Latest news with #PoetryinMotion
Belfast Telegraph
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Belfast Telegraph
Walls of three Belfast schools transformed by paintings with ‘hidden symbology'
Through a collaboration with Translink and organised by Seedhead Arts, the initiative has turned Belfast Royal Academy (BRA), Holy Family Primary School, and Currie Primary School into dynamic showcases of public art — and the pupils themselves helped guide the creative vision. At BRA, an evocative 7m x 14m mural now adorns a prominent gable wall at the school's main entrance. Painted by street artist Eoin McGinn — better known as EMIC — the piece depicts a young pupil, coat and backpack on, accompanied by an owl perched on their shoulder. In the distance, York Street Station's silhouette roots the scene in the local urban landscape. But this is no simple portrait. 'There's lots of little hidden symbology within the image,' said EMIC, who also serves as the lead curator of the HTN Festival. 'It links transport and movement to being on a journey — not just through education, but through life. 'The owl, the path, the colours - it all represents youth, making friends and growth.' He described the work as 'dreamlike', a reflection of those quiet moments when thoughts wander during a commute. 'I'm using blues and greens and a little bit of pink,' he added, echoing colour themes used in Translink's York Street Underpass project last year. 'It's that state when you're lost in your head — a daydream state.' The BRA mural is based on a brief co-created by the school's students and teachers and it is one of three street art projects bringing beauty and meaning to school grounds across the north of the city. 'This wasn't just about somebody coming in to put art on your wall,' said Hilary Woods, Principal of Belfast Royal Academy. 'This was working with our pupils to see what school meant to them and what transport meant to them.' Mrs Woods was inspired by the existing street art at York Street Station Underpass and felt compelled to involve her students in something similar. 'Art lifts our spirits, it improves our surroundings and it makes pupils think more,' she said. 'This mural is very visual, very prominent — but more importantly, it's something they were part of. 'They helped devise it. They now understand how street art operates.' The school's third-year students first visited York Street Station before taking part in dynamic art workshops with local street artists. Through these sessions, they learned how to scale up their work, explored careers in the creative industries, and gained hands-on experience using spray paint as a powerful tool for artistic expression. Their earlier participation in Translink's Poetry in Motion workshops had already sparked a deeper connection to public transport as a source of creative inspiration. That same group helped shape the mural's direction, bringing their voice into the creative process. For Mrs Woods, the mural goes beyond aesthetics. She said: 'It's about connection— between our school and the community, our pupils and the city, the symbolism of being on a journey. It links North Belfast, our pupils' lives and the power of education. It gives them a sense of belonging.' Translink, a key partner in the festival's school project, sees public art as an extension of its civic mission. 'This collaboration is deeply aligned with our 'Better. Connected' strategy,' said Michael Holmes York St Station Programme Manager 'We're committed to creating inclusive, inspiring, and accessible public spaces around our transport infrastructure. 'The newly completed York Street Station is not only a gateway to the city, but a place that connects people through creativity, education and sustainable travel.' Northern Ireland's public transport provider Translink noted that up to 1,000 BRA pupils use York Street Station daily. 'Engaging schools like Belfast Royal Academy, Holy Family Primary and Currie Primary in this way builds a tangible connection between young people and their environment,' Michael added. As part of the wider HTN Festival — which runs from May 2 to 4 — Translink is also delivering a Street Art Bus Tour and Workshop Programme. The tour will guide participants through Belfast's evolving urban art gallery, including murals along the York Street underpass and new additions on Translink property. Adam Turkington, the founder of Hit the North, described this year's festival as a turning point. 'This year, we made the decision to pull away from international corporate brands and work with local suppliers - people truly invested in Belfast, like Translink' he said. 'It's allowed us to form more meaningful partnerships and our work with Translink is a highlight. 'The school murals represent a new strand of our festival that we hope to expand in the future.' The 2025 HTN Festival features more than 60 artists, both local and international, including names like Hera, Slim Safont, My Dog Sighs, Jack Lack, Jo Caslin, Roo and Asbestos. But for many, it's the school projects — deeply rooted in community and student voices — that feel most resonant. EMIC, who has painted across the globe and just returned from a project in Hong Kong, believes public art has a unique role in Belfast's future. 'People tell me how street art at York St Station Underpass and beyond brightens up their daily commute,' he said. 'It enhances the visual landscape and creates a moment of interaction with urban space. 'That's what we're doing here — changing how people see their surroundings, and showing young people that they have a voice, right here on their school walls.' In North Belfast, art is no longer confined to galleries — it's walking alongside pupils, painted on the very walls that shape their everyday lives.
The Guardian
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Johnny Tillotson obituary
Johnny Tillotson's big hit Poetry in Motion, which topped the British charts in January 1961 having reached No 2 in the US the month before, is the song that he will always be remembered for, but he was very far from being a one-hit wonder. Between 1959 and 1965, he scored four Top 10 hits on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and in a career lasting more than 40 years, he placed a total of 26 singles on the Billboard charts. Poetry in Motion was written by Mike Anthony and Paul Kaufman, and while its watching-girls-go-by lyric might not wash in today's transformed social climate, the song was an ideal showcase for Tillotson's supple, cheerful vocal, backed up by Boots Randolph's exuberant saxophone and Floyd Cramer's rippling piano. Tillotson, who has died aged 86, was signed to the New York-based Cadence Records. They had released his own composition Dreamy Eyes as a single in 1958, which sold well in the local Florida market, and Tillotson had modest success with follow-ups True True Happiness, Why Do I Love You So and Earth Angel before he made his big splash with Poetry in Motion. He achieved a further milestone with It Keeps Right on A-Hurtin', which he was inspired to write by his father's terminal illness. A No 3 hit in 1962, it earned him a Grammy nomination. The song was subsequently recorded by more than 100 artists including Elvis Presley, Slim Whitman, Dean Martin and Billy Joe Royal. Tillotson earned a second Grammy nomination, for best vocal performance of 1965, for Heartaches By the Number, Harlan Howard's classic song also recorded by George Jones, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Bing Crosby among others. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Johnny was the son of Doris and Jack Tillotson, who ran a petrol station. His father was also a country music disc jockey, and Johnny gained some early exposure on his father's radio show. When he was nine, Johnny was sent to help care for his grandmother in Palatka, Florida, returning to Jacksonville during the summer when his brother, Dan, would take over at their grandmother's. By the time he graduated from Palatka high school, Tillotson was becoming known as a singer across Florida, and he had drawn inspiration from seeing Elvis perform in Jacksonville in 1955. He was also given a boost by the songwriter and promoter Mae Axton, who co-wrote Elvis's hit Heartbreak Hotel. 'Mae Axton lived in my home town,' he said. 'She said: 'I might be able to help you because we bring in those live packages. People like Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers. If you would like to be the opening act, it wouldn't pay any money, but you would learn so much just from being around those people.'' He managed to fit his musical aspirations around studying journalism and composition at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and as well as performing onstage he had his own music show on the regional TV station WFGA-TV. Wider horizons opened up when a local DJ entered one of his tapes into a country and western talent contest sponsored by PET Milk (makers of a brand of evaporated milk) in 1957. Tillotson was invited to Nashville as one of six finalists, where he performed on the Grand Ole Opry radio programme. He acquitted himself well enough to impress the music publisher Lee Rosenberg, who put him in touch with Archie Bleyer, founder of the Cadence label. He listened to Tillotson's tape of three of his own songs, and signed the singer to a three-year recording contract. Tillotson later reflected that 'The late 50s were a great time to get into the record business because the independents were just coming into the world … I decided I would rather be with a small company and a person who put the songs first than a large company where you get lost.' After Cadence had gone into decline following the departure of mainstay acts the Everly Brothers and Andy Williams, Tillotson formed his own production company and in 1963 leased his recordings to MGM records. He rerecorded many of his hits in a variety of languages including Spanish, German, Italian and Japanese, as well as songs specifically aimed at overseas territories. He had an Italian hit with Non a Caso il Destino (Ci Ha Fatto Incontrare), which he performed at the 1965 Sanremo music festival, and topped the Japanese chart twice, with Namida Kun Sayonara (Goodbye Mr Tears) and You and Me (both 1965). Tillotson enjoyed some success in other media. He sang the title song (Wait 'Til You See) My Gidget for the TV sitcom Gidget (1965-66), starring Sally Field, and appeared in the films Just for Fun (1963) alongside Bobby Vee, and 1966's The Fat Spy (with Jayne Mansfield, though Tillotson was disappointed that he never actually met her). In the 70s Tillotson returned to music full-time, making regular club appearances in the US and touring internationally. A daughter, Kelli, died in a car crash in 1991. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Nancy, their son, John, a stepdaughter, Genevieve, and four grandchildren, Nia, Jackson, Georgia and Gwyneth, and by Dan. Johnny Tillotson, singer and songwriter, born 20 April 1938; died 1 April 2025
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Amadou Bagayoko of Acclaimed Malian Duo Amadou & Mariam Dead at 70
Amadou Bagayoko, singer and guitarist in the Grammy-nominated Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, has died at the age of 70. Mali's Minister of Culture Mamou Daffé said on state TV that Bagayoko died Friday in the city of Bamako, his birthplace. Bagayoko's family confirmed the death, adding that he 'had been ill for a while,' though no cause of death was provided. More from Rolling Stone Johnny Tillotson, 'Poetry in Motion' Singer, Dead at 86 Tim Mohr, Journalist and Author With Duff McKagan and Paul Stanley, Dead at 55 Val Kilmer, Actor Who Starred in 'Top Gun' and 'The Doors,' Dead at 65 Bagayoko, who became blind at the age of 15 due to a congenital cataract, studied music at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, where he met his future wife and band mate, Mariam Doumbia, who had been blind since the age of 5. The pair performed together in Mali throughout the Seventies and Eighties before breaking out in Europe in the mid-Nineties. As Amadou & Mariam, the duo brought Malian music to the world stage, attracting famous fans like Stevie Wonder, David Gilmour, and Damon Albarn; the latter enlisted the duo to take part in his Africa Express project, co-produced their Grammy-nominated 2009 album Welcome to Mali, and recruited Amadou & Mariam to open for Blur during that band's reunion shows in 2009. Bagayoko's jaunty style of playing — fusing Malian music with a Western rock sound — landed him on Rolling Stone's list of the 250 Best Guitarists. 'People are often surprised when we explain how much we were influenced by Western pop music,' Amadou Bagayoko once told an interviewer. 'I grew up listening to records by Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder … That's because they were the only records we had in Mali!' Over the past two decades, Amadou & Mariam were mainstays at music festivals around the world, including Glastonbury, Coachella, and Lollapalooza. The duo also served as opening act for stadium tours by the likes of Coldplay and U2. Amadou & Mariam's two most recent albums were 2012's Folila — which featured collaborations with TV on the Radio, Santigold, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner, and Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears — and 2017's La Confusion. In Sept. 2024, the duo took part in the closing ceremony at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, performing Serge Gainsbourg's 'Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Beware of Cryptocurrency Scam Using Billboard Trademark
It has come to our attention that individuals are fraudulently using the Billboard name and trademark to run what seems to be a cryptocurrency scam operation. This is not legitimate and not in any way affiliated with Billboard. If you have fallen victim to such a scam operation, it is suggested that you contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) on its website. More from Billboard Beware of Scammers Posing as Billboard Contributors The Weeknd's 'Call Out My Name' Video Reaches 1 Billion YouTube Views Johnny Tillotson, Iconic Country & Pop Singer Behind 'Poetry in Motion,' Dies at 86 As always, Billboard does not solicit any sort of compensation for music or artist promotion. Websites and social media accounts promising coverage in exchange for profit share paid via cryptocurrency are not affiliated with us in any way. Confirmed examples of such scam pages include and Similarly, any 'company' identifying itself as Billboard or Billboard International, LLC that invites you to register for paid coverage online or in print is an imposter. Please do not send them payment of any kind. It's possible they will reach out to you via a false email such as info@ Unfortunately, this issue is not the first of its kind. Scammers on social media have been posing as Billboard contributors for years, ripping photos and biographical information from real writers' profiles and reaching out to private individuals and/or musicians — often targeting smaller artists — to offer coverage in exchange for money. If this happens to you, block the user and report them to the social media platform on which you were contacted. It's also important to note that Billboard does not have the power to directly ban or freeze social media accounts purporting to be contributors. This is why it is particularly important for individuals to be vigilant about not falling for scams. Authentic Billboard contact information is available on our website. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Los Alegres del Barranco Apologizes After Controversial Concert Imagery Linked to Cartel Leader
Mexican band Los Alegres del Barranco spoke out for the first time on Wednesday (April 2) about the controversial concert where they projected images of the leader of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera Cervantes, in an auditorium at the University of Guadalajara last weekend. The incident caused the United States to cancel the work and tourist visas of the group's members. In a statement and video posted on their social media, the Sinaloan group offered an apology for the events that occurred on Saturday (March 29) during their performance at the Telmex Auditorium, and stated that, as a group, 'it was never our intention to create controversy, much less cause offense.' More from Billboard U.S. Cancels Visas for Mexican Group After Showing Cartel Leader Photos in Concert The Weeknd's 'Call Out My Name' Video Reaches 1 Billion YouTube Views Johnny Tillotson, Iconic Country & Pop Singer Behind 'Poetry in Motion,' Dies at 86 The band — who has released some songs with clear references to narcoculture — reaffirms that their music is inspired by telling popular stories within Mexican music. 'We will take more rigorous measures on the visual and narrative content of our shows,' he added. The statement from the corrido group — who perform in a genre that has occasionally made clear references to narco-culture and famous cartel leaders since its origins over a century ago — came a day after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau confirmed on Tuesday (April 1) in a post on X that the government of that country had canceled the visas of the members of the Mexican group following the projection of images 'that glorify drug traffickers.' 'In the Trump Administration, we take our responsibility regarding the access of foreigners to our country very seriously. We are not going to roll out the red carpet for those who glorify criminals and terrorists,' Landau stated in both English and Spanish. The incident, which has caused great controversy and outrage in Mexico, was condemned on Monday (March 31) by Mexico's President, Claudia Sheinbaum, and prompted the Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office to launch an investigation for 'advocating crime.' U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on February 20 the designation of eight cartels — including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel — and transnational organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). On Tuesday, the governor of Jalisco, Pablo Lemus, stated in a message on X that his government supports the measures taken by the University of Guadalajara to prevent concerts from glorifying criminal acts, such as what occurred over the weekend at the Telmex Auditorium. Videos show the moment when attendees at the concert titled 'Los Señores del Corrido' (The Lords of Corridos) erupted in jubilation as images of the drug lord were projected, further fueling controversy and outrage in Mexico. In a statement, the Telmex Auditorium distanced itself from the events, explaining that the venue, 'has no involvement in the selection of the repertoire, speeches, or audiovisual material that the artists choose to share with their audience.' However, it acknowledged that the images of the drug lord could be considered as 'advocating crime.' The controversy over the alleged homage to the drug trafficker comes after the debate over the way in which the cartel founded in that western Mexican state allegedly uses clandestine ranches to recruit people to the criminal group through deceitful job offers. As reported by federal authorities and the media, a raid by authorities at Rancho Izaguirre in the municipality of Teuchitlán revealed the spot where acts of torture and murders were allegedly committed, actions denounced in March by the Guerreros Buscadores collective, a civilian corps focused on finding missing and disappeared loved ones. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
