MUSIC: Bringing the Caribbean to Southern Africa

Breathless percussion punched the air, while irresistible rhythms flowed from the stage, forcing frenzied responses from the dancers below.

MUSIC-USA: Curtis Mayfield’s Miraculous Comeback

One of the most influential soul singers of the 1950s and 1960s has made a musical comeback that is nothing short of a wonder.

DANCE-INDIA: Breaking the Mould But Retaining the Soul

Has Indian classical dance, the graceful temple dance known as 'Bharatha Natyam' become just a glittery show without a soul?

BOOKS-JAMAICA: Personal Memory of NW and Edna Manley

At a time when black consciousness is enjoying a resurgence in Jamaica, the island's national heroes like Alexander Bustamante and Norman Washington Manley have been finding new life in dramas and novels that give an in depth look into their lives.

ART-CZECH REPUBLIC: Smugglers Sack The Nation

Czech officials are finding themselves effectively powerless to stop thieves plundering art and antiquities from the country's churches, monasteries, museums, galleries and cultural monuments.

MUSIC-LATIN AMERICA: Festival Looks for New Talent

Way back in the swinging 1960s, a young student of architecture - the son of a prominent Brazilian historian - charmed the crowd in the bars of Sao Paulo with his guitar, "sambas" and other songs.

MUSIC-KENYA: Neglected Secular Musicians Resort to Gospel

Time was when gospel music was the preserve of older crooners, some of whom turned to spreading the word of God after years of churning out songs not quite in keeping with the 10 Biblical commandments.

MUSIC-USA: Jimmy Heath Still Bounces in a Big Band at 70

He's been called one of jazz music's thoroughbreds by famed trumpeter Miles Davis, he's played with musicians from Charlie Parker to Wynton Marsalis, and he's even brought his act to fellow saxophonist Bill Clinton's White House.

CINEMA: A Tale of Love – The Female Version

Confronting what she sees as South Asian hypocrisy, Mira Nair, a distinguished Indian director, takes the viewer into the world of female sexuality in her new film, 'Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love'.

CENTRAL EUROPE-CINEMA: Where Only The Best Is Good Enough

There was no shortage of new movies to judge, but experts and critics at last month's 21st Polish Film Festival were as one in their opinion: all 19 films on show were sub- standard and none of them were fit to win the main award, the Golden Lion.

CULTURE-INDONESIA: Jungle Auctions Attract Art Collectors

It's not your actual Sotheby's or Christie's, but the annual auction at Agats village, deep in the swamplands of Irian, rates high among world collectors of primitive art.

PERU-CULTURE: “Andean Eros” a Hit Among Story-tellers

Books in the Quecha language are a rare commidity in the libraries of Peru, let alone outside the country. Typical speakers of the language are the indigenous people of the Colca Valley, isolated from the rest of Peru until the 1970's when the construction of a dam opened the way for a main road to the area.

CINEMA-USA: Revenge of the ‘First Wives Club’

It's an odd phenomenon in Hollywood: movies can portray women as vamos or psychotic killers, and nobody complains; but when a movie comes out suggesting that some men are bad husbands, the American public rises up in furious debate.

GERMANY: Truth Comes at a Price for German Author

Two years after she emigrated to the United States, German author Anna Rosmus returned to Germany last week to receive an award from the Jewish community in Berlin.

NEPAL-CULTURE: Heritage a Victim of Urban Sprawl

When Rajubhai Shakya surveys the changes in his home town it's a case of "Cry the Beloved Country." Patan today is a soul-less concrete jungle, he says, but it wasn't always that way.

INDIA-CULTURE: Idle Rich in Pursuit of Physical Perfection

Blitzed by images of gorgeous girls and hairless hunks in foreign TV soaps, channel surfing Indians have suddenly started noticing their own overflowing middles and expanding backsides.

CUBA-MUSIC: Beatles Back, but Musical Censors Still Around

The Beatles, Britain's musical icons of the 1960's, have released a new selection of songs recorded in their heyday and revived memories for Cubans - once prevented by censorship from listening to the famous quartet.

CINEMA-COLOMBIA: ‘Ilona’ a Box-Office Smash

Cinema-goers are lining up across the nation to see 'Ilona Arrives with the Rain' - a movie based on the novel by Alvaro Mutis and directed by Sergio Cabrera - which appears destined to be Colombia's first box office hit.

AUSTRALIA-CULTURE: Yoga’s Influence Causes no Anxiety

Rapid urbanisation of their societies is causing Asian leaders to worry about the encroachment of Western values. They ought to relax.

THEATRE: The Long Journey of ‘Seven Streams’

It was a long struggle for director Robert Lepage to get his play 'The Seven Streams of the River Ota' to where it is now.

BOOKS: A Romanian Optimist Gives His View of America

If it takes an immigrant's eyes to look more fondly on a country than natives do, then Romanian-American radio host Andrei Codrescu could rightfully claim to be the greatest optimist in the United States.