The Coffee Table

I travel because I am fascinated by the world - and especially by its people. Our actions can be powerful and far-reaching, but we also create little moments – beautiful songs or poems, special meals, unique atmospheres - that are  not widely-known. Often they say more about a country, and are more rewarding for its visitors to discover, than pop culture.

On this page I will add links to little-known or underappreciated parts of the cultures of every country that I have been to (and many that I haven’t). Use the “Leave a Reply” box below to add recommendations of your own…

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Kseniya Simonova - ‘A requiem in sand’ . An extraordinary Ukrainian artist, who tells stories through animations in sand. She was the winner of ‘Ukraine’s Got Talent’ in 2009.

ICA Kiev. An English-speaking church in Kyiv, which serves Ukrainians and the city’s foreign community.

Okean El’zy – ‘Druh’ and ‘Ledi‘. An excellent group from western Ukraine, lead by singer/songwriter Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, whose songs and concerts are popular within the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, Germany and Russia.

Yuliya Savicheva – ‘Malo’.  A Russian singer, with a song from her album ‘Magnit’.

Nanyuki Children’s Home - a children’s charity in Kenya.

Besh O Drom – ‘Meggyujtom a Pipam’. An energetic Hungarian folk music group. 

Eddy van Wessel – photographer, ‘The Chechens, 1994-2005′. A well-compiled, brutal photo essay of Russia’s war in Chechnya.

Musa Dzhalil – poet. A writer from Tatarstan, Russia, who died in a prisoner of war camp in Germany at the end of the Second World War. The poems on this page are in Russian.

Evgeny Grishkovets – author and playwright. A Siberian writer of accessible, energetic prose and thoughtful plays.

Russ Avery and Olivia McGregor – Cool Footprint. Environmental conservation with a focus on ocean life.

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