Brunch
Sunday in Paris with Chopin and Steve Villa-Massone, street pianist
After trailing the streets of Europe with his piano - literally carrying it around - for ten years, the dedicated French pianist and composer from Nice is now bringing smiles to Parisian passers-by. We tag along with him in the streets of the French capital - the more of us around to push this heavy instrument, the better
brunch, crise financière, paris, best of cafebabel.com, europe, poland, music
Steve James: 'In the 80s, I can’t imagine anyone wanted a documentary-making career'
The American director perhaps best known for his 1994 film Hoop Dreams is in Amsterdam for the city’s international documentary film festival. We talk 'new media', starting out in the eighties and why an oscars snub doesn't matter when you've got good old Europe to fall back on
brunch, documentary, cinema, netherlands, amsterdam, culture, united states
Activist Ahmed el-Senussi: Libyan prince and human rights hero
Currently a member of Libya's national transitional council, the prince was in solitary confinement during his imprisonment and did not speak to a single person for nine years. We meet in Strasbourg where the former prisoner of conscience was one of five Arabs to win the Sakharov freedom of thought prize for 2011
brunch, activism, interview, prison, strasbourg, libya, arab spring
Brooklyn-based pop band Chairlift: once 'music for haunted houses'
Patrick Wimberly and Caroline Polachek probably never thought their music would end up on a commercial for an apple product. After meeting the duo in Paris, we are advised to go back to the future, turn the sound down on a silent film and crank up our headphones to their fresh electronic pop offering
Paul Lewis: call him ‘special projects editor’
At The Guardian, the award-winning British-Spanish journalist, 30, handles investigative news in an innovative method via social networks and micro-blogging sites – it even helped him crack stories about two murders. Interview
brunch, belgium, techno-media, london, internet, twitter, riots
Jazz man Raphael Gualazzi: Italy’s Jamie Cullum?
The weekly German magazine Die Zeit called him ‘the perfect synthesis between Paolo Conte and Jamie Cullum’. In person, the 30-year-old is shy, but onstage he turns into a wild devilish creature. We catch him on the European tour for his second album Reality and Fantasy
Susanne Graf: 'Those who remember the GDR know what it means to be observed constantly'
Berlin’s September elections made her the youngest MP in the parliament at 19, the only woman in her fraction - and a ‘pirate’. We talk data protection, mistakes in politics and why a quota for women in the pirate party wouldn’t make any difference
brunch, germany, best of cafebabel.com, berlin, politics, elections, pirate party
Rafał Blechacz, Poland's musical prodigy
Is it easier to play Chopin if you are Polish? Is it better to set up home in a bustling cultural centre rather than the countryside? We hear from the 26-year-old pianist who has been making waves in Poland for the last few years
Spanish actor Santi Senso, creator of 'house theatre'
The thirtysomething actor is otherwise known for his 'intimate' theatre performances in people's homes across Spain, something he says is driven by a ‘beautiful madness’ inside him. His latest play 'Orgy Me' has just ended its residency in a hotel room in Madrid
Ascanio Celestini: 'I denounce verbal violence of our time’
He is the mouthpiece of contemporary Italian theatre, a critic of power, an anthropologist who depicts the evils of our time better than anyone else. The 39-year-old actor, director and author talks about coming from outside Rome and where his one-man-show gets its inspirations from
brunch, italy, paris, best of cafebabel.com, theatre, rome, culture
Why French pop singer Ornette hated Serge Gainsbourg
Far from offbeat artistic families, broken computers and restrictive music conservatories, the 28-year-old Parisian and mother-of-two has created a highly colourful musical project. Her debut album Crazy was released in France on 26 September
brunch, paris, best of cafebabel.com, music, france, pop, art
Director Tomasz Baginski: ‘We Polish often lack the ability to distance ourselves from issues’
His mini-film depicted Poland’s six-month presidency of the EU as a passionate dance and cost around 130, 000 euros to make. Poland’s most famous animation producer is a 2002 Oscar nominee in the short animated film category; so why so much criticism?
Revolution rapper Mohamed El Deeb, Tahrir square's figurehead
Some musical genres, like rap and hip hop, developed so as to voice the rage of victims of injustice. Yet how many times has such ‘protest music’ really brought about a new revolution? The Egyptian rapper went out onto the streets to make real the change he evokes in his texts
Giulio Spatola, Mr Gay Europe 2011: ‘People like me don’t create a spectacle’
The 26-year-old from Palermo, Italy, was crowned the dubious title at the fifth edition of the five-day event in Romania in April. The filmmaker and hotel manager says it’s about more than what is branded a 'beauty contest for the gay community'
brunch, italy, lady gaga, homosexuality, europe, rome, society
German writer Hatto Fischer on Greece 'madness' and 'European debts’
The Bavarian-born philosopher and co-founder of the NGO Poiein Kai Prattein (‘create and do’), which launched in Athens in 2003, explains why Europeans have thought that the Greeks were mad, and how we can learn from their current fiscal tragedy
brunch, interview, germany, greece, stereotype , athens, philosophy
Sila Sahin, Turkish-German actress and first 'muslim playboy model'
In May 2011 the 25-year-old posed on the cover of German Playboy, becoming the 'first muslim’ to pose nude for a glossy magazine. Her 'act of liberation’, as the tabloids called it, sparked religious outrage and divided the Turkish community from Berlin to Istanbul. Yet was it just a marketing coup, or even a daring act of integration? Interview
brunch, cinema, germany, sex, discrimination, culture, turkey
French-American folk musician Redeye: 'I was a bit unsure about country music'
Guillaume Fresneau is relatively unknown except for his outing as part of French band Dahlia. Moving on from the rock direction, he exclaims why it's good to be independent, travel and find yourself. His five-track EP 'Be The One' was released in February 2011
brunch, paris, best of cafebabel.com, festivals, redeye, culture, music
Jorge Semprun: Buchenwald concentration camp survivor 65 years on
The Spanish former concentration camp inmate, politician and Oscar-winning writer, 86, was at the Paris book fair on 28 March to present his latest work, 'Europe from yesterday to today: a tomb cradled in clouds'. 11 April 2010 marks 65 years since the Nazi camp's liberation
Tony Canto, soundtrack to Italy’s 150th birthday
He is a writer, composer, singer and musician, but above all, he's Sicilian. He's a cross between Ulysses and Don Quixote, but his feet are planted firmly on the ground. Canto’s latest album 'Italiano Federale' is a kind of revolutionary manifesto which is music to the ears, hearts and minds of those who listen
Reindeerspotting director Joonas Neuvonen: story of a Finnish junkie
Reindeerspotting - Escape from Santaland, a Finnish documentary about drug addicts, is a film that you will probably never see at the cinema. Widely criticised in Finland, where it is accused of promoting the use of hard drugs, it’s been a viral hit. Could this be the birth of the internet version 2.0 of Trainspotting?
brunch, documentary, cinema, helsinki, europe, culture, youth
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