Week in review
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This week: attack of the skinheads, tragedy strikes at a Russian music festival; Romania’s emerging electronic music scene; And sitting down for dinner during the holy month of Ramadan.
When skinheads strike
Dozens of people were left injured after a group of Russian skinheads attacked a crowd at a rock concert last Sunday, beating them with clubs.
A 14-year-old girl was allegedly killed in the crowd of 3000 people when the skinheads attacked.
Mixed reports have been filtering out of the country throughout the week and although 15 people have been arrested, nobody knows why this particular rock festival was targeted.
According to SOVA, a human rights group in the country, at least 60 people were killed in Russia last year because of hate crimes.
Russia reportedly has an active neo-Nazi community with over 70,000 members.
These ultra-nationalist groups emerged in the country after the 1991 Soviet collapse with the rise of immigrant workers and increasing xenophobia.
Bouncing to the beat in Bucharest
After the fall of the iron curtain in 1989, Romania witnessed a growing music culture. Up until this point, very few records were allowed in the country because of Communism.
In recent years, Romanian pop music has been hugely popular across Europe.
Bands like O-zone, Morandi, Akcent, and Inna have all scored massive chart successes.
Over the last 15 years the Romanian electronic music circuit has been secretly growing in the shadows within small groups of DJs and producers.
Now, Bucharest boasts a growing electronic music culture that the public is finally tuning into.
Local Records, brand-new Romanian record label, is one of the success stories of the transforming scene in the country.
Setting the table for the Iftar
For many people in Europe, Ramadan is often associated with fasting.
But for more than a billion Muslims around the world, the religion's holy month signifies much more.
The month is marked by family gatherings, sharing food and thinking about those who are less fortunate.
For many Muslims living in Europe, they return back to their native homes to celebrate with a society more attune to the special traditions and practices that come with the religious event.
But with the growing visibility of Ramadan in Europe, new opportunities are emerging for non-Muslims to discover more about the ancient faith..
One example of this is in the Netherlands, where the local Ramadan Festival provides opportunities for everyone to attend lectures, workshops and join local families at the dinner table for the much-anticipated Iftar.
