Category Archives: music

richie havens, home free at last

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Richie Havens’ famous improvised performance of “Freedom”, riffing on “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”, during his opening set at the Woodstock Festival in 1969.

There is a collection of other great performances recorded over the course of his almost five-decade-long career that you can watch HERE. May his soul rest in peace.

william shakespeare – sigh no more, ladies

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Happy 449th birthday, Willy!
nothing shall keep us apart

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more;
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never;
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into “Hey nonny, nonny.”

Sing no more ditties, sing no mo,
Of dumps so dull and heavy;
The fraud of men was ever so,
Since summer first was leavy.
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into “Hey, nonny, nonny.”

(From Much Ado about Nothing)

flash mob flamenco

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Flamenco flash mob staged by anti-capitalist group flo6x8 inside a bank in Sevilla, Spain, to express anger and frustration at the economic crisis. Flamenco began as an art form centred around protest and social awareness. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, flamenco songs were largely about poverty, suffering and the hardships of everyday life.

Read more HERE about how flash mobs are reconnecting flamenco to its roots, or watch a 25 minute BBC documentary on the phenomenon.

(Thanks to Lizza Littlewort for posting the featured link on Facebook this morning.)

paul simon and wes anderson go cuckoo in april

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From Sounds of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel’s second album, released on January 17, 1966. It had also appeared prior to this on a UK-only release, The Paul Simon Songbook, in August 1965.

The song bears a structural resemblance to a traditional English rhyme, “Cuckoo, cuckoo, what do you do?”, a phenology of the Common Cuckoo from April to September:

Cuckoo, Cuckoo, what do you do?
“In April I open my bill;
In May I sing night and day;
In June I change my tune
In July far far I fly;
In August away I must.”
Cuckoo, Cuckoo!

This choral version of the rhyme was featured on the soundtrack to Wes Anderson’s 2012 film, Moonrise Kingdom:

crass – how does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead?

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I know this is an awful thing to say, and Alzheimer’s is an awful disease, but I reckon Margaret Thatcher was lucky to lose her mind.

Recorded and mixed in August 1982 at Southern Studios, London. Packaged in a fold-out sleeve with inner sleeve with printed lyrics.

how does it feel

George Barber wrote in The Crass Story:

Crass released another single: ‘How Does It Feel To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead?’ A direct attack on Thatcher, it came in a black sleeve decorated with white graveyard crosses. When, during Prime Minister’s Question Time,Thatcher was asked if she’d heard the record, things were getting serious.

‘The Conservative Party attempted to fight back, as the Guardian reported: “The Attorney General, Sir Michael Havers, has been asked by the Conservative MP for Enfield North, Mr. Tim Eggar, to prosecute an Anti-Falklands war record under the Obscene Publications Act. The record, ‘How Does It Feel To Be The Mother of 1,000 Dead?’, by the group Crass, which also owns the record company Crass Records, which released it, is said to have sold 20,000 copies since it was issued last Saturday. It refers to Mrs. Thatcher and the decision to send the Task Force. “You never wanted peace or solution, from the start you lusted after war and destruction… Iron Lady, with your stone heart, so eager that the lesson be taught that you inflicted, you determined, you created, you ordered… It was your decision to have those young boys slaughtered.”

Read more about the history to this recording HERE.

getatchew mekurya – antchi hoye

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Deeeeeep music from 1970s Ethiopia.

Here’s an interview with Getatchew Mekurya published by Ethiopian Reporter in January 2012. I’ve reproduced it here as it seems it is no longer available at the original location.

The King of Sax Shining on the World Stage
BY TIBEBESELASSIE TIGABU  –  SATURDAY, 28 JANUARY 2012 08:03

Ethiopia being labeled as a nation of warriors, most of the songs and the stories in the past revolved around patriotism. Whenever there is a mention of freedom-fighters, there were also great musicians in the background inspiring and lifting up their morale.

The musicians gave courage to the warriors before these went to the battle through shellela (traditional pep song). The first instrumental recording of the shellela was done by Getachew Mekuria, a veteran saxophone player. With the unforgettable stage performance, in his lion’s mane headgear, he takes the audience on a journey and tells the unique story of patriotism and heroism of fellow countrymen. Despite a negative attitude towards the musicians at the time, Getachew enrolled in the music career in 1948.  Many musicians describe him as “exceptional”, with the ability to perform long hours on the stage. He is also perceived as someone innovative, as he brought back the old sounds into a new flavor. Through the years, he produced unforgettable works like Akale Wube, Shellela and others. Now shining on the world stage, Getachew is touring the world with his sax and unique style of music. Inspired by his music, a French music group named their band after one of his songs, Akale Wube. Back from one of his big concerts in London, Tibebeselassie Tigabu of The Reporter takes a peek at his six decades of musical journey.  Continue reading →

girl on the bridge (1999)

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Vanessa Paradis’ opening monologue (with English subtitles)

Review by Michael Dequina at filmthreat.com, 11/21/00:
“Very few actors, let alone young ones, can pull off what 20-something chanteuse-turned-actress Vanessa Paradis does in the opening minutes of Patrice Leconte’s romantic drama. In a single take broken only by an occasional white-on-black credit card, Paradis’ Adele confides to an unseen interrogator the reasons for her depression. It is never explained exactly to whom she is speaking and in what type of situation, but that is of little consequence—in these scant minutes, the audience instantly is given a vivid portrait of what the character is all about: her youthful recklessness and naïveté, her sexual abandon and her romantic soul. While kudos go to writer Serge Frydman, it is Paradis who brings the scene and Adele to robust life.

“However, in Adele’s eyes, her life isn’t quite so healthy, and as such she becomes the titular girl on the bridge, ready to jump when she meets Gabor (Daniel Auteuil), a knife thrower in need of a new target. Since she clearly has no fear of danger, Adele is a perfect match—though it comes as a surprise to both of them just how well they complement each other, for these two historically down-on-their-luck characters find themselves on an incredible streak of good fortune as they wow crowds throughout Europe. But as with all things, what goes up must come down.

“La Fille sur le Pont is a magical film in all senses. On a literal level, the surreal psychic bond that develops between Adele and Gabor pushes the film into the realm of magical realism, and their knife throwing scenes bear a not-so-subtle, otherworldly erotic charge. But the real magic comes in watching the warm sparks between Paradis and Auteuil and following their eccentric characters’ beautiful, unconventional relationship. Jean-Marie Dreujou’s stunning black-and-white cinematography and Leconte’s smart choices in music (there is no original composed score) add to the film’s whimsical, timeless spell.”

snake in the eagle’s shadow (1978)

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End fight scene from Jackie Chan’s 1978 breakthrough. Craziest foley and 70s soundtrack: As well as original music by Chou Fu-liang, the original version of the film features Jean Michel Jarre’s “Oxygène (Part 2)” and Space’s “Magic Fly”. Like many Hong Kong movies of the era, it also includes samples from western movie scores, including A Fistful Of Dollars, You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, and even the Death Star explosion moment from Star Wars.  The English subtitles over (different) English dubbing are great, too.

The full movie is on Youtube, HERE, but if you’re in South Africa, like me, you won’t be able to watch it due to copyright nonsense.

tindersticks – my oblivion

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The edges of our love are in the stars
And on the balcony
She waits for me
Out on the boundary
She smiles

Make this alive
Good days are back
Open your eyes when it falls
Come back to the air

I can’t tell you what you already know
I can’t make you feel what you already feel
I can’t show you what’s in front of you
I can’t heal those scars