Jenni Ajderian

(originally published by The Student )      Where the theatricality of opera and the sobriety of religion meet, we find Verdi’s  Requiem  - a huge undertaking and a powerful piece of music for the Edinburgh University Music Society to perform, and one which merits a similarly huge and impressive back-drop. With four soloists, a double choir and full orchestra, McEwan Hall is filled almost to the brim with our suited-and-booted players, and the effect is not only visually impressive but orally overwhelming. Sound billowing out into the space with which the orchestra is so clearly familiar; awesome surges of power and piercing solos made possible by an acute knowledge of their surroundings.      By turns moody and monstrous, the  Requiem  was written in memory of one of Verdi’s contemporaries, and was performed repeatedly by captives during the Second World War. With its roots in the Catholic Mass ceremony and its turns thro...

Pleasance Sessions 2013 A long time ago in a Pleasance Theatre far, far away... (originally published by The Student )      Strap in, kids- we're going to the moon. Bored of the Earth's predictable rhymes and ready-made raps, Abandoman are taking their show into strange new worlds of improvised comedic genius. Moonrock Boombox packed out the purple cow during the Fringe, and now returns to Edinburgh for a single night of stratospheric comedy gold.      It's a wonder frontman Rob Broderick doesn't need an oxygen mask as he touches down onstage in the Pleasance Theatre. Immediately he climbs out into the crowd, riffing constantly off the audience's quirks, picking out choice members of the crowd to play the central roles in the narrative that unfolds. We quickly choose a King of the Moon, an evil rival set on knocking him off his interstellar throne, and a crack team of programmers, HR assistants and English Literature students to help power our...

(album review originally published by The Student )      As if the total absence of the 2012 apocalypse was not surprise enough, David Bowie’s decided to augment the world’s collective blood pressure even more by finally coming out of hiding. Bowie’s ten-year séjour in the US saw critics and observers worrying for his health and wellbeing, but it is astonishingly clear that he is more than alright. Bowie is having fun.      What arrived back in the new year was the best-kept secret in music, the least-anticipated but most welcomed come-back single in years. The recording of  The Next Day  was shared not with the press, not with the record label, not even with the artists’ families, until the night before its release.      “Where Are We Now”, that delicious gift given to the world on Bowie’s 66th birthday, was chosen as the first single, with the details of its release in mind. This, the mellowest song on the album, still explod...

           A recent article in the Guardian's Student section offers a veritable cornucopia of advice on how to water down a social networking profile in order to score in the job market. But if we're talking about a candidate's Facebook, and Googlability, we need to look at what else is out there. Issues of privacy and the multiple personalities of an internet-user make this kind of character research nigh on impossible and, ultimately, useless.      The original article, written by 'digital expert' Bernadette John, presents a pretty naive view of what employers want. We are told to 'play nicely, and never talk negatively about anyone online', and to 'never use social media when you are angry, tired, drunk or under the influence of anything else.' By all means I agree that you shouldn't use social media as a platform from which to hurl abuse at your ex or announce all the illegal substances in which you've partaken, b ut it's not a ca...

(originally published by The Student )      Say it with me now: Vluh-DEEM-ear Nuh-BOK-off. It's oddly fitting that a man who used fifteen different pseudonyms over his lifetime, fled various governments, and filled his autobiography with fiction has had his name mispronounced so often (not least by me and others unfamiliar with Russian), upholding, both posthumously and unintentionally, the facade of fiction behind which he hid during most of his working life.      Shown to us by PhD student Michael Rodgers of Strathclyde Unviersity, this mask was finely sculpted and covered every public appearance the writer made. The talk in the Scotland-Russia Forum last Friday filled the intimate space with lively discussion from those both familiar and unfamiliar with the writer. Absorbed but still sceptical, Rodgers took us through Nabokov's early, privileged upbringing to an adulthood spent all over the globe.      Raised in a wealthy trili...

          Lining one corridor inside the National Library are hundreds of books which censors did not want you to see. From the Song of Songs to the Satanic Verses , Lord of the Flies to Lady Chatterly's Lover , these books appalled, challenged and enticed the society of their times, and were all deemed unfit to be seen by the public. The exhibition aims primarily to spark debate- to make us question these books, the legislation under which they were banned, and the societies which banned them.      Perhaps predictably, books which display any kind of anti-clerical leanings make up a large part of the library's collection, and indeed were the first kind of literature to be cautioned at all. From David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, these books were seen as indecent due to a glorification of paganism, misrepresentation of biblical verse or simple questioning of common belief. ...

(originally published by The Student )      Art's capacity for sparking debate can be found everywhere, from the Uni's comfiest lecture theatres to the bar at the Hive. Whether it's the beauty of a painting, a poem or a person we're talking about, one thing's for sure- everyone has their own tastes, and very rarely are these in perfect agreement with those of the next thirsty clubber.      The Talbot Rice Gallery has taken one of David Hume's great thoughts on the nature of beauty- that it is in the eye of the Beholder- and given local galleries, artists and organisations the opportunity to nominate a work of art which, to them, is beautiful. The result is an exhibition as varied in taste as that crowd at the bar, from the purist oil-and-canvas lovers to the multimedia fettishists, via the big names of Yoko Ono and Canterbury Cathedral.      As well as more classical choices of oils or pencil on canvas, we see representations of other f...

(originally published by  The Student )      When you step between the vivacious colours and three-dimensional art of Anton Henning’s Interieur No. 493 and the Ragamala collection at the Talbot Rice Gallery, it’s natural to feel a little surprised.      The bright white walls of the main space, and Henning’s multi-format works, some of which are indistinguishable from furniture, create an environment far more domestic than your average gallery, and one in which abstract paintings, confused sculpture and a simple white sofa seem utterly disconnected from one another. The artist’s free reign over the gallery space means that he has manipulated it well, controlling as he does the lights, sounds and setup of the art we observe to distort the normal museum hush of such a space.      However it is hard to find a common factor in terms of style: even within his collection of paintings, some pieces show Henning’s ...

(originally published by  The Student )      For a film aficionado, Edinburgh is the place to be according to Chris Brooks,  archivist for the Edinburgh Movie Production Society. “ This is a good city to be in. There’s the film festival, and there are always contacts bubbling away,” said Brooks.      Founded in 2004, EMPS brings the complex art of film production to a more accessible level. Even those who have never touched a camera before can create something, while those with more experience have the opportunity to make films using top-of-the-range equipment and mentor others.      “There’s a danger people will assess us very quickly,” Brooks said. “That it’s just for geeks who know how a camera works, but most of the society is made up of people who don’t even study film.” Drawing its members from across the University, members’ knowledge of film-making varies, meaning a range of talents and styles ...

(originally published by The Student )      “We've been killing a lot of zombies”, the comedian and bouffant-haired Tom Deacon explains from the notably zombie-free Brooke's Bar upstairs in Potterrow, “and I'm not really getting any thanks for that.”      Alas there are no awards for control of the undead, not like there are Chortle and Student comedy awards, which Deacon has no trouble in collecting. Away from the zombies and his beloved Xbox (“the most important thing in my life”), Deacon has his second hour-long Fringe stand-up show, a weekly Radio 1 show and a new comedy play to keep him occupied, all of which is a far cry from the dingy student pubs he was playing in just a few years ago.      Deacon is living a non-stop month this August on both sides of the border. In the day time, he performs in Joe Bor's new play Who Killed the Counsellor? , and finds the hormonal 17-year-old within. By turns huffy, boastful and se...

(originally published by  The Student ) THE REMOVAL of students from one of Glasgow University's buildings has been called “disproportionate and heavy handed” by the university's Student Representative Council.      The protest, which disputed the University's plans to convert the building into offices, saw a group of around 15 students occupy the Hetherington Research club for seven weeks, until police forces removed them from the building. Following nearly two months of occupation, the protests on 22 nd March grew during the course of the day to over 150 students outside the building. Strathclyde Police increased their presence to include over 80 officers, 18 vehicles and a helicopter.      Tommy Gore, president of Glasgow's Student Representative Council (SRC), insisted that the protest should have been “an internal University matter” and should not have required a police presence on University property.    ...

(originally published by  The Student )      There's a real air of nostalgia in Rhubaba's tiny warehouse-gallery in Leith. Corrugated iron doors and white-washed walls are made homely by the sheer amount of sound coming from the installations and the street outside. Art made from tin cans and magazine collage provides a hopeful, home-made feeling and something every visitor can recognise.      The launch last Saturday of Rhubaba's latest occupation by InterCity MainLine (ICML) was nearly rained off. Co-director Rachel Adams explained that “turn-out wasn't as good as we were hoping because of the weather. But it turned into more of a fun experiment this way” , and the Watercolour Challenge paintings made by members of the public will be put into ICML's next Edinburgh-based zine publication.      ICML's five artists, each originating from Bristol, like to explore, share ideas and experiences of different cities, then ...

(originally published by  The Student )      THE UNIVERSITY and College Union (UCU) elected a new Vice President and future President in a ballot held last week. History lecturer Simon Renton of University College London, currently a national negotiator for the Union, won with 61 per cent of the vote. Renton will take up his post as president in 2013, following the end of Alan Whitaker's presidency.      UCU represents over 120,000 academic staff across the UK, including lecturers, researchers and postgrads employed by Universities and adult education centres. In Scotland its focus is on equal pay and job security within Scottish institutions, and campaigns against tuition fees and 'casual contracts', which leave new employees vulnerable to being underpaid, overworked and treated as temporary members of staff.      Internal politics within the Union has seen a split between the Independent Broad Left, of which R...

(originally published by  The Student )      In the 4 years between Lupe Fiasco's previous album, The Cool and now, he's had a few difficulties. Despite winning armfuls of awards, Atlantic Records refused to let him release another record, and fans had to resort to a public rally and petitions to ensure this third album came into being.      So it's no surprise that LASERS sounds like a protest. Fiasco explained to the Metro last week that the idea was to “get people to activate”, and in songs like State Run Radio it's clear this activation won't hide behind rhetoric. This call-to-arms song is one of the highlights of the album, and a clear backlash at his record company and the ideals of censorship.      The record has taken on various forms since 2007's predecessor, from farewell album to a compilation of great American rap, but what has emerged is an incredibly outspoken, almost riotous 12-track where each s...

(originally published by The Student )      Following forewarned slashes to the Art Council's budget, there have been whispers backstage of huge funding cuts to some of the UK's best and brightest cultural organisations. Here in Edinburgh we can see it already in the closure of the Roxy ArtHouse and the dwindling hopes of the Forest Café, so could it be curtains for Edinburgh's Art scene?      Well, not exactly. Though Arts Council England (ACE) 's budget has been tempered to the tune of a 30% reduction, Scottish equivalent Creative Scotland has secured its tickets into the middle of next year. This means that the 115 smaller arts organisations propped up by the government body will be protected- at least up until the election in May.      This possible passing-on of the country's purse means the future of Creative Scotland is not guaranteed. But considering that even in England, where some council's arts funds have be...

(originally published by  The Student )      If there's one thing that last Tuesday's Big Red Variety Show can tell us, it's just how much talent can be called upon at the University of Edinburgh at a moment's notice. Organised like a kind of mini Comic Relief show, the Variety Show was the brainchild of Edinburgh Societies' Charity Appeal (ESCA) member Tabby Gould, who had a lot of entertainers to pick from.      “I looked through the societies' guide for entertainment groups” she told me “the Fresh Air guys were doing the commentary at the Meadows Marathon, and I thought they were funny” and the rest, it seems, is history. The name of Comic Relief goes a long way towards getting support for an event, from both performers and audience members alike, and the hope of the event being filmed to have a clip featured on Friday night's show meant that societies were eager to get involved.      Drumming Soc started off t...

(originally published by  The Student ) With the feel of a kind of upbeat Livin' on a Prayer , Noah and the Whale's latest release is a classic girl-meets-boy-while-working-in-a-seedy-bar tale, injected with the happy-go-lucky spirit you'd expect from its title. But woah there, things aren't so simple. The chorus itself may take some practising to sing along to, as you'll have to spell out the words in time, Aretha Franklin's RESPECT- style. Once you've got that down, you can start air-guitaring along to the guitar and, yes, the violin solo. Layered backing vocals abruptly chime in on this odd multi-instrumental spelling bee then duck out again for a nice key-change and a bit more repetition. Like life, the song goes on, and will stay with you from those seedy bars back to your lectures and home again.

(originally published by  The Student )      In 2008 a fresh-faced Lykke Li Zachrisson told the Guardian why she no longer want to be a dancer- “I want to be on stage and travel the world and live passionately and have love affairs and get drunk.” Since debut Youth Novels , Lykke Li has toured the world, ticking boxes one and two, and with this album sings through the other three.      The new album Wounded Rhymes takes its name from a line in one of the last and most mellow songs on the album- Sadness is a Blessing . Here she uses melodies and lyrics reminiscent of a 60s girl-band, with lines like “Sadness is my boyfriend / Oh, Sadness, I'm your girl”. An otherwise decent song is weakened by Li's voice, which here sounds sickly-sweet rather than the more sinister melodies heard elsewhere.      First track Youth Knows No Pain opens with a darkly energetic style which introduces us to the heavy, tribal-sounding dr...

(originally published by  The Student )       Walk into Grazyna Dobrzelecka's exhibition in the Forest gallery and you may well think this is just an empty room with the last show's remnants still nailed to the walls. Ten tiny pieces of art trail the bare white walls to the windowsill, where a visitor might end up feeling a little too conspicuous in the wide street-side window.      Named for the mythical Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun, the exhibition continues Dobrzelecka's interest in birds and flight. His previous showing, Pigeonholes at the ECA, was inspired by the effects humans have on the life of the humble city pigeon. Here his reference to birds specifically is restricted to a single tiny black and white photograph, but themes of freedom and captivity run through each piece, from the 2lb lead weight on one wall to the one-sided chess game on the windowsill, entitled Entrapment .   ...

(originally published by The Student )      Yes, another London-based four-piece come to try to steal your heart. The Vaccines have found their way into the public ear via the well-trodden path of fellow indiesters and friends Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale, but somewhere along the way they found a couple of electric guitars and a range of emotion rare in today's mainstream indie-pop.      What did you expect from the Vaccines? is populated entirely by songs which are teasingly short, and demonstrate a less-is-more attitude to song-writing. First track Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra) gives us an almost impressionistic snapshot of youthful obsession at a scant 1:24 long, which may not have made it the best choice for a first single (it reached number 157 in the charts back in November 2010), but the perfect way to start an album. Described by Zane Lowe as 'The Hottest Record in the World' just following its release, this first song serves as...