On Tuesday 4 June, The Frontline Club hosted a screening of El Gusto. Despite a 6-hour flight delay and a broken ankle, director Safinez Bousbia made it up to the Frontline Club just in time for a lively Q&A. The film follows Bousbia on her journey to reunite a group of around 30 Jewish and Muslim Chaabi musicians, separated by the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962).

Director Safinez Bousbia

Chaabi, or ‘the people’s music’, is a musical genre that transcended class, religion and ethnicity. It grew out of the Algerian casbah and is a mix of Berber, Andalusian and religious music.  The Jewish musicians mostly fled Algeria in the wake of the Algerian War and the remaining Muslim musicians were forced out of the deteriorating casbah, eventually being relocated to different areas. After they were reunited in 2006, El Gusto began performing together again. They continue to tour, worldwide, and are due to start recording their third album this year.

Bousbia had initially only planned to arrange for the musicians to play together again one more time; a process which took around three years. After meeting them she became fascinated by what they had gone though and realised that their stories could become a great film. As she could not find any producer who wanted to take on the project, she concluded she would have to make a film herself. As a trained architect turned filmmaker she also became the manager of the El Gusto Orchestra of Algiers in the process.

The music is a very powerful backdrop to the story, especially after understanding more about its history and the experiences of the musicians. Bousbia described how she became involved with writing some of the music for the first El Gusto album:

“It was very different with this music, because they don’t write it – they memorise it, which is exceptional. Because if you arrange a whole a concert, it’s like 15 songs…and I was so impressed that they remember everything”.

As pointed out by an audience member, there are no women in El Gusto. Bousbia explained that Chaabi music was established in 1920s Algeria, very much as an underground movement.  As a result, the only women who were involved with this scene were dancers or prostitutes and the music was played in places where women did not want to be seen. She went on to say that later on, in the 1940s, as Chaabi music became more popular and mainstream, women established their own similar style of music.

When asked about the future of El Gusto and Chaabi music in Algeria, Bousbia replied that she hopes the younger generation will continue to play and tour. The original El Gusto members are all over the age of 70 – with the eldest being 104 years old – and tire easily. There are also financial limitations to the group’s activities. As a result, a younger generation is slowly introduced. Their enthusiasm is encouraging, but Bousbia feels that they will need further encouragement to become more positively involved with Chaabi music. She is also concerned with the limits placed on the growth of the music scene in Algeria:

“I think that the best thing you can offer musicians is the diversity and interactions with different cultures and different musics, and I think that’s what Algerian artists miss the most”.

She went on to explain that the current political situation in Algeria means that the musicians are not able to travel much. The government also controls the international visitors, which is affecting the development of art as it is essential for artists to be ‘confronted with what’s happening “out there”‘. Although the film was received extremely well by the people of Algeria, the El Gusto Orchestra has not received official permission to perform in Algeria yet. Bousbia also encountered several challenges with the authorities over gaining permission to film the documentary.

The El Gusto Orchestra of Algiers at the Barbican 3 June 2013. Credit: Wotienke Vermeer

Since its release El Gusto has been shown in film festivals all over the world, with the next screening in Egypt on Thursday 6 June. Safinez Bousbia will continue to accompany El Gusto and help them to prepare their third album, before starting work on her next film. Up to date information on upcoming screenings and concerts can be found on the official website of both the film and the band.

Filmmaker Safinez Bousbia describes El Gusto as “the story of a group of musicians – Jews and Muslims – torn apart by history and brought together today by music”. In reality it took more than music alone to bring these musicians back together; rather the director’s own extraordinary efforts over a two year period to hunt down and reunite a group of friends separated for 50 years.

The story of El Gusto begins in the casbah of Algiers in 2003, with a chance encounter between a young architect holidaying in the country of her birth and an 83-year-old mirror vendor and former musician, who had lost his band members during the Algerian War of Independence. At that time, Bousbia had little inclination towards filmmaking – “At the beginning, I just proposed to help him find his friends.” It was only midway through the search for Mohamed Ferkioui’s friends, as the number of remarkable sub-stories began to increase, that the necessity to document their journey became apparent.

“Once I found the musicians, I heard they had amazing stories to tell. Then I thought it was worth a film. I didn’t think I’d be the one doing it, because I was an architect at the time! I did not have a clue as to how films were made.”

In many ways the story of Safinez Bousbia is almost as intriguing as those of her musicians.

Born in Algeria, raised in Switzerland and educated at Oxford and Dublin, her transition over the course of the project from architect to investigator, band manager, film producer and director, is an indication of her extraordinary versatility. Her journey is made all the more remarkable when considered alongside battles against near-bankruptcy and cancer. These threatened to derail not only her life but also the band, the film project and the livelihoods of the men whom she had reunited.

There is certainly gratitude among her musicians for the transformation in their lives. Ferkioui describes the moment he first met Bousbia as like a “beautiful angel” who had been “sent from God”. Rachid Berkani, the band’s 75-year-old lutist rejoices: “Look at us at our age – traveling, eating great meals, staying in three- and four-star hotels, getting paid.”

Bousbia’s motivation for creating El Gusto remains clear: “Whenever we talk about the Algerian War of Independence, it’s always versions told by either soldiers or victims. It’s never just by simple people, simple musicians, who maybe never gave a damn about the war. They just wanted to play music and have fun and be friends.”

“The War of Independence was literally something you couldn’t avoid. You could not talk about their lives without talking about that war. It was the thing that made their lives pause; the reason that their friendships were torn apart, their music stopped. Their life completely took another turn.

“Their lives were stuck in the past, their music was lost, they deserved to be reunited and have their stories told. I decided to go for it.”

On Tuesday 4 June, El Gusto will be screened at the Frontline Club followed by a Q&A with director Safinez Bousbia.

Chaabi music, a beautiful rhythmic cocktail uniting Muslim and Jewish traditions, was the heart and soul of cosmopolitan Algiers until the War of Independence began in 1954. By then, the two communities were no longer allowed to work together, the music stopped and friendships were forced apart.

On a visit to Algiers, Irish – Algerian director Safinez Bousbia met a craftsman who once played with the El Gusto Orchestra. After hearing his spirited story she decided to track down every surviving member. Half a century after conflict tore the musicians apart in a war highlighting differences rather than similarities, they got together again for an extraordinary concert.

In El Gusto Bousbia documents the music made by Muslim and Jewish communities before and after the Algerian revolution. The film explores the memories of their youth, the hopes they had for a musical future and tells the story of a changed city. Portraying independent thinkers and witnesses of contemporary French-Algerian history, illustrating that the universality of music can transcend difference and prejudice.

Directed by Safinez Bousbia
Duration: 88′
Year: 2011

The complex situation of the French-led intervention in Mali and the issues in the surrounding region was untangled somewhat on 6 February 2013 at the Frontline Club’s First Wednesday: A new front in the fight against terrorism?

Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House was the chair and started things off by asking the panel to give their impressions of the region.

Ibrahima Diane, a journalist and editor at BBC Afrique, said that common thought is that the fight is between “Islamists against the southern Mali and it’s more complex than that”.

Wilfred Willey, president of the Malian Community Council in the UK, reinforced Diane‘s point that the complexities must be understood:

“Mali has known several rebellions since it took its independence in 1960. But none of them have had the impact and severity that this one has brought.”

Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News’ International Editor, who had returned from Mali only two days before said that the Malian people are rejoicing now that François Hollande has intervened, but “liberator soon becomes occupier”. There is “hatred and vitriol” building for the Tuareg, a nomadic community spread out over Mali, Niger and Algeria, with people looking for who to blame for Mali’s situation.

The debate moved on to the complex number of forces in the region: the MNLA, Ansar Dine, Al Qaeda, Mujao and the Signed-in-Blood Battalion. While some of these forces have been around for years before the Arab Spring, there are some more opportunistic rebel groups who have, as Willey pointed out, “used the opportunity to have a go and take over the whole region”, such as the Signed-in-Blood Battalion who instigated the Algerian hostage situation.

On the question of whether Hollande was right to intervene in Mali, Willey had no doubt that it was the best thing to do at the time:

“There were those on the frontline who had lost all hope . . . and their intervention gave that hope back. . . . Mali has suffered up to 10 months under the Sharia law. . . . We just wanted someone to come and help us with these people. So yes, the French were right to intervene.”

But what should be done going forward in Mali?

Lord Ashdown, former leader of the Liberal Democrats and UN High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, said:

“The Prime Minister has said this will last 10 years. . . . If you think of Afghanistan and Iraq as a model for the next 10 years then you’re going the wrong way and my worry is that a prevailing thought that is in Whitehall at present.

“Using the purely military option as we did in Afghanistan, as we did in Iraq, and as we’re in danger of doing in Mali, not only doesn’t work . . . but anyway we can’t do it. We don’t have the troops any longer, we don’t have the resources, we don’t have the defence budgets. And actually that may be rather a good thing. If this lasts 10 years, it’ll be because we do this in a different, cleverer, smarter way.

“We get ahead of the curve. . . . We begin to use all the networks of skill that we have in order to build up the structures in those countries so that they can do this job for themselves.”

“I want to be optimistic about the fate of Mali and the fate of this region,” Diane said about the next move for Mali and its elections later this year.

Ashdown disagreed, he thought that creating a rule of law would have a greater effect:

“In a post-conflict country . . . if you do not first of all create the rule of law as best you can . . . [elections] will embed the corrupt structures into the process of an elected government.”

Hilsum finished off with a final thought about the people she had met throughout her time in Mali:

“For me the most important thing is that there has to be a process which involves reconciliation, . . . the rule of law and the installing of human rights. Because if you don’t have that then the people I’ve met and . . . have been very excited and delighted at this intervention, those people will be let down and those people’s lives will never improve.”

Watch the full discussion below:

You can watch highlights from this event here.

By Nicole Hunt

Given the ongoing violence and international concern over Syria, it’s hard to believe (‘ridiculous’, even) that parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on Monday, but President Bashar al Assad has insisted they will go ahead. The polls were set on 13 March, following the approval of a new constitution which changed electoral rules that had previously reserved 167 or 250 seats for the Ba’ath-supporting National Progressive Front coalition.

In Moscow, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin returns to the role he held from 1999 to 2008 when he is sworn in as President following elections in March. President Dmitry Medvedev, who acted as something of a placeholder while Putin took an obligatory term off, returns to his old post of Prime Minister.

The Atlantic Council holds its annual awards dinner in Washington, where Prince Harry, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and ‘the Enlisted Men and Women of the United States Armed Forces’ are among those receiving honours. Harry’s Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award is in recognition of his charitable work supporting members of the armed forces, while Ban receives the Distinguished International Leadership Award.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is in London from Tuesday, his fist high profile endeavour since being convicted of contempt of court on 26 April. Gilani is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister David Cameron and participate in the first annual review Meeting of the Enhanced Strategic Dialogue, but his five-day visit may also be used to try to shore up party support among Britain’s sizeable Pakistani community.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan host a joint Italian-Turkish summit in Rome, bringing together their foreign affairs, economy, interior, economic development, labour and environment ministers to discuss policy and bilateral relations.

Following VE Day on Tuesday, President Putin can celebrate his return to the helm on Wednesday at Russia’s annual Victory Day military parade, commemorating Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany. The parade is traditionally a fairly spectacular affair, including missiles, tanks and marching soldiers.

The World Economic Forum holds its annual meeting on Africa in Addis Ababa, this year focusing on the theme of ‘Shaping Africa’s Transformation’. Speakers include African Development Bank president Donald Kaberuka, president of the China Investment Corporation Gao Xiqing, Wal-Mart International CEO Doug McMillon, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies secretary general Bekele Geleta, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Annan participates in his role as chairman of the Africa Progress Panel and as a board member of the WEF Foundation, but he has been preoccupied as of late with his role as UN-Arab League Joint Special Envoy for Syria.

Two high-profile international trials were postponed last week and rescheduled for Thursday. The judgement in former Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase’s appeal was scheduled for 2 May, but was postponed at the last minute. Nastase was convicted in January of illegally raising €1.6m during the 2004 election campaign and sentenced to two years in prison.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Vice President Tareq al Hashemi’s trial (in absentia) for allegedly running a death squad was postponed from 3 May in Baghdad after a series of shootings and explosions near the courthouse prompted his lawyers to request a venue change.

Algerians go to the polls on Thursday to elect members to the People’s National Assembly, in what President Abdelaziz Bouteflika called the beginning of a new stage of political reforms when he broke with tradition and announced the election date on TV, rather than asking the electoral college to set a date for the vote. Conscious of the 36 per cent turnout in the 2007 elections, Bouteflika encouraged more people to vote this time around, especially as the elections follow protests in 2011 over youth unemployment and inequality.

And some positive news from Greece, for once: Thursday marks the beginning of the Olympic Torch Handover Relay, which begins with a lighting ceremony at the Temple of Hera before the Torch is taken on an eight-day trek around the country and handed over to the UK.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych hosts a summit in Yalta on Friday that’s quickly become more noteworthy for who’s not attending rather than who is. German President Johann Gauck announced that he was cancelling his visit in protest at the continued imprisonment of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, prompting eight other leaders, including European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and the presidents of Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, Estonia and Bulgaria, to decline their invitations.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on World Food Security, which normally sits just once a year, holds an extraordinary meeting in Rome to adopt the (deep breath) Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT). The guidelines are the end result of an extensive three-year drafting process, and are designed to help governments designing policies in these areas.

The European Commission publishes its biannual EU Economic Forecasts on Friday, looking at short-term and macro-economic projections for the euro area and member states over the next two years. Though the publication traditionally comes out in May and November, the Commission released an interim report in February this year ‘due to the rapidly changing economic circumstances’; the interim report predicted ‘a mild recession with signs of stabilisation’.

Demonstrations are planned across Spain on Saturday to mark the one year anniversary of the ‘indignados’ movement, which occupied Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square from 15 May last year. The occupation lasted nearly a month, which now seems a short time compared to the Occupy movements, but sparked the whole movement of taking back public spaces.

Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi, who was recently released on bail after more than a year in prison, is expected to find out on Sunday whether he has
been found guilty of organising illegal protests and incitement to stone-throwing. The Ofer Military Court is scheduled to rule on the charges, which relate to weekly demonstrations in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.

Regional elections take place in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the seventh state elections in just over a year. As always, observers are watching closely for indicators of the falling popularity of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and its allies.

By Nicole Hunt

Monday looks to be the biggest day of what should be an interesting week internationally. Kicking off with the ongoing EU debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Berlin to iron out amendments to the new EU fiscal stability treaty that was agreed last month.

Italian bank Unicredit opens its €7.5bn rights issue, having discounted shares by about 43 per cent in a bid to raise funds. Investors will be watching the sale closely to gauge market support for European banks.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak begins a three-day visit to China at the invitation of President Hu Jintao. Discussions are expected to focus heavily on regional security in the wake of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial, which has dragged on for nearly two years, finally comes to an end as the jury is scheduled to deliver its verdict in Kuala Lumpur. In addition to Ibrahim’s freedom – he faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty – the verdict will also determine who will run against Prime Minister Najib Razak in the country’s next elections, which are not due until June 2013 but look increasingly likely to be called this year.

Attentions turn Stateside on Tuesday as New Hampshire Republicans cast their ballots in the presidential primary. Following the 3 January Iowa Caucus, in which Mitt Romney beat Rick Santorum by just eight votes, Michelle Bachman announced that she was dropping out of the race.

In Washington, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announces whether to move the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock, which represents how close humanity is to ‘catastrophic destruction’. The last time the clock was moved, in January 2010, the BAS’ outlook was somewhat positive, moving the minute hand back one minute from five to six minutes before midnight.

Tuesday also marks the 10th anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention centre.

The High Court in London is expected to rule on Wednesday whether the Occupy London protesters can remain in their camp outside of St Paul’s Cathedral. Despite legal action from the City of London Corporation, the camp has been in place since 15 October.

The World Economic Forum releases its annual Global Risk Report ahead of the Davos Forum, which opens on 25 January. Last year’s report found that the financial crisis had ‘drained’ the world’s ability to deal with shocks.

The European Central Bank’s Governing Council meets in Frankfurt on Thursday to decide whether to raise, lower, or maintain the euro area’s interest rate. After last month’s meeting, during which the interest rate was decreased to 1 per cent, ECB President Mario Draghi announced major refinancing operations to support bank lending and market activity.

Alleged al Qaeda member Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who pled guilty in October to attempting to set off an explosive device in his underwear on a Detroit flight on Christmas Day in 2009, is sentenced in Detroit.

India is hoping to celebrate a milestone anniversary on Friday. If no new cases of polio are reported between now and then, the country will mark its first-ever year without any new cases. The World Health Organisation considers a disease to be eradicated when no new cases are reported for three consecutive years. Apple is set for a massive sales boost as the iPhone 4S goes on sale in China and 21 other countries in South America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Apple is set for a massive sales boost as the iPhone 4S goes on sale in China and 21 other countries in South America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Saturday marks the one year anniversary of the resignation of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, whose 23-year rule was ended after nearly a month of protests dubbed the Jasmine Revolution. The success of protests in Tunisia spurred similar movements across the region, with widely varying results in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria, Morocco and Syria.

In Taiwan, voters go to the polls to elect a new President for a four year term. Incumbent Ma Ying-jeou faces challenges from China-sceptic Tsai Ing-wen and pro-Beijing James Soong.

Elections also take place in Kazakhstan on Sunday, following President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s snap decision to dissolve Parliament on 16 November. The vote is expected to see at least one opposition party enter Parliament, usually dominated by Nazarvbaeyev’s Nur Otan party, though that party is likely to be close ally Ak Zholl.