Reflections on art, photography, philosophy, design, and technology
Some music by the great Armenian monk-composer Soghomon Soghomonyan (Komitas) can be found in the virtual museum of Komitas. Komitas is credited for bringing a renaissance to Armenian music through his collection and arrangement of over 3000 Armenian folk songs.
| Gomidas Songs | |||
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Isabel Bayrakdarian was on CBC Radio today, presenting her new album Gomidas Songs .
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[Edited from Photomedia Forum post by T.Neugebauer from 2007-2008 ]
The 28th edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival is taking place from June 28th to July 8th. I would have liked to have seen Angelique Kidjo, and I still hope to get tickets for theToumani Diabete show. In the meantime, I took in the high-energy Femi Kuti show…
Femi Kuti performing at Metropolis, July 2007
Seun Kuti and Egypt ’80, the original Fela Kuti group, played on Tuesday.
| Toumani Diabate |
Toumani Diabate played the Spectrum on Friday with the Symmetric Orchestra, and that was for me the most enjoyable concert of the festival. Toumani Diabate comes from a long line of musicians, seventy-one generations of musical knowledge passed from generation to generation. He played with musicians from the various countries that exist today on the land that was once the ancient kingdom of Mali… 2 vocalists, keyboards, drums, bass, guitar, traditional African guitar, belafon, djembe. Symmetric Orchestra’s album was released last year asBoulevard de l’Independance.
Toumani Diabaté (Kora), Fodé Lassana Diabaté (Balafon), Toumani Diabate Symmetric Orchestra at Spectrum, July 2007
Soumaila Kanoute (Vocals)
Fodé Lassana Diabaté (Balafon)
Toumani Diabate’s previous album, In the Heart of the Moon, is a collaboration with the Malian singer and guitarist Ali Farka Touré. He has also recorded an album with Ballake Sissoko,New Ancient Strings. Other Diabate albums include Djelika and Kaira .
There is a feature on Toumani Diabate and the Symmetric Orchestra, including interviews and the full audio of 3 tracks at NPR.
[Edited from Photomedia Forum post by T.Neugebauer from July, 2007 ]
The Montreal International Jazz Festival 2006, wraps up this Sunday, July 9th with a free performance by Goran Bregovic and his Wedding and Funeral Band.
I also went to the jazz festival on thursday to take a few photographs and listen to some wonderful music outdoors…
Sekouba Bambino from Guinea, a former member of Bembeya Jazz and Africando. The festival’s web site calls his voice reminiscient of Kouyaté Sory Kandia.
Goran Bregović
First North American tour, Goran Bregović and the wedding and funeral band put on an amazing concert for the closing of the festival
Next performance is tomorrow (July 10th), playing as part of the City of Chicago’s Music without Borders series.
Speaking of Bregović, Bijelo dugme has a song composed by Duško Trifunović, the lyrics are
| “ima neka tajna veza za sve ljude zakon krut njome covjek sebe veze kada bira sebi put sidro koje ladju cuva da ne bude buri plijen tone skupa sa tom ladjom jer je ono dio nje ima neka tajna veza tajna veza za sve nas ima neka tajna veza tajna veza za sve nas” |
I would like to know the translation of this song… and a friend sent me one (thank you!) …
| “There is a secret connection For all people law is harsh People are bound with this connection When they choose their way Anchor which keeps the boat Not to be the prey Sinking together with this boat Because they are connected together There is a secret connection Secret connection for all of us” |
[Edited from Photomedia Forum post by T.Neugebauer from July, 2006 ]
Kandinsky (1866-1944) used painting to explore his synaesthesia, in his case, the ability to both see and hear colour.
| “Hearing tones and chords as he painted, Kandinsky theorized that, for examples, yellow is the color of middle-C on a piano, a brassy trumpet blast; black is the color of closure and the ends of things; and that combinations and associations of colors produce vibrational frequencies akin to chords played on a piano. Kandinsky also developed an intricate theory of geometric figures and their relationships, claiming, for example, that the circle is the most peaceful shape and represents the human soul.
source: Wikipedia – Kandinsky” |
Kandinsky abandoned a potential career in teaching law and economics to enrol in art school and devote his life to painting and art. Kandinsky’s inspiration for his theories on the Spiritual in Art include theosophy; he considered the artist to create out of an internal necessity to communicate and the artist’s original impulse to be evoked in the viewer by means of the artwork. Kandinsky was inspired and corresponded with the composer Arnold Schoenberg. He also taught basic design at the Bauhaus school.
| “The name Der Blaue Reiter derived from Marc’s enthusiasm for horses, and from Kandinsky’s love of the colour blue. For Kandinsky, blue is the colour of spirituality—the darker the blue, the more it awakens human desire for the eternal (see his 1911 book On the Spiritual in Art). Kandinsky had also titled a painting Der Blaue Reiter (see illustration) in 1903.
source: Wikipedia – Der Blaue Reiter” |
[Photomedia Forum post by T.Neugebauer from Aug 07, 2006 ]