Friday, February 25, 2011

how to make a girl happy when she has some form of the flu

if that girl is me, it's pretty easy. All you need are a couple hundred of these:


I was practically giddy, as I was coughing uncontrollably.

Distribution ideally will begin next week... once I find the right salesperson.



Saturday, February 19, 2011

last night's idea


stand at the horrifying intersection of Cerrillos and St. Francis for 8 hours with a video camera and document it

these are some photos from the internet of the intersection:



Here's a local blog about it.


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

two of the macedonian songs we'll rehearse tomorrow

I'm in a new Macedonian folk band in Santa Fe-- two voices and a tambura, as well as percussion, and the possibility of tastefully adding accordion, kaval, bass, and more as necessary. I would really love to have a zurna on at least one song. But that's challenging to find in Santa Fe.

We have a whole book of repertoire we're developing, and these are two of the songs we're working on tomorrow. Tamo Daleko Voda Mi Dotece:



I really like this song. I think it's lovely, and it's the first one we've developed a non-traditional higher vocal harmony for. The translation is as follows:


Water was flowing from a well and at the well a "hanuma" (Turkish woman) was bleaching her woven cloth.

A young bachelor approached and asked her,

"Do you sell the cloth and for how much?"

"Even if I sell it I would not sell it to you."

"Do you sell your face, and for how much? I will become a Turk and will convert my religion just to marry you."

"Whether you convert or not, I don't love you."


This is one of the others we just learned. "Se Navali Sar Planina." It's simple, but very traditional and exemplary of Macedonian vocal music:



The translation is:


There were heavy snows on Sar mountain

Three shepards got caught

The first shepard pleaded with it

"Release me, Sar mountain,

I have a wife who will mourn me"

The second shepard pleaded with it

"Release me, Sar mountain
I have a sister who will mourn me"

The third shepard pleaded with it

"Release me Sar mountain

I have a mother who will mourn for me"
The Sar mountain answered,
"A wife mourns for six weeks,

a sister mourns for three years,

but a mother mourns to the grave."

Like I said, it's folk music. Greek and Albanian music are my favorite generally, but I love it all, especially Bulgarian and Macedonian and Turkish and Romani music from a variety of countries. Many songs I know from the Balkans are about war, or sex, or love, or poverty, or struggle, or transience, or communism, or the woods, etc.

I think my absolute favorite music is the traditional vocal music from Northern Greece and Southern Albania called Epirot music (Epirot music is broader than the polyphonic vocal stuff, and often involves clarinet). This is from Southern Albania, and it's just one straightforward version of the music I'm talking about:



I listen to
this Albanian radio station a few times each week. It's good when it's folk, but occasionally you'll hear generic autotuned Western-sounding pop music in Albanian. I just discovered the full wealth of Epirot music that exists on the internet. If this particular music interests you, just google "Epirus." Alternatively, I'm always happy to share recordings I have. Just email me.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

making bones

I went to Albuquerque today to have lunch with my friend and repentant Weather Underground co-founder Mark Rudd, and my new friend, artist Naomi Natale.

Naomi is the founder of the One Million Bones project. One Million Bones is a fundraising installation responding to the ongoing contemporary genocides and armed conflicts of the world. Naomi is networking with advocacy groups and people across the country to create one million bones that will be installed on the National Mall in Spring of 2013. She receives boxes of homemade bones mailed to her office from across the world, and she also holds daily bone-making workshops in Albuquerque with various groups of people, including school children. Naomi encourages people to sponsor the production of the bones by donating $5 per bone, and she is donating everything she raises to several NGOs that address genocide in various ways.

After conversing for several hours, Mark, Naomi and I made bones. Naomi encourages interested people to host bone-making parties, and after having participated in the activity of bone-making, I think it is an interesting and effective way of inciting dialogue and raising awareness of the issues of genocide, which do largely go ignored in our comparatively comfortable nation.

For the record, I'm still on the fence about art with political goals. I feel like I'll be sitting on this fence for a while drinking tea, contemplating it all. But regardless, I do really like the One Million Bones project, and I appreciate the enthusiasm, intelligence, and passion of Naomi even more.

Here are some blurry cellphone photos of the One Million Bones office and the bones we made.

the bones we made:

the rest:









Saturday, February 5, 2011