DAVID SPERO - BALL PHOTOGRAPHS [FOTOGRAF]

XIU XIU - BEAT BEAT ME TO DEATH I SAID IT, SAD PONY GUERILLA GIRL...

"I like my neighborhood I like my gun..."

 

 

Behet fjale per nje periudhe konfuzioni, me te vertete intensive ne lidhje me piken e ekzistences sime, nga nje kendveshtrim pragmatik, te tipit: cfare dreqin jam duke bere une?

Sa stresuese eshte te qenit autoshkaterrues dhe duke e ngaterruar kete me nje ndjenje intesive. Gabimisht!

Madje me shume ngjan me nje brejtje. Ose me nje vdekje nderkohe qe ylberi vizatohet siper ne qiell.

...

Pershtypje shoqerojne muziken jo te thjeshte te Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu).

 

 

ORCHESTRA BAOBAB - PERQAFONI PEMEN E JETES

Milano. Amfiteater (Arena).

Une dhe e dashura ime ishim grindur per nje ceshtje banale...

Nga Afrika (na duket kaq larg dhe afer ne evropianeve!) ate mbremje luanin nje grup plot me personazhe karizmatike (baobab, si pema e mocme!), te cilet kercenin e te jepnin pershtypjen se ishin ne atdhete e tyre ne kontinentin e poshtem (populli wolof, ritmi pachanga, stile afro-kubane)...

Nje ndjesi kaq te thelle perkatesie, perberjeje, saqe banda e muzikes (Orchestra Baobab) grupoi te gjithe ata avropiane (te huaj) te sperkatur me muziken afro-etnik, tribal, samba (rumba afrikane), klasike veri-afrikane te nxiteshin e te mbushnin skenen, me hedhje hapash shkretetirore, prej xhungle, apo ritme kubane;
nje force fizike e vazhdueshme e verberuar nga ngjyrat e kostumeve extralarge, me gotat plastike plot me alkol qe kercenin papushim ne vallezim cift, sinkronizuar me ate tipin me pelerinen e gjate te zeze, i cili kryqezonte gjunjet me klarineten futur ne goje...

Kooperativa, grupime sociale non-profit (italiane), te rinj te evoluar ne eren e (non)globalizimit ishin te bashkuar poshte nje muzike qe prekte thelle... Qe prekte zemrat, poezine e shpirtit, ndjenjat e altruizmit, perkatesise, humanizmit, idealeve boterore te mireqenies, te barazise perpara veshtiresive ekonomike (dominuese), por edhe perpara gezimit, te  mendjes te hapur, perparimit te miremenduar...

Orchestra Baobab perfaqesojne nje nga grupet me te medhaja ne bote!

Nje nga realitetet me te ndjekura ne skenat internacionale muzikore, nje ngjarje, nje fenomen pothuajse elitar (per nga inertsia njohjese!), nje kenaqesi personale ekstra- etno-kufitare, eksperience unike per te prekur rracen e zeze, zakonet, kulturen shumevjecare, aktualizmat e madje te ardhmen e kontinentit me te vjeter.

Paqja u be! Perqafoni baobabet!

GILAD ATZMON AND THE ORIENT HOUSE ENSEMBLE [EXILE, 2003] - THE SILENCE HAS A VOICE, AND THE REAL MUSIC TEACH YOU THE SILENCE

Gilad Atzmon (born June 9, 1963) is a jazz musician, author and anti-zionist activist, who was born in Israel and currently lives in exile in London, regarding himself as a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian.

He was born a secular Israeli Jew in Tel Aviv, and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, where he learned to play soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones.

He also plays clarinet, sol, zurna and flute. He studied philosophy in Germany and moved to London at age 32.

His album (Exile, 2003), which opens with the amazing voice of Reem Kelani, is both an album about exile, but also an album where a space for exiles, and for those in transit, is created. It is also disquieting, and will be especially disquieting to many given the current situation in Israel...
This is not a generic album about exile. Those who read the papers regularly know that the Orient House is the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) headquarters in Jerusalem.

Atzmon is explicitly anti-Zionist in his writing. The choice of words for the songs that have words, the choice of material, much of this is informed by explicitly championing the cause of Palestinians in exile as against that of his homeland, Israel. In being forced to come to terms with himself as an Israeli, Atzmon is, in other senses, in exile from his own people.

That the music is compelling, wonderful jazz, expertly, indivisably fused with Arabic modes and music at times, but still, great jazz.

Atzmon is an incredible saxophonist, and the ensemble is tight and expressive. The music is compelling.

But as I said till the beginning: in this case, only silence can teach us something worth hearing!

JULIANNE SWARTZ'S "VIEWING MACHINES". MACRO-TO-MICRO CONNECTIONS [FOTOGRAF]

THE HANDSOME FAMILY - FEELS A BIT LIKE TRAVELING TO ANOTHER WORLD; A PLACE BOTH BEAUTIFUL AND FRIGHTENING

The Handsome Family consists of the Albuquerque-based married duo, Brett and Rennie Sparks.

Brett writes the band’s music, a moody atmospheric mix of traditional American styles; country, folk, ragtime, blues. Brett is also the band’s singer; his expressive baritone, which can hit astonishing lows, is a key component of the band’s sound.

Rennie writes the lyrics, which tend to focus on the dark side of human relationships as well as the mysterious beauty of the natural world...

Listening to the Handsome Family’s music feels a bit like traveling to another world; a place both beautiful and frightening, where the cry of a bird or the whispering shake of a tree branch can herald great cruelty and pain.

Always grateful for the chance to visit. [Matt Arado]

THE BOOKS - 'THERE IS NO THERE' [THE LEMON OF PINK, 2003]

To find another like you,
but you're the one my heart desires!

YANG YONG [FOTOGRAFI] - PIONEER OF THE SOUTH CHINA COUNTERCULTURE

The melancholy registered in some images is all the more haunting for describing Shenzhen youth, often young country girls trying their luck in the big city and playing out their lives within the context of vast social change. Yang Yong’s photographs are unpretentiously cool expressions of what is quintessentially new in China - the random, crowded, aimless triviality of sudden and unexpected prosperity.

SUPERSILENT - '6.2'

Of a minimalist aesthetic...

DREAM(ERS) OF ISABELLE

GOOD BYE LENIN!

'Sa cuditshem, nuk paska ndryshuar asgje!'.
'- Perse, mos duhej te ndryshonte dicka?'
(dialog mes Christiane dhe te birit Alex)

Konference per shtyp (e rreme):

Berlini ne Gjermanine Lindore ne fundvitet '60. Alex (Daniel Brühl) jeton me familjen e tij ne nje lagje dosido. Cdo gje shkonte vaj derisa babai papritmas nuk kthehet me nga nje udhetim ne Perendim. Christiane, e ema e Alex, e kalon dhimbjen e braktisjes duke iu dedikuar me dhembe e shpirt socializmit (si shume entuziaste te tjere!). 'Partia mbi te gjitha' beson kjo grua, e cila e pranon qe socializmi kufizon lirite e individit, por ne kembim te ofron siguri dhe ne kete menyre sikur e perkufizon kuptimin e jetes. ne tetor te 1989, pikerisht ne muajin me te rendesishem dhe ne vitin me te rendesishem per Gjermanine, Christiane hyn ne koma per shkak
te ne infarkti.

Bie muri (cfare efekti ben, kur e thua sot, me kaq lehtesi!) dhe per te mos tronditur rizgjimin e se emes, Alex dhe shoku i tij rindertojne ambjentin, mobiljet, sfondin familjar, idealet e hershme, TV e hershem te para-Gjermanise se re se bashkuar tashme. Zhvleresohet monedha kombetare, reklama me Coca-Cola pushtojne muret bosh, me mijera lloje ushqimesh dalin jashte perdorimi (me to edhe kastravecat Spreewaldgurken!), supermerkatot mbushen me mallra importi, nga Perendimi vijne per te blere shtepia te mrekullueshme me pak leke. Bien nje
nga nje simbolet e ish-fuqive ne pushtet.
Planit narrativ i shtohet keshtu edhe historia familjare e raporti eme-bir. Ky i fundit mundohet 'ta ruaje' te emem nga aktualiteti i huaj duke rindertuar e rishembur vende (Platten Bau!) e ngjarje te kaluara (shoku me endrren per tu bere regjizor, rinderton ngjarje dhe lajme politike ne nje tv te vjeter!). Nuk i shmanget ne kete perpjekje, njefare melankolie qe kenaq dhe kujtime nostalgjike qe shpejt do te riktheheshin ne mode (po te flasim sot, psh!). Alienizimi i nje populli qe e gjen veten te katapultuar drejt nje te ardhme te pasigurte dhe te re, personifikohen nga mimikat sociale te aktoreve brenda kater mureve te dhomes se nje gruaje te semure (Christiane).
Drejtuar nga Wolfgang Becker, filmi (fitues si filmi me i mire ne Festivalin e Berlinit ne 2003) paraqet ne te vertete nje drame realiste me mesazhin 'jeta eshte ajo cfare ti jep e merr, pavaresisht se cfare ndodh jashte'. Sistemet ndryshojne dhe ata qe pesojne, vuajne, gezojne, trasformohen (ose jo), perpiqen, jemi ne, eshte jeta jone, familja, familjet.
Fundi i konferences!

(ps: Se harrova: muzika eshte e Yann Tiersen dhe ka plot referime vizuale e sonore nga filmat e Kubrick.
Me bukur se kaq!)