Hank's Blog
Friday, December 26, 2003
DESTINATION BAMAKO
the Niger River from the Hotel Mande in Bamako, when I was last there 3 years ago.
The Bradt Travel Guide to Mali:
the Niger River from the Hotel Mande in Bamako, when I was last there 3 years ago.
The Bradt Travel Guide to Mali:
... You [may] need to stay a while before you start to feel it, but Bamako's true heartbeat has more to do with the gentle ebb and flow of the river than rushhour traffic and its chorus of beeping horns. For this is a relaxed city - and can also be a relaxing city. People are busy, but not so busy that they no longer want to communicate with one another. Simple things, such as smiling at passers-by, throw-away 'bonjours' and 'ça vas' and shaking hands are still important in Bamako. Could we say the same thing for London, Paris and New York - or, for that matter, Dakar, Abidjan and Lagos? ...
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Friday, December 19, 2003
Mark Buchanan's Nexus:
SCIENCE
"If you ever wanted to know how many links connect you and the Pope, or why when the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank sneezes the global economy catches cold, read this book," writes John L. Casti. This "cogent and engaging" (Nature) work presents the fundamental principles of the emerging field of "small worlds" theory - the idea that a hidden pattern is the key to how networks interact and exchange information, whether that network is the information highway or the firing of neurons in the brain.
Highlighting groundbreaking research behind network theory, "Mark Buchanan's graceful, lucid, nontechnical and entertaining prose" (Mark Granovetter) documents the mounting support among various disciplines for the small-worlds idea and demonstrates its practical applications to diverse problems - whether explaining the volatile global economy or the Human Genome Project, the spread of infectious disease or ecological damage.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
hidden webs: "That's the network that will leave a shape, I think. A pattern. The rest of it will come and go. Those points connect. They've always been connected and we're forever just discovering that is connected to that, but they've been there the whole time..." - Bill Laswell, as quoted by David Toop in his book Exotica
Pierre Schaeffer
Inventor of Musique Concrete
Inventor of Musique Concrete
Like many of the pioneers of electronic music, Schaeffer was not a musician. He received his diploma from L'Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, and did an apprenticeship at the Radiodiffusion- Television Francaises (RTF) which led to a full time job as an engineer and broadcaster. He was a member of the French resistance during the occupation of France by the Germans. He also was a writer and biographer. ...
Schaeffer chose to name his new art musique concrete to differentiate it from normal music, musique abstraite.
Music concrete was recorded directly to tape with real (concrete) sounds , while musique abstraite was the traditional way of composing by writing down the score to be played later.
Music Concrete was based on manipulation of tape. (Although the first research involved phonograph records, eventually tape technology became more available , and with it the possibilities of splicing and pasting parts together versus a non-re-recordable fixed format). It also concentrated on 'found sounds' or natural recordings rather than electronically produced sounds such as created by synthesizers.
Pieces that would last only a few minutes could take months of recording, cutting and splicing to create....
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
I saw this well done documentary, Hoffman's Potion, on the Sundance Channel this weekend - an interesting point was made about the need for this substance to find its place in human society one day (maybe a long time from now), by properly ritualizing its use.
Featuring interviews with many LSD pioneers, Hofmann’s Potion is much more than a simple chronicle of the drug’s early days. With its thoughtful interviews, beautiful music and stunning cinematography, it is an invitation to look at LSD — and our world — with a more open, compassionate mind.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
explodingdog
hi my name is sam, i draw pictures, from your titles. send me a title, or any thing else you want to talk to me about to.
hi my name is sam, i draw pictures, from your titles. send me a title, or any thing else you want to talk to me about to.
Monday, December 15, 2003
Tiffinbox, in its current avatar, is a blog for and about photography, writing, art and design. While our primary focus is South Asia, we are also interested in exploring the cultural fabric of the South Asian diaspora.
the Devilfinder Web Search - do you dare?
Sunday, December 14, 2003
allAfrica.com: from A Day in the Life of Africa photo essay:
Bass player Pokei Klaas has turned his neighborhood, one of the toughest in Cape Town's Guguletu Township, into a music mecca, drawing regular audiences with his impromptu performances of backyard jazz.
Bass player Pokei Klaas has turned his neighborhood, one of the toughest in Cape Town's Guguletu Township, into a music mecca, drawing regular audiences with his impromptu performances of backyard jazz.
Saturday, December 13, 2003
now playing: Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974. prf
Duke Ellington : vol. 2 : the early years / Duke Ellington.
Duke Ellington
-- Los Angeles, Calif. : Everest Records, <196->
(Archive of folk & jazz music)
1. Duke Ellington, The beautiful Indians--Hiawatha (listen here)
Orixás - Soul of the Universe, Universe of the Soul
What is an Orixá?
...The Seers gave a name to the totality of the Universe that they were able to perceive. They gave the name Orixá. Furthermore they gave names to each of the vibrations or energy patterns that they were able to observe in the Universe. The Seers perceived that the various Orixás were filled with life, with personality, and with intelligence. They named each of the different vibrations as a parent would name a child, with love and reverence. They gave names like Oxalá, Iansã, Tempo, Ifá, Exu, Ogum, Oxumaré, Xangô, Obaluaê, Oxossi, Ossaim, Obá, Nanã, Oxum, Iemanjá, Ewa. In addition to that grand accomplishment, these Seers were able to show other people how to perceive what they saw. They were able to show people how to make a connection to the Orixás. These Seers set a standard. They could perceive the totality of the Universe, they could perceive the details of this totality and they could relate this totality and the vibrations that make up the totality to the four elements on earth. In addition, they could show people how to know the Orixás themselves. ..
... Americans do not know about Orixás. The understanding of the Orixás has not become integrated within the culture as have other sciences and spiritual disciplines that study the Universe and its relation to humanity...
more...
you'll probably notice I tend to get rather excited about the way the population structure of our planet is about to change. I also happen to hold the opinion that the history of our species is one of continuous migration (right from the very earliest days of our origins African origins). This is rather strange as we tend to think of ourselves as sedentary, establishing tribes, comunities, nations etc, when actually what we do best and most is move, adapt and change. Perhaps this is another example of the lack of conformity between our self-image and our reality. - Edward Hugh
Generic Room Making Sequence
Here is a completely general generating process for making a room
Set the focal point of what is to become the living center. Make a boundary which is the outer boundary of the place, which is to focus on this focal point. Thicken this boundary, and make it up from smaller coherent ornamented centers, thickened, and significant in their own right. Inside the boundary, shape the main center, a large zone and space which is supremely positive in shape and character. There is a gate or entrance to this place. Create a gradient which leads from the entrance point towards the focal point. Shape the focal point as positive space. Around the focal point put detailed centers of romantic and touching quality. Against the romantic touching quality, put a stark simplicity and plainness that sets it off. - www.patternlanguage.com, Christopher Alexander
Friday, December 12, 2003
hello to Living In India, cousin blog to Living In China and upcoming Living on the Planet and Living in Latin America:
Clara Nunes - Guerreira (1978)
another "greatest album of all time". and Zambelê is the greatest track of all time. Too bad it's not available in its original form, I have it on vinyl... This site has samples up from this record. Clara Nunes was one of the great stars of samba, who became famous in the seventies and who died way too young, before her fortieth birthday, in 1983. Here's a quote of hers from another site:
another "greatest album of all time". and Zambelê is the greatest track of all time. Too bad it's not available in its original form, I have it on vinyl... This site has samples up from this record. Clara Nunes was one of the great stars of samba, who became famous in the seventies and who died way too young, before her fortieth birthday, in 1983. Here's a quote of hers from another site:
Sinto Deus no momento de cantar. Antes de entrar em cena, tenho um friozinho na barriga. Convoco todos os santos, mas depois vem aquele prazer de ver a reação estampada no rosto das pessoas. Cantar prá mim é como respirar, eu não saberia viver sem isso.
I feel God when it's time to sing. Before going on, I get chills in my tummy. I call on all of the saints, but soon comes the joy of seeing the reaction on the people's faces. Singing for me is like breathing, I wouldn't know how to live without this.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Mel Brown, l'antique afrique:
In a rare offer even for the worldwide web, I am auctioning seven miniature bronze sculptures from the Kotoko speaking people of Chad. While evidence of humaniod habitation of the region is more than one million years old, the Kotoko speakers are among the oldest bronze age people in the region. Consequently bronze Kotoko artifacts are quite rare, and especially prized by collectors and connoisseurs alike. The Kotoko are believed to be descendents of the legendary Sao people. The latter were an ancient indigenous group of Bantu speakers who trace back 7,000 years to when this region of the Sahara was not a desert but had ample water supply, and Lake Chad was sixty-feet above its current level. During the same period Europe was still in its ice age. The Sao formed into kingdoms and states in around the 5th century AD. At their zenith, around the 9th through the 15th centuries AD, they were conquered and absorbed by the Kotoko, who built fortified walled cities along the lower Chari and Logone rivers. The Kotoko state extended its rule over large portions of what is now northern Cameroon and Nigeria. They achieved this power as they dominated the lucrative trade routes linking the Arab north with the Bantu south. According to local sources these artifacts are essentially talisman, and are the stock and trade of healers. To the special role of bronze art in African purification rites, the Kotoko healers added the power to ward off pathogens to mend both body and mind. As equestrian miniatures of riders in bulbous dress of desert nomads, the figures were a special brand of guardian for personal health. They were applied to the body in a secret regiment of the healer’s art. Afterwards the patient was expected to wear the bronze figure as a talisman for its residual placebo effect. Certain specific design elements were tailored to enhance the aesthetic but also the curative powers of the bronze as a healing patch or amulet.
As a holiday season stocking stuffer, miniatures are a special gift giving option. There is only a single other retailer on the web where similar pieces are on offer to collectors and connoisseurs alike. Over the course of this year I have successfully established a strong position in bronze miniatures as a niche unrivaled among dealers in African antiques. For various reasons this genre of African art has been ignored or under appreciated by market forces. However for thousands of years bronze age cultures in Africa have in some instances elevated artifacts casted in bronze ahead of gold, for the spiritual properties associated with the former. In many of these cultures gold was extraordinarily plentiful, while copper or the metals to alloy with copper to make bronze was exceedingly scare. Given the expense in working in scarce metals, the appropriation and consumption of bronze artifacts devolved to clans of high rank and wealth. Casting artifacts in bronze was the exclusive domain of blacksmiths under special warrants from royal clans or high chieftaincy to execute commissions to satisfy the strict specifications mandated by the priestly caste. Consequently, blacksmiths universally were believed to have secret powers from the practice of working in metal. Although small in scale, these artifacts were expected to pack an impressive wallop. See if you agree.
Please go to the eBay home page and search under kotoko. Going forward, I will be an active contributor to auctions on eBay. Thank you for your support, I wish you the very best during this holiday season, and the new year.
-- Mel Brown, l'antique afrique
another Grampa Studios mixing session... new mixes up for Exú, Ibejis, Yemanja, Ossain, Ogun, Nana, Iansã, Ewa, Dambala Wedo... and new on the Orixás page, Xango, Oba, and Oxala...
Question: When I am looking straight into your eyes and you are looking into my eyes, I see your face go out of focus and you disappear completely. Afterwards your face appears, and then it disappears again. What does this mean?
Sri Chinmoy: When you look at me you think you are seeing my physical body, but you are seeing my universal Consciousness. You make contact with life itself in its different forms. Then when you come back to your own consciousness, my face comes back into focus. When I am looking into your eyes, speaking to your soul; you are seeing me through the eyes of your soul.
Sri Chinmoy, Meditation: God Speaks And I Listen
Sri Chinmoy: When you look at me you think you are seeing my physical body, but you are seeing my universal Consciousness. You make contact with life itself in its different forms. Then when you come back to your own consciousness, my face comes back into focus. When I am looking into your eyes, speaking to your soul; you are seeing me through the eyes of your soul.
Sri Chinmoy, Meditation: God Speaks And I Listen
the discovery of new values in life is a very chaotic experience; there is a tremendous amount of jostling and confusion and a momentary feeling of darkness. i let my spirit float supine over that chaos.- Joseph Conrad, An Outcast of the Islands - the story of a man unable to understand others and fated never to possess his own soul.
Monday, December 08, 2003
Sunday, December 07, 2003
MELANIE STETSON FREEMAN - STAFF/FILE, the Christian Science Monitor
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Friday, December 05, 2003
lim·i·nal
Pronunciation: 'li-m&-n&l
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin limin-, limen threshold
Date: 1884
1 : of or relating to a sensory threshold
2 : barely perceptible
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
My Best Fiend: Klaus Kinski offers filmmaker Werner Herzog's entertaining account of his personal and work relationship with the beautiful and brilliant rageaholic and consumate actor Klaus Kinski. I've become an instant Klaus Kinski fan.
p0es1s is a platform to explore the characteristics and possibilities of digital texts. p0es1s links two independent projects: the symposia on the "poetics of digital text" and the online-exhibition "international digital poetry".
... there is not any difference between originals and copies, just a continuous movement of reorganization of data and fluxes of information. they are the identical resetting of the same informative code. but they are not identical for the experience and this is the fascinating point of clone logic. the possibility of being identical being different. but all those dynamic elements, no matter if they are images, texts or sounds, are now made to be seen on the move, from inside the car or any other vehicle, on the walls, in mobile phones and PDAs, in accordance to entropy and acceleration logic. and also according to a lack of logic of the market, which makes what it is seen a resultant of traffic path, connection speed, browser... digital culture does not assure visual unity, that kind of unity that allowed Mallarmé to revolutionize poetry, trusting the materiality of the page. In this sense, the loss of inscription points to shifts in perception, visuality and reading and poses an interesting question: how to deal with an art form conceived to be experienced in between, while doing other things? - Giselle Beiguelman, São Paulo, Brasil
The Devil's Excrement Blog: Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.
Jongo is considered the parent of Samba
Jongo was brought to Brasil by African slaves of Bantu origin. It established itself in the region of Paraiba Valley, as a way for the slaves to have an escape from their condition. Since it was not totally of religious nature, the rhythm was tolerated by the masters, and was regularly practiced within quarters.
The end of slavery resulted in a massive influx of ex-slaves to the capital of the country, Rio de Janeiro. Without economic prospects, this new poor population was forced to seek shelter high in the hills. This was the birth of the first favelas of the city, with names that delineated the first schools of jongueiros... São Carlos, Mangueira, Salgueiro e Serrinha.
The new modern lifestyle severely compromised jongo's chances for survival. This type of rhythm, which is danced in a circle in the courtyards of homes, gave way to new spacial constraints of the city, and gatherings of people, the primary element of jongo, became rare. And also, as the original jongo artists aged, the artform also became rare.
If it wasn't for the favela Serrinha, Jongo might have died completely. But since Serrinha was more rural, away from the city, there were still conditions for jongo to thrive.
Samba, with its harmonies, guitar and cavaquinho, was a new hybrid which came in to take the place of Jongo in the morros of Rio de Janeiro, and with the birth of the samba schools, "escolas de samba", Samba installed itself permanently in the lives of the population.
Jongo was brought to Brasil by African slaves of Bantu origin. It established itself in the region of Paraiba Valley, as a way for the slaves to have an escape from their condition. Since it was not totally of religious nature, the rhythm was tolerated by the masters, and was regularly practiced within quarters.
The end of slavery resulted in a massive influx of ex-slaves to the capital of the country, Rio de Janeiro. Without economic prospects, this new poor population was forced to seek shelter high in the hills. This was the birth of the first favelas of the city, with names that delineated the first schools of jongueiros... São Carlos, Mangueira, Salgueiro e Serrinha.
The new modern lifestyle severely compromised jongo's chances for survival. This type of rhythm, which is danced in a circle in the courtyards of homes, gave way to new spacial constraints of the city, and gatherings of people, the primary element of jongo, became rare. And also, as the original jongo artists aged, the artform also became rare.
If it wasn't for the favela Serrinha, Jongo might have died completely. But since Serrinha was more rural, away from the city, there were still conditions for jongo to thrive.
Samba, with its harmonies, guitar and cavaquinho, was a new hybrid which came in to take the place of Jongo in the morros of Rio de Janeiro, and with the birth of the samba schools, "escolas de samba", Samba installed itself permanently in the lives of the population.
from the Visionaries Public Television Series website:
EngenderHealth - One Choice, One Worldthis show, which is titled "One Choice, One World" will be aired on December 26th at 10:00 pm on WNYE, New York Time Warner cable channel 25 or cable vision channel 22. There may be other times scheduled as well.
This episode of The Visionaries begins with an extraordinary event in a small village in West Africa. Rather than celebrating the birth of a child, the residents of Adantia are singing and dancing to rejoice in the prevention of a birth. This is an extraordinary moment for the staff at EngenderHealth, an international reproductive health and family planning agency based in New York. For the last 60 years, this nonprofit has been working in West Africa and in many other parts of the world to promote a woman's right to make informed decisions about her reproductive health-and to then help clinics provide safe and accessible services to accommodate those decisions. On a broader scale, EngenderHealth is tackling issues like overpopulation and environmental degradation by fostering a dialogue around family size in communities like Adantia. The decision not to have more children begins with one woman but it has profound implications for her community, her country, and the entire world. Show 1010.
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
ROSWELL RUDD AND HIS TROMBONE SHOUT BAND AT THE
4TH FESTIVAL IN THE DESERT, IN ESSAKANE, TIMBUCTOU JANUARY 9 - 11TH, 2004
Roswell Rudd and his TROMBONE SHOUT BAND will be participating in the 4th Festival in the Desert, in Essakane, Timbuctou, on the Sahara Desert from January 9 - 11th, 2004.
Rudd's band consists of trombonists Steve Swell and Deborah Weizs, with Barry Altschul on drums, and Henry Schroy on bass.
This will be Rudd's third trip to Mali. In 2001 he recorded his MALIcool (Universal/Sunnyside), the first time that the trombone was integrated into the kora-based instrumentation of Malian music. Rudd's decision to bring a Trombone Shout Band to the Festival in the Desert "has to do with the strength of the trombone sound over thousands of years, being resonant in just about any kind of environment, particularly out-of-doors," says Rudd. Rudd has long been inspired by the trombone shout band tradition of east coast USA.
The repertoire will be a mixture of old and new jazz, blues, and originals. Roswell Rudd will also be performing with The Gangbe Brass Band of Benin with whom he performed at Joe's Pub in their NYC debut in Sept. 2002.
There will be participating groups from eight African countries. The artists from Mali will feature Salif Keita, Ali Farka Toure, and Habib Koite.
Participation of Roswell Rudd has been made possible in part through support from The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, a public-private partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Department of State, and The Rockefeller Foundation, with additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and administered by Arts International.
4TH FESTIVAL IN THE DESERT, IN ESSAKANE, TIMBUCTOU JANUARY 9 - 11TH, 2004
Roswell Rudd and his TROMBONE SHOUT BAND will be participating in the 4th Festival in the Desert, in Essakane, Timbuctou, on the Sahara Desert from January 9 - 11th, 2004.
Rudd's band consists of trombonists Steve Swell and Deborah Weizs, with Barry Altschul on drums, and Henry Schroy on bass.
This will be Rudd's third trip to Mali. In 2001 he recorded his MALIcool (Universal/Sunnyside), the first time that the trombone was integrated into the kora-based instrumentation of Malian music. Rudd's decision to bring a Trombone Shout Band to the Festival in the Desert "has to do with the strength of the trombone sound over thousands of years, being resonant in just about any kind of environment, particularly out-of-doors," says Rudd. Rudd has long been inspired by the trombone shout band tradition of east coast USA.
The repertoire will be a mixture of old and new jazz, blues, and originals. Roswell Rudd will also be performing with The Gangbe Brass Band of Benin with whom he performed at Joe's Pub in their NYC debut in Sept. 2002.
There will be participating groups from eight African countries. The artists from Mali will feature Salif Keita, Ali Farka Toure, and Habib Koite.
Participation of Roswell Rudd has been made possible in part through support from The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, a public-private partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Department of State, and The Rockefeller Foundation, with additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and administered by Arts International.
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