ARTS & entertainment a
ARTS & entertainment a vibrant arts scene From rap to poetry, California Chaldeans make their mark BY JENNIFER KORAIL Whether it involves directing, managing, performing, writing or painting, Chaldeans on the West Coast are making their creative presence known. THE RAPPER Continuing off of the widespread success of his recently launched album “Open for Business,” hip hop artist TIMZ is working on a number of projects including a follow-up video to his critically acclaimed “Iraq” called “Get Up, Get Out and Do Something.” Meanwhile, “Iraq” continues to receive attention in some of the nation’s top designated TIMZ market areas, which recently includes Detroit’s Channel 955. Radio host Beau not only played the clip but also held a discussion on the song during his radio segment. “The song has got a hook, I mean it’s hooky, it sounds good … the video is even more intense,” he said. “The beat, the rap is on, it even sounds good.” “Iraq” is also being featured by MTVu, a national channel broadcasted especially to college dorms by MTV, and has been featured as number one on YouTube.com, where it has received nearly 400,000 views. It was named an MTVu freshman video; TIMZ was the only artist within the group of finalists without a major record deal. TIMZ credits much of his success to hard work and partnerships with manager Alvin Shamoun of V.I.G. Productions and Ron Najor, director and producer of “Iraq.” “We feel like our success has been an accomplishment but we have a long way to go,” he said. “I’m amazed by some of the things we’ve been able to do so far. We are proving that Chaldeans can do it.” While Najor was not originally interested in developing creative for the hip hop/rap genre, his mind was quickly changed after listening to TIMZ’s music, specifically “Iraq,” which he thought was particularly meaningful. The images displayed Ron Najor in the video stem from about a year ago, when Najor was watching footage from the turmoil in the Middle East. He felt compelled to do something in reaction to what he was seeing. “What do you do when you don’t agree with something?” Najor said. “I’m a filmmaker. I wanted to do something artistic.” THE DIRECTOR Najor, who lives in Los Angeles, has been in the music video industry since 1999. His past work includes shorts and full music videos for a number of rock bands, including Angels and Airwaves and Valencia. While Najor’s current projects include writing potential video treatments for bands on a more national scope, his ultimate goal is to shift into feature films and producing. He said that more musicians and production companies have approached him of late to work on their music videos thanks to word of mouth and acclaim from projects such as “Iraq.” “It’s kind of cool. I am getting a lot more of this recently,” Najor said. “It’s really great to have people appreciate your work.” SPECIAL REPORT C A L I F O R N I A 40 CHALDEAN NEWS OCTOBER 2007
Sabrina Konja Paul Batou TIMZ plans to continue the collaboration with Najor. “I definitely want to continue working with him,” said TIMZ. “Ron is a great role model to the Chaldean community in the entertainment business.” THE PRODUCER Sabrina Konja of San Diego has also been working in the entertainment industry since 1999. She started her career in radio and worked behind the scenes. In 2004 she started her own record label called 816 Records. Her greatest success has been with a local punk band called Larger than Life, which was nominated for Best Punk Album at the San Diego Music Awards twice and had major distribution in Japan, where punk and alternative music are widely popular. Among her accomplishments, Konja was approached by MTV for Larger than Life to open for the pop-punk band Simple Plan, had more than one million downloads recorded for Larger than Life on the former MP3.com website, and won a three-month contract with the Vans Warp Tour in 2005. Konja is currently working with a rock band called New Addiction and just ended a summer tour that ran throughout Southern California. New Addiction was also featured in the March issue of 944 Magazine, a fashion, entertainment and lifestyle publication, and Alliance Wake, a wakeboarding “I am really excited to see that there are more Chaldeans in the entertainment business.” – SABRINA KONJA and wakeskating magazine. Three of New Addiction’s tracks have been selected for the Warner Bros. music catalogue and could be used in the company’s productions. “I am really excited to see that there are more Chaldeans in the entertainment business. My goal was to have my own company by the time I was 25. I did it when I was 24,” Konja said. “This is my dream job.” THE ARTIST Chaldeans are also making a mark in literature and fine arts. Pharmacist Paul Batou of La Crescenta is gaining attention for his passion for expressing himself through writing and painting. Batou’s original work reaches as far back as 1982, when he was writing poetry during his service as a medic in the Iran/Iraq War. The poems have since been translated from Arabic to English in his short book “My Last Thoughts about Iraq,” where he includes images of his paintings based on his poetry. Batou focuses his work on educating American audiences about the history of Assyrians and Chaldeans. “Many people think that my poems are sad,” Batou said. “They are a story of destruction, of the destruction of our nationality, of depending our lives and culture and protection on other powers.” As with many Chaldeans in Iraq, Batou’s family was displaced from their village and lived in Baghdad for many years before immigrating to America. His experiences during this time and during the war have influenced him to reach out to Assyrians and Chaldeans though art and writing to empower them and get them to think about their history as Mesopotamians and who they have become today. Batou firmly believes that Christianity is open and gives individuals the freedom to imagine, think, protest and realize their own freedom. “That’s why we have come here – for freedom,” he said. Batou has experienced success with several recent exhibits in Southern California, and will be exhibiting in downtown Los Angeles and Lake Arrowhead among other locations in October. His book is available at a number of outlets including from amazon.com, GO WEST, YOUNG SURFER… CHECK OUT THESE WEBSITES TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS PROFILED TIMZ: WWW.TIMZONLINE.COM / RON NAJOR: WWW.THEBUZZLA.COM / SABRINA KONJA: WWW.816RECORDS.COM / PAUL BATOU: WWW.PAULBATOU.COM OCTOBER 2007 CHALDEAN NEWS 41
