African music on the Big Screen

Music, like cinema, is a language that glides across borders, and no continent has sent its song as far and wide as Africa. Two documentaries out this week, “Soul Power” and “Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love,” look at how African music, one of the great nomadic phenomena of global culture, has spread itself across the hemispheres, and ask whether it’s possible for it to come home again. More

The Iranian Elections: a Primer

The presidential election in Iran on June 12, the tenth since the founding of the Islamic Republic, may be the most important. Iran’s economy is in shambles; its foreign policy, particularly regarding its nuclear program, is the focus of intense international criticism and increasing political and economic isolation; the country is poised to redefine its role in the Persian Gulf and Middle East more broadly; and an increasing number of Iranians, particularly those under 30, are becoming disaffected with both the performance and the very nature of the theocratic regime. More
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