大象传媒

Staff Benda Bilili
The debut album from Staff Benda Bilili is already being called one of the best of 2009. It features a group of paraplegic musicians who live in Kinshasa zoo and have created a unique and energetic sound. Their album features the young musician Roger Landu who Mark Coles first discovered back in 2007. The Strand talks to film-maker Renaud Barret about this amazing group and the documentary he is making about their life and work.
Their album Tres Tres Fort is out now on Crammed Discs.

Moroccan Cabaret
The 大象传媒's James Copnall takes us to Morocco, and to the first Cabaret club in Marrakech. Finding out how the club has been received in this Muslim country.

Japanese Manga
We look at the origins of the Japanese comic work Manga at a new exhibition of incredible woodblock prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi one of the greatest print artists of the 19th Century. Paul Gravett shows us around the 150 artefacts at London's Royal Academy of Arts

Amit Chaudhuri
Prize winning Indian writer Amit Chaudhuri's talks to Mark Coles about The Immortals - his first novel for nine years. It tells the story of two families conflicted by the love of music and the need to make money and comes from the author's own love of music from traditional raga to Hendrix.

Monsters Vs Aliens
The Strand reviews the new 3D animated film 'Monsters Vs. Aliens'. Does the new Dreamworks produced extravaganza work for children and adult alike?

Warhol in Paris
From Mao Zedong to Marilyn Monroe: a new show in Paris brings together Andy Warhol's most famous pieces of pop art. But was it just simple 'pop'? Or could you argue that Warhol one of the last century's best portrait artists?

Daby Toure and Skip McDonald
One of the leading lights of the World Music scene, Mauritanian musician Daby Toure has teamed up with American Bluesman Skip McDonald for an album entitled "Call My Name". They play live for us.