#just uh might still be a little more async than usual

[anthropologicalhands]

bro, tell me about three poems you've fallen in love with recently. also, i miss you. also, hi.

hello hello! sorry i’ve been scarce lately!

I’ve been in a wildly romantic mood for the last few months, possibly as escapism, possibly also because I was very preoccupied having feelings for someone from whom I am trying to move on from/have since moved on from, but for those reasons, anything about love or the all-encompassing sense of it has been helping me really sort through all of it.

Onto poetry!

I’ve been reading Rumi recently, and one of his poems that really stands out is called “The Marriage of True Minds”:

Happy the moment when we are seated in the palace, thou and I, With two forms and with two figures but with one soul, thou and I. The colours of the grove and the voices of the birds will bestow immortality At the time when we shall come into the garden, thou and I. The stars of Heaven will come to gaze upon us: We shall show them the moon herself, thou and I. Thou and I, individuals no more, shall be mingled in ecstasy, Joyful and secure from foolish babble, thou and I. All the bright-plumed birds of Heaven will devour their hearts with envy In the place where we shall laugh in such a fashion, thou and I. This is the greatest wonder, that thou and I, sitting here in the same nook, Are at this moment both in Iraq and Khorasan, thou and I.

The footnotes for this poem describe it as a description of a mystical union where lover and beloved become one with the universal essence of love. I’ve been curious about Persian, Arabic, and Sufi traditions in poetry just in general lately. I’ve also read different translations of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám - I have a volume with three different translation versions by Edward Fitzgerald which is supposedly widely reputed to be as beautiful as the original, though it isn’t necessarily the most accurate translation. But even the translator was always trying to get closer and closer, hence the multiple editions. The changes between the translations are very subtle but they change the tone significantly, which is just interesting to think about. I still feel like I’m missing a lot, but I hope to dig deeper here, because damn.

There is also Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Kindness”, which I can link to, so I will. Naomi Shihab Nye has been one of my favorites ever since I started seriously reading poetry, but I’m always re/discovering works by her, and this one has been hitting hard.

And there is “Adore” by Li Young Lee, but I’m going to pull out the section specifically that resonates with me:

You say: We cannot look upon Love's face without dying. So we face each other to see Love's look. And thus third-person souls suddenly stand at gaze and the lover and the beloved, second- and first-persons, You and I, eye to eye, are born. But such refraction, multiplying gazes, strews Love's eye upon the objects of the world, as upon the objects of our room.

I do wish I understood Hindi or Urdu, because many of the Bollywood songs I’m listening to sound like they would be poetry! While the translations give a sense of the beauty, I’m definitely experiencing the songs in a very different way than I would have experienced them if I understood the lyrics. But the ones that just sound beautiful to me include:

Tum Se Hi (linking to a random lyric video rather than the official video because there are these vocalizations in the song itself that you don’t hear in the movie that really add to it.)

Gerua (the visuals for this are just gorgeous. Iceland man!)

Janam Janam (from the same movie as Gerua! I want to give context, but I’m linking these for the SONGS, not the story, otherwise I’ll go into a whole thing about it XD)

Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna (...admittedly as great as this song is, the context makes it EVEN BETTER, but I’ll refrain)

Chaiyya Chaiyya (on a train!!! this song in particular apparently was inspired by an Urdu poem, according to Wikipedia.)

Dil Chahta Hai (best coastal drive music ever)

(Don’t worry about listening/watching these btw! This is more showing where my head has been going. Also, it can be a little weird watching some of these videos if you haven’t seen the movies)

Bollywood’s been great for a lot of my moods, actually,  and I really really wish I could find some critical studies/history of Bollywood books I could sink my teeth into, because calling them musicals doesn’t feel right - like they are very much their own thing and draw from a vast number of traditions that I don’t know, so trying to compare them to western musicals really doesn’t feel right. 

[macsmusicweek]

4/28/17

Gorillaz, Humanz | Daman Albarn's cartoon band, whose albums increasingly sound like the featured artists' B-sides. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qJp6xlKEug

Mary J. Blige, Strength of a Woman | Follows her surprising London Sessions. Regal, sturdy old-meets-new school R&B. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEubQSK6rt8

Anat Cohen & Marcello Gonçalves, Outra Coisa | Clarinetist, guitarist play Brazilian composer Moacir Santos. Really liking this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rytdKtybQdU

Ryuichi Sakamoto, async | Japanese composer, first album in 8 years. First half ranks w/ his best, second a little less focused. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bDJrl7Q9E8

Feist, Pleasure | Singer-songwriter, 4th solo album. Sounds like her best (The Reminder) + PJ Harvey's ‘Uh Huh Her.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yw1pih-vNw

Willie Nelson, God’s Problem Child | Country legend, as usual w/ his 'major' albums, this lacks spark of his oddball ones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=312SDrHM37Y

Thurston Moore, Rock n Roll Consciousness | Formerly Sonic Youth, 5th solo album, same band as his 4th. Dense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c0pR02pv9k

The Cranberries, Something Else | Irish alt-rock, 7th album tho more a greatest hits—rerecorded w/ string quartet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce7xqbfriNc

Trombone Shorty, Parking Lot Symphony | Blue Note debut. 7th album overall, each one pretty much better than the last. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3a3RxVTuNc

Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm, s/t | Master blues guitarist, peaked w/ 1986's 'Strong Persuader' but still does good work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZoaz4A6LEQ

Juliana Hatfield, Pussycat | Badass Boston rocker (formerly Blake Babies, The Lemonheads), badass 14th solo album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogYJvaG6_uc

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, Sidelong | Country, way better album than the other two Christgau reviewed this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENXqzuDTllI

Chris Potter, The Dreamer Is the Dream | Saxophonist, 3rd set for ECM, lots of others dating back to the early 90s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIeRqHvuNxs

Colin Stetson, All This I Do for Glory | Saxophonist w/ indie-rock cred, hasn't really rewarded my time since 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJHr2DlRog8

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sufi Qawwalis | Pakistani singer, dead in '97, 3 essential albums just before. ’89 live date. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rayBLnIowbA

Les Amazones d’Afrique, République Amazone | All-female African collective, lead by Angélique Kidjo. Debut album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA8xfiCdQrA

John Mellencamp, Sad Clowns & Hillbillies | Indiana songwriter, here sharing credit w/ June Carter Cash's daughter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrxcwL5nDPM

Ednita Nazario, Una Vita | Puerto Rican megastar since her teens. New album coincides w/ her recent autobiography. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3H6T2szuTU

Grupo Extra, Colores | Bachata 6-piece, w/ the rapper also the lead composer. Big, buoyant tunes. Dominican-based. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjBH8FHVjO8

Dat García, Maleducada | "Along the sun’s cosmic belt, the renewal of Argentine folktronics takes another twist." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cpdbL8lrww

Around Felicité (OST) | Kasai Allstars/Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste. Soundtrack to the 2017 Alain Gomis film, a Berlinale 2nd place winner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m962IyoWaVo

Cashmere Cat, 9 | Norwegian DJ/producer, debut album. Big guests: Selena Gomez, the Weeknd, Ariana Grande, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5p5uCgY-tY

Hyukoh, 23 | South Korean indie-rock band, debut album. Hearing pan-Asian influence. (Singer was raised in China.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmDD-QWlQpU

Marie Miller, Letterbox | Dallas, TX singer, debut album. Her YouTube's all acoustic, album more sonically varied. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pZ5TCBy704

Melvin Sparks, Live at Nectar’s | Jazz guitarist, big Grant Green fan. Dead in 2011, live date just months before. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztiIVgE5sOk

Old Crow Medicine Show, 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde | Rowdy tribute (live May 2016) from DIY alt-country group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KqbT1g-d-w

Young M.A., Herstory | Debut EP from the Brooklyn rapper who gave us "OOOUUU." Revisit her very #blessed 2016 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVf_4Ns3qLU

Carl Borden, Breathe | Award-winning New Age composer, music that Ryuichi Sakamoto might fall asleep to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4pQdOmlyqs

Worth Mentioning:

Wale, Shine (rap), Serengeti, Kaleidoscope EP (rap), Kasabian, Crying Out Loud (rock), Mark Lanegan Band, Gargoyle (blues), Mew, Visuals (indie-rock), Sylvan Esso, What Now (pop), Isabella Gonzalez, Farewell (pop), Alex G, My Life on the Internet (pop), Dalton Domino, Corners (country), Jimmy Greene, Flowers — Beautiful Life, Vol. 2 (jazz), Terry Gibbs, 92 Years Young: Jammin’ at the Gibbs’ House (jazz), Layl, Lo Más Básico (Latin pop); and Various Artists, Free Fire (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)