In Focus

In Focus

Comments Culture In Focus Music

From shamanic rhythms to gaming soundtracks

Beyond K-pop, this year’s K-Music Festival brings together traditional Korean instruments and shamanic music with hip-hop, gaming soundtracks, jazz and experimental music, showcasing the diversity of Korea’s contemporary music scene across London from September 28 to November 23.   Pablo Muñoz   London’s celebration of Korean music and culture returns […]

Book reviews Comments Culture In Focus

Living with contradictions

“Everything was forever, until it was no more” is one of those books that upsets common assumptions about something that has been packaged and presented for uncritical digestion.   Sean Sheehan   Life in the USSR, before it imploded in 1989, is often characterized in binary terms: communism was bad, […]

Comments In Focus Needle's Eye

When tolerance destroys itself

A society that tolerates every idea, including those that seek to undermine freedom and pluralism, risks eroding its own foundations. The challenge lies in preserving the balance between tolerance, freedom and power. . Nigel Pocock . The discussion becomes one about power, and how it is exercised. . Clearly the […]