#middle east sardinia pictures

[thevalleysbelow]

Constellation of the day: a brief introduction on sky cultures.

To begin with: every culture that’s ever existed on this planet seems to have found images to associate with groups of stars. Each culture gave those constellations names borrowed from mythology or everyday-life objects. So we have a number of Sky Cultures, some of which have been somehow systemised. I’d at least like to name them, as a form of respect and because they are intrinsically interesting and important.

Native American cultures are the Blackfoot culture, Inuit, Navajo, Tukano, Tupi-Guarani.

In Asia, the Bugis, Chinese (old and Contemporary), Indian Vedic, the Japanese (that is similar to the Chinese in dividing the Moon’s path in 28 “stations”), the Korean (also similar to the Chinese one), the Mandar, Mongolian, and Siberian.

In Europe we have constellation systems as the Belarusian, the Norse (love that one), the Romanian, the Ruelle chart (first ever attempt to reconstruct Greek constellation with geometrical figures), the Sami, a whole separate star chart for Sardinia, then there’s the Western- that’s the most used constellation system adopted by the International Astronomical Union, and three other variations of this particular system.

In the Middle East, we find three Arabic cultures (Al-Sufi, Ancient, Lunar Stations) and the Egyptian culture.

In Oceania, there are the Anutan, Hawaiian, Kamilaroi/Euahlayi, Māori and Tongan.

On the same Earth and under the same sky, apparently no human group could go without looking at the stars. If you’re interested, you may find more here (other references included). Even more bibliography and information can be found on my other main source, from which I learnt most of what I know about Sky Cultures, the mobile app Stellarium. Can also ask me for other links and such if you feel like it.

No constellation is, obviously, a faithful portrait of the hero, object, or animal it’s associated with. One could hardly think of Cassiopea as a W. To see why constellations are named as they are, one should look at the night sky not only with imagination in general, but with The imagination of those who named them first, influenced by their myths, their heroes and their lives. Slawik and Reichter give in their premise the pregnant example of Orion, that up there in the sky is stopping the attack of the Taurus, all the while chasing the beautiful Pleiades, and running from the Scorpion’s stinger. Looking at the sky as a group of humans looked at it, means having in front of you (or above your head for that matter) a sort of rotating, ever changing picture of their culture and beliefs. Stories and legends and are told and handed down in what we now schematise as dots and lines, and I find that re-learning to read them from scratches can be quite mind-opening.

See y’all later with another post, probably another introduction on catalogues and names, this time more technical.

~Ad Astra~

[artborghi]

Something does not fit

Something does not fit

Casa Zapata museum: the historical palace of the Spanish Zapata family above, a Nuraghe village from 1,500 BC beneath

Faithful paparazzi at Santa Maria procession, Villasimius

Historical graffiti sprayed on the Church Of The Holy Sepulcher, Cagliari

Global warming consequences at Punta Molentis Beach

The night fell on the 6 km long Santa Maria procession in Campolongu

All pictures shot with…

[autodidact-adventures]

Ancient Greece (Part 12): The Late Mycenaeans (c.1400 - 1200 BC)

With the construction of their new palaces, the Mycenaeans entered the final stage of their wealth & power.

The architecture & decoration of the palaces was very similar to the Minoan style, but there were some differences.  The Mycenaean centres were much smaller, usually built on a commanding hill, and had high, thick walls as fortifications.  The Minoan palaces had had little defensive function, but the Mycenaeans had defense as the most important feature of theirs.  The fortification walls of Mycenae and Tiryns were made of huge stone blocks, and are still impressive today despite being in ruins.  The later Greeks called them Cyclopean walls, believing that they were so enormous that only the giant Cyclopes could have built them.  The fortifications were well-engineered, taking advantage of natural slopes.  There were refinements that allowed defenders to fire down on two sides at attackers at the gates.

Building, maintaining and repairing these fortifications would have required a huge amount of manual labour, and cost a great deal.  It is true that this walled citadel provided protection for the ordinary people as well, as the town below was unfortified.  But that wasn't the only reason for this extravagance – the walls were over 6m thick in places, far more than was necessary.  So part of their purpose would have been to show off the king's wealth & military power.

City walls built in later periods were on a far smaller scale, but were impregnable until workable siege machinery was invented in the 300's BC.

Lion Gate (Mycenae, c.1200 BC).

Another difference between the Mycenaeans & Minoans was how they used the space inside the palace.  Instead of an open paved courtyard, the palace's focus was the megaron – a large rectangular hall with a small antechamber.  The antechamber had a portico in the front, opening out into a courtyard outside.

In the middle of the great hall was a large, raised circular hearth.  It was surrounded by 4 columns, which held up a balcony.  An oculus (plural oculi – a circular opening in the centre of a dome/wall) in the roof above drew away the smoke.

Megaron diagram.  1) Anteroom 2) Main Hall 3) Columns (porch & hall).

The megaron was the main ceremonial centre of the palace, and they used it for councils, visitor receptions and feasts.  In the following Dark Age, the megaron would survive in the form of the chieftain's house.  From the 700's onwards, it would be the main plan of a Greek temple.

The Mycenaean palaces gave the elite a life of luxury & beauty almost as great as the Minoans'.  There were fewer rooms, and didn't have all of the Cretan architectural embellishments, but these palaces had Minoan features such as indoor plumbing and wall paintings.

The frescoes were in the Minoan style (although in a more formalized manner), and focused more on martial scenes, such as personal combat, sieges, and hunting scenes.  Women and men are depicted wearing traditional Minoan dress, but other depictions (such as on vases) show that mainland Mycenaean men usually wore a loose woollen/linen tunic, cinched with a belt; the women wore a longer version of the same tunic.

Politics

It used to be believed that there was a united Mycenaean Greek kingdom, ruled by the king of Mycenae, but this is now known to be untrue.  The highest level of political/military expansion was the formation of small, regional kingdoms under single centres.  One example is the kingdom of Pylos (in Messenia).

In regions where major centres were very close to each other, the situation isn't as clear.  The region of Argolis, for example, had 10 major centres, including Mycenae and Tiryns, only a few miles apart.  Perhaps the king of Mycenae was the sole ruler of Argolis, and thus the palace of Tiryns was an outpost of Mycenae.  Or perhaps Tiryns (and other major centres) were semi-independent settlements, with their leaders acknowledging the king of Mycenae as their superior, and pledging loyalty to him.

Whichever it was for Argolis, not all Mycenaean kingdoms were necessary alike in structure.  The palace-towns of Athens & Thebes may have had similar dominant positions as Mycenae, in the regions of Attica and Boeotia respectively.

From 1600-1200 BC, relations between & within regions were pretty stable, with few example of all-out warfare.  Thebes was burned in the early 1200's [i.e. near 1300], perhaps by a neighbouring centre.  One possibility is Orchomenus, a rich & populous site, which would be Thebes' rival during the Classical period later on.

In the Mediterranean

At their peak (around 1300 BC), the Mycenaean kingdoms were trading all across the Mediterranean – from Sardinia (southern Italy) and Sicily in the west, to Troy & down to Egypt in the east, to Macedonia in the north.  There were Mycenaean settlements & trading posts along the Asian coastline, and throughout the islands (including Rhodes and Cyprus).

The Mycenaean culture was remarkably uniform across this whole region.  Even experts find it difficult to say where an object was made.

The elite's wealth wasn't just from trade, but also from international piracy – they could easily afford to mount large seaborne invasions to plunder. Even though the overall Mycenaean Greek population was small compared to the East, they were the 3rd-highest power in the Mediterranean, after the Hittite Empire (covering Anatolia and Syria) and the New Kingdom of Egypt.

Hittite archives from the 1300's & 1200's mention a people called the Ahhiyawan, which may be the cuneiform version of the Mycenaean word Akhaiwoi – i.e. the “Achaeans”, which was an inclusive word for “Greeks” in the 700's epic poems.  In one letter, the Hittite king addresses his “brother, the king of Ahhiyawa (Achaea”.  Another record mention an exchange of gifts between the kings of Hatti & Ahhiyawa; another mentions Ahhiyawans being sent to Hatti to learn chariot warfare; another mentions an Ahhiyawan god being summoned to cure a Hittite king.

However, relations between the Hittites and Mycenaeans were not always peaceful.  In the 1200's, “a man from Ahhiyawa” was invading Hittite territory in western Anatolia.  These forces probably came not from mainland Greece, but from one/more of the nearer Mycenaean kingdoms (from the islands or on the Asian coast).

Administration

According to the Iliad and Odyssey, one of the most important leaders of the Trojan War was Nestor, who lived in a magnificent house with many rooms in the town of Pylos, from where he ruled over a large kingdom in Messenia.  In 1939, Carl Blegen discovered the “palace of Nestos”.  This was not just a confirmation that it had really existed, but also showed that a centre far away from the great palaces of east & central Greece could be just as rich and important.

Messenia is a region in the south-western Peloponnese.  It is fertile and well-watered, and during the Mycenaean Age, it was one of the most heavily-populated areas.  In the Early Helladic, there were about 4000 people living there; by the Middle Helladic, it was 10,000; by the Late Helladic, it was over 50,000 (perhaps as high as 100,000).

Pylos became a regional power centre at about the same time as Mycenae and other centres.  Its peak was during the Late Helladic IIIA & IIIB (about 1400-1200 BC).  The palace was built aroudn 1300 BC on a hill 8km from the sea, on the ruins of an earlier, small complex of buildings.  “Pylos” is written as Pu-ro in Linear B.

The site had been undisturbed since 1200 BC.  That, and the many Linear B tablets in the archive rooms, give us the best picture of the administration & workings of a Mycenaean-Age kingdom.  The Pylos and Mycenaean Knossos tablets show much of the day-to-day administrative details of the Mycenaean Palaces.

These tablets were sun-dried, and intended as temporary records, until their information was transferred onto larger, permanent records.  This information was recorded by palace scribes, and focuses on personnel & production.  The ones we have survived only because they were baked hard by the fires that destroyed the palaces.  Therefore, they refer only to a small part of the last year before the fire (for each palace), but they are still representative of the palace administration throughout the later palace period.

From the tablets, we have some information on the Mycenaean ruling hierarchy.  The wanax was at the top – this may mean “lord” or “master”. Below him was the lawagetas, which appears to be a combination of the words for “people” and “leader”.  He is believed to be the army commander.

A high-ranking group called telestai received the same allotment of land as the lawagetas, but their function is unknown.  They may have been priests.

Other people have the title hequetas, which possibly means “follower”, and they may have been high-ranking military officials.

The above people were in the top tier.  Below them were lesser officials, who seem to have been in charge of the outlying areas.  The kingdom of Pylos was about 3625 square km, with over 200 villages & towns.  It was divided into 2 provinces, and each province was divided into several districts, which were named after the principal town in each one. The titles of korete & prokorete may have been for a district governor & his deputy.

Finally, a large group of officials with the title pasireu were in charge of things at the town/village level.

The officials & military officiers named in the tablets would have been only the tip of a large bureaucracy.  Many lower-level officials were subordinate to them, and dependent on them.  The higher officials received land from the wanax in exchange for their service to the palace, and also a share of their crops.  Probably a similar relationship existed between them and these lower-level officials.

The highest officials (and maybe some of the lower-ranking ones) lived in substantial private houses.  Some of them were quite large.  These private houses were in the citadels, lower towns, and also small country towns.

Only the highest-ranking families were buried in the tholoi (perhaps because of cost, or perhaps only they were allowed to).  The lesser elite were buried in “chamber tombs” – rectangular crypts cut into the soft rock.  Some of them were grander than others, and had more grave goods (and more expensive ones).  Perhaps some of the inhabitants of the private houses & chamber tombs were private merchants & traders who acted as agents of the palace.

The majority of people lived in small, modestly-furnished houses with few amenities. They were buried in simple graves with only a few small items.  Their standard of living was the same as their ancestors', and they worked as farmers, herders & artisans.  This would stay pretty much the same in the later history of Greece.  Most of the farmers & herders lived in rural villages, and most of the craft specialists lived in regional centres & larger settlements.

Many farming families were tenants on land belonging to the nobles (some of the nobles had very large holdings).  Others owned plots in their own names (craftsmen & herders are listed as “owners” of private land).  50-75 families made up the typical Mycenaean village, either having shares in the village's land, or renting land that was allocated to high-level officials.

Palace supervision over the people was very thorough.  Officials were regularly sent into the countryside to carry out inspections.  Produce & animal taxes levied on individuals & villages were recorded exactly, including deficiencies in the assessments.  For example, a Knossos tablet states: “Men of Lyktos 246.7 units of wheat; men of Tylisos 261 units of wheat; men of Lato 30.5 units of wheat.”  We don't know how much a “unit” was, but it seems as though the farmers weren't too heavily taxed.

Village men farmed their plots and tended to their trees, vines and livestock.  They paid their taxes, contributed labour to the palace, and served in the army.  The women would have helped with the farm chores, and done the domestic chores of spinning & weaving, food preparation, and childcare.  Some village women were textile workers for the palace, and received rations of wool & flax for this.

Slaves were at the bottom of society.  The tablets make reference to “captives” and “bought”, showing that the warrior-aristocrats of Mycenaean Greece were very active in the slavery business.  There were many slaves, many of whom were female – Pylos tablets record over 600 slave women, and about the same number of children.

The women named on the tablets had jobs such as bath attendants, flax-workers, grain-grinders, and weavers.  Most of them were attached to the palace, but some lived in other towns and received rations of food from the palace.

High-ranking people also owned slaves, thought not as many as the wanax did.  Slaves were valuable possessions, both for what they produced and as commodities to sell for a profit.  Some were also domestic slaves, so that their owners didn't have to do any work at all.

Slavery was very much the norm throughout all of Ancient Greek history, and its morality was unquestioned (with few exceptions).  It was practised everywhere and during all time periods.  However, large-scale slavery wasn't practised until about the 500's BC.

It's possible that not all the lowest-status workers listed on the tablets were true slaves (i.e. captured/bought foreigners) – some may have been native individuals & families that had been reduced to a state of permanent dependence on the palace.  If this was the case, then their condition would have been not much different from the slaves', but they would have been recognized as individuals, not as chattel. These “semi-slaves” weren't uncommon in Greek history; the most famous were the “helots” of Laconia & Messenia, owned by the state of Sparta.

Commerce & Manufacturing

Many types of specialists are listed on the Linear B tablets, both for the palace and other locations.  Men worked as masons, carpenters, goldsmiths, bronzesmiths, armorers, bow-makers, leather-workers, perfume-makers, and many other positions.  A physician is mentioned on one tablet. Women worked mostly in the textile sector – spinners, carders, weavers and embroiderers.

The wanax kept a close eye on the workshops.  His scribes recorded how much raw material was provided to the workers, the objects they produced, and the rations of food they received in return.  One entry says: “one ebony footstool inlaid with figures of men and lion in ivory”.

Most labour-intensive objects (such as the footstool, made of expensive imported material) have crumbed away over time, but the inventories of what was made were fully comprehensive.  Individual chariot wheels were listed, along with their condition (“serviceable” & “unfit for use”).  Even damaged bronze cauldrons were listed in the inventories.

About 1/3 of the Knossos tablets are about sheep & wool – this was a major industry.  From one district alone, 19,000 sheep are recorded.  Many women worked at Knossos & the surrounding towns, spinning wool and weaving & decorating the cloth.

The Pylos wanax also controlled a large textile induxtry (wool & linen).  Another important Pylos industry was metal-working.  There were perhaps 400 bronzesmiths, and the quantities of bronze they received shows that the production of bronze objects (including weapons) was far greater than local consumption.

The size of these manufacturing objects shows that textiles & metalwork would have been the two leading exports of the palace economy.  Other exports were olive oil (plain & perfumed), wine, hides, leather, and leather products.

High-quality items, such as painted ceramics, jewellery, and the footstool mentioned above, also sold well internationally.  Ceramics are very durable, so it’s those which have mostly survived in distant locations. Their presence there shows that other, more perishable goods had also been sold there.

The palaces imported items that Greece lacked, including gold, copper, tin, ivory, amber, dyes and spices.  They also imported foreign varieties of things they already had, such as wine, textiles, ceramics, jewellery, and other exotic luxury goods.

Ceramics at the Pylos palace.

Religion

The Bronze-Age peoples of the Greece mainland, Crete, and the islands followed the same religious themes as other agrarian cultures.  Their religion was tied up with agriculture.  They honoured the gods with processions, music and dance; they gave them gifts and sacrifices.  The most solemn ritual was the butchering of animals on outside altars.  The early Minoans may have practised human sacrifice as well.

The main deity in Minoan art is a goddess, depicted as a woman dressed in the Minoan style, in an outdoor setting with trees, other plants, and animals. These types of worship scenes were also depicted in Mycenaean frescoes, and on gold & silver rings.

Minoan religious symbols were also used in Mycenaean (mainland & island) art – birds, snakes, bulls, stylized bull-horns, and double-headed axes. However, the meaning of these symbols is not well understood.

Minoan goddess (c.1600 BC, Knossos).

Minoan goddess on a gold ring (?).  A double-headed axe is also depicted.

There were quite significant differences between Minoan & Mycenaean rituals & religious practices.  A lot of Minoan worship was done in caves & mountain-peak sanctuaries, but the mainland Mycenaeans didn't build shrines outside of the centres.  The Minoan palaces had more shrines than the Mycenaean palaces did, and they were more elaborate.  For the Mycenaeans, the megaron was the main place for religious ceremony.

The goddess that appears constantly in Minoan-Mycenaean art was originally believed to be a single, pan-Aegean mother goddess who ruled over all nature.  It is now thought these representations were actually of various goddesses, some of them local deities.  They might have had specific fertility functions within the community, or presided over aspects of life besides fertility.

The tablets call these female deities potnia (“lady/mistress”), and also reveal that there were as many male gods, who were just as important as goddesses.  It is unknown why they were seldom depicted in art, though.

Names of about 30 gods & goddesses have been recognized (some firmly, some tentatively) on the Knossos & Pylos tablets.  Many of these deities were unknown in later times, but some are familiar from the later Greek religion – Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hermes, Athena, Artemis, and possibly Apollo, Ares & Dionysus.  There are also some of the later minor divinities.

Zeus was originally the Indo-European “sky-father”, and was brought in by the earliest Greek-speakers.  Zeus pāter (“Zeus the father”) is the same god as the Indic Dyaus pitar, Roman Iuppiter, and Germanic Tiew (which is where we get the word “Tuesday”).  Hera, Poseidon and Ares' names also come from Indo-European roots.

Some of the Mycenaean deities (particularly the goddesses) were probably pre-Greek (i.e. pre-Indo-European).  The Mycenaean deities, beliefs & rituals would have been a combination of the pre-Greek, Aegean fertility-mother religions, and the Indo-European worship of sky-weather gods.  Some elements may also be from the Near East.  But because the Mycenaean religious traditions had evolved over 700yrs, it's impossible to figure out much of what came from where.

In Mycenaean Greece, the palace controlled the kingdom's religious organization. The Linear B tablets list the gifts from the palace to the gods, of land, animals, precious objects & human labour, to be used for the maintenance of the sanctuaries and the priests & priestesses.

The king exercised tight economic & political control over the sanctuaries & priesthoods, which shows that he was probably able to claim divine right of rule as the sole, undisputed sovereign.  When he officiated at religious ceremonies, he did so as the special representative of the community to the gods.  However, there isn't any evidence to suggest that the wanax was divine himself (during life or in death), or that he functioned as a priest-king over a theocratic state.

Warfare

The Mycenaean kings were definitely the commanders-in-chief of their military forces.  In most other small warrior-states, the king (wanax) and his military commander (lawagetas) both fought in major battles alongside their subordinate commanders, and this was probably the case in Mycenaean Greek kingdoms, too.

The military was socially stratified – the officers were nobles, and the ranks were levied from among the farmers, herders & artisans.  The palace directed all military operations.  The Linear B tablets record troop movements of “rowers” and “[coastal] watchers”, as well as the weapons & rations given to the troops.  We don't know how the military was actually organized, but it was made up of units from all over the kingdom.

The ordinary soldier wore a leather helmet with bronze strips sewn on, and body armour made of leather or padded linen.  His shield was a wooden frame with ox hide stretched over it.

Officers had more elaborate body armour.  Their helmets were made of bronze or boars' tusks; they wore bronze-plate armour over their torso, and bronze greaves for their knees & shins.

Weapons were bronze swords & daggers; heavy, bronze-tipped thrusting spears, and lighter, shorter throwing spears; and bows & arrows.

We don't know much about tactics or how the weapons were combined in battle.  The most confusing issue of Mycenaean warfare is how they used the chariot.

Chariots

The chariot was invented in the early 1000's BC [i.e. near 2000 BC], and it quickly became very popular in Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria and Egypt, because of its speed.  It consisted of a small platform, on top of two high spoked wheels, and was pulled by two horses.  Horses couldn't pull the heavy 4-wheeled carts (which had been around for centuries) because the harnesses constricted their necks & chests, and this problem wasn't solved until the invention of the horse collar in the Middle Ages.  But because the chariot was so light (a man could easily lift it by himself), a pair of horses could pull two passengers for a long way.  A horse & rider could go faster than a chariot, but only for a short distance.

The nobility originally used chariots for fast communication, hunting, ceremony, and racing.  In the 1600's BC, the chariot began to be used in the army, and eventually the chariot corps became the main military arm in the Near East.  Their primary manouevre was the massed chariot charge, carried out against the enemy's chariots, with one man driving and the other firing arrows.  Cavalry (mounted warriors fighting in formation) wasn't used in the Bronze Age.

Chariots appeared in Greece around 1600 BC, after the Hittites & other major states had perfect the art of chariotry.  The Mycenaeans used it in battle right from the start, as well as for peaceful purposes.

However, it's believed that the chariot's main use was to take heavily-armed elite warriors to & from the fighting, as this is the only function that Homer's epics give it.  The broken terrain of Greece would have made the usage of mass chariot formations almost impossible, unlike in the East's vast plains.

But it's possible that mini-versions of Eastern chariot warfare did take place on the plains below the Mycenaean fortresses.  The Knossos wanax had a chariot corps of perhaps 200 chaeriots, and Pylos may have had nearly this many.  It's true that these chariot corps were very small compared to the Eastern ones, but they would fit the scale of the small Mycenaean kingdoms.

The chariot's significance in Greece was not in battle, but for its high prestige value.  Like the grand palaces, and the tholoi with their rich burial offerings, the Mycenaean adoption of chariotry was a statement that the warrior-chiefs were at the same cultural level as the great kings of Asia & Egypt.  The chariot was the most expensive & intricate item of manufacture known to the Mycenaeans, and it would keep its purpose as a prestige symbol long after its military use had ceased.

[sfjazz]

Omar Sosa back in Bay Area, ready to show off his new global sounds

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/18/omar-sosa-back-in-bay-area-ready-to-show-off-his-new-global-sounds/

By ANDREW GILBERT | Correspondent

April 18, 2017 at 2:00 pm

Cuban pianist Omar Sosa shot to international jazz fame during his four years in the East Bay, a brief but creatively fecund period in the late 1990s when his music steadily expanded to encompass sacred Santeria chants, Afro-Ecuadoran rhythms, Moroccan modes, hip-hop cadences and post-bop harmonic vistas.

He returns to the Bay Area this week with three very different ensembles reflecting his ongoing evolution as an artist with globally attuned ears. While each band brings together a far-flung cast of musical innovators, it’s not hard to identify the common thread connecting the combos, namely the hard-hitting pianist’s abiding passion for percussion.

“I’m a percussionist, and I love to play with percussionists,” says Sosa, 52, who grew up in the eastern Cuba city of Camaguey, a stronghold of African culture, and has long lived in Barcelona with his wife and two children. “Thanks to God for giving me the opportunities to play with these masters.”

He opens his four-night SFJazz residency April 20-21 with his long-running Quarteto AfroCubano, a group that’s honed a springy, mercurial body of music that combines Afro-Cuban roots with southern African soul.

Featuring Mozambique native Childo Tomas on electric bass and vocals and Sosa’s Camaguey homies Leandro Saint-Hill on saxophone, flutes and vocals, and Ernesto Simpson on drums and vocals, the quartet is joined by special guest percussionist John Santos, with whom Sosa forged deep ties during his Bay Area stay.

Saturday’s concert introduces a new electronica-laced ensemble that keys on the great French-Martiniquai percussionist Mino Cinelu, best known for his work with Miles Davis and Sting, and German trumpeter Joo Kraus, who contributed gorgeously atmospheric lines on Sosa’s Grammy-nominated 2012 Afri-Lectric project “Eggun.” The special guest is Cuban alto saxophonist and chekere expert Yosvany Terry, another Camagueyano, “who’s the completely acoustic guy,” Sosa says. “He’s going to be inside the river and go with the flow, floating around and being as free as he can.”

Initially booked as Sosa’s JOG Trio, the concert turned into a rare reunion with Cinelu, who stepped up when visa problems prevented folkloric Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles from making the date.

“I played with Mino for four years as a duo, but then he started to play with Sting and got really busy,” Sosa says. “We have so much beautiful chemistry. He was the first guy who introduced me to electronics on the piano. He’s my teacher. He took me to the store and told all the gear to buy. He was the first to tell me about sampling myself.”

On April 23 at SFJazz and April 24 at Kuumbwa, Sosa presents the North American debut of GFS Trio, featuring the innovative Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu and brilliant Italian trumpet player Paolo Fresu, with whom Sosa has performed widely as a duo. They’ve also recorded two breathtaking albums, 2012’s “Alma” with the great Brazilian cellist Jaques Morelenbaum, and 2016’s “Eros” with Morelenbaum and Anglo-Middle Eastern vocalist Natacha Atlas.

With Sosa on piano, various keyboards and electronics and Fresu adding percussion and electronics, the duo developed a spacious, gossamer lyricism with “a lot of silence,” says Fresu, a prolific composer who works in theater, dance, radio, television and film.

“With Trilok, the silence is a new instrument for him. It’s completely different than the duo, with more energy. We travel a lot in the music of the world. I’m from Sardinia, so there’s the Mediterranean earth. Omar is Cuba and Africa. And Trilok is India and everywhere. It’s a kind of picture of music of the world.”

Sosa is particularly excited about introducing the GFS Trio to his Bay Area friends and fans, as Fresu and Gurtu have spent far too little time on Bay Area stages in recent years. Gurtu used to perform in Northern California when he toured with guitarist John McLaughlin (in a trio that often featured Berkeley electric bassist Kai Eckhardt), and the world jazz ensemble Oregon, which he joined after the death of his close friend, Collin Walcott. He also performed and recorded at the turn of the century with Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell’s pioneering Tabla Beat Science.

“Sometimes I do a Cuban danzón, and Trilok plays danzón on tabla,” Sosa says. “It’s good that people can see the concept of how he plays. He’s got a unique sound. His tuning is completely different. Trilok, Mino and John Santos are my heroes. They’re my three masters and these concerts are a dream come true.”

[isabellafoster930-blog]

It is less likely that virtual interactions with our co-workers will give us that lively sense of interaction which truly makes these processes successful.

Your new goodwill ambassador presides over a collapsed health system & goes to Singapore for treatment Watch experts explain how tiny, transportable and modular homes could be the future of housing. The number of social media influencers – people like the Stohlers with huge audiences and companies eager to piggyback on their success – is growing, and the industry is evolving rapidly. "The actual running is really difficult," she says. Russia has accused the US-led coalition of bombing the Syrian city of Raqqa "off the face of the earth" during the fight against so-called Islamic State. "We stayed up all night, waiting. Military historians estimate it was just 500-strong at the time and had also suffered defections by Muslim soldiers. Seconds after he holds the frozen soil between his fingers it melts as if it were an ice cube. "But they remain unique: they only existed once and theres no negative and you cant duplicate it. A view of Muzaffarabad. YELLOW CARD Paula - whos 51 and lives with her husband in Humble, Texas - says she isnt an elite athlete. It seemed that it was the life path I had been looking for," he says. Wenders says when he started taking Polaroid pictures in the mid-1960s it had nothing to do with art. The couple enjoying the turquoise Sardinian waters at Spiaggia Del Principe in Porto Cervo, Sardinia (Credit: Scott Stohler) Theyd both score in the second half. And he’s right: how many Italian dishes are laced with saffron? The spice, some food historians believe, was brought to Sardinia by the Phoenicians who arrived on the island from the Middle East a couple of millennia ago, revealing just how unique Sardinia and its cuisine is. ShareView more share options I am working seven days a week for the last year. In an opinion piece, Xevi Xirgo argues that Madrid is mounting a coup detat to submit Catalonia to central rule in a way not seen since the 18th Century. Join over three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

[artborghi]

Sardinia Zen

Past visions and memories of this wonderful land placed in the middle of the Mediterranean sea.

The shores of Cala Santa Caterina, Villasimius

Castello della Marmilla on the mountain cone of Las Plassas

Infinity pool at Campolongu

A shallow ford to Peppino’s sea rock, Santa Giulia, Costa Rei

The sunset seen from Cala Santo Stefano, Villasimius

All pictures shot with Nikon D800 plus Nikon 50…

[artborghi]

A dream of you and me

A dream of you and me

Love and romance above and below sea level

Sunset bathing at Porto Giunco, Villasimius

Diving at Cavoli island

On the stairs of Bastione St Remy, Cagliari

Paparazzo at Punta Molentis

You and me at Cala Santa Catarina

All pictures shot with Nikon D800 plus Nikon 50 mm 1.4G / 16-35 mm 2.8 / 70-200 mm 2.8.  Click each picture to zoom in.

Previous episodes:

1 Sardinia welcomes 2 Blues alla…

[artborghi]

Big fishes

Snapping the tail of a trigger fish

A purple star fish

A stingray hovering on the sea bed

The monster from the Abyss

Jelly encounters of the third kind

Tordo verde through a Poseidonia prairie

The curious eye of a trigger fish

Underwater pictures shot either with Huawei p30 pro or Olympus Though-1. Click each picture to zoom in.

Previous episodes:

1 Sardinia welcomes 2 Blues alla Carbonara

[artborghi]

Team players

No sand can be collected, no shell can be picked… and of course no sea creature can be fished. That is why the waters comprised in the Natural Marine Area of Capo Carbonara swarm with fishes.

Saddled breams at Porto Giunco

Mullets at Cava Usai

Rock fishes, Cala Santo Stefano

Saddled breams at Cavoli island

Ascidia colony, Timiama

Mullets at Punta Molentis

The boat engine from a wreck off…

[artborghi]

Under landscapes

A glimpse on the sea bottom variability present in the Natural Marine Area of Capo Carbonara. White granite rocks covered with multicolored algae, blue depths, Posidonia sea beds. And fishes.

Cavoli island

Cava Usai

Timiama

Capo Carbonara

Cala Caterina

Cala Pira

Underwater pictures shot either with Huawei p30 pro or Olympus Though-1. Click each picture to zoom in.

Previous episodes:

1 Sardi…

[artborghi]

Walk on ancient rocks

Walk on ancient rocks

First Sardinia rocks emerged from the Mediterranean sea bed around 600 Mya. Some hundreds Mya later Sardinia turned into an island. You always walk on very old rocks here. Even when on basalt walls carved by Nuragic stonemasons that dates back up to 2,000 years ago.

Cava Usai, Villasimius

(World largest) Nuragic village, Barumini

Solid love story at Peppino’s rock

Snorkeling above the rocky…

[artborghi]

Bend it

Low tide at Stagno (pond) Notteri, Capo Carbonara

Via Giuseppe Manno, Cagliari

Spiaggia Timi Ama, Villasimius

Flamingos in Notteri pond, Villasimius

Giunco beach, Villasimius

Ancient graffiti along Cagliari streets

All pictures shot with Nikon D800 plus Nikon 50 mm 1.4G / 16-35 mm 2.8 / 70-200 mm 2.8.  Click each picture to zoom in.

1 Sardinia welcomes 2 Blues alla Carbonara 3 Summer greens

[artborghi]

Row, row, row your boat

Row, row, row your boat

Inspirations for tenacity, strength and patience.

Graffiti in Cagliari

The light house of Cavoli island, capo Carbonara

Standing alone, Villasimius

Punta Molentis, high tide beach

Cava Usai, Villasimius

All pictures shot with Nikon D800 plus Nikon 50 mm 1.4G / 16-35 mm 2.8 / 70-200 mm 2.8.  Click each picture to zoom in.

Previous episodes:

1 Sardinia welcomes 2 Blues alla Carbonara 3 Summer…

[artborghi]

Barriers

Natural and artificial barriers: subjects rather than nuisances, sometimes.

Spiaggia di Cava Usai, a mine of white granite

Sandy dunes of Campolongu

Peppino’s rock, Santa Giuglia, Costai Rei

Porto Giunco beach, Villasimius

On the road to Porto sa Ruxi

All pictures shot with Nikon D800 plus Nikon 50 mm 1.4G / 16-35 mm 2.8 / 70-200 mm 2.8.  Click each picture to zoom in.

Previous episodes:

1 S…

[artborghi]

Summer greens

Not only blues in Sardinia, all shades of greens prevail above and below sea level.

Chiesa dell’Immacolata Concezione, Barumini

Storm approaching Cala Santa Stefano, Villasimius

Ìsula de is Càvurus (island of the crabs in local language), on hike towards the light house (1856), Villasimius

A ship wreck (here the boat engine) on the sea bottom of Capo Carbonara, Villasimius

Bastione St Remy,…

[artborghi]

Blues alla Carbonara

The Natural Marine Area of Capo Carbonara was established in 1999. It consists of white sandy beaches, shallow waters, Posidonia oceanica prairies and granite rocks. All ingredients contributing to the shades of blue you can dive and snorkel in.

Timiama, Villasimius

Porto Giunco, Villasimius

Punta Molentis Beach

Cala Santa Stefano, Villasimius

Porto Giunco beach (front), Stagno Notteri…