in the middle of the month we had another festival in trafalgar square, a new event, red square, sw1, a russian winter festival. the date was chosen to celebrate russian new year, as marked by the old calendar.
it was a long event, run in cooperation with moscow city government and many russian businesses trading in the uk to give a spectacular event, although i only stared for the first few hours, missing the big celebrations, the rock concert, the ice skating at somerset house and more.
apparently parts of the event were going out live to 20 million listeners on russian radio, and one of their presenters was on hand. i couldn't follow her russian, but it was clearly less nauseating than the cod demagogic patronising presenter from some uk radio station we were favoured with.
ken livingstone opened proceedings along with the deputy mayor of moscow, giving me a chance to have a bit of a rest and a fine but overpriced baltika beer, imported from st petersburg. at a sensible price i could develop a taste for it. apparently ken's dad took part in the hazardous process of transporting materials to russia through the baltic sea during ww2. it was the kind of sea that turned immediately to ice when it splashes over the hull and rigging, the weather often sinking the ships that evaded the torpedoes. as a celebration of war-time cooperation against hitler, a number of british legion standard bearers formed up in front of the stage.
then it was time for the alexandrov red army choir, founded in 1928 to glorify the revolution by the composer of the soviet national anthem. despite regime change, the choir is still going strong, and their voices filled the square, stirring many of us.
however it wasn't a very visual event, and though i tried a few ideas, i soon gave up and abandoned myself to the music.
as they finished, i went to the side of the stage to photograph the men as they came down. there i met two irish women, one clutching an old LP, leaning next to me over the security barrier. as a schoolgirl she had attended a red army choir performance in dublin in the 1950s, and the record was from 1956. she had come to hear the choir perform again, and brought the record for them to sign.
she attracted the attention of a young musician and told him her story. he looked at the picture on the sleeve, and told her that although obviously he was not on it, some of the others there today were, as was his father. he called over some older musicians, and an animated discussion followed.
i was well placed to photograph the men, and made the most of it. the highlight was when the most fantastic bass soloist came across, a large barrel of a man. His speaking voice had much the same timbre as his song, and he treated us to a short demonstration of those resonant deep bass sounds.
finally i tore myself away to photograph some of the other choir members, and got sidetracked by various people in fancy dress, including a 'father frost' or saint nicholas and his rather attractive female helper, the snow maiden. a few weeks earlier i had been talking to a young russian woman who worked for the police and annually played the job of father frost's helper.
oh yes, there was fake snow on the lions, some very weird folk dancing
involving things that looked rather like dustbin lids weilded by fur-coated
women with a lot of heavy breathing rather than singing, russian dolls,
food and more.
more pictures
earlier i was photographing a rather more serious event, a march by falun gong supporters to the chinese embassy. to me, falun gong seems a harmless form of meditation exercises, available to anyone without charge and following the admirable principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, but the chinese government seem to regard it as the most dangerous form of terrorism.
the chinese leadership apparently see falun gong as a return to a traditonal way of life that must be stamped out, and the weapon they use is brutal tortures in forced labour camps. physical tortures, including beatings, electric shocks, immersion, chaining for hours and days and the infamous 'tiger bench' are used together with psychological attacks including humiliation and sleep deprivation.
the demonstration included both dancers celebrating traditional chinese
culture and also reminders of the many who have suffered and died in the
torture camps, as well as some of the torture re-enactment that have shocked
many who have seen them.
more images
as usual, january for me started with the new year parade in westminster...
read more on page two
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some of my work gets put into nice organised websites.
this isn't meant to be like that, but you can see some of the rest at
london pictures
londons industrial history
and you can read what I think about photography at
some of my work gets put into nice organised websites.
this isn't meant to be like that, but you can see some of the rest at
london pictures
londons industrial history
and you can read what I think about photography at