Culture reports from the NZZ: Mark Lanegan is dead

Grunge pioneer Mark Lanegan has died

(dpa) The American singer and grunge pioneer Mark Lanegan is dead. This was reported by the music magazine “Rolling Stone” on Tuesday evening, citing Lanegan’s publicists. Lanegan died earlier this morning at his home in Killarney, Ireland. The artist’s Twitter account read: “A beloved singer, songwriter, author and musician, he was 57 and is survived by his wife Shelley.” Nothing was initially known about the circumstances of Lanegan’s death.

Born in Washington State in 1964, Lanegan began his career in the 1980s as the frontman of the hard rock and grunge band Screaming Trees. Later he also shared the stage with Queens Of The Stone Age and The Gutter Twins. At the same time, Lanegan had a successful solo career in the indie and blues rock scene. His trademark was a very deep, raspy voice.

Swiss music market 2021: Strongest growth in almost 30 years

215.3 million Swiss francs were turned over in the Swiss recorded music market in 2021, 10.5% more than in the previous year. This is announced by the Swiss branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in a press release. It is the strongest growth since 1993. Since the recovery of the music market in 2016, sales have meanwhile increased by almost half (48.9% compared to 2015: 144.7 million francs).

The growth engine continues to be the streaming segment, while revenues from downloads and physical recordings – with the exception of vinyl – continue to decline. Revenues from audio and video streaming continue to increase significantly (+19% to CHF 176.7 million) and contribute 82% to the total market.

Revenue from advertising-financed streaming is now larger than the download business, which continues to decline (-27% to CHF 13.2 million). The growth in advertising-financed streaming is boosted by the inclusion of sales from social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram in these statistics for the first time. Overall, the digital business grew by 14% year-on-year to CHF 190.5 million – 88% of total sales.

Turnover from the sale of CDs and other physical sound carriers will again fall significantly in 2021 (by 10% to CHF 24.9 million) and still contribute 12% to the overall market. The only exception is the business with vinyl long-playing records, in which 4.8 million Swiss francs were turned over last year. That’s a growth of 18%. However, retail sales of vinyl represent only 19% of the physical market or 2.5% of the total market.

Berlinale 2022: The film festival honors «Alcarràs»

(dpa) The drama “Alcarràs” by Spanish director Carla Simón has won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale. The film tells of the everyday life of a family that grows peaches on a plantation and finds themselves in dire straits. Because solar panels are suddenly to be built on the site.

The jury also honored Meltem Kaptan in Berlin. The actress, who lives in Cologne, received the festival’s most important acting prize. The comedienne plays the main role in «Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush». The film tells how Murat Kurnaz’s mother tries to free her son from the US Guantánamo prison camp. The film’s screenwriter, Laila Stieler, also won a Silver Bear. The production by director Andreas Dresen (“Gundermann”) received two awards.

How the Berlinale can take place this time had been discussed for a long time. “It was the right decision to let the Berlinale take place live despite the pandemic,” said Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens). The risk was taken for the love of film. “The film and the cinema as a whole won.” The Berlinale has thus again shown its stance under difficult circumstances “as the most political” of the major international film festivals.

The jury president for the main awards was US director M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”). The jury evaluated a total of 18 entries in the competition. The French Claire Denis was awarded for the best direction: In “Avec amour et acharnement” Juliette Binoche plays a woman whose life gets mixed up when an ex-partner turns up again. The jury’s grand prize went to Hong Sangsoo’s “The Novelist’s Film” in which an author meets different people.

The drama «Robe of Gems» by director Natalia López Gallardo won the Jury Prize. The film shows three women in Mexico who get into trouble with the drug business. The collage “Everything Will Be Ok” by Cambodian Rithy Panh was honored for a special artistic achievement. The film cuts together a civilization-critical collage from animation and documentary film images.

The Silver Bear for Best Supporting Actor went to Laura Basuki for the Indonesian story “Nana”. An award for the best first film, worth 50,000 euros, was also presented – the prize went to Kurdwin Ayub’s “Sonne” (“I hope the taxes don’t take my money away from me”).

Many films this year managed to tell political backgrounds with personal stories. It is the same with the drama «Alcarràs», which won the Golden Bear. The film tells the story of a family who runs a peach plantation in Catalonia. It looks idyllic at first: the adults work on the farm, the children play.

But then there is a risk of losing the land, because generations ago the right to cultivate it was only sealed with a handshake. Now solar panels are to be set up there. In addition, the farmers can hardly live on the earnings from their work anyway. The loud labor dispute also affects the family.

Director Simón calmly shows everyday family life between work and leisure. She subtly refers to the value of respectful, careful interaction with one another. At the same time, it reflects how seemingly private matters are shaped by social circumstances. The drama thus becomes a multi-faceted portrait of society that denounces the power of greed for profit. Her family grows peaches themselves, Simón said. That’s why the world is so close to her. She wants to dedicate the award to the small families of farmers “who till the soil every day so that we have food on the table”.

Artist Carmen Herrera dies at the age of 106

(dpa) The Cuban-born artist Carmen Herrera, who was only able to celebrate success with her works in old age, is dead. Herrera died in New York at the age of 106, reports the “New York Times”, citing her friend and legal advisor Tony Bechara. Born in 1915, Herrera had lived and worked mainly in New York since the 1950s. From a young age she painted, mainly abstract, minimalist works that for a long time received no attention in the art world. That only changed when Herrera was almost 90 years old – her works were eventually even shown in renowned museums around the world.

Canadian film director Ivan Reitman has died

(agencies) Director Ivan Reitman was known for rough comedies, but he celebrated his greatest successes with the “Ghostbusters” series, the first film of which was released in 1984. Now he died in his sleep at the age of 75 on Saturday evening at his home in Montecito, California, his family told the AP news agency on Monday (February 14).

Reitman was born in what is now Slovakia in 1946 and moved to Canada with his family after the end of World War II. With the film “I think a horse will kick me” (National Lampoon’s Animal House) he was able to establish himself as a film producer in 1978. As a director and producer, Ivan Reitman set himself a monument with films such as “Space Jam”, “A Dog Named Beethoven” or “I think a moose is kissing me!”.

His greatest success, however, was “Ghostbusters – Die Geisterjäger”, which came to the cinemas in 1984. The horror comedy made almost $300 million at the box office worldwide and was nominated for two Oscars.