Latest news with #KateBush
RNZ News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
"There's power in the circle" Global folk phenomena Bulgarian
music arts 12:32 pm today In 1988 a choir founded in the '50s Soviet socialist era, the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir released the album Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares. It won them a Grammy, turned them into an unlikely global sensation and is said to have helped birth the genre World music. Kate Bush recorded with them that same year, and David Bowie and his wife Iman even chose one of their songs to replace 'Here Comes the Bride' at their wedding. Today, that choir is part of a distinctive international cultural phenomenon revitalising a Bulgarian women's folk tradition. In August Aotearoa ensemble, Medena will travel to Bulgaria for the first time to undertake a study tour and perform at what their conductor Tui Mamaki describes as the once in every five years "Te Matatini of Bulgaria". They will be singing with their idols. Before they go, Medena perform at Tamaki Makarau's Ellen Melville Hall Sunday 8 June. This week we were privileged to host nine members to sing in the RNZ studio, and Mark Amery is joined by leader Tui Mamaki in conversation. .
Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Amsterdam's anarchic new five-star hotel
Inside the Rosewood Amsterdam, which opened at the beginning of May after a decade-long transformation, there are spliffs for sale in a vending machine, and I passed by Johnny Rotten on the landing. Nick Cave and Kate Bush I spotted in the bar. For clarity, though, the spliffs were made of ceramic by the artist Casper Braat, and the musicians are photographic portraits by Anton Corbijn. This new Rosewood likes to wear its art on its sleeve — in fact, it's almost as much of a gallery as a hotel. From the outside, it would be easy to mistake it for another of the city's museums. It's set in the former Palace of Justice, in a building dating back to 1665, and its neoclassical bulk stretches out over almost a block along the central Prinsengracht canal. Most of the group's hotels are in legacy landmark buildings: a former bank in Munich, for instance. In London there's an Edwardian pile in Holborn and, this autumn, there will also be the former US Embassy. Compared to the easygoing cafés and shops around it, the plain, rather grubby façade in Amsterdam (heritage laws mean it can't be cleaned or illuminated at night) cuts a rather stern, almost disapproving figure. It's an image the team here are keen to dispel, envisaging it as much of a local hangout as a gilded retreat for high-net-worth guests. Thomas Harlander, the hotel's managing director, tells me that curious Amsterdamers have been dropping in to explore the building, enjoying the two courtyards landscaped by the High Line designer Piet Oudolf and a modestly priced, well-populated all-day café. The main court room, where high-profile cases (such as the 1980s kidnapping of the brewery billionaire Freddy Heineken) were tried, is now a sprawling library space with a vintage grand piano in one corner and a modern tapestry depicting an AI-realised missing part of Rembrandt's The Night Watch. Its openness is reflected in its design. 'We thought it was important that people could see into the building — transparency is a very Amsterdam thing,' says Piet Boon, whose city-based studio also designed Rosewood's first Japanese resort on Miyakojima. 'During Covid we'd walk around the canals, peering into houses to see how other people lived.' • Read more luxury reviews, advice and insights from our experts Anyone able to peer through my third-floor suite window would glimpse a soft-focus space with curvaceous sofa and chairs, a drinks cabinet with small bottles of ready-mixed cocktails to one side, and a framed set of vintage Amsterdam postcards on the wall. In the bathroom, a white stone tub is positioned by the window, while the bed, backed by a mottled-gold headboard, looks out over gabled houses and the canal (on my arrival, almost on cue, a little boat motors past with a cargo of tulips). Among the 134 rooms are also five 'Houses'. These are apartment-sized suites, such as the Library House, styled in whiter-shade-of-pale bling with windows on two sides and a cascade of small chandeliers, lined by shelves filled with books and collectables. House 020 displays a bespoke collection of jewellery by Bibi van der Velden. But it's the hotel's 1,000-piece art collection that really catches the imagination. The lobby was inspired by the dramatic entrance of the Rijksmuseum, with sightlines that take you straight through to an enormous screen at the far end — the canvas for swirling, fluctuating video art, shifting from vivid floral still-lifes to ethereal classical figures, sourced from the Nxt Museum nearby. Along one corridor runs a series of white, colour-changing discs resembling a vintage radio valve, casting an orange glow over walls and ceiling. I'm particularly taken by a vase in the lobby made entirely of Smurf figures, while Maarten Baas's Grandfather Clock, in which a figure looms into view every minute to scrub out the minute hand and re-draw it, is surprisingly enthralling. In the entrance, Studio Molen's Statica — displayed at last year's Art Basel Hong Kong — is a trellis-like city made up of tiny bronze figures, which can be picked up and slotted back in new homes. There's an abundance of space here, a rarity in this city where many hotels are squeezed into canalside townhouses. The subterranean spa, its swimming pool cast in daylight from a long aperture above, has hammam-style arches and a monastic calm. There's also a space for reformer Pilates and sound therapy, though the 90-minute aromatic restore massage was all I needed. Along a corridor you could ride a tuk-tuk down is the moodily lit Advocatuur bar, flamboyantly dressed with diamond-shaped pendants above the counter and a menu of Indian-inspired cocktails and small plates. (I'm told that the late mayor requested an Indian restaurant here when he brokered the deal, along with Ayurvedic treatments and a club for the city's thriving Indian business community.) Further along is Eeuwen, the main restaurant — an intimate space where a painting of a rather louche young man gazes down at me as I devour Zeeland oysters topped with tingly grapefruit granita, and pork chop with creamy dollops of sea vierge and celeriac puree. The chef David Ordóñez has a nimble way with Dutch ingredients, with an approach that's more bistro than fine dining (little slabs of brioche topped with crab salad is a highlight, and quite rightly arrives on its own little plinth). Amsterdam's food scene has ramped up in recent years, a side of the city the Rosewood is keen to champion. I hop on board Captain Arnaut's Twenties salon boat, moored outside, and take the 90-minute voyage to Der Durgerdam, a small hotel in a village of the same name where the inventive lunch menu includes tomato tartare and a rare pudding of caramelised celeriac pie. The Rosewood is also linking up with Over-Amstel, the new farm from the South African owners of the Newt, taking guests there by boat for yoga and cheese-making sessions. Back at the Rosewood, I'm beckoned downstairs to make my own artistic contribution to the hotel. One of the law court's former holding cells has been turned into a very intimate, palo santo-scented tasting room for the hotel's genever — the OG of gin — distilled in a gleaming still named Martha. The bar manager signs me up for a kopstootje, a Dutch tradition that involved taking the first sip of genever with your arms behind your back, then chasing it with a pickled egg and small glass of beer. The ritual ends with a temporary tattoo rubbed on my wrist and then I graffiti my name on the wall — I'm part of the club. With the genever christened Provo, in honour of a short-lived Sixties anarchist-art movement — which included flooding the city with free bikes painted white to counter the tyranny of the motorcar — it's another irreverent attempt to puncture the building's formality. I wonder how radical a hotel that charges €1,200 a night can actually be, but like the rest of Rosewood Amsterdam, it's a refreshing way of transporting guests beyond the city's clichés. Doubles from £1,200,
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rights on the brink for local creatives - the row over AI
Are we soon to see success for a campaign to save Brighton's most creative minds from having their designs, words and music plundered by artificial intelligence? Ministers have softened their proposals already, but doing nothing is not an option. The rise of AI has come with many challenges, but one which could have a devastating impact on the livelihoods of the many authors, filmmakers, musicians, artists, photographers, game developers, and designers who live and work in Brighton, is the systematic theft of creative works to train AI models. These models then adapt, take from and even reproduce works without any credit, payment or respect for those whose human skills it has, effectively, stolen. I am shocked that this looting has been allowed to go so fast and so far already, and I am not alone. Along with more than 50,000 others including Kate Bush, Malorie Blackman and Bjӧrn Ulvaeus, and several other MPs, I have added my name to a statement that declares this practice is: 'a major unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.' Recently, I spent time listening to creatives in Brighton who have huge concerns about the Government's approach up to now. They feel like the demands of tech giants like Meta and Open AI are having undue influence on ministers, who should instead be protecting our homegrown talent. The Government has been consulting on plans to allow tech firms to use copyrighted creative works to train their AI models without the original creator's permission. They originally expressed a preference for a voluntary 'opt-out' scheme for artists to prevent their work from being used but have now said they are looking more broadly at options. I sat down last month with a local composer leading a grassroots effort to get the Government to change course. He told me he is currently holding off on releasing his next album until he can be sure that no more of his work will be immediately stolen, and is adamantly against the opt-out proposals. It was awful to hear that this mess, with work being immediately hoovered up by tech companies, is preventing artists from delivering new work, for fear they could be ripped off. With 36 others, writing as Composers of Brighton, he sent me and other local MPs a joint letter laying out the stakes, saying: 'The government's duty is to protect the Creative Industries and to encourage ethical and responsible AI developers. Not legalising the mass theft of our nation's creative work and destroying a £126 billion a year industry that is the envy of the world.' I also met recently with a successful local author, whose work has already been swept up into these models, and who told me this is not a distant threat, but: 'actually very directly affecting our lives and livelihoods now. Every resident who has had their work stolen for a large language model to power AI is a victim of crime - myself included.' Parliament heatedly debated the issue last week. There was a lot of support for strong amendments to prevent this, which were voted down this time by the Government. However, many of my fellow MPs spoke about creative rights and against the Government's stance and. With the Lords still to finish their work and creatives there, including film director and producer Baroness Kidron, pushing for changes, there is more hope now for this campaign. Speaking at the end of the debate I said: 'Our most talented and creative minds have not been getting fair representation from the Government up to now, and this has been a very interesting, well informed and, hopefully, influential debate.' In the chamber, all the body language and comments from ministers, including Hove and Portslade MP Peter Kyle, suggested the fierce campaigning and MP pressure is really starting to hit home, and they even put in their own amendments promising to review the situation. So they are asking us to watch this space, but the current free-for-all cannot be left to fester for long. And with tech issues tied up in negotiations with Trump and the USA there is still so much uncertainty. I really hope that the final proposals from ministers will come very soon indeed, and that our local creatives find they have helped win a famous victory for one of our most important industries. Sian Berry is the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion
Express Tribune
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Dua Lipa, Elton John and more rally against AI plans
400 British artists, including Dua Lipa, Elton John, and Ian McKellen, are uniting against AI. In a letter addressed to UK prime minister Keir Starmer, the musicians, writers, and other artists demanded for copyright laws to be updated in order to grant them protection against artificial intelligence, as per the BBC. The artists assert that a lack of protection would be equivalent to them "giving away" their work to tech firms. They also believe that this would put "the UK's position as a creative powerhouse" at risk. They have formally requested the prime minister to support an amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill that would ensure transparency between developers and the copyright owners whose material would be used to train AI models. "We want our creative industries and AI companies to flourish, which is why we're consulting on a package of measures that we hope will work for both sectors," said a government spokesman. "We're clear that no changes will be considered unless we are completely satisfied they work for creators." 'AI needs us' Other signatories include author Kazuo Ishiguro, band Coldplay, singers Kate Bush and Robbie Williams, playwright David Hare, Tom Stoppard, and Richard Curtis. "We are wealth creators, we reflect and promote the national stories, we are the innovators of the future, and AI needs us as much as it needs energy and computer skills," the letter states. It also emphasises that the government can put their concerns to rest by backing Baroness Beeban Kidron's proposed amendment ahead of a key vote in the House of Lords. As cited, the amendment would "allow both AI developers and creators to develop licensing regimes that will allow for human-created content well into the future." The letter comes amid concerns about creative security plaguing the entertainment industry. In an interview with the BBC in January, The Beatles alum Paul McCartney stressed that AI puts artists' copyright under risk. Appealing to the government, he said, "We're the people, you're the government! You're supposed to protect us. That's your job. So you know, if you're putting through a bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists, or you're not going to have them." In protest of the government's proposed changes to the copyright law, which would allow developers to use content on the internet unless the relevant right-holding creators elect to "opt out", more than 1000 musicians including Annie Lennox and Damon Albarn released a silent album in February. Titled Is This What We Want?, the album hoped to draw attention to the proposal's impact on the livelihoods of artists in the UK music industry. "In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?" Kate Bush said in a statement. Even the sphere of authors resists the unlicensed nature of the government's plans. Ishiguro pointed to an earlier statement, which read, "Why is it just and fair — why is it sensible — to alter our time-honoured copyright laws to advantage mammoth corporations at the expense of individual writers, musicians, filmmakers, and artists?" The Nobel Prize winner further hoped that since the government seemed to acknowledge the dissent sparked by the opt-out proposal, a renewed consultation with a fairer scheme would be possible. However, only time would tell if future consultations would prove meaningful. "It's essential that they get this right," he wrote. "It's vital we take the time to work through the range of responses to our consultation, but equally important that we put in the groundwork now as we consider the next steps," the government said in a statement. "That is why we have committed to publishing a report and economic impact assessment, exploring the broad range of issues and options on all sides of the debate."
Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Elton John and Paul McCartney push for tougher AI copyright laws
Hundreds of stars and creative industry leaders have urged the prime minister to back stronger copyright measures before a key parliamentary vote. Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Kate Bush, Sting and Dame Shirley Bassey are among the signatories of an open letter calling on Sir Keir Starmer to 'recognise the crucial role creative content plays in the development of generative AI'. They want ministers to back an amendment to the data bill, to be debated on Monday, which they believe will strengthen copyright laws to protect the creative industry. The government is proposing changing the law to allow AI companies to take copyrighted works to develop software without permission unless the owner opts £126 billion creative industry has opposed this and
