Global/World Music

My brother sent me this clip from a group that he saw in New Orleans. According to their website they bridge African jazz and "the culture of New Orleans." I thought it was pretty interesting so here you go:
Fatien Ensemble

In other musical news, I have developed a minor obsession with this Belarusian folk band that I saw at the Art Pole folk/art/music festival in Ukraine. You can see a different video under my Song of the Moment section, but just in case you needed more:
Нагуаль (Nagual)

In regards to that video - I was actually there. Yes, in the audience kinda far back, but dancing with enthusiasm. Admittedly the band is a little weird. I do realize this, but also utterly amazing. And really really good live. On a positive note, every single person that has listened to the c.d. that I own has also enjoyed it. Here is a description of the band:

The band NAGUAL (a rolling stone, wanderer) was formed in winter 2000 in order to recreate sounds which can express both the beginning of the dance of life and one's own song.

NAGUAL consists of six musicians. Their aim is to deepen their knowledge about music origins, modern trends, shaping of folk cultures, relations among people, since these factors directly influence the group's creativity. They create music by means of selected instruments, their unique arrangements and feelings of the musicians. They play instruments which vary from archaic to classical.

Psycho-folk is a trend in music which combines the personal with the social. The vocal is a sophisticated mixture of phonemes of various language groups, sounds of nature, psycho-physiological processes and the primitive and the postmodern. Therefore, the gist of this work is admiring the world, biostimulation, deep experiences and expressing emotions and feelings explicitly.
(http://www.gadki.lublin.pl/east_eng/n/index.html)

Psychology, anthropology, music, folklore all wrapped in one group - perfect for me wouldn't you think? :)

Hello from Home

Back in Madison. Haven't been doing much. Went on a Frank Lloyd Wright tour, saw a funny play in an out door theater, and watched a couple of movies. Online: Prince Caspian. Much better than the first. In theaters: District 9. It was really good. Hope no one tries to make a sequel just for some extra bucks though. Of course, Hollywood being what it is, I am sure that they will.
Plodding my way through the self-imposed Faulkner book challenge. 3 down, 6 to go. In four months? Not likely. When I am feeling less lazy I will post my reviews of the ones that I have read here (two of them are on Library Thing now).

Hello from Lviv

Basically, just a note here to say that I will be posting on the other blog for the rest of the summer and not this one. Having lots of fun and hanging out though. If you read this one and not the other one, but don't know the address send me an email.

Fishies!

I went fishing today for the first time in forever. It was fun, but the fishes were just too smart for me. They were jumping around right by me, but would not bite. It then started raining so we had to leave having had zero luck. Then these crazy redneck people drove by with all sorts of "suggestions" about what we should and/or should not be doing.
In other news, not doing much of anything. Watched "Mr and Mrs Smith" today, it was so stupid. I almost couldn't finish watching it. Strange how the last few movies I have seen with Angelina Jolie I have hated, and I thought I liked her as an actress. However, I have "Changeling" to watch, which I have heard was really good (but sad, and you know how I feel about that). Also watched "Max Payne" and "Driving Lessons" both were decent. "Driving Lessons" was so British and so awkward, but pretty funny.
Currently reading Pillars of the Earth. It is taking such a long time. Yes, it is about 1000 pages, which normally isn't an issue - I like long books - but with this one I feel like I cannot make progress.

What I Have Been Doing....

Much of nothing actually, but I did manage to read three books:

S.: A Novel About the Balkans 4 1/2 Stars

A book about the Bosnian war from the point of view of a woman who survives a prison camp. Not light reading clearly, but the author is an amazing writer. She has this great ability for invoking all of the senses in dramatic ways. A couple of themes are humiliation/dehumanization, and the power of everyday objects to define identity. Some reviews compare it to One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which I can definitely see, but I prefer Solzjenitsyn.

Soldiers' Pay - 4 Stars (first of the "Faulkner" book challenge)

A good start to my goal of reading the first 9 Faulkner books. This is his very first, and while the writing isn't up to par with his later more well known works, I still think this book clearly showcases Faulkner's abilities. The storyline is pretty basic - essentially a love story, but absolutely worth reading.

The Angel Maker - 3 1/2 Stars

This one is translated from Dutch and I have a feeling that reading it in the original language would make it ten thousand times better because there seemed to be something lacking - I couldn't ever really connect with the characters. The structure of the book is also a little weird, the first section is from a completely different point of view than the other two, and while the middle part works amazingly well - it gives the background of the main character - the last section's climax isn't as powerful as it could be. Essentially, the book is about cloning and genetic experimentation, but also a bit about society in general and religion.

Besides reading, I hung out in N.O a bit, ate fried oysters, and went dancing - all in all a good time.
Had my hair cut today, but the lady totally fucked it up, so I have to get it fixed tomorrow.
Have been enjoying copious amounts of sunshine and NCIS (I alternate). May have broken the "addicted to facebook quizzes" phase of my life.
And I had my first snowball of the year, raspberry with condensed milk