Sunday Culture

This week has seen a maelstrom develop around a certain tour in America, some truly terrible PR statements and the question of keeping politics out of art. Art is political. Being able to claim an apolitical stance is a privilege. And increasingly for people, bland and 'both sides' doesn't wash. The cultural conversation is shifting and it gives me hope that it can and it will translate in to real world action.

There are wider nuanced cultural conversations to be had (starters for ten: a woman who writes bland music and who doesn't fit the traditional accepted beauty standard would never be 'allowed' the mass of success Ed Sheeran has, the adoption of a vague Irish heritage and connection as a form of increasing your cultural cachet and revenue). But we cannot take our eyes off what the real issue is- we are continuing to watch a live streamed genocide.

What I've been watching

September is a fantastic month for TV as autumn starts to draw us in. Slow Horses is back and I chuckled my way through the first episode of season 6.

For the week that's in it, seek out the incredibly powerful film 'The Voice of Hind Rajab'. It uses the real recording of an emergency call to tell the true story of a 6 year old in Gaza trapped in a car under fire. It is on BFI Player and various other platforms to rent.

What I've been listening to

Yes, Macklemore has featured. I've been repping 'Thrift Shop' as an absolute bop for years now but honestly, back then, would not have named him as the musical artist who would be so outspoken on the issue of our time. Walk in the club like, what up, I got a backbone. And apparently, he pronounces it 'Mack-LUH-more' as opposed to what I've been saying, which is 'Mack-IL-more'. His 2024 protest song 'Hind's Hall' is named after student demonstrations in the wake of the death of Hind Rajab and at the time of writing has charted in the iTunes Top Ten (remember paying attention to music charts??).

What I've been reading

I am up to book 9 in the 'Slough House' series by Mick Herron, powering my way through the audiobooks as I devour the story of the Slow Horses to stay ahead of the TV adaptation. Beautifully read by Sean Barrett.

Sometimes, we want our cultural offerings to help us protest, to help us process, or merely to escape. Whatever you need them to be in the week ahead, remember that we are lucky to have the choice.

GRMA agus Saoirse don Phalistín.

Deirdre x