Africa

They say that Africa is a humankind cradle. In Olduvai, an ancestor of the contemporary man appeared for the first time – Homo habilis and Homo erectus – and from the heart of Africa, it spread into the whole world. The area of the East African Rift Valley is rich for the many fossil findings and Olduvai is just here in Tanzania. However in year 2002, Brunet et al. published in scientific journal Nature^* about the oldest hominid petrifaction. This would not have been anything so strange, but question is: Where were found these petrifactions? The scientists found them in distance of 2500 km (1 553.43 miles) from the East African Rift Valley in central Africa in Chad and they estimated their age between 6 and 7 million years!!! This is Africa surprising.

Africa, these are the streets of Marrakesh, the pyramids near to Cairo, the temples in Luxor and Karnak, the cities like Casablanca and Alexandria, the lost Timbuktu with its doors, the endless plains of the deserted and sometimes green deserts like Sahara or Kalahari, or the deep and impenetrable rainforests with the richness of flora and fauna that often disappear forever.

Africa, these are the Nile River with its cataracts and with all burying Aswan Dam, waters of the Victoria Falls, with snow covered peak of the highest mountain known as Kilimanjaro and the deep mines with diamonds and gold in Kimberley and Congo.

Africa is also the extreme poverty in glamour of the riches. It is hopelessness, high unemployment, pain and sadness, worry and death. These are the depopulated villages. These are prejudices and superstitions. It is hunger, HIV and it is AIDS.

I was in Africa only once sometime in year 1985, it was in Algeria. Nothing of what I have now written, I have seen or experienced. Only the oleander flowers attracted me through their aroma and I drowned in them under rays of hot African sun.

Come back to the reality. Africa has materialized for me on just ending weekend. The theatre “Husa na Provazku” (Goose on String) in Brno has entertained some group of people, enthusiasts, doubters, but even faithful and selfless people and donators this Saturday (26.06.2010). Africa has materialized for me in the form of the large photos, beads and small baskets made by people that are far. Africa has materialized for me in the form of African drummers from Congo; by the way they live in Czech Republic. Their drums have totally overturned the world and the theater has become a furnace of Africa.

However, in an intermission we have listened narrative of Missis Gita Fuchsova about many projects that are under way in Kenya and in neighbouring countries. Missis Gita Fuchsova is the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the UNEP and UN-Habitat ((UNEP = United Nations Enviroment Programme, UN-Habitat = United Nations Human Settlements Programme).

The wide spectrum of programs has covered, for example, the preventive vaccination of dogs in Mt. Kula mountain chain in Kenya, which is every year made by people from the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Brno and they do it successfully. It is also “Doll for UNICEF” project, where the voluntaries sew some doll and it is offered to an adoption for 600 CZK. This amount is needed to revaccinate of one child in the underdeveloped countries against six mortal child illnesses.
And of course, it was Bwindi Orphans, because this civically association and its activities in Uganda were a midpoint of that day. It has begun by some afternoon talk and has continued then in the theater passage and in the evening also during the concert. It was not missing also a connection between Bwindi Orphans and the virtual world Second Life, which was tried to explain by Fanda Ryba. I think that he has succeeded it. At his presentation, he has shown us also several pictures from SL, where is also placed the school, for which there is a fund-raising campaign through the pink pigs that are on many sims of Czech and Slovak community in SL. Around this school you can see also picture made by the court photographer of Bwindi Orphans Michal Prihoda. The account amount is updated regularly on this web site and all donators (more than 400) are there listed even with the respective amount of Linden dollars. To this day (01.07.2010) people has donated 634 805 L$.

However, the performance of the band called Cankisou (maybe pronounced as Tschankeyshow). This band was founded by bigbeat musicians at some Christmas party in year 1999. With help of the most various instruments form the whole world, they threw themselves into absolutely new waters of ethno, world music and in an original way, and they based their work on some legend about an ancient uniped nation of Canki (Tschanki). During 10 years of it existence, the band has gained the solid place in musical sun and today they belong to the top of Czech world music.

To describe an atmosphere in an auditorium and even on a stage is quite difficult, one have to experience it. So, at least there are several pictures from this event here: ones on the official site of Bwindi Orphans and other ones on Zuza Ritt stream. Well, finally you can look at three clips of Cankisou only for an idea what they play.

Zuha clip was shot in Pakistan by LP Fish during our participation in World Performing and Visual Arts festival 2007 in Lahore. Borrega clip is animated one made by students at Film Academy of Miroslav Ondricek and Independent Film College in Pisek. Last one was based on materials that Michal Prihoda recorded and shot in Uganda.

^*M. Brunet et al.: A new hominid from the Upper Miocéne of Chad, Central Africa. Nature 418, 2002, 145.

Pictures: Offical site of BWO [only in Czech], Zuza Ritt stream

SLurl: 3D-model of the school on Shinyland

(Sources: Cankisou [only in Czech], UNICEF, UNEP, UN-Habitat, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Embassy in Nairobi, Wikipedia, YouTube)

Second Life 13

So-called “the lost worlds” always attracted me. There were ones lost in time depth, when the dinosaurs disappeared forever and when the big civilizations went down. It was either decline of the Roman Empire in a blaze of its glory or disappearance of the mythical Atlantis somewhere in the deep of the oceans.

There were also the worlds lost in space, in the infinite universe distances or just in the deep of the oceans of our blue planet Earth.

I visited such world in Second Life too. Pteron, lost city in the sea, place for meditation and calm. It is a place of the curious temples, towers and objects over and under the see surface.

The second place is not sure either lost world or lost time. It is one of the most prestige American university – The Standford University in state California near well-known Silicon Valley. Stanford is unusual among great universities in having seven schools on one campus: Humanities and Sciences, Law, Medicine, Business, Earth Sciences, Engineering and Education. We, in Czech Republic, have to only dream about that, because Charles University in Prague (see left column on the page at the bottom for English info) and also Masaryk University in Brno and their schools (faculties) are fragmented over whole cities.

Of course, The Stanford University does not miss in Second Life. The Stanford University Libraries island contains resources and exhibits for the various Stanford Libraries. The library part has fascinating design and neighboring tower is interesting to explore.

SLurls: Pteron, Stanford University Libraries


(Sources: Koinup.com, Stanford University)

Music Festival

This weekend was rich in both sport and cultural events in Brno, Czech Republic. As every year, The Grand Prix of the Czech Republic was organized at The Masaryk Circuit. There were about 250.000 visitors. At the same time, the so-called Brno’s Day took place. This event is organized every year as the remark of the important historical thing from history of Brno and the remark of the heroism of the Brno inhabitants in besiege a town by Swedes during Thirty Years' War (1618 – 1648 in Middle Europe) in year 1645. The small group of the defenders with help of city inhabitants resisted to the attack of the huge superiority of Swedish army of the general Torstenson and Brno was never captured. The 400th birth of the marshal Louis Raduit de Souches was celebrated this year. He was the army commander of Brno then. This year was also open public his crypt in St. Jacob church.
The third event, which has begun last Thursday, was the 9th International Spilberk Festival organized by Brno Philharmonic every year. I was also there and the Hollywood Night was on program, i.e. movie music. The following ones had the big success: C'era una volta il West (Once Upon a Time in the West) and The Phantom of the Opera.

(Sources: Wikipedia, www.brno.cz)

Several pics from the Spilberk castle.

Villa Tugendhat

Villa Tugendhat is the most famous villa in city Brno in Czech Republic. It is a unique piece of work of German architect Ludwig Miese van der Rohe. He designed this building for Greta and Fritz Tugendhat in 1928. The construction begun in 1929 and Tugendhats moved in villa in December 1930.

Villa belong to the basic pieces of world modern architecture – functionalism. First of all, the villa is well known for its glassed-in living space with winter garden. The house was revolutionary in its time for several reasons:

· Uninterrupted habitable space
· Windows main residential area could be completely run by the interior floor and coalesce with nature in the garden was very impressive
· Building consists of steel skeleton of floors and ceilings are not walls, but only steel columns profile X, in exposed locations covered chrome metal screens.

The interior of the building was also equipped with an elegant and sensitively designed furniture from Mies van der Rohe. He used part of the furniture he designed for the German pavilion at the exhibition in Barcelona.

So, have you never been there? One possibility is to visit villa Tugendhat in SL here. Rivo Miles built it.