Singing the Praises

Songs with an unexpected religious twist in this week's show. At left, she's sexy; she's hip hop; she's klezmer! She's Sophie Solomon and she's making Klezmer kinda...well...hot!

Madonna Concert Deemed Blasphemous by Dutch Christians
A Pew Study on European Values says just 21% of Europeans say religion is "very important" to them. So, if that’s the case, why did Dutch Protestants protest a recent Madonna concert? Jonathan Groubert reports...
Read more on this here....

French Evangelicals
Promising miracles, joyful gospel singing and rebaptisms, the Evangelical and Charismatic churches are growing and growing. One American preacher just finished a week in Paris. The meetings were unprecedented both in size and in style. Alison Hird pulled up a pew.

Turkish Islamic Pop
Yeshil, the latest Turkish music craze, joins pious Islam with wicked guitar licks. Dorian Jones meets the king of Yeshil pop in Istanbul. And asks what this unlikely musical fusion says about modern Turkey.

Vienna Boys’ Choir Sing Talking Heads
The Vienna Boys Choir is steeped in tradition. But as Louise Potterton recently heard with her own ears, a more modern sound has been wafting from the eaves of the baroque palace where the boys live and rehearse.

Klezmer the New Cool: Sophie Solomon
Currently on tour with her new band in Europe, Cinnamon Nippard caught up with violinist Sophie Solomon who fearlessly joins Hip Hop with Klezmer.

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The Price at the Pump

This is how this week's program germinated. It was pretty simple really. I filled up my 13 year old Renault 19's tank with gas, it was particularly empty, and saw the counter soar up to 60 Euros! That's $75 folks! I got pissed off. I wanted answers. And I got some. This week: The Price at the Pump.

The Expert Says Oil Prices are Right
The top 5 oil companies combined made 112 billion dollars last year. At the same time, they’re claiming to be in trouble. What’s going on here? Jonathan Groubert asks Dr. Coby van der Linden of the Clingendael Energy Institute why the price at the pump is so high.
Click here to go to the site of the Clingendael Energy Institute
Royal Dutch Shell's Sustainability Reports

Environmentalist Spins Oil Profits
Jonathan Groubert interviews Hannah Griffiths, Royal Dutch Shell expert at the environmental group, Friends of the Earth. She points out that oil company profits

Norway’s Arctic Oil Bonanza
Norway is exploiting new gas fields in the Barents Sea, much to the consternation of environmentalists and joy of the locals. Lars Bevanger reports from Lillehammer.

Segment 4 - Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan Pipeline Opens
Americans outflanking the Russians. Wars in the Caucuses. Turkey currying favor with the EU. Jonathan Groubert interviews Dorian Jones about the woes and benefits of Turkeys part in the oil pipeline that hopes to avoid the Middle East and sideline Russia.

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The Last Best of the Quest: Letting the Past Catch Up

And we should let the past catch up with us. Case in point: Warsaw's massive Palace of Culture and Science. A prime example of Socialist Realist architecture that is so instantly recognizable in former Soviet satellites. It was a gift to Poland from Joseph Stalin. As a result, many were as ambivalent about it as Romanian's were about Ceaucescu's Palace (see post Nov. 21). Remember all those scenes from spy movies or newsreels of party gatherings in gigantic auditoriums? Warsaw's is here. When Pope John Paul II decided to make his move and give a speech in support of the Solidarity Labor Movement in the 80s, he did that in the square in front of this building, taking advantage of its obvious symbolism.

Once it dominated the city, but today it shares the skyline with modern steel and glass towers. This thing is, it's still a great building. And it has secrets waiting to be explored.

Did you know there's a Museum of Technology in there? It is massive and deceptive. At first I walked in fully expecting to see a laughable holdover from the socialist past. And indeed, I chuckled at the ancient, cracked display cases that must have looked outdated the day they were put up. The signs were stained, hand written Polish with the odd misspelled English word. But as I walked from room to room, I began to realize that this Museum had a rare and utterly complete collection of technologies. Oh yes, there was the requisite emphasis on factories, but in the form gigantic working scale models.

Another section boasted a collection of computers, from a Commodore 64 to a Kray supercomputer and socialist models totally unknown in the West. Strolling through a section on historical typewriters, I nearly whizzed past an enigma device, the German encoder/decoder so important during WWII.

Today they are opening a Museum of Communism. I can think of no more fitting place to let the past catch up.
You can hear more about it in last week's EuroQuest.

Segment 1 - British Public Service announcements
Does the public really need instructions on the proper operation of a handkerchief? The British government thought so back in 1945 and produced a film on that and other so-called public service matters. The British national archive has pooled together a number of these films and has placed them online. Want to see them for yourself? Click here.

2 - The Slovak Artist and Vincent van Gogh
Thousands of people have made pilgrimages to the house in Nuenen, where Vincent van Gogh grew up. But only one of them has actually met Vincent, in a way. Helene Michaud tells the weird and wonderful tale of the two Vincents.

Segment 3 - Warsaw Palace of Culture Revisited
The Palace of Culture in Warsaw, with its monstrous size and audacious architecture, is a tourist attraction and a moneymaker. But, as Michal Kubicki explains, it was a gift from Josef Stalin, meant to glorify socialism.

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Best of the Quest Part 5 = Living Apart Together Part 2

The Red Head Dead? The End of the Red Head? Can it be? Read On.


Segment 1 - French ‘Grande Ecole’ Recruits Minorities
Five years ago France’s Institute of Political Studies decided it was time to change the resolutely white, upper class profile of its student body, and reach out to the untouchables of French society. Frank Browning filed this profile of the Institute.
Science-Po's Official Site

Segment 2 - Colonial France Rehabilitated?
French colonialism still has repercussions to this day. After all, many of the young men burning cars in the French suburbs were the sons of immigrants from the former empire. So, should France be proud of its colonial past? Nick Champeaux reports.

Segment 3 - Germans Have Hard Time Integrating to Holland
Mira Peeters from the University of Nijmegen wrote her doctoral thesis on the integration of German immigrants. She found that most Germans have a hard time feeling Dutch, and that the Dutch themselves aren’t really helping. Thijs Westerbeek reports.
Interesting discussion continues on the EXPATICA web site.

Segment 4 - End of the Red Head?
Can it really be true that, as a result of migration and ethnic mixing, there will be no redheads in 50 years time? Kathy Clugston spoke with dr. Eric Sistemans.
Kathy wrote an article with picture of people with genuinely red hair!

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