大象传媒

Harriett Gilbert and Mark Coles welcome you to the weekday arts show, The Strand.

On Today's Show

Emmanuel Jal is the former Sudanese child soldier whose incredible life story has been charted in his rap records Ceasefire and Warchild. Following a film documentary about his journey, he is now releasing a book called "warchild" which charts in full detail how his mother was murdered, he was inducted into a children's army and his ultimate rehabilitation by a British aid worker before he went on to become an internationally successful rapper who performed at Live 8 and Nelson Mandela's 90th birth celebrations. He talks to the Strand about the process of writing his life story.

An oil painting Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante by Dai Dudu, Li Tiezi, and Zhang An is an extraordinary painting depicting 103 figures from world history in striking detail. Echoes of classic art seem to spring out from every point - but what does it mean? The work has become the latest internet hit as messageboards are abuzz with decoding its references. Tim Marlow discusses the enigmas of this unlikely gathering of historical figures in the afterlife.

Most people are familiar with the names of the Italian Renaissance - Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci - who led a 15th century flourishing of the arts that spread throughout Europe. What's not so well known is that at the same time there was a very similar revolution in the arts taking place in Korea. An exhibition of the art of that time has just gone on display at New York's Metropolitan Museum Of Art. The Strand goes along to find out why the Korean artists deserve to be as famous as the Italian Renaissance painters.

To celebrate Iranian New Year or Nowruz on Friday, the 大象传媒's new Persian TV channel is broadcasting a concert by the Iranian rock band Kiosk. The group formed 18 years ago in Tehran and were forced to operate underground, rehearsing and playing their music in secret because of Iran's strict censorship laws. In 2006 they moved to the US and, posting their music on the internet, have become a big hit both inside Iran and with Iranians living abroad. They've recently released their third album Global Zoo and we talk to lead guitarist Babak Khiavchi and the songwriter Arash Sobhani.