Kalistani Major History

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Kalistani News in Brief: Dam Projects on Schedule
ODEN calls for new International GanJam; Hypoderma's new album debuts at Number 1
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
October 20, 5509


Vrassa Plateau High Dam, in Duchy of Vrassa is one of eight KPO dams proceeding on schedule

Dam Projects continue Apace

The eight Dam Projects being overseen by KALNAPECO, and build by the Civil Engineering Corps of the NSP are continuing on schedule. Four years into the decade long project, most of the dams have large upright structures built along the banks of the rivers they intend to eventually block up. "We haven't begun the hard part," said project manager of the Vrassa Plateau Dam site, Captain Kenneth Yeager of the National Service Program. "We've basically constructed the infrastructure and begun clearing the land that will eventually be inundated, during the first couple years and meanwhile, concrete specialists have been pouring concrete almost nonstop during the summer months." Yeagar estimated that the project has used 4.5 million tons of rebar and steel reinforcing so far, which is less than a quarter of the total that will eventually be used. But like the other seven dams being constructed in Mainland Kalistan, the demand for materials and manpower is inexhaustible. "We have welders prefabricating whole sections at a time, back here and then the sections are carried out to the site by these massive cranes here. We're working our gangs across four shifts, six on, twelve off for 10 days, and then giving them 3 days off, and then its back to it." Yeagar stated that each of these dam projects employs a full crew of more than 5,000 workers, consisting of welders, concrete masons, heavy equipment operators, and laborers. "Yeah, if people from other countries want to send workers here to join us, we pay high wages. If you speak Vrassan or Egelian, you're pretty much guaranteed as much work as you want, for the next six years." Meanwhile, the work continues on schedule-- Work on the Vrassa Plateau Dam is expected to be completed in Summer 5515, and then the gates will be closed and the new Plateau Reservoir will begin filling.

ODEN-H Calls for New GanJam

Michael Ferrell, incoming Chair of ODEN-H, has said that the Organization is in the early planning stages of a new GanJam. The legendary Music and Arts Festival hasn't been held in Kalistan for more than 200 years, though recently a number of smaller music festivals, including the Peace Concert held in 5473 was touted as a Mini-GanJam. Ferrell said that ODEN is currently looking at venues: "It would be pretty wild to do an international event, with venues in different Duchies or even simultaneously held in separate countries. GanJam has so rarely attracted any interest from outside of Kalistan, but it has always been ODEN's dream to make the festival a truly international affair that celebrates the music, art and alternative and underground scenes in each country." When asked about whether he thinks that GanJam will be an international thing or another mostly or completely Kalistani affair, Ferrell shrugged. "Given our track record, my money is on other nations completely ignoring the festival. Which is just as well: Kalistani's love music and attend festivals by the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands each year. This despite the fact that there are growing music scenes popping up all over the place. We obviously want to invite everyone, regardless of it is Luthori, or Baltusia, or Lourenne, or Gaduridos, or Hobrazia or Dundorf, or Hutori, or whoever has a music scene capable of supporting a band to visit Kalistan. But if we have to do it on our own again, that won't phase us: I don't want to be the one to drop the ball on GanJam one more time." Ferrell said he was considering venues in Suldanor and Ananto, given the proximity to international travel infrastructure. "We want to aim for for 5511 or 5512," said Ferrell. "And we want to bring back the four day format that we used to do. When ODEN began making the festival smaller, we started losing the vision."

Hypoderma's New Album Ritual Sexorsisto debuts at Number 1; signals foray into funk metal

The Sulari Based Alternative Metal band Hypoderma has released their follow up to the 5507 KMI megahit PowerPlant. The new 12 Track LP, titled Ritual Sexorsisto, also released on KMI, debuted at number 1 on the KRTVN Radio 1 Hot 100 Album Chart this week, on the strength of the funk-inflected Alternative smash "That Goddamned Radio" which itself debuted at Number One on the Radio 1 Top 40 Singles Chart. "When that song hit the airwaves," said Radio 1 Program Manager and Drivetime DJ Kelly Wintrop, "the phones lit up and crashed our computer switchboard. People were requesting that song a ridiculous amount of times, and so of course it went right into heavy rotation." The single was accompanied by a video that spliced footage of Lead singer Mondo Phillips surfing into concert footage taken this last summer as Hypoderma played the Forest Cove Amphitheater in Dulnerstaad. The video includes a montage of the Sulari Skyline as a juxtaposition to more surf footage. "The Album certainly has a much more mature sound to it," said Wintrop. "There's a lot of unexpected jazz elements on it, and a lot of funk which was totally unexpected, and even something that sounds with some Aldegarian influence, which is totally unique in the entire Kalistani Music Scene; Borrowing and playing with these different music styles, while keeping the same volume and intensity shows the band being willing to experiment. And it certainly didn't cost them any fans: Anyone who has listened to the entire record knows its every bit as loud as PowerPlant but it almost feels like they have left a lot of their heroin ghosts in the past and are really enjoying making music on this record. Like they are having fun." You can check out the video for "That Goddamned Radio" of Hypoderma's new Number One Record Ritual Sexorsisto on M7 or right here.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwI02OHtZTg]