ARTS WEEKLY/BRITAIN: Trauma of Black Youth Comes to Stage

Black British playwright Roy Williams has often been compared with the legendary African-U.S. storyteller August Wilson.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-CUBA: The Stark Beauty of ‘Havana Suite’

Day-to-day life in the Cuban capital is a doctor who changes into a clown costume when his hospital shift is over, a railwayman who plays saxophone at a church, a mother who every night readies her transvestite son's costume, and an old woman whose only income comes from selling peanuts.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC: Bad Vibes for Best Reggae Grammy

For the past two years, reggae music has had a sustained presence on the Billboard charts, dispelling talk that it is too ethnic to catch on in a big way in the United States. But even as it enjoys its most fruitful period, there is talk that the Best Reggae Album category may be dropped from the Grammy Awards after two decades.

/ARTS WEEKLY/UAE: Make-up Peeks Out through the Veil

Along the tree-lined boulevards or the corridors of the brightly lit malls here in Dubai, women walk about with their heavily and elaborately made-up eyes peeping out at you from under long black veils.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-ZIMBABWE: A Book Loving Nation

This year's international book fair in Zimbabwe has attracted a lot of foreign exhibitors, despite the political and economic crises dogging the southern African country.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-BRAZIL: Precocious Rural Guitarist Finds Fame Late in Life

Musician Helena Meirelles is one of those incredible cases that can only be explained in Brazil by the enormous size of the country, its prejudices, social disorganisation and the lack of opportunities for the common folk.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-JAMAICA: Seminal Reggae Album Back in the Spotlight

It was as dynamic as the movie it accompanied and helped push a rebellious new Jamaican beat called reggae into the international spotlight. Thirty years after it was released in the United States, "The Harder They Come" soundtrack will be reissued in that country with three new songs.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-ARGENTINA: 21st Century Boom in Tango Clubs

The mushrooming of milongas or tango clubs in the Argentine capital demonstrates the resurgence of interest in this traditional urban music and dance rhythm of the Rio de la Plata region - Argentina and neighbouring Uruguay - both locally and abroad.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-MALAYSIA: Old Music Gets New Beat

A unique orchestral performance is setting the stage for an Asian musical beat that is contemporary yet firmly rooted in the region's traditions, in this case the Indonesian 'gamelan', the indigenous orchestra of bronze gongs.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-INDIA: Court Order May Kill Cloth Printing Art

For over five centuries it was as if time had stood still at the famed block printing units in this ancient town 40 kms away from Jaipur, the capital of western Rajasthan state.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ITALY: The Dictatorship of the Viewer

'Dreams and Conflicts: The Dictatorship of the Viewer' is the theme of the 50th edition of the Biennale di Venezia, Europe's most prestigious international exhibition of contemporary art, which presents the works from 230 artists representing 63 countries.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ART-CHINA: Once Derided as Trash, Contemporary Art is Hot

Being hip and avant-garde are hardly the criteria that Chinese cultural mandarins like to adhere to when they judge which Chinese contemporary art is worth presenting to the world.

/ARTS WEEKLY/PAKISTAN: Mystery of the Persian Mummy Continues

Save for a decent Muslim burial, the 'mummy' that created a furore among archaeologists around the world in 2000 when it was discovered in Pakistan, lies in a cold, uneasy slumber, sealed and locked in the mortuary of Edhi Foundation here.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC: Mexico’s First Women’s Orchestra

Female classical musicians in Mexico, who must swim against the tide in a field dominated by men, are now auditioning for a spot in the country's first all women's symphonic orchestra.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CANADA: National Gallery Honours First Nations’ Art

-Canada's National Gallery has become the first major fine arts institution in North America to permanently incorporate Canadian aboriginal art into its displays.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BRITAIN: Between Dualities of Past and Present

Arpana Caur is one of India's most celebrated contemporary artists and yet her roots are also very much part of India's historical past. She manages to achieve the difficult task of blending the past and present in her work. Her new show at London's October Gallery entitled 'Between Dualities' is the latest work from this remarkable artist.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-ZIMBABWE: Import Law Comes into Effect

A long-awaited law, which allows the import of musical instruments and broadcasting equipment duty free, has come into effect in Zimbabwe.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC: Rastafarian Reggae ‘Singjay’ Sizzla Heats UP

For the past two years, the once-promising career of reggae ''singjay'' (singer and DJ) Sizzla looked in danger of petering out, following a clutch of mediocre recordings. But in late 2002, the fiery Rastafarian bounced back with "Da Real Thing", an album of roots songs and ballads that has put him back on track.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: The Bittersweet American Dream of Seven Cuban ‘Rafters’

Not everything went as they thought it would for the seven protagonists of ''Balseros'' (Rafters), a documentary that picks up the trail of seven Cubans seven years after they braved the dangerous sea crossing to the United States in 1994.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-AUSTRALIA: Relationships Star in Sydney Fest

A full fortnight's worth of films screened during the 50th Sydney Film Festival would be impossible to categorise thematically, but explorations of human relationships and women stood out among this year's 210 entries.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-PARAGUAY: First Digital Steps in a Nascent Industry

The premiere of the Paraguayan film "miramenometokéi" has been accompanied by signs of a nascent audiovisual industry in a country where film production has long been little more than a mirage.