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lifestyle TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2017 FEATURES Singer Lorde performs at the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival in Indio, California. — AFP photos Singer Lorde performs at the Coachella Valley Music And US hip hop singer Kendrick Lamar performs on stage. Arts Festival. Kendrick Lamar, Lorde show new sides at Coachella endrick Lamar introduced a kung fu alter ego and Lorde premiered at Coachella another song off Lorde dramatized the awkwardness of dance clubs "Melodrama"-"Homemade Dynamite," a track that is boun- Kas the stars presented new music Sunday at the cy but shares the minimalism of "Royals" rather than the Coachella festival. The two artists, whose last albums each elaborate dance production off the new album's first sin- brought Grammy glory, played back-to-back sets to close gle, "Green Light." The album is about "all the ups and the first weekend of the premier music festival in the downs of being 20-something, and specifically all the ups desert of southern California. Lamar has been hailed as an and downs of an evening," Lorde told the crowd. She artistic voice of the Black Lives Matter movement but the brought the storyline to life through a tableau vivant of rapper made an unexpected pivot into the supernatural at sorts-performers inside a foggy box that hovered above Coachella, entering with a fireball as the audience was the stage. At first the performers mingle amicably but the invited to discover "the legend of Kung Fu Kenny." interaction soon becomes agitated. By the time Lorde Rapper 2 Chainz performs on stage. The character figures in the lyricism on Lamar's latest enters the box, the troupe is piled up upon one another album, "DAMN.," which came out Friday. The Coachella and later smashes up a room full of balloons. crowd learned more about Kung Fu Kenny through a film interspersed in the set showing Lamar as an action hero Special guest descended from the mountains. Lamar delved further into Pulling in up to 250,000 people over back-to-back eroticized Asian imagery at his show where he danced weekends with identical lineups, Coachella thrives on sur- across a nimble, sword-wielding ninja and the Chinese prises-which appear quickly on social media and send fans characters for "the end" flashed on overhead screens. Kung Future Islands performs on stage. scurrying across the grounds. German film composer Hans Fu Kenny by the end of the film is said to be searching for a Zimmer, one of the more unlikely Coachella acts, pulled in glowing elixir. A grinning Lamar emerges from between a Lamar raps in the song, which he debuted live at an open-air evening crowd with a piano recital of his scores woman's legs-as his kung fu odyssey culminated, appar- Coachella. Lamar closed his set melodiously, if anti-cli- to movies such as "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Lion ently, in cunnilingus. Lamar joins a tradition of African mactically, with his new ballad "LOVE." King." He transitioned into Pharrell Williams' hit "Freedom"- American identification with Asian martial arts. The rapper which brought the star in himself for a cameo. has cited the influence of the Wu-Tang Clan and his film Lorde shows night out Other highlights Sunday included Future Islands, the takes on a 1970s "blaxploitation" feel. Lorde, who had not performed for more than two years indie synthpop band whose frontman Samuel T. Herring is Whatever his kung fu aspirations, Lamar hasn't given other than at a small pre-Coachella show in a nearby town, a frequent festival draw with his inimitable voice that up the political. He opened both his set and album with returned with a captivating piece of musical theater-cen- reaches into a metal-like growl and back. a snippet from conservative-leaning Fox News criticiz- tered around a testing night on the town. After taking the Spanish indie rockers Hinds enjoyed a surprisingly ing "Alright," his song of resilience in the face of police stage to Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill," the 20-year-old large crowd with dozens of fans storming the stage in joy- brutality. "XXX.," a song off the new album featuring the New Zealander stared stoically into space before breaking taking bassist Ade Martin at face value when she said that guitar rock of U2, laments street violence that has out into ecstatic dance. Lorde became a breakaway sensa- Spaniards believed in dancing at gigs.— AFP claimed too many African American lives yet it also tion as a teenager with "Royals"-which she dutifully per- DJ Khaled (L) and A$AP Ferg perform on stage. takes to task the political system. "America, god bless formed-and is coming out with her second album, you if it's good to you / America, please take my hand," "Melodrama," in June. Filmmaker learns why she endured airport stops for years aura Poitras' travel nightmare began more than a decade first time that the US government investigated Poitras on suspi- ago when the award-winning filmmaker started getting cion she might have been involved in an ambush that led to a Ldetained at airports every time she tried to set foot back US soldier's death in Iraq in 2004. On Nov 20, 2004, Poitras was in in the United States. She was stopped without explanation Baghdad filming "My Country, My Country." The film depicts more than 50 times on foreign travel, and dozens more times Iraqi elections from the perspective of an Iraqi doctor, who criti- on domestic trips, before the extra searches suddenly stopped cized the US occupation yet hoped democracy would take root in 2012. Only now is Poitras beginning to unravel the mystery, in his homeland. which goes back to a bloody day in Baghdad in 2004. Time Members of a US Army National Guard unit from Oregon after time, airport authorities searched her baggage, rum- reported seeing a "white female" holding a camera on a maged through her electronics and quizzed her for hours rooftop just before they were attacked. David Roustum, 22, an about her trips. Army National Guardsman from West Seneca, New York, was In Germany, she was told her name lights up "like a Christmas killed. Several troops were wounded. Some guardsmen who tree" when security officials scan flight rosters. In Austria, she saw Poitras suspected she had a heads-up about the attack was told her threat score was "400 out of 400." At John F and didn't share that information with American forces Kennedy International Airport in New York, her laptop, video because she wanted to film it. If true, Poitras would have bro- camera, footage and cell phone were taken and held for 41 days. ken US criminal law. Poitras called the allegation false and said In Newark, New Jersey, a security officer threatened to handcuff she didn't film the attack. "There is no ambush footage," Poitras her for taking notes with a ballpoint pen that he said could be told the AP. "That's the narrative that they created, but it does- used as a weapon. "I asked for crayons because I thought that n't correspond with any facts." would be less threatening to him as a weapon," recounted After the attack, a lieutenant colonel, whose name was Poitras, whose 2014 documentary film, "Citizenfour," about the redacted from documents, reported the woman with a camera National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, won an to his superiors. No action was taken. But after returning home, Academy Award. "He denied me any kind of writing device." the lieutenant colonel was contacted by author John Bruning of Dallas, Oregon, who was interviewing guardsmen for a book about their experiences in Iraq. According to the government's documents, the author learned about the woman filming on the rooftop before the ambush. Splash launches Abducted and executed In an email exchange on Jan 15, 2006, Poitras confirmed to Bruning that she was filming in the area the day of the attack, but didn't think she could help the author with his research. "I Sustainable Fashion was staying in the house of an Iraqi family I was following so my record of the fighting is from the perspective of the family," Poitras wrote to Bruning. "I did not venture out onto the street that day - didn't seem like it would have been a good idea. So I iddle East born fast fashion retailer Splash launched really don't have a document of what took place on the streets." its Sustainable collection, making a commitment Facts Bruning told the lieutenant colonel that Poitras was the Mtowards the planet. Forming part of the existing • More than 600,000 eco-denims manufactured from woman on the rooftop. The lieutenant colonel then informed product portfolio of Splash, this collection for both men & organic cotton every season- 48% climate impact reduced the US military that she could have been involved. In February women is made up of sustainable materials, reflecting the with 0% chemical pesticides used & 19% less carbon emis- File photo shows documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras 2006, a military police agent from Fort Lewis, Washington, inter- brand's promise to work in an environment friendly manner. sion as a result poses for a portrait in New York. — AP viewed the lieutenant colonel and the author. Bruning declined Building onto the ideology of Reuse-Conserve-Recycle, the • 15% of the total cotton we use in our garments is organic to speak to the AP about Poitras. But in his sworn statement to brand aims to trend sustainability with its #IAMSUSTAINABILI- cotton Poitras, 53, knows US government officials are not exactly military investigators, he said he believed Poitras had prior TY campaign that marks the launch of the range in the busi- • We saved 3.3 million gallons of water equivalent to drink- fans of her politically sensitive work.

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