7 h. ago The end of the Vietnam War was also a turning point for protest songs

The departure in 1975 of the last Americans from Vietnam didn't only end a tragic chapter in the history of the two countries

Events

8 d. ago ‘The goal of a protest song is to make people feel strong and alive’: Ani DiFranco on Broadway, Fugazi and 30 years of activism

The singer-songwriter answers your questions about 90s gigs with Tori Amos, her ‘humbling’ run in Hadestown and keeping hope alive in the Trump eraPlease talk about growing up in Buffalo, New York – the music scene there, and becoming an emancipated adult at 15. AugustoMAs a child, I befriended Michael Meldrum, a local troubadour. He brought me around to his gigs and coffee houses. That was a cool, unique way to grow up, beside this alcoholic artist who hopped from girlfriend to girlfriend’s house. He he was smart and so well informed when it came to music.I was his shadow between the ages of nine and 13 or 14 or so. Beyond that, we parted ways. So when I was an emancipated minor at 15 and going into the adult world, it was with no protector by my side. I was out there in bars, on my own, running the open mic, playing gigs. I had an after-school job – I was trying to finish high school. I never managed to grow a thick skin; I’m still very open and porous. Somehow I survived all thos...

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1 week ago Why tourists are flocking to Vietnam’s battlefields, 50 years on from the war

Places where countless lives were lost have become poignant pilgrimage sites

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1 week ago Xi warns ‘no winners’ from Trump trade war as he heads to Vietnam

Chinese leader seeks to strengthen ties with export-dependent economies facing high US levies

Events

1 week ago Xi Jinping seeks to strengthen economic ties during tour of south

President’s first stop is Vietnam as China urges US to end trade war and return to ‘right path of mutual respect’The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will visit Vietnam on Monday as he begins a tour of south-east Asia where he will seek to strengthen ties with neighbouring countries amid an escalating trade war.Xi will visit Vietnam from Monday, before travelling to Malaysia and Cambodia, a high profile tour that Chinese officials have described as being of “major importance”. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago 50 years later, Vietnam's battlefields draw retrospective veterans and other tourists

Hamburger Hill, Hue, the Ia Drang Valley, Khe Sanh: Some remember the Vietnam War battles from the headlines of the 1960s and 1970s, others from movies and history books

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3 w. ago CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Science Fiction In The Atomic Age on Sky Arts: The sci

Vietnam war veteran Joe Haldeman is a human time machine. Now 81 and probably the world's greatest living sci-fi author, he has an unequalled record of predicting the future.

Politics

3 w. ago Zadie Smith on the magic of Tracy Chapman: ‘She didn’t just look like us – she was singing our songs’

The novelist was just 12 when the ex-busker stunned a mammoth crowd at the Free Nelson Mandela concert – and sent everyone racing to Woolworths for her astonishing debut album. Its simple, honest, perfect songs of protest have mesmerised the writer ever sinceOn 11 June 1988, I was 12 and sitting with my family watching the Free Nelson Mandela Concert on TV. As a clan, we were old hands at trying to free Mandela, having done our fair share of marching and boycotting over the years, and this concert felt like the culmination of all that. There was a lot of excitement in the room: we squeezed on to the sofa and opened the windows wide. (If the wind’s blowing in the right direction, you can hear a Wembley audience roar from Willesden.)Many world-famous musicians played that day. Most of them I don’t remember, but one I will never forget: Tracy Chapman. I think a lot of people feel that way, though when you rewatch the footage you realise what she was up against at the time. Nobody cheer...

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