![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaUkraine war: Bucha’s wounds still raw two years onPublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage source, Matthew Goddard/BBCImage caption, Ludmila has finally been able to install a headstone for her husband Valeriy’s grave after two yearsIn March 2022 invading Russian troops occupied the Ukrainian town of Bucha outside Kyiv, leaving a trail of death and destruction which shocked the world. Two years after their departure, the BBC’s Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford has gone back to see how its traumatised residents are trying to return to normal life.When Russian soldiers killed Ludmila’s husband, she had to wrap him in a blanket and bury him at the back of their garden. She then fled Bucha with her daughter. It was March 2022. The Russians had occupied the small town just outside Kyiv and taken over the pensioners’ home. Soldiers drove a tank into their yard and used the house opposite as their headquarters. Two years on, Ludmila has finally installed a marble headstone on Valeriy’s grave with his photograph. After Bucha was liberated, she was able to have him reburied properly at the local cemetery. The couple’s home, destroyed in the fighting, is slowly being rebuilt. Ludmila has been planting bright coloured flowers in the yard. But when the house is finished, she will live there alone. The building work is part of efforts to restore Bucha from the ruins left by retreating Russian soldiers. When Ukrainian forces retook the town, they discovered bodies strewn in Yablunska Street, where they had been shot. It was the first the outside world knew of the horrors Bucha had endured during 33 days of occupation. “We have a moral obligation to support the families who live on that street, because more than 70 civilians were brutally killed and tortured there,” explains the local mayor, Anatoliy Fedoruk.Yablunska Street and the area around has been cleaned, spruced up and in some places rebuilt. But the Russians took over “almost every yard or house”, according to the mayor, who estimates the total cost of repair at €1.6bn (£1.4bn; $1.7bn). “Of course we don’t have this sum. But we are doing whatever we can to return people to their houses.”Image source, Matthew Goddard/BBCImage caption, Ludmila is anxious to move back into her new homeJust a few steps from Yablunska Street, Ludmila’s new home is still just a shell. The builders have promised to finish it by summer, but she hasn’t seen them for days. Homeless for two years, on top of her bereavement, Ludmila is anxious to move in. “I’m trying to cope, but my blood pressure is high, which it never was before the war,” she says, showing me around the building site. “I’m getting heart scans, signs of problems. It’s all from the stress. From the memories.”In 2022, I saw the burned-out wreck of Ludmila’s old home not long after the Russians had pulled out. The yard was still heaped with alcohol bottles and wrappers from their military ration packs. It was the rubbish of men who had shot Ludmila’s husband in the head when he surfaced for a moment from the cellar where the couple were hiding. She found Valeriy’s body later that night, face down on their porch.The investigation is still open, one of hundreds of suspected war crimes cases in Bucha. Ludmila was recently called in by police who had found new CCTV footage and hoped she might help identify the soldiers on film. Image caption, Ludmila’s burnt-out house in a photo taken two years ago”Maybe they can be charged in absentia. I know Russia will never hand them over,” Ludmila says, realistic about the chances of anyone being held to account for the killing. “Personally, I’d like to grab them by the throat and demand to know why they had to come here,” she says, suddenly animated. “They are scumbags.”Behind the white walls of St Andrew’s Church, where many were buried in a mass grave during the occupation, there is now a memorial wall of metal plaques. So far it displays 509 names. Some squares are still blank because there are more than 100 unidentified bodies at the town cemetery, unearthed from shallow graves all over Bucha and reburied. DNA samples were taken first, in the hope that someone would one day come looking for them. Other plaques on the memorial wall have no death date – only the month of March, when Bucha was under Russian occupation. Opposite is a sign that lists the dozens of people still missing. Among the names is Bogdan Kostarenko, whose wife Natalia I first met in 2022. I was investigating the killing of five men from Bucha whose bodies had been found beneath a children’s summer camp. Natalia’s husband had been taken away by Russian soldiers and she feared he might be one of the dead. He wasn’t.Image source, Matthew Goddard/BBCImage caption, More than 500 names are displayed on Bucha’s memorial wall”They took him to Belarus, then to Detention Centre Number Two in Bryansk [in Russia],” Natalia says, sharing her latest news – after months of trying, she finally traced Bogdan to a prison in Russia. Through other Ukrainians swapped for Russian POWs, she learned that he was in a facility in Tula, south of Moscow. “Russia has officially confirmed he’s a prisoner, but I had to find him through my own contacts,” she tells me. “They should just give the civilians back, but they don’t.”Bogdan retired from the army in 2019 with PTSD. As a civilian prisoner, Natalia fears his chances of being exchanged are slim, as only a few dozen non-combatants have been returned so far. “There are a lot of civilians from Bucha missing – people we know are in prison, but the Russians haven’t confirmed. At least they’ve admitted to having Bogdan, officially.”Natalia has heard nothing from her husband directly since he was taken. But she knows from others held in Bryansk that they were tortured. “They say it was really hard – they were not fed, they were badly beaten, including with electric shock and pipes,” she tells me. “Now I don’t know what else to do. I can’t get him freed. I can’t find any way to do it.”Natalia herself is ethnically Russian. Both her parents are from the country now holding her husband prisoner illegally and accused of abusing him. It was people like Natalia that Vladimir Putin used as his excuse for invading Ukraine. He claimed they needed saving from brutal treatment at the hands of a “Nazi” government in Kyiv.As we talk in the yard, children play football, laughing and shouting. Most of the pre-war population of Bucha has returned, including many who fled Ukraine as refugees. But Natalia worries things could deteriorate again. “You see what Putin’s up to, blaming Ukraine for the Moscow terrorist attack,” she tells me, referring to last month’s attack on the Crocus concert venue. “I think he wants a full war. Full mobilisation.”Image source, BBC SportAcross town, Ludmila is worried too, especially by the recent increase in Russian missile strikes. She keeps visiting her house to check on its progress and to be closer to her memories from before the occupation. She feeds Murka, the stray cat Valeriy once loved to photograph. Gardening distracts her when everything gets too much. “There’s such ruin, all over Ukraine! They’re rebuilding here in Bucha and that’s such joy. But there’s no peace, no stability.”Ludmila shows me purple crocuses and bluebells in neat rows and the green shoots of daffodils. Then she leads me past the porch where Valeriy was shot, through a wooden gate onto the plot of land where she’d had to bury him. “Look how many tulips are coming out!” Ludmila points towards the spot, now a neat flowerbed again. “It used to be so lovely here. We’ll soon have flowers again, all round the house.”Related TopicsWar in UkraineUkraineTop StoriesUkraine nuclear plant drone strike prompts warning over risksPublished2 hours agoBucha’s wounds still raw two years onPublished1 hour agoIsrael reduces troop numbers in southern GazaPublished6 hours agoFeaturesThe Papers: ‘Kyiv aid block’ warning and ‘run of a kind’Path of darkness – scroll every mile of total eclipseMyanmar’s army massacred Rohingyas. Now it wants their help7 lessons from my first series of University ChallengeThe comics legend lurking in a British basementIndigenous deaths in custody haunt AustraliaSix months on, how close is Israel to eliminating Hamas?West faces ‘authoritarian’ alliance, says Nato headWhy these singer-songwriters are pop’s new breakout starsElsewhere on the BBCGet a job, pay the bills. Sounds simple, right?Fresh, surreal comedy from the mind of Lucia KeskinAttributioniPlayerThis family bonds over Race Across the WorldThese are the the things we love on the BBCAttributioniPlayerOne of the most talented bands to never make it…Why did trailblazers Microdisney fail to achieve the commercial success they deserved?AttributioniPlayerDid you know these scenes were filmed in… Glasgow?!Ali Plumb travels through the city’s silver screen sightsAttributioniPlayerMost Read1Manhunt after mum pushing baby in pram stabbed2Where in the UK can you see Monday’s solar eclipse?3Ukraine nuclear plant drone strike prompts warning4’Kyiv aid block’ warning and ‘run of a kind’5’Radiographer started crying during my cancer scan’6Probe after Boeing plane engine cover falls off7’He was one of us’: Memorial ride for Hairy Biker8Mozambique ferry disaster kills over 90 – officials9Ministers ‘caught by surprise’ over hate crime row10Israel reduces troop numbers in southern Gaza](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/B58F/production/_133097464_mediaitem133097463.jpg)
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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaUkraine war: Bucha’s wounds still raw two years onPublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage source, Matthew Goddard/BBCImage caption, Ludmila has finally been able to install a headstone for her husband Valeriy’s grave after two yearsIn March 2022 invading Russian troops occupied the Ukrainian town of Bucha outside Kyiv, leaving a trail of death and destruction which shocked the world. Two years after their departure, the BBC’s Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford has gone back to see how its traumatised residents are trying to return to normal life.When Russian soldiers killed Ludmila’s husband, she had to wrap him in a blanket and bury him at the back of their garden. She then fled Bucha with her daughter. It was March 2022. The Russians had occupied the small town just outside Kyiv and taken over the pensioners’ home. Soldiers drove a tank into their yard and used the house opposite as their headquarters. Two years on, Ludmila has finally installed a marble headstone on Valeriy’s grave with his photograph. After Bucha was liberated, she was able to have him reburied properly at the local cemetery. The couple’s home, destroyed in the fighting, is slowly being rebuilt. Ludmila has been planting bright coloured flowers in the yard. But when the house is finished, she will live there alone. The building work is part of efforts to restore Bucha from the ruins left by retreating Russian soldiers. When Ukrainian forces retook the town, they discovered bodies strewn in Yablunska Street, where they had been shot. It was the first the outside world knew of the horrors Bucha had endured during 33 days of occupation. “We have a moral obligation to support the families who live on that street, because more than 70 civilians were brutally killed and tortured there,” explains the local mayor, Anatoliy Fedoruk.Yablunska Street and the area around has been cleaned, spruced up and in some places rebuilt. But the Russians took over “almost every yard or house”, according to the mayor, who estimates the total cost of repair at €1.6bn (£1.4bn; $1.7bn). “Of course we don’t have this sum. But we are doing whatever we can to return people to their houses.”Image source, Matthew Goddard/BBCImage caption, Ludmila is anxious to move back into her new homeJust a few steps from Yablunska Street, Ludmila’s new home is still just a shell. The builders have promised to finish it by summer, but she hasn’t seen them for days. Homeless for two years, on top of her bereavement, Ludmila is anxious to move in. “I’m trying to cope, but my blood pressure is high, which it never was before the war,” she says, showing me around the building site. “I’m getting heart scans, signs of problems. It’s all from the stress. From the memories.”In 2022, I saw the burned-out wreck of Ludmila’s old home not long after the Russians had pulled out. The yard was still heaped with alcohol bottles and wrappers from their military ration packs. It was the rubbish of men who had shot Ludmila’s husband in the head when he surfaced for a moment from the cellar where the couple were hiding. She found Valeriy’s body later that night, face down on their porch.The investigation is still open, one of hundreds of suspected war crimes cases in Bucha. Ludmila was recently called in by police who had found new CCTV footage and hoped she might help identify the soldiers on film. Image caption, Ludmila’s burnt-out house in a photo taken two years ago”Maybe they can be charged in absentia. I know Russia will never hand them over,” Ludmila says, realistic about the chances of anyone being held to account for the killing. “Personally, I’d like to grab them by the throat and demand to know why they had to come here,” she says, suddenly animated. “They are scumbags.”Behind the white walls of St Andrew’s Church, where many were buried in a mass grave during the occupation, there is now a memorial wall of metal plaques. So far it displays 509 names. Some squares are still blank because there are more than 100 unidentified bodies at the town cemetery, unearthed from shallow graves all over Bucha and reburied. DNA samples were taken first, in the hope that someone would one day come looking for them. Other plaques on the memorial wall have no death date – only the month of March, when Bucha was under Russian occupation. Opposite is a sign that lists the dozens of people still missing. Among the names is Bogdan Kostarenko, whose wife Natalia I first met in 2022. I was investigating the killing of five men from Bucha whose bodies had been found beneath a children’s summer camp. Natalia’s husband had been taken away by Russian soldiers and she feared he might be one of the dead. He wasn’t.Image source, Matthew Goddard/BBCImage caption, More than 500 names are displayed on Bucha’s memorial wall”They took him to Belarus, then to Detention Centre Number Two in Bryansk [in Russia],” Natalia says, sharing her latest news – after months of trying, she finally traced Bogdan to a prison in Russia. Through other Ukrainians swapped for Russian POWs, she learned that he was in a facility in Tula, south of Moscow. “Russia has officially confirmed he’s a prisoner, but I had to find him through my own contacts,” she tells me. “They should just give the civilians back, but they don’t.”Bogdan retired from the army in 2019 with PTSD. As a civilian prisoner, Natalia fears his chances of being exchanged are slim, as only a few dozen non-combatants have been returned so far. “There are a lot of civilians from Bucha missing – people we know are in prison, but the Russians haven’t confirmed. At least they’ve admitted to having Bogdan, officially.”Natalia has heard nothing from her husband directly since he was taken. But she knows from others held in Bryansk that they were tortured. “They say it was really hard – they were not fed, they were badly beaten, including with electric shock and pipes,” she tells me. “Now I don’t know what else to do. I can’t get him freed. I can’t find any way to do it.”Natalia herself is ethnically Russian. Both her parents are from the country now holding her husband prisoner illegally and accused of abusing him. It was people like Natalia that Vladimir Putin used as his excuse for invading Ukraine. He claimed they needed saving from brutal treatment at the hands of a “Nazi” government in Kyiv.As we talk in the yard, children play football, laughing and shouting. Most of the pre-war population of Bucha has returned, including many who fled Ukraine as refugees. But Natalia worries things could deteriorate again. “You see what Putin’s up to, blaming Ukraine for the Moscow terrorist attack,” she tells me, referring to last month’s attack on the Crocus concert venue. “I think he wants a full war. Full mobilisation.”Image source, BBC SportAcross town, Ludmila is worried too, especially by the recent increase in Russian missile strikes. She keeps visiting her house to check on its progress and to be closer to her memories from before the occupation. She feeds Murka, the stray cat Valeriy once loved to photograph. Gardening distracts her when everything gets too much. “There’s such ruin, all over Ukraine! They’re rebuilding here in Bucha and that’s such joy. But there’s no peace, no stability.”Ludmila shows me purple crocuses and bluebells in neat rows and the green shoots of daffodils. Then she leads me past the porch where Valeriy was shot, through a wooden gate onto the plot of land where she’d had to bury him. “Look how many tulips are coming out!” Ludmila points towards the spot, now a neat flowerbed again. “It used to be so lovely here. We’ll soon have flowers again, all round the house.”Related TopicsWar in UkraineUkraineTop StoriesUkraine nuclear plant drone strike prompts warning over risksPublished2 hours agoBucha’s wounds still raw two years onPublished1 hour agoIsrael reduces troop numbers in southern GazaPublished6 hours agoFeaturesThe Papers: ‘Kyiv aid block’ warning and ‘run of a kind’Path of darkness – scroll every mile of total eclipseMyanmar’s army massacred Rohingyas. Now it wants their help7 lessons from my first series of University ChallengeThe comics legend lurking in a British basementIndigenous deaths in custody haunt AustraliaSix months on, how close is Israel to eliminating Hamas?West faces ‘authoritarian’ alliance, says Nato headWhy these singer-songwriters are pop’s new breakout starsElsewhere on the BBCGet a job, pay the bills. Sounds simple, right?Fresh, surreal comedy from the mind of Lucia KeskinAttributioniPlayerThis family bonds over Race Across the WorldThese are the the things we love on the BBCAttributioniPlayerOne of the most talented bands to never make it…Why did trailblazers Microdisney fail to achieve the commercial success they deserved?AttributioniPlayerDid you know these scenes were filmed in… Glasgow?!Ali Plumb travels through the city’s silver screen sightsAttributioniPlayerMost Read1Manhunt after mum pushing baby in pram stabbed2Where in the UK can you see Monday’s solar eclipse?3Ukraine nuclear plant drone strike prompts warning4’Kyiv aid block’ warning and ‘run of a kind’5’Radiographer started crying during my cancer scan’6Probe after Boeing plane engine cover falls off7’He was one of us’: Memorial ride for Hairy Biker8Mozambique ferry disaster kills over 90 – officials9Ministers ‘caught by surprise’ over hate crime row10Israel reduces troop numbers in southern Gaza
[ad_1] A town known for its brutal Russian occupation is being cleaned up and rebuilt, but for many the emotional scars remain.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaChristiania: A Copenhagen hippy commune fights back against drug gangsPublished42 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage caption, Local residents are trying to reclaim Pusher StreetBy Adrienne MurrayCopenhagenFor more than 50 years, the hippy neighbourhood of Christiania has been a haven of counter-culture, in the very heart of the Danish capital Copenhagen.Popular with tourists, it is known for its liberal attitude towards cannabis and the infamous drug market, Pusher Street.However, in recent years organised criminals have increasingly taken over, and growing violence has rattled the community. Residents have now had enough. In a bid to reclaim the street from drug dealers, this Saturday they began physically digging it up, armed with spades and crowbars. There were celebratory claps and cheers of “Christiania”, as locals prised up heavy cobblestones and tossed them into wheelbarrows, one by one. “We’ve been breaking up Pusher Street. It’s closing down today. So it’s a kind of a closing party,” said local Pia Jagger, carrying away a big stone.Now this roughly 100-metre stretch of road has a new sign reading: “Pusher Street is closed today.””In the last five or six years I haven’t been here that much because I have kids and I didn’t feel very safe,” said onlooker Sofie Ostergaard. “Today I brought all three of them, and they’re helping.” Standing beside a rainbow-coloured cargo bike, 40-year resident Hulda Mader told the BBC: “It feels like a historic moment. We’re very happy for it.”A spokeswoman for Christiania’s press group, she said: “We are very tired of people saying Pusher Street is Christiania. It is not.”Though it’s illegal in Denmark, cannabis has been sold openly in Christiania for decades.Image caption, A mural has been painted remembering one person who was shot dead in the areaBut many of the original local dealers have been pushed out, as organised gangs have wrested control. In the last three years, there has been a spate of stabbings and fatal shootings. According to Ms Mader, the community reached a turning point about a year-and-a-half ago. “Two people came in,” she said. “They shot one dead and injured four others. That was absolutely where we said this is enough.””We’re going to dig it up. We’re gonna change all the infrastructure. Then we’re gonna start building other stuff.””For us hash is not the problem, it’s the money in it,” Mette Prag, a representative from the Freetown Christiania Foundation, told reporters. “But the last years with all the violence and all the fighting, we cannot have it in our society. That’s why now this chapter must come to an end.”Among those present on Saturday was Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard. “It is a day that is the beginning of the end, of the very, very deep roots that organised crime gangs have established in this neighbourhood in Copenhagen,” he said.”To safeguard that Christiania will continue to be a vibrant, colourful, creative part of Denmark, it needs to be a place without organised criminal gangs.”Tourists are still welcome to visit Christiania, he added, but not for drugs.Image caption, Cobblestones were dug up by locals during the dayOrdinarily this T-shaped strip is the epicentre of Denmark’s cannabis trade, where so-called pushers hawk weed from behind makeshift stacks of beer crates and plywood market stalls, labelled with names like Green Rocket and Blue Dream. Just three days ago, the BBC counted roughly 20 sellers. Until the late 1990s it was informally tolerated, says Kim Moeller, a professor of criminology at Malmo University. But that ended in the 2000s, as the market grew bigger and more visible. He says about five different gangs now operate, and that has brought more disputes. “If you have a conflict between groups in Copenhagen, they can most likely find each other in Pusher Street where they can shoot at each other,” says Deputy Police Inspector Simon Hansen, who oversees the Copenhagen police force’s operation in Christiania.It is often the people manning these shops who get caught up, he says. “They are sometimes kids. Sometimes people who have some kind of disability, and people who can’t get a job.”Police have repeatedly raided Pusher Street but the dealers have kept coming back.”We clear out the shops 100 times a year”, Mr Hansen said. “That sounds like pushing the same rock up a mountain. But we don’t want the shops to evolve to small houses and sheds.”‘Perfect hippie dream’Found within a kilometre of the Danish parliament, Freetown Christiania was established in 1971 when a bunch of anarchists and hippies squatted inside a vacant military base. They set up an independent commune, with its owns rules and flag. There is no leader and decisions are made by consensus at communal meetings. The Danish state eventually accepted Christiania as a radical “social experiment”, later giving it legal status. Local gallery owner Marios Orozco moved here from the USA in 1981, when he was 19. “I had long hair and found Christiania to be the perfect hippie dream,” he told the BBC.”You can imagine a village filled with people that didn’t fit into society. There were bikers, hippies and nudists running around. It was sort of a chaotic piece of heaven.”Today 1,000 residents, including 250 children, live in the graffiti-covered barracks and wooden cottages along Copenhagen’s historic ramparts. With music venues, vegetarian cafes and souvenir shops, it’s also one of the country’s top tourist destinations. Christiania has often been at loggerheads with the authorities, and for a long time it resisted efforts to shut down Pusher Street. But last August residents agreed it must go. In an extraordinary shift, they collaborated for several months with Copenhagen’s Lord Mayor Sophie Haestorp Andersen, Justice Minister Hummelgaard and police over a new plan.”As a city, we cannot live with [the violence], and the local Christianites have not been able to live with it either, but had been afraid to do something radically about it,” said the mayor. “I told them I would back them up. Now we have a plan and we’re taking the first step.”Image caption, Saturday’s celebrations are not the first time Christianites have tried to kick out the gangsIt’s not the first time Christianites have tried to keep the gangs out. Last August Pusher Street was blockaded with shipping containers and concrete blocks. But the dealers soon returned. And Mr Orozco is among those who are sceptical that Saturday’s initiative will work. “If this does eventually succeed and they manage to disperse [the dealers], they won’t be in one area, there’ll be many areas,” he says. The question of the dealers spilling over into the rest of Copenhagen is something that has often been discussed.”We don’t try to let anyone get the idea that this will kill off the illegal drugs market,” said Mr Hummelgaard. “The police themselves, they assess that they will have an easier job combating the illegal drug trade and crimes related to that, if it’s not all concentrated.”More than five decades after its creation, the commune still survives, though its future faces more uncertainty. Besides shuttering Pusher Street, new plans to revitalise the area include a large social housing development. But others fear it will hurt the commune’s identity. “They want to build 300 apartments,” said Mr Orozco. “It’s going to just destroy the vibe of this place.”New arts spaces, playgrounds and shops are among the ideas for what might eventually replace Pusher Street. “We will reboot the workplaces, the culture places,” said Mette Prag. But also on the cards is potentially a new name for the street. Related TopicsCopenhagenDenmarkMore on this storyWill legalising cannabis unleash chaos in Germany?Published5 days agoArtist took money and ran – now it is payback timePublished18 September 2023Top StoriesThousands of Israelis rally to demand hostage dealPublished1 hour agoPM marks six months of Israel-Gaza war as UK sends Navy ship for aidPublished2 hours agoDozens of UK flights cancelled as Storm Kathleen sweeps inPublished3 hours agoFeaturesThe Papers: ‘Gaza famine’ warning and Corrie ‘budgeting row’Six months on, how close is Israel to eliminating Hamas?’A game of Jenga’: Inside the perilous Baltimore bridge clean-upThe world’s eclipse chasers arrive in North AmericaWhere in the UK can you see Monday’s solar eclipse?Boris Johnson, David Cameron, and the row over arming Israel. AudioBoris Johnson, David Cameron, and the row over arming IsraelAttributionSoundsWhere does Israel get its weapons?New Yorkers mostly unshaken by rare earthquakeKacey Musgraves: ‘The tortured musician cliché is a farce’Elsewhere on the BBCIt’s make or break timeAnother set of eager entrepreneurs hope to impress the fearsome panelAttributioniPlayerBruce Lee as you’ve never seen him beforeTen defining pictures throw a unique lens onto an extraordinary lifeAttributioniPlayerAmbition, money and deceptionThe scandalous true story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, starring Amanda SeyfriedAttributioniPlayerFrom Starman to film star…How did the silver screen inspire David Bowie?AttributioniPlayerMost Read1Actor Cole Brings Plenty found dead in Kansas2Woman dies after stabbing in busy city centre3Dozens of UK flights cancelled as storm sweeps in4Thousands of Israelis rally to demand hostage deal5Planes clip each other at Heathrow Airport6Where in the UK can you see Monday’s solar eclipse?7West faces ‘authoritarian’ alliance, says Nato head8Three-year-old girl rescued after falling into lake9Warnings of more flooding in Sydney as dam spills10Myanmar army loses border town in another big defeat](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/9177/production/_133093273_4069ec64-c320-4d18-95eb-9db93f27913c.jpg)
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityCultureTexas star Sharleen Spiteri finds magic in Muscle ShoalsPublished47 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Julian BroadBy Mark SavageMusic correspondentMuscle Shoals, Alabama. The small town that made the big hits.Thirty miles south of Tennessee, and two hours east of Memphis, it originally formed part of the historic Cherokee hunting grounds, but became an unlikely staging post for rock and R&B royalty in the 1960s and 70s.Acts like Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Etta James and Paul Simon all made the pilgrimage to this backwater town, where the nicest hotel was a Holiday Inn and the restaurants served local specialties like fried catfish and turnip greens.What drew them there was The Swampers – a crack team of studio musicians, whose rich, funky Southern grooves infused classics like Aretha Franklin’s Respect, The Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar and The Staples Singers’ I’ll Take You There.Part of the attraction was the town’s disregard for the segregation that divided the South. The local radio station, WLAY, was unusual for playing music by both white and black artists; and the colour-blind approach was duplicated in the local recording studios.”It was a dangerous time, but the studio was a safe haven where blacks and whites could work together in musical harmony,” said Rick Hall, who owned and operated the FAME Studios from the 1950s until his death in 2018.That gave this small, backwater town its distinctive sound: An intoxicating amalgam of gritty R&B, gospel and country, that soundtracked more than 500 singles, including 75 gold and platinum hits.Image source, House Of Fame / Getty ImagesImage caption, Etta James recording at Muscle Shoals’ FAME Studios, circa 1967According to former curator of Alabama’s Music Hall of Fame, George Lair, the Muscle Shoals sound was a product of geography.”You can draw a triangle from Nashville to Memphis to Muscle Shoals, and while Nashville is the country centre, Memphis is generally known as the blues centre,” he told NPR in 2023. “Muscle Shoals, being between those two places, has been able to combine those two styles into a real Southern rhythm and blues that was very appealing.”At their peak, the Muscle Shoals’ players were largely anonymous but music obsessives – the sort of people who pored over the liner notes of their vinyl albums – knew all about them: Keyboardist Barry Beckett, drummer Roger Hawkins, guitarist Jimmy Johnson, bassist David Hood and pianist Spooner Oldham.Among those obsessives, all the way over in Balloch, Scotland, was Sharleen Spiteri, the future singer of rock band Texas. “We all knew the story of when Aretha went to Muscle Shoals and she thought she was going to record with these old blues guys; then she turned up and it was this group of geeky white blokes,” she tells the BBC. “But when they played, she was like, ‘This is what I’ve been looking for’, and she overruled everybody and put them on her record.”BBC Two: Texas at the BBCBBC Storyville: Muscle Shoals – The Greatest Recording Studio In The WorldSo when she got the opportunity to record at FAME studios with Oldham – who’d helped Aretha shape the sound of I Never Loved A Man (The Way That I Love You) – her answer was an emphatic “yes”.”It’s pretty damn special,” she says. “I don’t think anything’s changed in the studio over the years. Inspiration is soaked into the wooden panels on the walls.”Some musicians might have been apprehensive about living up to the studio’s legacy – but not her.”I don’t really get intimidated by stuff like that,” she laughs. “I’m like a peacock. My tail feather starts wagging, like, ‘Oh my God, we’re gonna be part of history’.”Image source, Clyde GatesImage caption, Spooner Oldham and Sharleen Spiteri recorded the bulk of the album live in the studio, in the summer of 2022The results are gorgeous. Classic Texas songs like Halo, Say What You Want and I Don’t Want A Lover are purified in the swampy waters of the Tennessee River, and reborn with a spacious, soulful clarity. Spiteri says the tracks were laid down almost spontaneously in the summer of 2022.”It was me sitting on the piano stool next to Spooner, tapping out the timing on his leg.”A lot of the songs were first take, which is quite extraordinary because we didn’t rehearse it. “He’d start playing and find a certain rhythm that’s not on the original [track] and suddenly we’d be dancing around each other, making new versions of a song that I thought I knew really well.”The new arrangements emphasise the sumptuous timbre of Spiteri’s contralto, adding fresh intimacy to familiar melodies.The opening track, Halo, is stripped of its pop sheen and presented as a gospel devotional, with Oldham at the organ and the backing vocalists summoning a ghostly spirituality.”When we hit record, I was literally like, ‘Holy cow’,” says Spiteri. “It’s so emotional, and I think you can really feel the joy in the little exchanges between us.”But before she got too carried away, reality intruded.”The thing is, even when we were making a record at Muscle Shoals we had to stop every day at one o’clock because they had a guided tour,” laughs Spiteri. “That’s how they make ends meet.”Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Spooner Oldham has added piano and organ to recordings by Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and Cat PowerIt’s a harsh reality of modern music. Bands rarely record live to tape any more, with most albums pieced together on laptops.As a result, storied recording studios like Muscle Shoals and FAME are either closing or finding new ways to survive.”It’s so tight now,” says Spiteri.”You can’t go to your record company and say, ‘Okay, we’re going to hire a 72-piece orchestra’. That’s not happening unless you’re Beyoncé… And this is coming from someone who actually sells records.”Those budgets don’t exist, yet record companies insist on giving all our music to streaming companies for next to nothing.”Texas were fortunate, in that they made their names during the CD era, selling almost two million copies of their 1997 album White On Blonde in the UK alone.Still selling out arenas, they left the major label ecosystem almost two decades ago, and now release music in partnership with the more artist-friendly BMG.Even so, Spiteri is worried about the future for songwriters.”I personally felt the music industry should have gone out on strike with the film industry,” she says, referring to last year’s writers’ strike, which secured increases in royalty payments for streaming content, and protections against the use of artificial intelligence in scripts.Spiteri makes a similar argument to the screed Raye delivered at the Brit Awards earlier this month: Royalty rates are too low; and songwriters should get paid when their music is streamed (at the moment, they are not automatically entitled to anything).Image caption, Texas will play a greatest hits tour across the UK this September”The problem is that unless the really big artists withhold their music from streaming services, nothing will change,” she says. “If the whole music industry stood together and said, ‘Screw you all, none of you can have the music,’ it would be very interesting to see what happens.”It’s shameful that record companies don’t make a stance and protect us… But you did’nae join a band because you want to be rich and famous,” she muses. “Well, some people do, but you can sniff out the real deals.”If anyone can claim to be the real deal, it’s Spiteri. No-nonsense, music-first, and utterly in command of the stage, she’s been a rock star ever since she gave up hairdressing to form Texas almost 40 years ago.Their latest album may revisit old ground, courtesy of a pilgrimage to hallowed turf – but it sounds like a band revitalised, and Spiteri can’t wait to get back on stage.”You have to go on full tilt, every night,” she says. “People want to be entertained, they want a right old sing-along. “So you can’t be thinking, ‘Hey, let me see how I’m feeling tonight’. That’s not how it works. “You have to put on your big boy pants and pull it off.”Related TopicsStreamingMusicTop StoriesBaltimore search ends as six presumed dead in bridge disasterPublished2 hours agoLost power, mayday call and crash before Baltimore bridge collapsePublished4 hours agoPublic satisfaction with NHS at lowest ever levelPublished2 hours agoFeaturesWhat we know about Baltimore bridge collapseIn pictures: Baltimore bridge collapseSharleen Spiteri finds magic in Muscle ShoalsThe Papers: ‘Heartbreak bridge’ and church ‘asylum fiasco’The women behind a fugitive rapist’s downfallFight for justice decades on from oil rig disaster‘Living the dream as Britain’s best padel player’£5bn Thames super sewer set for completionElsewhere on the BBCConquering Everest’s ‘Death Zone’ on skisFind out how a Japanese alpinist became the first person to ski down Mount EverestAttributionSounds’You do feel like you’re invincible’Why are so many young men risking their lives on the UK’s roads?AttributioniPlayerHow Trump’s golf dream turned into a nightmare…His controversial golf development in Aberdeenshire was greenlit with awful consequencesAttributionSoundsHow many big hits from 1995 will you remember?Featuring Ace of Base, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, David Bowie and many moreAttributioniPlayerMost Read1Six presumed dead after Baltimore bridge collapse2Church limited Clapham attacker’s attendance3Barclays bank payments hit by outage4’Heartbreak bridge’ and church ‘asylum fiasco’5Lost power, mayday call and crash before Baltimore bridge collapse6The women behind a fugitive rapist’s downfall7Taylor Swift’s dad dodges assault charge in Australia8Russia blames West and Kyiv for Moscow jihadist attack9More living than dead people on statues last year10Public satisfaction with NHS at lowest ever level](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/7648/production/_133008203_20230321_jb_texas_s03_077_julianbroad.jpg)
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaTrinidad and Tobago Carnival: Blue devils breathe fire into eventPublished4 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Anselm GibbsImage caption, The blue devils’ antics have been delighting Carnival revellers for a long timeBy Anselm GibbsParamin, Trinidad and TobagoThey are easy to spot among the rush of colour of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, their bodies covered in blue and their screams and antics somehow both frightening and fun. They are blue devil masqueraders and they are fighting to keep a tradition alive.It is a winding – and for visitors, at times, nerve-wracking – drive up steep hills to get to the remote village of Paramin, located in the north-western part of Trinidad. Paramin is the home of the blue devil, a traditional Carnival character, according to local man Curdell Gibbs.Image source, Anselm GibbsImage caption, Curdell Gibbs (left) says it is harder to find people willing to portray a blue devil”The only place in Trinidad and Tobago, and by extension the world, where you can find blue devils come Carnival Monday, is Paramin,” Curdell says.The Caribbean nation celebrates Carnival annually on the Monday and Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday. Costumed revellers participate in street parades and there is also competition among different masquerade groups or bands.This year, Carnival organisers are expecting a high level of participation, but there is some concern.”A lot of the traditional characters appear in mini-bands and small bands, but there has been a decrease in the number of those,” the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Bands Association, Mark Ayen, tells BBC News. “They seem to be far fewer than what they have been before.”Image source, Anselm GibbsImage caption, Fewer people are portraying the traditional characters of CarnivalMark Ayen finds this alarming. He says that while the twin-island republic aims to develop its culture and Carnival, there must also be preservation.On Carnival Monday night, when the hills of Paramin come alive with the annual blue devil masquerade competition, rhythms ring out from villagers with wooden sticks beating discarded metal biscuit tins. It’s called “knocking a pan” and provides the soundtrack for masqueraders. Curdell says the energy provided by those rhythms is unmatched and describes how it can sometimes have unexpected effects on those visiting.”A lady from Germany held a banana tree and pulled it straight out of the ground and ran through the streets with it,” he recounts.But Curdell warns that even in Paramin, where villagers say the heartbeat of the blue devil resides, fewer people are taking on the role. He believes it is because traditional Carnival elements are not as accessible as before. He wants to see more young people involved and says more exposure will help.The origins of the devil masquerade – or “mas” for short – date all the way back to the days of slavery. The original term for devil mas is “Jab Molassie,” which is French patois for “Molasses Devil”.The name describes “the sticky black substance the character was covered in, which in the old days was molasses”, explains researcher, author and cultural activist Dr Rudolph Ottley. “Nowadays he could be covered in pitch oil [kerosene], mud, cocoa and come in a variety of colours like blue, red, green, silver etc,” he adds.Freed slaves chose the devil to portray how they viewed slave owners, according to Mr Gibbs, who made his first appearance as a blue devil when he was just six years old.Eighteen years later, Curdell and a group of friends are part of a masquerade group called Next Generation Underworld Creepers.The shiny blue coat covering their bodies is not paint. Image source, Anselm GibbsImage caption, Those who portray the blue devils cover themselves in a thick layer of specially made pasteThe colour actually comes from a process that starts with boiling water and grinding laundry bluing cubes, which are usually used to wash white clothes.”Put it in a bucket, pour the water and then you mash some lard into it,” explains Leonardo Joseph, another member of Next Generation Underworld Creepers. “You let it cool, let it sit for a little while, so it turns into a paste.”Mixing this blue concoction begins as early as two days before it is rubbed on to the skin, according to Leonardo Joseph.For him, there is a bit of irony involved, as he is an altar server in the Roman Catholic church, yet he portrays the devil.”You have your faith, but you are portraying the culture you love,” Leonardo muses.Image source, Anselm GibbsImage caption, Leonardo Joseph is an altar server, but also likes to portray the devilLeonardo and Curdell are trying to instil a love for that culture in the new generation. Their group has organised workshops, where youngsters can come to learn about blue devils and other aspects of Carnival, including wire-bending to make costumes.It is part of their preservation push to save the traditional elements of Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival.”They’re really interested, and if they can do it, it will carry on,” said Daron Felician, the group’s expert wire-bender.These cultural crusaders have their work cut out for them. “The mas has been slowly but surely dying, it’s sad to see,” Curdell says. “I really feel the initiatives that we’re taking now, to bring the community together, will increase the traffic we have with blue devils.”And the blue characters are something to behold: Accessories for devil mas include horns, wings, a fork, a tail and anything else the masquerader wishes to add.Probably the most outstanding trick a blue devil has up his or her sleeve is fire-breathing. It involves filling your mouth with kerosene.”Everything you imagine the devil would do, we try to incorporate,” Curdell says.Image source, Anselm GibbsImage caption, Masks and horns are often used to portray the blue devilsBorn and raised in the usually peaceful Paramin community, Curdell says he began fire-breathing when he was 12 years old.”You tighten your lips and blow a mist, you’ll get a small flame; if you tighten your lips and try to get a round opening, you’ll get a long flame, but still close to your mouth. “If you breathe in through your nose properly and you blow out as hard as possible, with tight lips as well, you’ll get a big ball of fire.” Image source, Anselm GibbsImage caption, Fire breathing is one of the blue devils’ showpiece tricks – but Samuel Thomas, who is pictured here, has had expert guidance to learn how to do it safelyRelated TopicsTrinidad and TobagoMore on this story’Our costumes are an empowerment tool’Published28 August 2023Top StoriesIsrael rescues two hostages in Rafah as strikes reportedPublished1 hour agoWater bosses’ bonuses could be blocked for sewage spillsPublished6 hours agoMarathon world record holder dies in Kenya crashPublished4 hours agoFeaturesWegovy, the weight-loss drug flying off the shelvesShapps’ war on ‘woke’ Army and King’s wave of hopeScherzinger leads winners at WhatsOnStage AwardsHow Carey Mulligan stamped feminist mark on MaestroCrime to buses: Wellingborough by-election in chartsXi Jinping’s never-ending hunt for corruptionThe fighter pilots hunting Houthi drones over the Red SeaDeath and Israel’s search for ‘total victory’ in GazaThe blue devils breathing fire into Trinidad CarnivalElsewhere on the BBCThe real, untold story of the Jack the Ripper victimsTold by historian Hallie RubenholdAttributionSoundsHair-pulling, wrestling and kicking!Watch the moment a violent brawl unfolded in the Maldives ParliamentAttributioniPlayerCan you sniff out the fib among the facts?Put your knowledge to the test…AttributionBitesizeSwapping balls for bricks…Ex-Premier League star Darren Ambrose shares his love for LegoAttributionSoundsMost Read1Marathon record holder Kiptum dies in road accident2Shapps’ war on ‘woke’ Army and King’s wave of hope3Sealed with a kiss – the Taylor Swift Super Bowl lives up to hypeAttributionSport4Aircraft carrier fails to depart for Nato exercises5Schools in budget crisis as PFI charges soar6Four boys aged 12-14 arrested on suspicion of rape7Chiefs beat 49ers in overtime to defend Super Bowl titleAttributionSport8Israel rescues two hostages in Rafah as strikes reported9Inside Ukraine’s struggle to find new men to fight10Short-changed postmasters to get full compensation](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/10374/production/_132602466_samuelthomasperforms.jpg)
