song for the berber woman

berber women in parts of africa are restricted from dancing, or must do so on their knees.

we may feel outrage at this, but how about resrictions we put on ourselves? i for one have spent so much of my life containing myself.

i've restricted words, movements, emotions, covered myself up, locked myself in... you name the cage, i've built and lived in it.

yet recently i've felt distrust melt into innocent friendliness. opinions loosen into open-mindedness. and stiffness flower into the most oddly refreshing movement... like learning to walk for the first time.

discussing this with one of my teachers, i mentioned the idea of swirling with the sufis. his response was that even this would limit; that i should instead find a forest and let the natural world move me.

and here deep in the forest what music would rattle through my head, pour out of my ears and echo through the trees? something berber, no doubt.

listen: abdelli - amazine (moonlight):


or perhaps:

• nitin sawhney - moonrise
  
• bruknahm project - siba dub plate
  
• rahat fateh ali khan - o re piya
  
• diego stocco - music from a tree

find out more at www.abdelli.com

moonrise

in light of tonight's full moon...

harnessing the creative energy coursing through me - i'd like to interpret one of my favourite tracks from one of my favourite producers.... here's my loose lyrical adaptation of nitin sawhney's slow-moving boundary-crossing love letter, "moonrise", vocals courtesy of rai singer, cheb mami and brazilian vocalist, nina rocha miranda.

don't feel sadness
when my light fades away
you'll leave the dark life
when you see the moon play
taking its place
you'll find waves of sadness
for your grace

and so one day
a story of peace
after the storm washes the pain
and a future that couldn't be
calm after the rain
with eyes that even in the dark, still see

and no, i don't speak brazilian portugese... if anyone can take on the arabic i'd be impressed...

nitin sawhney - moonrise (featuring cheb mami and nina rocha miranda):


related:

• hanine y son cubano - arabo-cuban improvisation
  
• la nina de la puebla - la zagala
  
• gigi shibabaw - gela
  
• anjelika akbar - orkide I + II

catch nitin sawhney in toronto this summer at the luminaTO festival.

get this at amazon

free

very rarely does it happen that a music video takes a perfect piece of music and makes it better, makes it come to life, makes it reach out and grab you.

this is one of those rare times.

"i think there are very few people on this earth that are totally free. i'm not free but i'm working on it." - stevie wonder



find this here

related:

• finley quaye - even after all
  
• geoffrey oryema - makambo
  
• miriam makeba - malaika
  
• stevie wonder - as/another star

heligoland dream

when i was in south africa a couple of years ago i went to the home of a traditional healer, or sangoma. there were several of them gathered, throwing cowrie shells, chanting and calling to the sprits. it was fascinating watching them at work.

one approached me near the end of the night and asked me if i dream. "no", i told him, and if i do, i don't remember them. he advised me to blow my nose before sleeping.

and so i did. and i dreamed...

paradise circus, off of massive attack's latest album, heligoland captures the feeling of my dreamland, where even the most surreal scenes are met with a level head. nothing seems extraordinary, not until i wake in a daze and recall the twists and turns of events.

funny, more and more my dreams give me perspective. to remember them in all their fantastic imagination, is surely to understand life so much better.

dedicated to the sangomas in kwa zulu natal...

massive attack - paradise circus feat. hope sandoval
(feat. hope sandoval):
and for the dreamers... video
scenes taken from tarsem singh's surreal film, the fall. full of dalí-esque visuals sure to make you feel like you are dreaming:



related:

• sonar kollektiv orchester - rej
  
• nina simone - sinnerman
  
• lhasa - on the living road

get this at amazon