Happy Jewish New Year

I'll be off for a couple of days from the blog in order to celebrate Rosh HaShana. I have prepared a post for you for each day until Saturday. Here is what you can expect:

Wednesday 8 September:
Heidegger in podcast


Thursday 9 September:
Amar Bhidé in podcast


Friday 10 September:
A cultural shift in the high Middle Ages


Saturday 11 September:
Armenian Medieval History


If I manage to squeeze in some writing time, there may be more, but at least this will be up.

A happy and sweet new year to all of you. All the best and may your dreams come true.

Heads-up for 7 September 2010

Inspired Minds
One to One with clarinettist Martin Fröst
Considered one of the world’s leading clarinet soloists Martin Fröst is renowned for his interpretations of the classical repertoire as well as contemporary works, jazz and Klezmar. Fröst appears regularly in leading music centres and with major orchestras through-out the world, including concerts with the Wiener Symphoniker, the Cincinnati Symphony, and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields - to name but a few. Among his most recent appearances was his performance in a televised gala concert from Stockholm Concert Hall celebrating the marriage of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Daniel Westling, where he was the only classical instrumentalist. Martin Fröst is the Artistic Director of the Vinterfest in Mora in Sweden and co-director of the International Chamber Music Festival in Stavanger in Norway. In this week’s Inspired Minds Martin Fröst talks to Breandáin O’Shea about being an artistic director of festivals, his pride at being able to play some of the great repertoire of the clarinet and how taking risks is for him an important part of music making.
(review, feed)

Social Innovation Conversations
Scaling Impact in Education - NewSchools Venture Summit
Should entrepreneurial organizations work cooperatively or competitively with school districts to create systemic change in education? How can such efforts best inspire the reforms that are needed for America's children? In this panel discussion, part of the NewSchools Summit 2010 conference, education entrepreneurs talk about how innovative ideas, models, and policies may grow so that more children can get the education they deserve.
(review, feed)

Brieftour-Pod
Ba-Da-Boom-Spezial
Auf den Tag genau ein halbes Jahr ist es her, seit ihr zuletzt von mir etwas gehört habt – so grüße ich euch um so herzlicher zum BtP Nr. 34, Aufnahmedatum 4. September 2010. Man könnte sagen: dies ist Brieftour-Pod #20 reloaded, denn schon im vergangenen Jahr habe ich live vom “Ba-Da-Boom” berichtet, dem Straßenmusik-Festival in der Innenstadt von Neumünster. Dieses fand heuer also zum zweiten Mal statt. Ich nehme euch akustisch mit zu einigen der Veranstaltungsorte. Zunächst aber erzähle ich auf dem Weg in die Innenstadt eine weitere Episode zum Thema “Ladensterben in Neumünster”: das Erofa in der Kieler Straße macht zu.
(review, feed)

KMTT - The Torah Podcast
Parshat Haazinu, by Rav Chanoch Waxman - The Song's Witness
(review, feed)

History of the Parthians - Edward Dabrowa

As I wrote before I am tremendously enjoying Professor Richard Bulliet's 2008 course on the history of Iran at Columbia university. While at it, I was motivated though, to make a side step and search the realms of podcast in search for some of the names and places he brings up that I would love to find out more about.

For example about the Parthians. Around lecture #8, he introduces them and makes clear what important role thy played, not only for Iran, but also for the conenction between China and the west. It is the Parthians, among others, who do the trading and transport along the Silk Route. Next to nothing is said about the Parthians in podcast. The one thing I found was a lecture by Professor Edward Dąbrowa, delivered in English at the Leopold Franzens University in Innsbruck at the Institut für Alte Geschichte und Altorientalistik. The feed for this and other lectures at the institute is completely in German, save for this one lecture by Dąbrowa.

Dąbrowa is not the most eloquent speaker and he struggles with English, but his lecture gives much insight into the history of the Parthians and the sources we have for that history. Since the Parthians did not write themselves, we have to rely on the Roman, Greek and some Chinese sources, which are invariably contemptuous. However, he points out how these can be combined with tiny other sources, with archeology and intelligent interpretation and from this he embarks on an expose of the history which neatly precedes the 9th lecture in Bulliet's series.

The Riddle of the Sands - Forgotten Classics (3)

By the end of this week Julie of Forgotten Classics will finish her reading of The Riddle of the Sands. Right after that, she has promised, she will be reading Genesis to us. I am very eager to find out how that works out. (feed)

In comparison, reading Genesis will be very different from The Riddle of the Sands. Not just because the one is a relatively modern spy novel and the other an age old text translated from Hebrew. Genesis is loaded with meaning, with historical reception and probably with much confusion. You cannot 'just' read it and I trust Julie will do so much more.

With the Riddle of the sands - which I recommend, especially for those of you who have an interest in sailing or in the cultural starting point for the First World War - she did not do much commentary, and that was not really needed. If there is need, Julie is capable of delivering the accompanying thoughts. This we saw in one of her previous projects: the reading of Uncle Tom's Cabin. She spent a great deal of time introducing the work and delivering to us the various interpretations and she dealt with the common trope in our time, that dismisses the novel as a racist work. Genesis will be in need of a similar treatment.

More Forgotten Classics:
The Riddle of the Sands - Forgotten Classics (2),
The Riddle of the Sands (1),
The message of Uncle Tom's Cabin,
Cooking with Forgotten Classics,
Forgotten Classics - podcast review.