Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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‘Where the earthly meets the spiritual’
Saxophonist John Gunther’s three Axis Mundi albums echo with a heavenly connection spanning many cultures, thinks CHRIS SEARLE
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
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NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
John Gunther’s Axis Mundi
Healing Song (CIMP 163), Above Now Below (CIMP 176) and Gone Fishin’ (CIMP 232)
THE Colorado tenor saxophonist John Gunther (born in Denver in 1966) calls his band Axis Mundi and says that the words refer “to the place where human consciousness reaches for the eternal, where the earthly realm meets the spiritual.”
Some aspirations indeed for a jazz musician, especially one whose sounds reflect and affirm the many musics of the world.
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