:: Dispatches from London Fashion Week ::
Sometimes a sense of a shared history, and clues to who you are come in the unlikeliest of places. In this case, on a London Fashion Week catwalk.
At the Caroline Charles show to be exact.

This Is Worldtown captures the Hypernova’s coordinated black and white hypster chic outfits, as they keep the crowd going with their tunes from upcoming album ‘Through the Chaos’ & provocative banter.

For ‘Hypernova’, the fast rising indie rock band from Iran (Yeah, they are from Iran), politics is personal, it’s all about the music (and it’s good!) and as they navigate between the worlds of humble musicians, travelling artists and aspiring rockstars it makes for a familiar yet atypical experience.

For the characters inhabiting Amir Nizar Zuabi’s ‘I am Yusuf and This Is My Brother’, survival is paramount; but there is no redemption to be found in this haunting play.

One Month before Haiti’s tragic earthquake, one month before the world suddenly woke up to the country’s plight - Haitian life and art were captured poetically in the first ever Ghetto Bienniale. The townships of Port-Au-Prince transformed into urban art landscapes, showcasing the dynamic visual artists in an aptly titled, “A Salon des Refuses for the 21st Century”. Asking the question, “What happens when first world art rubs up against third world art? Does it bleed?” The Bienniale hosted artists and academics from countries like Jamaica, Venezuela and Columbia to respond. This feature in Dazed Digital magazine captures some of what there was to say.

A Worldtown one to watch: Of Rwandan origin and now living in Vancouver, B.C., Shad’s a hip-hop artist whose style inadvertently draws comparisons to rap from the early 90’s - you know, when it wasn’t a byproduct of autotune and bloghouse effects. With a second album and a Juno nomination under his wing, Shad’s in line as repping the under-the spotlight Canadian Hip-Hop scene thanks to artists like K’Naan and Drake. We ask Shad questions about his influences and future plans and see where the Old Prince stands as sought out hip hop royalty.

Diam continues to be “…known as a feminist rebel who spits rhymes about war, racism, poverty, and injustice–something that has placed the rapper in the line of French media fire.”

Read the full story from Bitch Magazine :: Judging An Emcee By Her Cover — Check out the video, and dates for Diam’s four month country-wide tour.

This is Worldtown contributor Seemi Choudry reviews Lukas Moodysson’s film “Mammoth” starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams.

“The story is about families and how they can communicate without communicating. Telecommunication replaces actual human communication.”

Is ethno-techno the new turn in appropriated world music? The sounds are widening in their scope and popularity but usually thousands of miles away from the subterraneans producers who unleash the source of these mixes. So, asks the Guardian, is the ethno-techno trend just another form of neo-colonialism?

This Is Worldtown contributor Abdullah Malik takes on the must-see films of 2009, with a mix of mainstream releases and some quieter gems, to check out in to the new year.

Compared to the juggernaut films that ruled the cinema in 2008, one couldn’t expect 2009 to top the cinema experience that last year did. But somehow, the last three hundred and sixty odd days brought with it a gamut of unmissable films. Here are the five most essential films of ‘09…