May, 2010

GENEVA, 24 May  – A global day of action demanding an end to human rights abuses in Iran has been called for Saturday, 12 June. The initiative – coordinated by human rights group United4Iran – is being co-sponsored by numerous organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Nobel Women's Initiative, the Baha'i International Community, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, FIDH (Federation Internationale des ligues des Droits de l'Homme), and Pen International.

STUDY, PLAY AND LIVE with Some of the World's Top Performing Artists: If you haven't participated in a KoSA event, our annual workshop is the mother of all immersions. This year, we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the world renowned KoSA International Percussion Workshop, Drum Camp and Festival. The multi-day event will be held from July 27th through August 1st on the Green campus of Castleton State College, in Vermont, USA.

Russell Garcia was born on 12 April 1916 in Oakland, California. He grew up in what he says was an “ordinary” household where music was something that came out of the radio. At the age of five-year-old Russ was standing by the radio every Sunday morning listening to the New York Philharmonic. Russ Garcia lives in New Zealand with his wife since 1971. Read an interview with Randall Larson.

MILLIONS of neighbours are encouraged to become good friends at the Fête des voisins on May 28. More than eight million people participated in last year's fête - a huge jump from its origins in a quartier in Paris. It was founded by Atanase Périfan in 1999 who was moved to action after hearing how an elderly woman’s body was not found in her flat for two months after she died. Mr Périfan said: "It was so sad to think that nobody knew the woman was there.”