Crisis Group's Senior Iraq Analyst, Lahib Higel, to discuss the latest escalation between Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq and Syria and U.S. forces stationed in the region. They talk about the 29 January drone strike that killed three U.S. soldiers in a military base in Jordan and the U.S. retaliation against Iran-backed groups in Iraq, including a strike in Baghdad on 7 February that killed a senior commander from Kata'ib Hizbollah, which orchestrated the Jordan attack. They unpack the history of Kata'ib Hizbollah and other members of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, their relations with other Iraqi Shia paramilitaries, including those in the Hashd al Shaabi, or popular mobilisation forces, and Islamic Resistance strikes on U.S. forces since Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza. They talk about how much control Tehran has over the Iraqi groups. They also discuss what the escalation means for the role and presence of U.S. forces in Iraq. For more on the topics discussed in this episode, visit our Iraq country page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week President Biden re-designated Yemen's Houthis as a global terrorist group amid its increasing attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the Hezbollah terror group continues to threaten Israel's northern border, and the Israel-Hamas war continues as Hamas still holds more than 100 Israeli hostages taken on 10/7. Matthew Levitt, Fromer-Wexler Fellow & Director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute, joins us to help make sense of the renewed terror threat, how these terror groups are coordinating their strategy and attacks, and what the U.S., Israel, and its allies are doing to fight back against Iran and its terror proxies. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Matthew Levitt Show Notes: Learn: 5 Things to Know About the Houthis, Their Attacks on Israel and the U.S., and Their Treatment of Yemen's Jews Listen – People of the Pod on the Israel-Hamas War: Unpacking South Africa's Baseless Genocide Charge Against Israel Countering the Denial and Distortion of the 10/7 Hamas Attack 4-Year-Old Hostage Abigail Idan is Free–Her Family is On a Mission to #BringThemAllHome What Would You Do If Your Son Was Kidnapped by Hamas? Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Transcript of Interview with Matthew Levitt: Manya Brachear Pashman:   This week the US military struck a Houthi arsenal in Yemen that had threatened US Navy vessels in the Red Sea. It was America's fourth strike on Houthi turf since November 19. Meanwhile, the Hezbollah terror group continues to violate a UN Security Resolution and threaten Israel's border, and Hamas still holds more than 100 Israeli hostages taken during the October 7th invasion and massacre.  What do all these terror groups have in common? Returning here to discuss is Matthew Levitt, the Fromer-Wexler Fellow & Director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute.  Matt, welcome back to People of the Pod. Matthew Levitt:   Thank you so much for having me. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So let's start with the terror group making the latest headlines. The Houthis? Who are they and why has the Biden administration just re-designated them a terrorist organization? Matthew Levitt:   So the Houthis are a separatist group in Yemen, based in the north of the country. They are Shia, and they get support from Iran. But they're not exactly the same kind of Shia as Iran. And they aren't exactly the kind of proxy that says jump when Iran says how high.  This is a relationship of convenience and my enemy's enemy. And they both hate the United States and the west and hate Israel. And the Houthis have been for years an ineffective, and for the Iranians an inexpensive and risk free way to complicate things for the Saudis. So for years, the Houthis were shooting at the Saudis when the Saudis were involved in the Yemeni war, after the Houthis had taken over.  And that's one of the reasons why things are a little sensitive right now, because there have been efforts to try and negotiate a ceasefire between the Houthis and the Saudis. The Saudis aren't happy with what the Houthis are doing right now in the Red Sea. But they also don't want to rock the boat.  The Houthis have as part of their mantra printed on their flag, Death to Israel, Death to America, Death to Jews, all three, they're not particularly, you know, unclear. And so they have flown drones towards Israel that have been shot down, they have fired ballistic missiles at Israel, some of which have been shut down by US Navy vessels, at least one was shut down by the Saudis. Just pause to think about that for a minute. The Saudis weren't thinking this was aimed at them, the Saudis shut down a Houthi missile aimed at Israel, which suggests that the Israel-Saudi reconciliation track, while very much on pause, is not over. And the Israelis have shot down some including for the first time ever using the arrow anti-missile system, which shot down a ballistic missile in lower outer space.  Now, the Houthis have tried to leverage their position geographically by targeting ships in the Red Sea. They claim that they are targeting only those ships that are owned in whole or in part by Israel or have serviced Israeli ports. They've hit some American ships as well. They're clearly getting intelligence from the Iranians on this. And it has disruptive international freedom of navigation.  And you have now a new problem in terms of getting things where we need them to be to stock our shelves, because boats that would normally go up the Red Sea and through the canal are now going around South Africa. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And this volatility on the part of the Houthis is also compounded by what's going on with Hamas, and also Hezbollah. Is Iran the common denominator here, Matt? I mean, is that what all these terror groups have in common, or is there much more? Matthew Levitt:   So it's true, the Houthis claimed that what they're doing is in support of the Palestinians. But what we are seeing for the first time put into action is the strategy that was developed by the late Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force, who was killed in Iraq several years ago. And that strategy was what he called uniting the fronts. And so this idea that across the spectrum, and it really is a spectrum of proxy, activity of sponsorship.  Hezbollah is at one end very, very close to Iran, the Houthis, I would argue, are at the other end, and Hamas is kind of somewhere in between. Getting them all to be able to coordinate their activities, when push comes to shove. Now, Hamas for its part is very happy with the Houthis. They're quite disappointed with Hezbollah.  There are reports in the Arabic press, that Hamas expected that Hezbollah would get much more involved and Hezbollah didn't when they saw the US naval presence, you know, two aircraft carriers. Whatever the specifics, Hamas have been very vocal about how displeased they are with the level of support they're getting from Hezbollah, though that has been significant. And they're pretty pleased with the support they're getting from the Houthis, which is outsized what might have otherwise been expected from the Houthis. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So the alignment of these groups with Iran, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean that Iran is pulling the strings? Are they funding the activities? All of the above? I mean, you mentioned the goal of coordinating all these proxies, but does coordinating go as far as collaborating? Matthew Levitt:   So I don't want to get into a semantic discussion of what exactly is the difference between collaborating and coordinating. I think what's important to understand here is that it's not like in the movies, where everybody's getting together at a meeting with evil laughs, coordinating all that they're doing. There have been some meetings, we know that for at least the past few years. Iranian Quds Force, Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad had been meeting at what they call, their term not mine, a joint operations room in Beirut. What all is coordinated is not entirely clear. You've had Iranian and some Shia militants from Iraq, the Ḥashd ash-Shaʿbī making statements recently about how, you know, generally things are coordinated right now.  Frankly, the level of coordination took a hit with the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. And there was no one with the gravitas to kind of bring all these proxies together. So they actually leaned on Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah to come in and serve that role not only kind of mediating between the various Iraqi Shia militant groups, but also the others, the Hamas is that Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis. So they're not all sitting around a big conference table. And you'll do this and you'll do this, but they're all getting support–financial and often weapons from Iran. There is some significant cross pollination in some personalities.  So for example, for the first time this week I've seen in the open source, Israelis say that the head of the Redwan special forces unit in southern Lebanon that has been firing anti tank guided missiles into Israel multiple times a day is a guy known as Abu ‘Ali Al- Tabataba'i. He was in southern Lebanon for many years. Then he was sent to Syria, where he worked with Iraqi Shia militants and Quds Force. Then he was moved from there to Yemen, where Hezbollah had a very, very small contingent, maybe a couple of dozen.  But the fact that they sent someone that senior was telling. I actually wrote a piece of Foreign Affairs about this years ago, when it came out that he was sent to Yemen. He was designated by the US Treasury, there's a Rewards for Justice from the State Department to reward out for his head. Well, he now is back from Yemen, got a promotion and is the overall head of the Redwan unit. And he has at this point, all kinds of personal relationships.  And so there's a little bit of cross pollination, you might talk about the people you know, from back when you went to college together. And back in the day the Al Qaeda would talk, did you go to the duranta camp in Afghanistan? Do you remember that trainer? Well, now there's a similar thing going on in the Shia extremists milieu? Did you go to the camps together? Were you in Iran at the same time, or Iraq or Lebanon at the same time? Which trainer did you have, who did they send to you? And so there is coordination happening, but I don't think it's Houthis. Sometime this morning, you're going to be targeting a ship.  On the flip side, there is some open source information about ships that you can find and their ownership. But it's clear that the Iranians are also providing them information that is not public. And they're also clearly working with Hezbollah. If you go back to October 7 itself, the plotline of October 7, fire a bunch of missiles under that cover, infiltrate across the border, take as many civilian communities as possible, kill a bunch of people, kidnap others across the border.  That was the Hezbollah plan that the IDF Northern Command was preparing and training to deal with for years. And it was Hamas who used it, so you can see some of that connectivity. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Ah, exchanges of strategy. Matthew Levitt:   Strategy and more. It's not every tactic. It's not every every instance, but there is certainly overall strategy that they're coordinating. There certainly is communication. There certainly is movement of funds and of weapons. And, and this is the first time we're seeing that type of coordinated effort involving militants from Iraq, Iranian assets in Syria. You know, at one point, the Iranians flew a drone and crashed it into a school and a lot. The drone flew down. Jordan didn't cross into Israel until the very end went into a lot. It was a school where children evacuated from communities in the south, are being educated. I don't know if it's luck. I think it is. I don't think the Iranians had intelligence to know exactly what time class got out. But it was, you know, a couple of hours after class got out could have been much, much worse. And even just today, there are reports of things being shot towards Israel, around the Red Sea. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So are we at risk of a wider war? Or does anything stand in the way of that? Matthew Levitt:   Yes. We really are at the brink of a regional war. And I see a lot of people, a lot of press saying that Israel has done something which brings us to the brink of a regional war. And I challenge that Israel is responding to not only the attack on October 7, but to all kinds of attacks. Still, the United States also is not bringing the region to the brink of war, when United Kingdom strike Houthi assets in an effort to prevent them from being able or to deter them from carrying out attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. Ultimately, this really comes down to how far do Iran and its spectrum of proxies want to push the envelope.  I think at the end of the day, they're actually quite happy with what's going on. So long as the fighting in the Gaza Strip continues, I think they feel justified in saying this can go on. They have said, Hezbollah and others have said, that this can stop when the fighting of the Gaza Strip stops. Whether that is what they actually mean or not is something only time will tell. But I think at the end of the day, the decision about whether or not this spills into a broader regional war doesn't rest with Israel or the United States or the United Kingdom, those that are responding to the aggression.  But it's the aggressors. How far does Hezbollah want to push this? For a long time, Hezbollah was only hitting military targets in the north and now they're selectively hitting some civilian targets. Killed a mother and her son in their home in northern Israel just a few days ago. Generally, they're still hitting military targets but it's escalating a little bit in response to the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri, which was a big deal because they killed him in Hezbollah stronghold.  They hit some pretty significant Israeli military targets, a radar installation on the Hermon mountains and Northern Command Headquarters near Safed.  Those appear to be one offs. Do the Shia militias do something more? Do Iranian assets in Syria try and infiltrate more drones or rockets? Do the Houthis get lucky and hit something particularly big and bark something more. There's lots of ways for this to unintentionally, to escalate. But I do think that all parties right now don't want a regional war.  That said, Hezbollah, Iran, the Houthis, the Shia militias in Iraq, certainly Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, some of the groups that we're seeing very active in the West Bank right now are quite happy to see this level of pressure on Israel and starting the first of what I think they want to be a trend, of these types of coordinated assaults.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   So why don't they want a wider war? What is their goal? Matthew Levitt:   They all have as part of their goal, their raison d'etre, destroying Israel, kicking the United States out of the region, undermining Western powers in the region, etc. But they all also understand that you go too far, and you open up this to a much broader conflict. The United States has barely gotten involved. They've done a few very, very small things in Yemen. They have been very supportive to Israel's effort to defend itself. While the US has sent significant forces to the region, they have not done anything, for example, regarding Hezbollah in Lebanon. They've not done anything in terms of the Hashed al-Shaabi in Iraq attacking Israel, though they have responded very, very, very few times, I might add, to the significant number of times Iraqi Shia militants have struck at US military targets in Iraq and Syria. They understand that this could get much bigger. And ultimately, Iran understands that if things escalate too much, that the fight is going to come to Iran. And it won't stop.  They also really don't want Hezbollah in particular, to go too far in the moment. Because all those rockets that the Iranians have provided to Hezbollah in violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, since the 2006 war, they're not there primarily for this. They're there to deter Israel and anybody else from attacking Iran's nuclear program, which by the way, the Iranians have been pushing the envelope on throughout this period of conflict since October 7.  And if anybody should attack Iran or its nuclear program, this is seen as Iran's best second strike capability. It's why Hezbollah has basically not fired almost anything other than the Kornet anti tank guided missiles, fired a couple of other short range things. But none of the precision guided missiles under the longer range missiles, that's all, but that powder is dry. That's all for now. And I think Iran doesn't want those spent right now, and also doesn't want these to escalate to the point where the Israelis go ahead and try and take them out under the cover, or in the context of this current conflict.  So there's a strategic set of goals and they believe in, you know, the concept of muqawima, of resistance. There's this idea of muqawima patience, right? This, from their perspective is what God wants, it will eventually happen.  This past three months, this is a huge step on the road to resistance victory. This is a huge success in terms of galvanizing multiple forces to unite the fronts. Doesn't all have to happen right now. But they believe that this is very much a sign that they're on the right path, and it's a step in what they would consider to be the right direction. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Well, Matt, thank you so much. I appreciate you explaining who these terror groups actually are and helping our listeners better understand the headlines.  Matthew Levitt:   It's always a pleasure. Thanks so much for having me. And if you want more, there's plenty more at WashingtonInstitute.org. Thank you for the work you're doing and for having me on the show.

Deena Abdelwahed, 3Phaz, Aïsha Devi and débruit discuss the effect of using computers when writing music, dealing with the press and their labelling, and converting studio music into a live set. Deena Abdelwahed is a producer and DJ from Tunisia. She arrived in France at the age of 26 after earning her stripes in the Tunis scene as part of the Arabstazy collective. She has played for Boiler Room, and at iconic Berlin club Berghain. 3Phaz is a Cairo-based DJ obsessed with bass, distortion, and the deconstruction of the Shaabi aesthetic. If you don't know it, Shaabi is an Egyptian musical genre coming from working-class roots and is the core of popular music in the country's streets. His self-titled debut album came out in 2020, and he describes his music as “post-Shaabi”. Aïsha Devi is a Swiss-Nepalese producer who co-founded the experimental club label Danse Noire. She applies meditation techniques in her approach to production, and describes herself as a “radical alchemist”. Her latest release was her EP S.L.F. (Spirit Liberation Front) in 2019, and she won the Swiss Music Prize in 2020. Xavier Thomas, aka débruit, is a French artist and musical explorer who imagines alternate worlds and the way they'd sound from his adopted home of Brussels. He explores complementary culture clashes, combining elements that have never existed together before. He's also part of KOKOKO!, a collective born in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

William Morris reflects on his conversations with Lieutenant General Abd-al-Ameer Yarallah, Chief of Staff of the Iraq Army; Mr Adnan al-Fayhan MP; Mr Ahmad al-Asadi MP; General Jabbar Yawar, Secretary General of KRG's Ministry of Peshmerga; Hadi al Amri, the overall commander of the Hashid; NSA boss Kasem Alaraji; and ISCI Head Sheikh Homan Hamoudi.Support the show (https://www.justgiving.com/tncf)

William Morris talks with Lieutenant General Abd-al-Ameer Yarallah, Chief of Staff of the Iraq Army; Mr Adnan al-Fayhan MP; Mr Ahmad al-Asadi MP; and General Jabbar Yawar, Secretary General of KRG's Ministry of Peshmerga.Support the show (https://www.justgiving.com/tncf)

Yaël is an international Oriental dance artist living in Paris. She has a very personal and refined style combining tradition and modernity. She is regularly invited to perform and teach abroad (Japan, USA, Canada, China, Europe…) due to her skills as a teacher and the high level of her artistic work. Yaël conveys her passion with generosity and enthusiasm. She focuses on listening carefully to the music and interpreting emotions, while displaying an impeccable technique and creating a wide variety of choreographies. She teaches all Egyptian styles, from a soft and introverted Tarab to an energetic and catchy Shaabi. For her, dance classes are more than teaching an original choreography. She also strives to make her students understand the culture behind Oriental dance, and to convey the ‘soul' of this dance. In this episode you will learn about:- Developing a dance career at local gigs- Yael's first international workshops- Dealing with self-criticism while watching your own performance videos- How to find your individual style- Teaching and adapting to an online spaceShow Notes to this episode:Find Yaël Zarca on Instagram, FB, YouTube and website.Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her teaching platform: the Iana Dance Club.Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

In this episode Afif Ayad the owner and founder of an NGO called Shaabi Masouliyati talks to us about the challenges he has faced in the country & why he left the corporate world to head up a non-profit. Civil Servants like Afif work day and night, given the role they play is even more integral than the government. People in Lebanon have learnt and accepted that they cannot lean on their corrupt government, the government does not and will not have it's best interests at heart - so it is NGO's like Shaabi that have to pick up the slack and bridge the gap. How long can they maintain themselves, and how long will it take before the government want a piece of the financial pie!

Amanda joins me today to chat about Egyptian Shaabi, a popular social dance style that has become very popular in the Oriental dance community. She chats about what Shaabi is, touches on its origins, and how we can differentiate it from other styles within the bellydance world. We get into how FEELING a move in your body can teach you so much about the move itself and how it differs from other styles. As a dance movement therapist, Amanda brings a really interesting perspective to the table and this conversation around how to process movement is one that I find completely fascinating. Join us today to learn more about Shaabi! www.TheBellydanceBundle.com/42-2

This event will explore the fallout of the recent murders of Qasim Soleimani, Commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the senior commander of al-Hashd al-Shaabi and the founder of Kata'ib Hezbollah. The assassination, on 2 January 2020, of Qasim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis has thrown Iraqi and wider regional politics into turmoil. Soleimani was one of the most senior figures controlling Iranian foreign policy. Al-Muhandis, as the senior military commander in al-Hashd al-Shaabi, wielded as much if not more influence in Iraq than any other government figure. The speakers will discuss the likely regional and Iraqi fallout from their murders, how Soleimani’s death will influence Iranian power projection across the region, what retaliatory moves Iran is likely to undertake, the ramifications for Iraqi politics and security and how the ongoing protest movement will be affected. Toby Dodge is Kuwait Professor and Director of the Kuwait Programme at the LSE Middle East Centre. He is also Professor in the Department of International Relations. Toby currently serves as Iraq Research Director for the DFID-funded Conflict Research Programme (CRP). From 2013–18, Toby was Director of the Middle East Centre. He has been visiting, researching and writing about Iraq for over twenty years and his main areas of research include the comparative politics and historical sociology of the Middle East, the politics of intervention, the evolution of the Iraqi state, state-society dynamics and political identities in Iraq. Dina Esfandiary is a Director at Herminius and a Fellow in the Middle East department of The Century Foundation (TCF). Previously, she was an International Security Program Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and an Adjunct Fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Middle East Program. Prior to this, she worked at the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) in the War Studies Department at King’s College London from February 2015, and in the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament programme of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London from October 2009. Dina is the co-author of Triple-Axis: Iran’s Relations with Russia and China, and Living on the Edge: Iran and the Practice of Nuclear Hedging. She is completing her PhD in the War Studies department at King’s College London. Patrick Porter is Professor of International Security and Strategy at the University of Birmingham. He is also Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, London. His research interests are great power politics, US/UK foreign and defence policy, and the interaction of power and ideas in the making of them. His book Blunder: Britain's War in Iraq (Oxford University Press, 2018) was shortlisted for the British Army Military Book of the Year Prize, 2019. He has appeared as an expert witness before the parliamentary Defence Select Committee, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, and the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy. Ghoncheh Tazmini is a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. Formerly an Associate Member at the Centre for Iranian Studies at SOAS, where she was Iran Heritage Foundation Fellow, Ghoncheh conducts research on Iran-related themes as a British Academy grant-holder. She is currently researching Iranian-Russian alignment in the Middle East. Join the conversation on Twitter using #LSEMiddleEast

Guest: Elijah Magnier. We discuss what really happened in Iraq over the past week, leading up to the killing of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi PMU vice commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes. We talk about the reactions, justifications and likely consequences. Also, Elijah provides some more clarification on the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF/PMU or Hashd al-Shaabi) and the way the different Iraqi security forces have been described inaccurately in western media.  Elijah Magnier is a veteran war correspondent and political analyst with over 35 years of experience covering the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).  FOLLOW Elijah Magnier @ejmalrai. Read and support his work at ejmagnier.com Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at aroundtheempire.com.  SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.  SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app. Recorded on January 4, 2020. Music by Fluorescent Grey. Reference Links: What Comes Next After the US Assassination of Qassem Soliemani? The Options, Elijah Magnier  ATE Episode 140: Uprising in Iraq feat Elijah Magnier (12/18/19) ATE Episode 127: Iraq Protests, US-Iran War, Regime Change feat Elijah Magnier (10/6/19) ATE Episode 68: Iraq Politics & Stalled Idlib Op in Syria feat Elijah Magnier (9/17/18)  

Daily News Brief for Friday, January 3rd: *)Top Iran commander Qasem Soleimani killed in US strike The US has killed the head of Iran’s elite Al Quds force Qasem Soleimani in an air strike near the international airport in Iraq’s Baghdad. Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, a Hashd al Shaabi leader, an Iraqi paramilitary force closely allied with Iran, was also killed in the attack. Iran has vowed “severe revenge,” saying Soleimani was killed by "the most cruel of those on earth". *) Mass evacuations in Australia as weather threatens more fires The Australian navy has begun evacuating around one thousand people stranded on the east coast of the fire-ravaged country. This comes as weather this weekend threatens to push more fires with high temperatures and strong winds. At least 20 people have died, dozens are missing, and more than 1,300 homes have been damaged as fires burned an area nearly double the size of Belgium. *) Turkish parliament ratifies Libya troop deployment Turkey’s parliament has approved the deployment of troops to Libya with a 60 percent majority. The decision to send military assets came at the request of the UN-backed government in Tripoli, which is struggling to maintain its grip on power. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord is facing an incursion into the capital by warlord Khalifa Haftar's militia. *) Indonesia plans cloud seeding as flooding death toll hits 43 Indonesia will carry out cloud seeding to prevent rain over capital Jakarta after deadly flooding and landslides. Indonesia will shoot salt flares into clouds in an attempt to break up rain clouds over Jakarta. This attempt at weather modification comes as floods and landslides have killed over 43 people and displaced tens of thousands. And finally, *) Female directors in Hollywood reach record highs in 2019 Women are inching closer to at least denting Hollywood’s towering glass ceiling. Women directors reached record levels in 2019 as they made up 10.6 percent of top movies with 12 directing top-grossing films, studies show. These films include "Frozen II," "Captain Marvel" and "Hustlers". Women comprised 20 percent of directors, writers, producers, editors and cinematographers on the top 100 grossing films of 2019.

Iraq’s state-sponsored, majority-Shiite militias — called al-Hashd al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilization Forces — were central to the fight against ISIS, but there are major questions over their ongoing political and economic role. Enabling Peace in Iraq Center program manager Omar Al-Nidawi, American University in Iraq Sulaimani professor Akeel Abbas, and MEI’s Randa Slim join host Alistair Taylor to discuss what might happen to the force now that the threat ISIS poses has diminished.

Hassan Abbas is Professor of International Security Studies and Chair of the Department of Regional and Analytical Studies at National Defense University’s College of International Security Affairs (CISA). Aside from his expertise on Pakistan and Afghanistan, he also travels frequently to Iraq for research work on Hashd al-Shaabi (also known as Popular Mobilization Forces/Shia Militias). Along with addressing the main topic of the Taliban revival, he will compare and contrast Taliban and Hashd. His latest book titled, The Taliban Revival: Violence and Extremism on the Pakistan-Afghanistan Frontier (Yale University Press, 2014) was profiled on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in August 2014. Abbas’ earlier well acclaimed book Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America’s War on Terror (M E Sharpe, 2004) remains on bestseller lists in Pakistan and India. He also runs WATANDOST, a blog on Pakistan and its neighbors’ related affairs. His other publications include an Asia Society report titled Stabilizing Pakistan Through Police Reform (2012) and Pakistan 2020: A Vision for Building a Better Future (Asia Society, 2011). Dr. Abbas serves as a Carnegie Fellow 2016-2017 at New America where he is focusing on a book project on Islam’s internal struggles and spirituality narrated through the lens of his travels to Islam’s holy sites across the world. He is also currently a Senior Advisor at Asia Society. He was the Distinguished Quaid-i-Azam Chair Professor at Columbia University before joining CISA and has previously held fellowships at Harvard Law School and Asia Society in New York. He regularly appears as an analyst on media including CNN, ABC, BBC, C-Span, Al Jazeera and GEO TV (Pakistan). His opinion pieces and research articles have been published in various leading international newspapers and academic publications.

The Center for Global Policy’s Director of Governance in Muslim-Majority States program, Dr. Kamran Bokhari, sat down with Geneive Abdo to discuss the status of Iraq's majority Shia community in the aftermath of the collapse of the ISIS Caliphate. Ms. Abdo, a prominent Middle East expert, is currently Resident Scholar at the Arabia Foundation where she specializes in political Islam and Iranian geopolitics. She is also a lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and the author of four books, including The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi’a-Sunni Divide. Abdo says that the major political movement in Iraq is toward independence and getting foreign influence -- whether from the United States or Iran -- out of the country. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is playing a role in that. However, other senior Iraqi clerics fear that Iran will try to push in when the elderly al-Sistani dies. Abdo says that al-Sistani’s successor likely will be a younger figure and someone who is forward-looking and capable of focusing on creating an independent Iraqi state. ISIS, also known as Daesh, had been pushed out of Iraq, but Abdo says there is “overwhelming evidence” that ISIS is making a comeback in Iraq. A Daesh resurgence in Iraq would empower the Iranian-supported Hashd al-Shaabi militias, though many Iraqi Shia do not want those militias to gain influence. Moreover, Abdo says that around 100,000 displaced Sunnis have not returned home after the ISIS occupation, and the Iraqi government has washed its hands of the situation. These disenfranchised Sunnis are ideal recruits for groups like ISIS, Abdo says. Though the country’s political situation is a delicate one, Abdo says she believes that Iraqis will unite in the face of ISIS to prevent the group from taking over as much of the country as before. She says she has a strong sense that Iraqis want to prevent further violence because they have lived with violence for 17 years.

Phillip Smyth takes us on a deep dive into the world of the Hashd al-Shaabi, the Iranian backed militias (also known as the PMU, PMF, and "Shia Militias") fighting in Iraq. They've documented their own war crimes, shot unarmed protesters, and have been building the groundwork for their movement for years... So who are they?   - www.patreon.com/popularfront - www.popularfront.co - www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan - www.instagram.com/popular.front  

Saeed Saeed Arts and Culture reporter for The National tells Sally about the Arab supergroup who explore the infectious spirit of Shaabi music coming to the Heart of Sharjah. Plus updates on Sharjah International Book Fair, and Saeed shares his article on why we should be learning from the wisdom of the UAE’s senior citizens. Listen to #Pulse95Radio in the UAE by tuning in on your radio (95.00 FM) or online on our website: www.pulse95radio.com ************************ Follow us on Social. www.facebook.com/pulse95radio www.twitter.com/pulse95radio www.instagram.com/pulse95radio

The growing power of armed groups in the Middle East has raised an old question: how do militants recruit new constituents? Researchers have long debated the relative merits of ideology versus services as drivers of militant groups (an argument dubbed “greed vs. grievance”).   Developments in Iraq and Lebanon have given us a better understanding of the interplay of ideas and material rewards for militia recruitment. Legacy militia groups like Hezbollah have been joined by relative newcomers like Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (“Hashd al Shaabi”) at the epicenter of power. On this podcast, Renad Mansour, a leading expert on Iraq’s paramilitaries, joins Sima Ghaddar, a keen observer of Hezbollah, to discuss the new insights about paramilitary recruitment and loyalty that they’ve learned from Iraq and Lebanon. Participants include: Sima Ghaddar, policy associate, The Century Foundation Renad Mansour, research fellow, Chatham House Thanassis Cambanis, senior fellow, The Century Foundation

Is Daesh on the verge of total defeat? US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson seems to think so. He says it's now time for some of those battling the terror group to go back home. And he's singled out Hashd al Shaabi, a coalition of some 40 militias, mostly funded and backed by Iran. They've been fighting Daesh alongside the US-backed forces of the Iraqi government. But Tillerson's remarks haven't gone down well with Baghdad, which calls the fighters the hope of the region. So what does the future hold for these fighters?

In this talk Sh. Moutasem shares with us the the life lesson of Amer Al Shabbi – Friday halaqah, March 03, 2017. There was certainly in their stories a lesson for those of Amer bin Shiraheel Al Shaabi understanding. [12:111]

Farid Adly racconta altre curiosità, aneddoti e notizie della prima trasmissione in lingua araba della radio italiana

Farid Adly racconta altre curiosità, aneddoti e notizie della prima trasmissione in lingua araba della radio italiana