Benny Sixteen has cancelled the annual Vatican Yuletide concert.

Initiated by John Paul II in 1993, the annual pop music event has been canned by Benedict XI, apparently because of his disdain for music written by non-German composers alive since 1791. Which kinda narrows it down a little.

Ekklesia takes up the story.

Sexually charged music directly impacts teenage sexual habits, new study says - (BP)

Who else but the Rand Corporation could do a report on the impact of music on teenage sexuality?

And who better than the Southern Baptists’ media arm for us to look to for reportage of the findings?

The full Randy press release can be found here.

The tune commonly known as “The Star Spangled Banner” has been around since the 1760s with quite a few sets of lyrics. The most recent, timed for release on May Day 2006, is “Nuestro Himno” - an anthem for the USA’s second largest ethnic group. It hasn’t pleased El Presidente Jorge W Bush, but you can’t make everyone happy, especially an Anglophile neo-con.

Take it away guys:

Amanece, lo veis?, a la luz de la aurora?
lo que tanto aclamamos la noche caer?
sus estrellas sus franjas
flotaban ayer
en el fiero combate
en señal de victoria,
fulgor de lucha, al paso de la libertada.

Por la noche decían:
“Se va defendiendo!”
Oh decid! Despliega aún
Voz a su hermosura estrellada,
sobre tierra de libres,
la bandera sagrada?

Sus estrellas, sus franjas,
la libertad, somos iguales.

Somos hermanos, en nuestro himno.

En el fiero combate en señal de victoria,
Fulgor de lucha, al paso de la libertada.
Mi gente sigue luchando.

Ya es tiempo de romper las cadenas.

Por la noche decían: “!Se va defendiendo!”

Oh decid! Despliega aún su hermosura estrellada
sobre tierra de libres,
la bandera sagrada?

Nuestro Himno is not the first Spanish version of the song whose tune was composed by John Stafford Smith and first published in around 1778 as “To Anacreon In Heaven” (and more about that later). La Bandera de las Estrellas was published in 1919. The Germans did a translation in the 1860s. It’s been translated into Yiddish, and the citizens of American Samoa have recently identified a need to use their own translation:

Aue! se’i e vaai, le malama o ataata mai
Na sisi a’e ma le mimita, i le sesega mai o le vaveao
O ai e ona tosi ma fetu, o alu a’e i taimi vevesi tu
I luga o ‘Olo mata’utia, ma loto toa tausa’afia
O Roketi mumu fa’aafi, o pomu ma fana ma aloi afi
E fa’amaonia i le po atoa, le fu’a o lo’o tu maninoa
Aue! ia tumau le fe’ilafi mai, ma agiagia pea
I eleele o Sa’olotoga, ma Nofoaga o le au totoa.

There’s a translation into Latin of FS Key’s famous ditty, composed while he was a POW on a British warship in 1813 - but it’s only a translation of the third verse!

Surely Mad Mel can commission an Aramaic version for us?

In 1969 at Woodstock, NY, presumably in protest at the lack of a Cherokee translation, Jimi Hendrix performed an electric guitar version of JS Smith’s original score with no lyrics at all.

But back to the original, which had nothing to do with bombs bursting in air, la bandera sagrada, dem soynes makhne iz fartayet in shrek, or even caligata lues expurgatast cruore!

To Anacreon In Heaven has six verses, but as you watch the FS Key rendition being performed at the NBA playoffs, don’t forget to sing the following when they get up to the “O say does the star spangled banner yet wave” bit:

And besides I’ll instruct you,
Like me, to intwine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus’s Vine.

Passion, passion and more passion. Such was the story of Good Friday. Three of the more interesting and non-standard Passion performances that I experienced over Easter:

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004), which I watched on DVD, is actually a better movie than I had feared it would be. Intense, grim, bloody, but not gratuitously so in my opinion. The actor portraying Jesus seemed remarkably uncharismatic in the flashback scenes. I’m not in a position to discuss the theological merit of the film, although the English subtitles did seem faithful to the Gospels. Next time I watch it, however, I intend to switch the subtitles off and see how well I can follow the film having no understanding of Aramaic.

La Pasión según San Marcos - St Mark’s Passion - by Osvaldo Golijov (2000) is an absolute joy to listen to. Available as a 2CD, I bought it in MP3 format from emusic (which, of course, has the downside of no liner notes or libretto). An utterly dazzling blend of musical styles, primarily, but not only, South American.

Good Friday evening saw the Manchester Passion - a re-enactment of the last hours of Christ through the streets of Manchester at dusk, told through the music of Manchester-based musicians, and televised live by the BBC. The Guardian reviewed the performance in their Saturday edition.

I listened online to BBC Radio Manchester (and recorded it - all right officer I’ll come quietly). I was surprised how well some of the songs (for example, Love Will Tear Us Apart) were placed into context. It sounded fabulous to me and I do hope it turns up on the ABC some day. Being a live broadcast on local radio, however, did mean the occasional interruption for reports on that other great religion, Manchester United, from the Old Trafford Cathedral of St Matthew the Busby. That turned out to be another sombre occasion, United drew 0-0 with Sunderland. For Man U, that meant they could no longer catch Chelsea at the top of the Premiership. For Sunderland, it meant relegation.

It begs the question: would the Crucifixion have gone ahead on Friday if Jerusalem United had a home game against Corinthian Lions in the Imperial Premier League that evening?

Guardian Unlimited Business | | French MPs say song downloads must work on any player

All I can say is: Ogg Vorbis is the answer.

The growth in podcasts over the past six months or so has been bewildering. Because audio is such a linear medium, there is only a finite amount of podcasts that one can listen. It is much more time-consuming and resource-intensive to browse podcasts than to skim over web pages.

I was won over to podcasts when ABC Radio National started putting a lot of its programming into RSS syndication. But while I listen to a lot of non-commercial radio programming on the MP3 player, the podcasts that I consider my favourites are independent efforts.

I figured it was about time I prepared a list of my Top 10 Favourite Podcasts. One thing you’ll notice is that they are all under half an hour in length per episode. While there are a number of longer programs that I like, I think an hour for a single podcast is too long.

There are no podcasts about cricket on the list for the simple reason that there is one person doing them, and The Net Sessions isn’t quite that good yet

Here’s my list:

1. Digital Flotsam
Truly brilliant. A rich, eclectic mix of music, monologue and comedy. PW Fenton is a blues performer and expert and he presents some great set pieces over a wide range of styles. Some wonderful cover versions too (you haven’t lived till you’ve heard Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” performed in the style of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin Alive”). I can listen to these over and over again.
Links: Website, Podcast feed, Blog.

2. Caribbean Free Radio
Cool and atmospheric. Georgia Popplewell’s podcast makes you really feel like you’re in Trinidad. And she’s keen on supporting indy music from all across the Caribbean.
Links: Website, Podcast feed, Blog, Photoblog.

3. Radio Curious (KZYX Mendocino County)
I firt stumbled across Radio Curious in June when I spotted a program in the Radio4All podcast listings entitled “Genocide in Darfur”. First thing I heard was the Gene Autryesque theme tune and I thought “What the…” But this is a fascinating interview series which has been conducted by the urbane Barry Vogel for more than a decade. An incredible range of topics, handled in a warm, engaging manner, and masses of archives online which I am yet to explore in any detail.
Links: Website, Podcast feed.

4. Documentary Archive (BBC World Service)
Some outstanding radio documentaries from the BBC World Service dealing with topics from all over the world. Some recent examples include the re-forestation of Iceland, the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII in some Pacific islands, and the debate over the terrorist threat in the Sahara Desert. Longer documentaries are split into half-hourly instalments, which is good.
Links: Website, Podcast feed.

5. From Our Own Correspondent (BBC Radio 4)
Half an hour of talk, without interviews, sound effects or music. Five or six BBC foreign correspondents each week get to chat about a story they’ve been covering or just give a personal account of life in wherever they happened to be posted at the time. Always interesting, sometimes amusing. Hosted by the doyenne of BBC foreign correspondents, Kate Adie.
Links: Website, Podcast feed.

6. The Bike Show (Resonance FM London)
I’m not a cyclist but this program is at its best when host Jack Thurston interviews his guest while both are on a ride somewhere. Here’s the December 27, 2004 program as an example.
Links: Website/blog, Podcast feed.

7. Life Matters (ABC Radio National)

8. The Sports Factor (ABC Radio National)

9. A Klingon Word

10. TUC Radio

I haven’t found an exact quote, but Bob Geldof has been reported as saying that “three billion” people were watching the telecasts of the Live 8 concerts.

Which begs the question: If global poverty is such a big problem, then how come half of the world’s population has access to a television set?

If you care, here’s the home page of BBC’s coverage of the concerts. Better still, keep an eye on the Make Poverty History website, which includes live links to the Indymedia audio coverage of protests in Edinburgh.

I wasn’t going to mention him again before that old boys’ reunion concert next month, but it’s good to see the world’s most prominent spiritual leader telling the Pope what to do…

http://au.launch.yahoo.com/050621/11/4×5n.html

This has to be the most bizarre act of convergence I’ve ever come across. Bob Dylan and Norah Jones are performing in a concert in Seattle on July 16 to mark the tenth birthday of Amazon.com, which will stream the event live on its homepage. Billboard has a report, while the Pantheon of New Consumerism will have progress reports. (What, no black artists, you say? And how can you have a Show of Thanks in Seattle without any Seattle musicians? Where is Kurt Cobain when you need him?)

And this, while I am still coming to terms with the fact that the audiobook of Mr Zimmerman’s autobiography is read by Sean Penn, currently being serialised on ABC Radio National’s excellent morning talk program Life Matters.

I’m going to try and make this my final word on Barnacle Bob Geldof and the Good Ol’ Boys concerts, brought to you by AOL, Clear Channel, and Corporate Boxholders Unlike You.

Not to mention the following corporation. This press release overnight from the India Resource Centre:

Coca-Cola Must Not Sponsor Live 8
Coca-Cola’s Egregious Record in India and Colombia Antithetical to Live 8 Goals

June 15, 2005 (London): The India Resource Centre and its allies are expressing serious concerns over news that Live 8 is in negotiations with the Coca-Cola company to seek sponsorship for the Live 8 concert.

Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of Live 8 is completely antithetical to the goals of Live 8 and the India Resource Centre and its allies are demanding that Live 8 organizers immediately discontinue negotiations with the Coca-Cola company.

The Coca-Cola company is the target of intense campaigns by community groups in India and internationally.

Thousands of rural Indians are facing severe water shortages and polluted groundwater and land - directly as a result of Coca-Cola’s operations. The company has also distributed its toxic waste to farmers around its plants under the guise of fertilizer, and Coca-Cola sells products in the Indian marketplace with high levels of pesticides that could never be sold in the US or EU because they do not meet US and EU standards.

Coca-Cola’s crimes in India are no small matter. In a country where over 70% of the population still makes a living related to agriculture, taking away the water and poisoning the remaining water and land is a sure recipe for disaster. Thousands in India have lost their livelihoods, and in a country where over 40% of the population lives below the poverty line, the difference between life and death is a fine line.

Coca-Cola’s main Latin American bottler, Panamco, is on trial in the US for hiring right wing paramilitaries to kill and intimidate union leaders in Colombia. Since 1989, eight trade union leaders from Coca-Cola bottling plants have been murdered by paramilitary forces, and the lawsuit, filed by the United Steel Workers of America, charges that the paramilitary worked with the blessing of, or in collaboration with, company management.

A formidable international campaign has emerged to hold the Coca-Cola company accountable for the serious crimes it is committing against humanity.

It is simply not acceptable to the India Resource Centre and its allies that Live 8 seek the sponsorship of a company that is perpetuating poverty in India and promoting a reign of terror in Colombia.

The Live 8 organization will become the target of the India Resource Centre and its allies if it chooses to proceed with an invitation to the Coca-Cola company as a sponsor.

“Coca-Cola is responsible for creating severe water shortages and pollution in India, and thousands have lost their livelihoods as a result. It is absurd to think that a poverty creating company can sponsor a poverty alleviating endeavor such as Live 8,” said Amit Srivastava, director of the India Resource Centre which campaigns with Indian communities to hold Coca-Cola accountable.

The India Resource Centre is a bi-national (India-US) campaigning organization working to support local struggles against corporate abuses.

For more information, visit www.IndiaResource.org

Finally, this thread from the Guardian’s newsblog.