Slowlands, 9 augustus, Deventer (The Netherlands)

http://www.havenkwartier.org/slowlands/

Neda Salehi 1993-2009

“Power kills in silence. ‘If you really want to protest against the election fraud, you’ll have to bear the consequences yourself’, the most powerful man in Iran, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared last Friday. By using these words, he gave himself and his bloodhounds a license to kill. Khamenei is the gruesome, bloody and filthy face of Iran. An old man, chained to an absolute truth of Medieval notions and chained to the powers that religion provides him. The bastards killed a sixteen year old girl – that rotten, consciousness lacking scum. Neda Salehi was her name.”

(Quoted from: Bert Wagendorp, “Neda Salehi”, De Volkskrant 22 June 2009)

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1906049,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/saturday-updates-on-irans-disputed-election/

Drink Rum! Jamaican Soul Jazz Vocalists

http://www.siebethissen.net/Dr_Auratheft/Mom_Radio/index.htm

1 Derrick Harriott: Answer Me Darling
2 Clancy Eccles: River Jordan
3 Uniques: Gypsy Woman
4 Count Ossie: One Bright Morning
5 Lloyd Briscoe: Mr. Cleveland
6 Andy & Clyde: The Lonesome
7 Karl Walker: But Officer
8 Basil Gabbidon: Jamaica Is Mine
9 Jiving Juniors: Over The River
10 Alton & Eddy: My Heaven
11 Marlene Webber: Hard Life
12 Bunny & Skitter: Lumumbo
13 Lascelles Perkins: Lonely Moments
14 Uniques: Gimme Some More
15 Count Owen: Emmanuel Road
16 Eric Morris: Love Can Make A Man
17 Desmond Reily: Tear Them
18 Bob Marley: Treat Me Good
19 The Charmers: Jeanie Girl
20 The Upsetters: Mama Let Her Out
21 Hortense & Alton Ellis: Don’t Gamble With Love
22 Theo Beckford: Drink Rum
23 Roy Panton & Cornell Campbell: Sweetest Girl
24 Stranger & Ken: Suzie
25 Bob Marley: Where Is My Mother

This is family entertainment, I guess. My kids love this stuff (and the parents as well). So turn up the volume!

The Flying Carpet And Other Oriental Stereotypes

http://www.siebethissen.net/Dr_Auratheft/Mom_Radio/index.htm

1 Farook Salama: Dalah
2 Celtica Tribale Arabia Riddim
3 Saladin el Tarab: Sawwah
4 Baladi & Saaïdi: Eshta
5 Farook Salama: Mahgola
6 Helm & Fat Orchestra: Sema’ï
7 Hossam Ramzy: Zeina
8 Routine Riddim
9 Darbuka Riddim
10 Hossam Ramzy: Mawkib Ennoor
11 Unknown Riddim

There are two solid reasons for this “danse du ventre” compilation. The first is a lovely Radio Bastet show I picked up somewhere: a belly dance vintage vinyl podcast with tracks from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. It’s posted down below. And there’s another motive. Two weeks ago I delivered an opening speech at De Unie in Rotterdam, in celebration of “The Flying Grass Carpet”, an internationally praised work of art, designed by Rotterdam based HUNK-Design & ID-Eddy.

http://www.flyinggrasscarpet.org/

I thought it would be fun to start with a few quotes from the Arabian Nights, in which a magic or flying carpet would appear. When I was small, my mom used to tell Arabian Nights stories (from a censored children edition). The global village is all too familiar with the image of a flying carpet, however, when I started thinking about the Arabian Nights, I couldn’t recall one single flying carpet story from my youth. I finally dug up that family book from a dusty box (“Sprookjeskaravaan” [“Fairy Tale Caravanserai”], 1966) and went through the pages. Indeed, there was no flying carpet in there. That puzzled me. I found an answer here:

“In the Western perception, the magic carpet constitutes the quintessential expression of Oriental magic and the stereotypical requisite of Orientalist narratives, particularly in literature and twentieth-century film. Contrary to the expectation, however, the basic stock of tales of the Arabian Nights does not mention flying carpets” (taken from: Marzolph, Van Leeuwen, Wassouf, “The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia”, 2003).

(Remember the magic carpet in Disney’s “Aladdin”? A Hollywood invention – there’s no such carpet in the 'original' story. "Original", as "Aladdin" and "Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves", among many other tales, are not part of the original stock: they are apocrypha, possibly derived from Western sources).

Another quintessential expression of Oriental magic might be the belly dance. Consider the next informative quotes:

“The overtly sexual forms of “belly dancing”—indeed, the very term “belly dancing”—are Western exaggerations of Middle Eastern dance, sold by Hollywood and Western strip clubs before returning in the their new form to countries such as Egypt and Turkey. This Western burlesque model is increasingly condemned by conservative Muslims. Belly dancing and veils are more hallmarks of Middle Eastern culture than of Islamic culture.”

“Around the 10th century, Gypsy entertainers blew through much of the Middle East. As non-Muslims, they could dance openly, and developed a style incorporating elements from many different regions. This was the real beginning of “belly dancing.” Though only mildly erotic, it was very popular, and it became common to hire Gypsy dancers for weddings, clearly for sexual symbolism. It appears that Muslim women also eventually became dancers.”

“Then Westerners heard about it and started exporting it as erotic and exotic. The 1893 Chicago World Exposition featured a dancer called “Little Egypt” doing the “danse du ventre”—French for “belly dance.” Strip clubs and Hollywood jumped all over it, adding more raunch and such Far East fantasy touches as sequined bras.”

“By the 1940s, Egypt had re-imported this raks al-sharqi (“Oriental dance”) for nightclubs and its own film industry. Places such as Turkey and Iran soon followed suit. Local dance, including the wedding gigs, was soon dominated by these more risque belly dancers, and has been ever since. Many of the dancers are now Muslim, and in Egypt they’re still required to cover themselves—but usually only with skin-tight gauze.”

“Islam long took a tolerant view of belly dancing, but in recent years clerics have condemned it. Iran shut it down. Egypt’s top cleric banned dancers from making the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, and fundamentalists have attacked and burned nightclubs. Like most conservative Muslim outrage these days, this is only partly religious. There’s also the not-wholly-inaccurate perception that modern belly dancing represents an invasion of corrupt Western values.”

http://archives.stupidquestion.net/sq102501islamveils.html

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Lots of Radio Bastet Vintage Vinyl Belly Dance Podcasts:

http://www.radiobastet.com/

Or get one here:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/6131591862fd7fbd/

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Thanks Regina, for this Japanese astronaut, flying a carpet in space:

http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2009/05/japanese-astronaut-shows-off-his-flying-carpet.html

The Neverness Paradigm. Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Volume 8

http://www.zshare.net/audio/6103283835e2c39a/

1 Rocket No.9
2 Teenager’s Letter Of Promises
3 Enlightenment
4 Journey Outward
5 Disguised Gods In Skullduggery Rendez-Vous
6 It’s Spring Time Again
7 The Bat Cave
8 Medicine For A Nightmare
9 Demon’s Lullaby
10 Early Autumn
11 Spring And Summer Idylle
12 Infinity Of The Universe
13 Neverness
14 I’m So Glad You Love Me
15 Rocket No.9

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Sun Ra, progenitor of outer-space jazz and free-rein collective improvisation, is both a fitting and challenging subject for remixing — fitting, in that his work was groove-heavy, rich in sonic touches, and a natural subject for producers who fancy themselves crate diggers, sifting through cultural detritus in search of lost grooves; challenging, in that his work, like his life, had relatively little formal structure, and thus the mechanical beat of hip-hop has to make peace with tempos that give and take.

http://disquiet.com/2009/05/26/15-hour-sun-ra-v-hip-hop-mp3-megamix/

Rewind: DJ Nerd III’s VDGG Epic Jazz Core RFX

http://www.zshare.net/audio/610350743a3876d0/

Some request for this one last year, so here’s a repost: one day my pal DJ Nerd III glued together some of his favourite Van Der Graaf Generator bits and pieces in order to pay tribute to their classic organ/saxophone/drums sound.

The band:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Graaf_Generator

The machine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_de_Graaff_generator

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"It was the time of Baader-Meinhof and the Red Brigades, and Van Der Graaf Generator's brand of Sturm und Drang seemed to tap into a very potent and volatile zeitgeist. "The world was getting wacky, basically. More grown-up things started to happen to us," admits Hammill, who wrote complex, tortured songs like "Killer", "Man-Erg" and "Scorched Earth", which turned into relentless and epic tours de force.

"In non-English speaking countries, in Italy and France, there was an immediate response to the sound. People got the emotional effect of the music. Whereas in Britain, and particularly in America, the fact that there was this bloke spouting all these words tended to put people off. From quite an early stage, we had this attitude of, 'We are going to play this music. You might not like it but, if you don't like it, we're sorry, that's just too bad because we are going to play this music,'" the singer says.

Read more here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/van-der-graaf-generator-still-generating-excitement-444391.html

Maghreb Turmoil (Or Why The Mediterranean Should Be Allowed In, Part 3)

http://www.siebethissen.net/Dr_Auratheft/Mom_Radio/index.htm

1 DJ Bouzz & Dr. Chillcut: Blue Oud
2 DJ Bouzz & Dr. Chillcut: Cairo Buzz
3 Cheb Mimoun El Oudji: Ana Bghit Hibbi
4 Cheba Fati: Bye Bye Yall Mina
5 Groupe El Azhar: Mazal Nesker Mazal
6 Cheb I Sabbah: Esh Dani Alah Mshit (RMX)
7 DJ Bouzz & D. Chillcut: Gnawa Voodoo
8 Reggada Instrumental (Via Rupture’s Mudd Up)
9 Rabih Abou-Khalil: Imminent Journey/On A Bus
10 Abed Azrie: Abou-Saadiyah
11 Cheb Bilal: Ghorba Ou L’hem
12 DJ Appie: Reggada Mix
13 Imeblia Douzi: Indo Reggada
14 DJ Bouzz: Nkreh

Dutch-Moroccan writer Mohammed Benzakour wrote a controversial piece today for “De Volkskrant” (25 May 2009). According to the polls, Geert Wilders’s anti-Islamic Freedom Party would be the biggest political party in The Netherlands if national elections were helt now. What to do? Benzakour aims at “verelendung”. Here’s a summary of his open letter:

‘How to handle Mr. Wilders? Make him prime-minister. The guy plays hide and seek, refuses any interview, turns a deaf ear to protests, ignores scientific facts and political arguments, and never enters a debate. The more he is ignored the more media attention he gets. You can’t fight him - he is too sleek. There’s only one solution: wish him all the luck and offer him the job. As prime-minister he will prove he is not the solution. Let him harass Muslims, let him close down mosques, forbid books and head scarves. Good luck. Please, let him confront the Islamic world. The results will be disastrous: The Netherlands will make a fool of themselves internationally; the United Nations will announce boycotts; human rights organisations will be busy; ambassadors will be sent out and foreign countries will refuse to do business with a guy who makes films like “Fitna”. Politically, culturally and economically our country will be damaged in the face of globalisation. The result will be a political crisis and consequently new elections. Only then The Netherlands will be able to awake from a bad dream. Make the guy prime-minister’.

Who is Geert Wilders?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Wilders

Who is Mohammed Benzakour?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Benzakour

Original letter (in Dutch):

http://extra.volkskrant.nl/opinie/artikel/show/id/3427/Gun_Wilders_de_macht

Re: El Maldito Acordeón (Part 2: Rebajadas)

http://www.siebethissen.net/Dr_Auratheft/Mom_Radio/index.htm

0 intro
1 Super Grupo Colombia: Parajo Cenzontle Rebajada
2 Rebajadas Monterrey Marquillos Colombia
3 Sonido Martines: Cumbia Monteriana Rebajada
4 DJ LKS: Cumbia de los Estados Rebajada
5 DJ Next Watts: Cumbia Rebajada
6 La Cumbia Sampuesana Rebajada
7 Andres Landero: Cuando lo Negro Rebajada
8 Sonido Martines: Que Soy Sexy
9 Wayne & Wax & Calle 13: Cumbia de las Rebajadas
10 Karol y su Amor Gitano: El Maldito Acordeón
11 Unknown
12 Andres Landero: Virgen de la Candelaria Rebajada
13 Outro

In my last post I couldn’t figure out why the Karol y su Amor Gitano tracks differed so much from their “original” cumbia recordings. I must have missed something, somewhere, since I was hardly aware of “Rebajadas”: those low pitched cumbia “remixes”. Okay, I listened to Sonido Martines’s mix for DJ/Rupture and a Wayne & Wax rebajada track, but I judged them as odd experiments. Vincent from Paris corrected me and gave a short introduction course:

“Rebajadas is really great stuff. I especially enjoy the ‘dramatic’ atmosphere as the accordion + guacharaca ‘swollen’. Also the “hot potato” effect on the singing, to the extreme it would make the lyrics barely recognizable, as if it was just a different language”.

“I do like the Sonido Martines’s mix for Rupture very much – although it’s not fully rebajadas, as some tracks are just regular slow songs. Story tells (can’t remember where I heard/read this – maybe Sonido’s interview on Rupture’s radio?) early low-key/ghetto cumbia gigs in Mexico would use really shitty/dysfunctional turntables, not only slowing down but also fluctuating. This launched a genre somehow and kids in Mexico are just all about rebajadas”.

The links he provided did the rest. Fanx. I'm starting to dig it. A weird, yet wonderful sound.

Suddenly the tracks in my “weird cumbia” file made more sense. I glued them together here in this mix. Finally Karol y su Amor Gitano’s « El Maldito Acordeón » has found a proper context in Part 2.

http://www.myspace.com/sonidomartines