Strange instruments from Vietman

Duo a'reng
14 x 12 inches, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2018

The paintings represent the 1 & 2 listed below: The A'bel and A'reng - Co Tu and Ta Oi Pako peoples of Hue Province, Vietnam. Both tracks are from a video uploaded to YouTube in 2013 by angklung eds, using footage from The Vietnamese Institute of Musicology, Hanoi, Vietnam. One man sings into a reed the other end of which ends in a woman's mouth that functions as a resonance chamber. The A'reng is a simple reed instrument with one hole that is traditionally performed by a mixed couple but the traditions is now extinct. The second tune shows a man playing a one string instrument, a dan k'ni, with a bow and uses his mouth as a resonance chamber. Information found on Rare and Strange Instruments by Nicolas Bras.

Strange instruments from Vietnam: 1.  The Dan k'ni; The players mouth is the resonance chamber of this string instrument. 2. A'reng is a simple reed instrument by two players, one blows into the mouth of the second (who features as the resonace chamber. 3. The dan-bau is a one-string instrument (like a diidley bo). 4. Dan-da is lithophone, like a xylophone but made fro stones. 5. Dan klongput is a giant panflute. 

The history of instruments

The oldest instruments ever found were two flutes made of mammoth bone and tusk. They're about 42,000 years old, slightly older than another flute also found in Southern Germany next to the oldest figurative sculpture known. We know humans decorated themselves and the world around them long before that time and they made music as well. Before there were instruments humans used their voices and bodies to create music. Like the origin of art, the origin of music is to be found on a different plane from the everyday experience. Music (and dance too) are an excellent means to escape that everyday consciousness and enter a plane of altered consciousness that would provide a reality more real than empiric reality. A reality of timelessness and placelessness, in other words "the sacred." The voice of music is distinctly different than the voice of language. It appears music came before language, which is utilitarian. To become sacred the voice must be distorted, one must become someone or something else. Instruments were initially created as an extension of the body or voice. The first instruments were likely found in nature, a conch shell, hollow wood, or stones that would provide a range of different sounds. Reeds could mimic, like the later trumpet and wind instruments, the sound of animals by blowing on them between your thumbs. Your hands are the resonating chamber. Try it! Later instruments were man-made either to perfect the nature found materials or to substitute the body. A drum sounds better and doesn't hurt as much as pounding on your own body. A resonance chamber, like the bag of a bagpipe, substitutes for vocal chambers as it is much easier to store air in than in your own body using the strenuous techniques involved in circular breathing. String instruments at first, obviously, consisted of one string only. The mouth was used as the resonance chamber. Only later the chambers were built outside the body and more strings were added.

There are no cultures without music, music is universal, but there are cultures without instruments.

Duo a'reng
14 x 12 inches, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

Popular Music (sort of)

Inger Lorre
14 x 9 inches, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2018

I don't listen to popular much anymore, sure, the radio is on sometimes and Maria, my wife, plays a tune now and then, but other than Cat Power I'm not selecting any. What I have been playing most are ethnographical field recordings, a bit of (modern) classical music, free jazz, and also a bit of word-jazz. The last category is directly related to two exhibitions at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery celebrating the work of Jack Kerouac. I listened to a number of Kerouac cds, some spoken word and some with a jazz accompaniment. One cd in particular I've played several times; a tribute cd that features a host of well known (popular) musicians and (beat) poets. On it are the poets Allen Ginsberg, Hunter S. Thompson, Kerouac himself, and William S. Burroughs. The musicians include expected names for a compilation on Kerouac such as members of Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, and Lydia Lunch but there are also REM's Michael Stype, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, Eddie Vedder, Juliana Hatfield, John Cale and other notables from the music scene. Inger Lorre (depicted above) teams up with Jeff Buckley for a performance of Kerouac's poem Angel Mine set to music. It's my favorite track. Inger Lorre, btw, is a singer and painter from San Francisco, she once led a band named The Nymphs.

Grinding Corn, Pounding Maize

Ana Caraballo
14 x 9 inches, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2018

Another work song (see Ulahi) that is featured on the CD The Origins of Music (see post from November 23.) Every track on that CD is part of this year's top 100. From Magarita Island in Venezuela comes a recording of Ana Caraballo made by Francisco Carreño and Miguel Cardona in 1949. When I painted the same image in 2013, I must have missed the information concerning the identity of the singer when I tagged the painting as Venezuelan Girl (I should have named her woman instead of girl). I assume that the photographer responsible for this tiny black & white image in the liner notes of volume 9 of The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music would be either Carreño or Cardona. What's different too is that I have the recording listed as Corn Grinding Song whereas five years ago it was Pounding Maize. Maize is the staple of the inhabitants of Margarita Island as Sago is the staple of the Bosavi forest people to whom Ulahi belongs. The authors also credited Asuncion Caraballo as musician but I have hard time making out a second person on the recording.

Father and Son

Gombojav
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2018

Musicians often come from musical families. This is true in popular music, classical music, folk music, but nowhere as pronounced as in traditional music. Often traditions in music hinge on the transmission from parents to children. It is rare, however, to find two generations independently featuring in a top 100 of mine. I can't think of a single occasion until this year, when Mongolian tsuur players Gombojav and his father Narantsogt, who had learned to play the instrument from his grandfather, are separately listed. A tsuur (shoor in Tuva) is a simple flute with three finger holes typically made from a hollowed out larch or willow. The instrument mimics, rather than imitates, the sounds of nature. Legend has it that spirits possess the instrument. The shoor has completely vanished and the tsuur tradition in Mongolia has nearly died out. The instrument was forbidden during Soviet occupation in both Tuva and Mongolia. Gombojav and Narantsogt are two of only a handful of players knowing how to play the tsuur and both have now passed. Narantsogt died of old age and Gombojav of cancer at age thirty-five. The first painting presented here is of the son, Gombojav. The more eccentric looking Narantsogt will follow soon.

The Wonderful Ainu

Two Ainu women performing "Rehbuhkara"
14 x 11 inches, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2018

Rehbuhkara is a vocal style closely related to the Chukchi pic-eine'rkin and the Inuit katajjaq typically performed by two women. The three vocal styles form the backbone of a new issue of Ach Ja. It is the tenth issue and the second titled The Origin of Music. Katajjait are performed in the north of America and in Greenland, an area of land that is supposedly isolated from the old world at the end of the last ice age 14,000 years ago. The vocal styles of all three (ethnically related) peoples form yet more striking evidence that there must have been contact between the new and old world. Either that or these styles were already practiced before the separation of Chukchi, Ainu, and Inuit, in which case the traditional singing styles are older than 14,000 years. The Ainu, considered the indigenous people of Japan, live on Japan's northernmost large island Hokkaido. The island is connected to the Kamchatka chain running to Kamchatka in Russia. From Kamchatka run the Aleut island chain all the way to Alaska. The Ainu use their hands as a resonance chamber. The Inuit, as lore has it, use to sing so close together that each others mouths serve as resonance chambers. The source image from the painting is a still from a video uploaded by ainuworld. 

 Ach Ja! #10: The Origin of Music (2) is a zine published in an edition of 25. 8.5 x 5.5 inches, 16 p. It comes with a CD featuring 32 tracks from my collection (I don't own the rights to any of them) and can be purchased for $15 + shipping. Just shoot me an email.

Track listing

1. Inuit:  Katajjait with geese cries (Canada)                 2:45
2. Inuit: Katajjait on "Hamma" (Canada)        `        1:29
3. Inuit: Assalalaa (Canada)                        0:38
4. Inuit: Qiarpa (Canada)                        3:34
5. Annie Kappianaq / Jeanne Arnainuk – Vocal And Throat-Games "Pirkusirartup" Huangaahaaq (Inuit, Canada)                0:41
6. Ainu: Rekuhkara, throat singing (Japan)                0:27
7. Kiyo Kurokawa, Teru Nishizama – Horippa (Ainu, Japan)        2:23
8. Utekn, Yuimuk – Women's Wu-unka songs (Aborigine, Australia)             2:04
9. Kiighwyaq, Sivugun und Nunana – Pic-eine’rkin: Ay-ay-amamay (Cukchi, Russia)         1:59
10. Anna Dimitrievna Neostroeva – Throat Song                0:52
11. Nowaylethi Mbizwenti And Nofirst Mbizweni – Duet With 'ordinary' Umngqokol    (Xhosa, South Afrca)                    1:39
12. Antonia Vasil'evna Skalygina – Alterateur de voix Kal'ni (Even, Rus.)    1:02
13. Mergen Mongush – Alash (Tuva)                    1:14
14. The 1898 Torres Strait Recordings: Death Wail (Aborigine, Australia)    2:12
15. Papua New Guinea: Wame Igini Kamu                 1:43
16. Shipobo Song (Shipobo, Peru)                    2:09
17. Ashaninka Songs (Ashaninka, Peru)                    1:15
18. Ulahi and Eyo:bo Sing with Afternoon Cicadas (Bosavi, Papua New Guinea)             2:47
19. Ulahi Sings While Making Sago (Bosavi, Papua New Guinea)    1:26
20. Ana Caraballo & Asuncion Caraballo – Canto Para Pilar Maiz (Venezuela)                 0:54
21. Gumbojav – Running Horse (Tuva)                    0:36
22. Deux Femmes Ngozi – Ubuhuha (Ngozi, Burundi)            2:00
23. Pako Tà Ôi peoples – Duo A'Reng (Pako Tà Ôi, Vietnam)        1:02
24. Pako Tà Ôi peoples – A'bel (Pako Tà Ôi, Vietnam)            2:16
25. Te Bow with Two Women's Voices (San, Namibia)            3:03
26. Princess Constance Magogo KaDinuzulu – Helele! Yiliphi leliyani? (Zulu, South Africa)  3:31
27. The Indians of the Gran Chaco – Instrumental, strings (Argentina)    0:57
28. Avdo Mededovic – Bosnjacke Gusle (Montenegro)            1:23
29. Tin Can Bow Solo (San, Namibia)                    1:44
30. Marija Nikoforovna Ceculina – Chant et Jajar (Koryak, Russia)    0:57
31. Chukchi Shamanic Ritual (Chukchi, Russia)                3:57
32. Kittoro (Roro, Papua, Indonesia)                    1:20

The Golden Paintings

After many years of random formats I decided to, once again, choose the serial approach to the new top 100 that started in August. Tempted to seriously study abstract painting I would create a series of 100 abstract works on an 11 x 9 canvas with a golden acrylic lining. Over the next few months I created a number of such painting but then the urge came to paint musicians once again (on 11 x 9 canvases with golden backgrounds.) Now they exist side by side. I still want to make one hundred abstract works—for abstract work to be valid, quantity is needed. The abstract works so far seem way too specific to add figures too, as intended, later on. What do you think?

Eyo:bo

Eyo:bo
14 x 11 inches, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2018

Ulahi starts a song and Eyo:bo repeats. Eyo:bo is an echo as it were of Ulahi, but her voice is different. The echo, together with a chorus of cicadas in the background makes for a spellbinding musical recording. Steven Field recorded it in 1977 in the Kulali area of the Bosavi rain forest in Papua New Guinea.

Wanderer

Cat Power (after Ryan Pfluger)
11 x 14 inches, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2018

Wanderer is out now. I had preordered a copy that came with a 45. My first Cat Power 45. The record is great and my favorite thus far is the title track Wanderer. The song appears at the beginning and the end of the album and my preference is the latter version. The source for the image of the painting was provided by a September 23 New York Times article with a photo by Ryan Pfluger. A painting often paints itself and in this case it meant staying true to Pflugers photograph. All 100 for the current top 100 will be painted on a golden acrylic ground, some with an abstract design, some with none. The blue rectangle in the background here makes it look a cover for the National Geographic.

Ulahi

Ulahi
14 x 9 inches, oil and gold acrylic on canvas, 2018

Ulahi is heard cutting sago, a staple for the inhabitants of the mountainous Bosavi rainforest in Papua New Guinea. It's a work song. Indeed singing makes work go faster, makes it easier, less tiresome. The cutting of the food becomes rhythmic as if it were a game. As a new mother Ulahi carries her child with her wherever she goes. When she has to work, the baby must be set aside. The baby cries, Ulihi sings, the baby stops crying.

Avdo Međedoviƈ

Avdo Međedoviƈ
14 x 9 inches, oil on canavs, 2018

Avdo Međedoviƈ (1875-1953) was an illeterate epic balladeer from Montenegro, part of the Ottoman Empire and later Yugoslavia. His repertoire included several poems that counted well over 1,000 lines, similar in length to Homer's (9th century BCE, Greek) Iliad and Odyssee. The British Homeric scholars Milman Perry and Albert Lord in the 1930s, seeking to find credble evidence of their hypothesis that Homer's works were the result of oral transmission (of much older traditions,) found in Međedoviƈ living evidence on the memory capabilities of illeterate communities, and their sustaining traditions. The  now fast disappearing tradition of oral poetry was in the twentieth century still found and recorded in parts of eastern Europe and in Anatolia. Despite numerous academic approaches to reconstruct how Homer would have sounded almost three-thousand years ago, I believe the Međedoviƈ recordings come much closer.

Cardi B and Lady Leshurr

Cardi B
8 x 8 inches, stencil on paper, ed. 43, 2018

Another round of teaching art appreciation, another round of stencils to trade with students. I choose popular musicians to trade with them and for this session I picked Cardi B. I like to double the stencil assignment with a top 100 entry and so I set out to listen to a bunch of her songs to nominate one for this year's list. I settled on I Believe the Children Are Our Future in a collaboration with MonoNeon. It's actually really great and so is the video that comes along with it. The subtitle to I Believe the Children Are Our Future shows Cardi B at her characteristic finest: "But not today tho, Today I'm Wilin', Today I'm Buggin' and Thuggin'." After a bit of searching I had to conclude that the song shouldn't be filed under Cardi B in my archive but rather under her collaborator MonoNeon. MonoNeon is a kind of YouTube star who does mash-ups of existing content. MonoNeon is the bass player Dywane Thomas Jr. who really has quite some credentials. His discography is extensive and include work with Prince (he was one of the last musicians to work with Prince), his influences include Dada, conceptual art and John Cage, his instrument is a "ready-made bass" that uses duct tape and other mundane items and turn the instrument into a quarter note instrument. His style of playing is also unique and inventive and is lauded by numerous musicians. Unknowingly I picked out a tune that fits right in with the avant garde lean of this year's list. Since I haven't quite forwarded all the paintings from last year I'll stay on topic with the stencil print I did last semester of another hip-hop star. Lady Leshurr had already been on the list in 2016 with Lego one of my all time favorite raps.

Lady Leshurr
8 x 8 inches, stencil print, ed. 18, 2018

Atavism

Irina Khristoforvna or Anna Vasilevna Kolegova
12 x 9 inches, oil on canvas, 2018

Music is in our DNA and so are genes from our ancestors even down to the Neanderthals. Somewhere hidden in our consciousness is a memory of the music from prehistoric times. That we can't access that memory doesn't mean it isn't there. Somewhere someone will unknowingly perform the music of ancient ancestors. Traditions too are persistent. There must be cultures still around in which the music of prehistoric people continues to be performed and many more whose sounds were recorded by musicologists as far back as the 1890s. I'm collecting the sounds of these traditions and those someones out there.

Top 100 2017/18

M.I.A., oil on canvas paper (mounted on foam board), 2017  —$375
1. M.I.A. – Born Free (M.I.A.; Switch; Vega; Rev)
Live at David Letterman    2010, originlly released on Maya (2010)
With Martin Rev (of Suicide) and Switch, contains sample of Ghost Rider by Suicide
M.I.A.: Mathangi Arulpragasam, July 18, 1975, London, England of Tamil origin

Throbbing Gristle, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                   
2. Throbbing Gristle – Discipline    (TG)
    Live in Berlin 1981, released on Mission of Dead Souls (1981)
    TG: Peter Christopherson; Cosey Fanni Tutti; Chris Carter; Genesis P-Orridge
    London, England, formed 1975 Kingston upon Hull

Tanya Tagaq, oil on canvas, 2017  —$525                       
3. Tanya Tagaq – Uja (Tagaq)
    Uja and Umingmak performed live at Polaris Music Prize Gala 2014, originlly released on     
Animism (2014)
    Tanya Tagaq: b. May 5, 1975, Cambridge Bay (Iqaluktuutiaq), Nunavut Canada

Cat Power, oil on canvas paper, 2014/2017  —$375           
4. Cat Power – To be a Good Woman (Marshall)
Album: You Are Free (2003)
With Eddie Vedder; Warren Ellis, and David Campbell
Cat Power: Chan Marshall, January 21, 1972, London, Atlanta, GA

Don Cherry, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                       
5. Don Cherry and Krzysztof Penderecki – Humus, the Life Exploring Force (Penderecki, Cherry)   
     Recorded in 1971, released on Actions (1977)
     With Don Cherry & The New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, vocals by Loes MacGillycutty
     Don Cherry: 1936-1995, Oklahoma City

Cat Power, oil on board, 2018  —$375                       
6. Cat Power – Fool (Marshall)   
    Album: You Are Free (2003)

Rahsaan Roland Kirk, oil on board, 2018  —$375                       
7. Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Three for the Festival (Kirk)   
    From Sound?? a film by Dick Fontaine (1966), originally released on We Free Kings (1961)
    Performed live at Ronnie Scott's in London, England
    Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Ronald Kirk, August 7, 1935, Columbus, OH, –Dec 5, 1977

Charles Duvelle, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375           
8. Wama Igini Kamu (Papua)   
    From the album The Photographs of Charles Duvelle (2017)
    Recorded in 1974, Papua New Guinea
    Charles Duvelle: Paris, France, 1937-2017

M.I.A., 10 x 8 inches, stencil print on paper, 2018  —$95               
9. M.I.A. – Matangi    (M.I.A., Switch)   
    Album: Matangi (2013) with Switch (David Taylor)

Rahsaan Roland Kirk, oil on wood, 2018  —$375                   
10. Rahsaan Roland Kirk – The Inflated Tear   
    Album: The Inflated Tear (1968)
    Personnel: Roland Kirk; Rahn Burton; Steve Novosel; Jimmy Hopps   

Patti Smith, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                   
11. Patti Smith – Ain’t it Strange (Smith, Kral)   
    Album: Radio Ethiopia (1976)
    Patti Smith Group: Patti Smith; Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty; Ivan Kral; Richard Sohl
    Patti Smith: Patricia Lee Smith, December 30, 1946, Chicago, IL

Fred Gaisberg and William Sinkler Darby, oil on wood, 2017  —$375           
12. Abkhazuri, Kabardinskiy Kabaka   
    Source: Excavated Shellac (2017), originally released as a 78 rpm single (1902)
    Recorded in Tbilisi, Georgia, 1902 featuring Abkhaz musicians by William Sinkler Darby

Cat Power, oil on wood, 2018  –N/A                   
13. Cat Power – Maybe Not (Marshall)
    Recorded live on Letterman's Late Show, originally released on the album You Are Free (2003)

Ann Magnuson, Kramer (Bongwater), oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375           
14. Bongwater – Nick Cave Dolls (Kramer, Magnuson)
    Album: The Power of Pussy (1990)
    Bongwater: Kramer; Ann Magnuson; David Licht; Dave Rick, New York City 1985-1992

Tumivut: The Competition Song, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375           
15. Tumivut: The Competition Song   
    Recorded live at Aboriginal Day 2010 in The Forks Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
    Anonymous Inuit performers

Sainkho Namtchylak, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                   
16. Sainkho Namtchylak – Order to Survive   
    Recorded live with Tri-O on Russian TV, originally appeared on Stepmother City (2001)
    Sainkho Namtchylak: Born 1957, Tuva

Lee Ranaldo, stencil print edition 80, 2016  —$95                   
17. Sonic Youth – Shaking Hell (SY)
    Album: Confusion is Sex (1983)
    Sonic Youth: Kim Gordon; Thurston Moore; Lee Ranaldo; Jim Sclavunos; Bob Bert
    New York City, 1981-2011

Fiona Apple, oil on board, 2017  —$375                       
18. Fiona Apple – Every Single Night (Apple)   
    Album: The Idler Wheel is Wiser Than thr Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve 
    You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (2012)
    Musicians: Fiona Apple; Charley Drayton; Sebastian Steinberg
    Fiona Apple: September 13, 1977, New York City

Tanya Tagaq, ballpoint and color pencil in notebook, 2017    —$95           
19. Tanya Tagaq with Kronos Quartet – Nunavut
    Recorded at the Chan Shun Concert Hall, University of British Columbia, Canada
    Kronos Quartette: David Harrington; John Sherba; Hank Dutt; Jeffrey Ziegler

Celina Kalluk and Tanya Tagaq, oil on canvas, 2018  —$675           
20. Katajjaq on “Hamma”   
    Album: Musiques & Musiciens du Monde: Canada, Inuit Games and Songs
    Recorded in Baffin Land, Hudson Bay, Canada between 1974 and 1976

Rahsaan Roland Kirk, oil on canvas, 2018  —$425                       
21. Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Here Comes the Whistleman (Blues in W) (Kirk)   
    From Sound?? a film by Dick Fontaine (1966), originally released on Here Comes the     Whistleman (1965) with Lonnie Liston Smith, Jaki Byard, Major Holley, and Charles Crosby
    Performed live at Ronnie Scott's in London, England

Roky Erickson, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375
22. Bongwater – You Don’t Love Me Yet (Erickson)
    From David Sanborn's Night Music, aired on NBC from 1988-1990.
    Bongwater with Roky Erickson, Bob Weir, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and the Pussywillows
    Roky Erickson: July 15, 1947, Austin, TX

Lady Leshurr, stencil print on paper, 2018  —$95                       
23. Lady Leshurr – Lego (Ogarro)
    Recorded in 2011
    Lady Leshurr: Melesha Ogarro, 15 December 1989, Kingshurst, England, from Isle of St. Kitts

Upper Volta: After a photograph by Kathleen Johnson, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375
24. Bobo-Dyula Marriage Ceremony: Allah Man Dogo       
    From the album Savannah Rhythms: The Music of Upper Volta (1981)
    Recorded in 1973-1975 by Kathleen Johnson in Upper Volta (Burkino Faso)

Irina Khristoforvna and Anna Vasilevna Kolegova, oil on canvas, 2018  —$550   
25. Irina Khristtoforovna and Anna Vasilevna Kolegova – Chant de compétition   
    From the album Sibérie 4, Kamtchatka: Tambours de danse de l'extrȇme Orient
    Recorded in December 1993 by Henri Lecomte in Karaga, Kamchatka

Karen O (The Yeah Yeah Yeahs), oil on canvas, 2017  —$375
26. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Art Star   
    Live at Central Park in New York, 2004, originally issued on The Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2001)
    The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Karen O; Nick Zinner; Brian Chase, New York City, 2000

Chukchi Shaman, oil on wood, 2011      —$425                   
27. Chukchi Shamanic Ritual   
    From the film Pegtimel by Andrei Gorovnev (2000)
    Chukchi people, Siberia

Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), oil on board, 2017  —$375                   
28. Fugazi – Waiting Room       
    Recorded live in St. Louis, MO, 1988, originally released on Fugazi (7 Songs) (1988)
    Fugazi: Ian Mackaye; Guy Picciotto, Joe Lally, Brendan Canty, 1987-2003, Washington, DC

Beth Orton, oil on canvas paper, 2014  —$425                       
29. Beth Orton – Petals   
    From the album Kidsticks (2016) with Andrew Hung, Chris Taylor and others
    Beth Orton: 14 December 1970, Norwich, England

Tamara Ivikovna Sajnav (cover image of Sibérie 4), oil on canvas, 2018  —$375       
30. Alena Alexeeva Uican – Chant et tambour se cadre jajar       
    From the album Sibérie 4, Kamtchatka: Tambours de danse de l'extrȇme Orient
    Recorded in January 1994 by Henri Lecomte in Tymlat, Kamchatka

Nowayilethi Mbizweni, oil on wood, 2018  —$375       
31. Nowxagilethi Mbizweni – Nondel'ekhaya
    From the film Umngqokolo, Thembu Xhosa, Overtone Singing by Dr. Dave Darvie (1996)
    Recorded in South Africa in 1985 by Dave Darvie

Krzysztof Penderecki, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                   
32. Krzysztof Penderecki – Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima   
    From the album The Song of Songs (1976) composed in 1960/61
    Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra directed by Krzysztof Penderecki
    Krzysztof Penderecki: Dȩbica, Poland, 23 November, 1933

Thelonious Monk, oil on board, 2017  —N/A
Color copy, original in collection of Kevin Hollingshead, Austin, TX       
33. Thelonious Monk – Lulu’s Back in Town (Dubin, Warren)   
    From the album It's Monk's Time (1964)
    Musicians: Thelonious Monk; Butch Warren; Ben Riley; Charlie Rouse
    Thelonious Monk, 1917-1982, Rocky Mount, NC

Ahem Mediferai, oil on canvas, 2018  —$425               
34. Group led by Ahem Mediferai – Tuareg Medicinal Chant           
    From the album West Africa: Drum, Chant & Instrumental Music (1976)
    Chant performed by three male and four female Tuareg singers led by Ahem Mediferai
    Recorded in northern Mali by Stephen Jay

The Velvet Underground, oil on canvas, 2015/2018  —$550
35. The Velvet Underground – Pale Blue Eyes (Reed)
    From the album The Velvet Underground (1969)
    VU (in 1969): Lou Reed; Doug Yule; Sterling Morrison; Maureen Tucker, New York City
       
Anna Vasilevna Kolegova, oil on canvas, 2018  —$375       
36. Irina Khristtoforovna and Anna Vasilevna Kolegova – Chant sur les canards   
    From the album Sibérie 4, Kamtchatka: Tambours de danse de l'extrȇme Orient
    Recorded in December 1993 by Henri Lecomte in Karaga, Kamchatka

Isewang Namgyal Kidar, oil on canvas, 2018  —$375
37. Tashi Palkit and Isewang Namgyal Kidar – Ghungsgot Thompo   
    From the album Ladakh: Songs & Dances from the Highlands of Western Tibet (1977)
    Recorded by David Lewiston in Leh, India

Tanya Tagaq, oil on canvas, 2018  —$425
38. The Weaves (ft. Tanya Tagaq) – Scream (Weaves)   
    From the album Wide Open (2017) featuring Tanya Tagaq
    The Weaves: Toronto, Canada, 2013, Morgan Waters; Jasmyn Burke; Spencer Cole; Zach Bines

Dashzegiin Ichinkhorloo, oil on board, 2018  —$375               
39. Dashzoveglin Ishinkhorloo – Gan Tumur; Gandii; Yanjuur Tamkhi   
    Source: Excavated Shellac (2018), originally released as a 78 rpm single (1939)
    Ichinkhorloo is accompanied by Magsarjavyn Dugarjav, recorded in Moskow, 1934
    Dashzoveglin Ichinkhorloo: 1910-1972, Mongolia

Toshiro Mayuzumi, oil on wood, 2017  —$425   
40. Toshiro Mayazumi – Works for Musique Concrete X. Y. Z.   
    From the collection Early Jananese Tape Music 1953-1956 (on Ubuweb)
    Toshiro Mayazumi: 1929-1997, Yokohama, Japan

Krzysztof Penderecki, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375           
41. Krzysztof Penderecki – Canticum Canticorum Salomonis   
    From the album The Song of Songs (1976)
    Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra directed by Krzysztof Penderecki

Kawabata Makoto, Acid Mothers Temple, oil on canvas, 2017  —$375           
42. Acid Mothers Temple – Space Speed Suicide (Cotton, Kawabata)   
    From the album Electric Heavyland (2002)
    Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.: Cotton Casino; Tsuyama Atsushi; Higashi     Hiroshi; Koizumi Hajime; Kawabata Makoto, formed in Japan, 1995

Henri Lecomte, oil on canvas, 2018  —$375               
43. Oktjabrina Vladimirovna/Svetlana Naumova 
        – Je chevauche mon rȇne par delà les montagnes   
    From the album Sibérie 3, Kolyma: Chants de nature et d'animaux
    Recorded in 1993 by Henri Lecomte in Siberia

Suicide (Alan Vega, Martin Rev), oil on canvas paper, 2015  —$425       
44. Suicide – Ghost Rider (Vega, Rev)
    From the album Suicide (1977)
    Suicide formed in 1970 in New York City, Alan Vega; Martin Rev

Khene player (from a photograph by Charles Duvelle), oil on wood, 2018  —$375   
45. Khene Oudon – Khene Lao   
    From the album The Photographs of Charles Duvelle (2017)
    Recorded in Laos, 1970s

Lola Kiepja, oil on board, 2018  —$375                           
46. Lola Kiepja – Shamanic Chant no. 15   
    From the album Selk'nam Chants of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (1972)
    Recorded in 1966 in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina by Anne Chapman
    Lola Kiepja: 1876-1966, Tierra del Fuego

Princess Nokia, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375               
47. Princess Nokia – Tomboy (Frasqueri, Saint Ramirez)   
    From the self released mixed tape 1992 (2016)
    Princess Nokia: Destiny Frasqueri, born June 14 1992 in New York City. of Puerto Rican descent

Record sleeve selfie: Bengal, Chants de fous, pen on paper, 2017  —$250       
48. Gour Khepa – You were unable to keep the love water...
    From the album Bengal: Chants de fou (1979), recorded by Georges Luneau in India
    Gour Kepia: Bengali Baul singer and philosopher, 1947-2013

Deben Bhattacharya, oil on canvas, 2017  —$375                   
49. John Kasirie w/Abadongo ba Kabaka – Sabasaja Mwanamwa Nabijano
    Source: Excavated Shellac (2013), originally released as a 78 rpm single (1930)
    Recorded in Uganda

Marija Afanasevna Tyna, oil on canvas, 2018  —$375                   
50. Alexandra Ivanova Popova – Chant et jajar       
    From the album Sibérie 4, Kamtchatka: Tambours de danse de l'extrȇme Orient
    Recorded in December 1993 by Henri Lecomte in Karaga, Kamchatka

La chanteuse nganassane Svetlana Maïbovna Kudrjakova (from a photograph by Henri Lecomte), oil on canvas, 2018  —$375
51. Marija Nikoforovna Čečulina – Chant et jajar
    From the album Sibérie 4, Kamtchatka: Tambours de danse de l'extrȇme Orient
    Recorded in December 1993 by Henri Lecomte in Karaga, Kamchatka

Charlotte Qamaniq and Kendra Tagoona, oil on reproduction on canvas, 2017  —$375   
52. Inuit: Assalalaa   
    Album: Musiques & Musiciens du Monde: Canada, Inuit Games and Songs
    Recorded in Baffin Land, Hudson Bay, Canada between 1974 and 1976

Cat Power, oil on canvas paper, 2017      —$375                       
53. Cat Power – Great Expectations
    Performed solo acoustic live in Paris, 1998, originally from the album Dear Sir (1995)

Florence Welch, oil on wood, 2018  —$375       
54. Florence + The Machine – Shake it Out
    Performed live at Saturday Night Live, 2011, originally from the album Ceremonies (2011)
    Formed 2007 in London, England, Florence Welch; Isabella Summers; Robert Ackroyd, a/o

Cat Power, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                   
55. Cat Power – Metal Heart (Cat Power)
    From the album Moon Pix (1998) with Mick Turner, Jim White, and Andrew Entsch

María Sabina, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                       
56. Maria Sabina – Sacred Mushroom Chant   
    From the album Mushroom Ceremony of the Mazatec Indians of Mexico
    Recorded in 1956 by R. Gordon Wasson in Oaxaca, Mexico
    María Sabina: 24 July 1894 – 22 November 1985, Siera Mazateca, Mexico

Les Siècles Live: György Ligeti, CD cover, Musicales Actes Sud   
György Ligeti, oil on wood, 2012  —$625       
57. György Ligeti – Dix pièces pour quintette a vent
    From the CD Les Siècles Live, François-Xavier Roth (2016)
    György Ligeti: May 28, 1923, Tărnăveni, Romania – June 12, 2006, Vienna, Austria

Karl Heinz Stockhausen, oil on found canvas, 2017      —$550               
58. Karl-Heinz Stockhausen – Klavierstück X   
    From the LP Zyklus für eine Schlagzeuger (1970), piano solo by Frederic Rzewski
    Karlheinz Stockhausen: Germany, August 22, 1928, Kerpen – December 5, 2007, Kürten

Vitamin X, oil on canvas paper, 2017      —$375               
59. Vitamin X – About to Crack (Emmerik)   
    From the compilation album Fury! (2016), originally released on the album About to Crack (2012)
    Vitamin X: 1997, Amsterdam, NL, Marko Korac; Marc Emmerik; Alex Koutsman; Wolfi

Sainko Namtchylak, oil on wood, 2018  —$375                       
60. Sainkho Namtchylak – Night Birds (Namtchylak)
    From the album Lost Rivers (1991)

The Residents, oil on canvas board, 2017  —$375                       
61. The Residents – Hello Skinny (The Residents)
    From the album Duck Stab/Buster & Glen (1978) with Snakefinger

The Boredoms, oil on wood, 2018  —$425                           
62. Boredoms – Pow Wow Now (Boredoms)
    From the album Soul Discharge (1989)
    Boredoms: Osaka, Japan, 1986, Yamantaka Eye; Yoshimi P-We; Atari; Seiichi Yamamoto

Kubu People, Palembang, Sumatra, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375           
63. Lagu Lang, recorded by Bernard Hagen, 1905   
    From the album Occult Voices: Paranormal Music Recordings of unseen Intelligences,     1905-2007 (2007)

Alvin Lucier (signed by Alvin Lucier), stencil, 2017      —$275           
64. Alvin Lucier – Music for a Solo Performer   
    Performed by Alvin Lucier in 1965 with Nicolas Collins (electronics)
    Alvn Lucier: May 14, 1931, New Hampshire

Masami Akita (Merzbow), oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375               
65. Merzbow – Gamma-Titan (Akita)
    From the cassette Tellus #13: Power Electronics, (1986) Source: UbuWeb
    Merzbow: Masami Akita, December 19, 1956, Tokyo, Japan

Berry and Maria van Boekel, The Adverts, oil on canvas, 2017  —$550           
66. The Adverts – One Chord Wonders (Smith)
    Single released in 1977
    The Adverts: London, 1976-1979: T.V. Smith, Gaye Advert; Howard Pickup; Laurie Driver

Gillian Welch, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                       
67. Gillian Welch – Revelator (Welch, Rawlings)   
    From the album Time (The Revelator) (2001) with David Rawlings
    Gillian Welch: Nashville, TN, born October 2, 1967, New York City

Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney), oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375           
68. Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out (Sleater-Kinney)
    From the album Dig Me Out (1997)
    Sleater Kinney: Carrie Brownstein; Corin Tucker; Janet Weiss, 1994-2006, Olympia, WA
   
Patti Smith, oil on canvas, 2017  —$375                          
69. Patti Smith – Brian Jones (Smith)
    From the collection Ha! Ha! Houdini!, performed at poetry readings in New York 1971-1972

Shelley Hirsch, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                       
70. Shelley Hirsch and Christian Marclay at Roulette   
    Improvisation at Roulette Performance Space, Brooklyn, NY, 2008
    Shelley Hirsch: June 9, 1952, Brooklyn, NY

Sainko Namtchylak, oil on wood, 2018  —$375               
71. Sainkho Namtchylak – Oske Cherde   
    Recorded live with Tri-O on Russian TV, originally recorded with Huur Huur Tu

CocoRosie (Sierra and Bianca Casady), oil on canvas paper, 2017     —$375       
72. CocoRosie – Terrible Angels   
    From the album La Maison de mon rêve (2004)
    CoCoRosie: Bianca "Coco" and Sierra "Rosie" Casady, American, formed in Paris, France, 2003

Khoisan performer, oil on board, 2017  —$375                       
73. Nharo Bushmen: Hyena Song with Musical Bow       

Cover of "Bamboo on the Mountains," oil on canvas, 2014  —$675           
74. En Phongsavanh – Toot   
    From the album Bamboo on the Mountais: Kmhmu Highlanders (1999)
    Recorded in Stockton, CA, 1994, Laotian

Tuvan Shaman in full regalia, oil on wood, 2017  —$550                   
75. Oleg Kuular – Collection of Höömeï styles   
    From Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics in East and West by Mark C. van Tongeren,     2002, recorded in Tuva. Oleg Kuular: 1958, Tuva.

Maria Callas, oil on wood, 2018  —$425                   
76. Maria Callas – Si. Mi chiamano Mimi (La Boheme-Puccini)
    Maria Callas: December 2, 1923, New York City – September 16 1959, Paris, France

Shambini Ngogo, oil on canvas, 2018  —$375           
77. Shambini Ngogo of Regulo Mavila – Chibudu   

Roro, South Coast, Papua, oil on canvas, 2012  —$675               
78. Roro natives of Yule Island –Kittoro   

Nowayilethi Mbizweni, oil on canvas, 2018  —$550      
79. Nowaylethi Mbizweni and Nofirst Langisa – Umngqokol duet   

Kimya Dawson, oil on canvas, 2017    —$550               
80. Kimya Dawson – I Will Never Forget (Dawson)
    From Hidden Vagenda (2004)
    Kimya Dawson: November 17, 1972, Bedford Hills, NY

Sinéad O'Connor, oil on canvas, 2017  —$550           
81. Sinead O'Connor – Troy (O'Connor)
    Recorded live with at Pinkpop, NL 1988, first released on The Lion and the Cobra (1987)
    Sinéad O'Connor: December 8, 1966, Glenageary, Ireland

Tattooed Ainu woman, oil on board, 2018  —$375                       
82. Ainu "Rekuhkara    "   

Raushan Orazbaeva, oil on board, 2018  —$550                       
83. Raushan Orazbaeva – The White Swan   
    From the DVD Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and     Beyond. Tucked in a book with the same title by Theodore Levin with Valentina Süzükei, 1987.

Female Mongolian shaman, oil on wood, 2018  —$375                   
84. Serenchin, Mongol Bö and Shuilan – Shamanic healing ceremony   
    Shamanic healing ceremony on YouTube

Tattooed Ainu woman, oil on board, 2018  —$375   
85. Kiyo Kurokawa, Teru Nishizama – Horippa
    CD: Japan: Ainu Songs (1980), UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music

Ralph Carney, oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375                       
86. Ralph Carney – Lament for Charleston
    Performed with The Kronos Quartet (2015)
    Ralph Carney: January 23, 1956, Akron, OH – December 16, 2017, Portland, OR

Lotte Lenya, oil on canvas board, 2012  —$475                       
87. Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht – Das Lied von Nein und Ja (Weill/Brecht)
    From Die Dreigroschenoper, original recording with Lotte Lenya, Berlin, Germany, 1930
    Kurt Weill: March 2, 1900, Dessau, Germany – April 3, 1950, New York City

Record sleeve selfie: Songs of India, Utpala Sen, Shyamal Mitra, pen on paper, 2017  —$250
88. Utpala Sen – Jhikmik Jonakir Deep Jwale   
    From the album Songs of India by Utpala Sen and Shyamal Mitra, recorded in Calcutta, 1955
    Utpala Sen: 1924-2005, Kolkata, born in Dhaka, Bangladesh

John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, oil on canvas, 2017  —$550           
89. John Coltrane – My Favorite Things   
    From the album The Olatunji Concert, The Last Live Recording (2001)
    Musicians: John Coltrane; Rashied Ali; Alice Coltrane; Algie DeWitt; Jimmy Garrison; Pharoah     Sanders; Juma Santos, recorded live in New York, 1967
    John Coltrane: September 23, 1926, Hamlet, NC – July 17, 1967, Huntington, NY

Charlotte Qamaniq and Kendra Tagoona, oil on reproduction on canvas, 2017  —$375  
90. Annie Kappianaq, Jeanne Ainainuk – Huangahaaq   
    From the album Jeux Vocaux Des Inuit (Inuit de Caribou, Netallik et Igloolik
    Recorded by Jean-Jacques Nettiez in Igloolik, 1977
    Source: Ethnopoetics by Jerome Rothenberg on UbuWeb

Record sleeve of Qwíí: The First People, oil on canvas, 2018  —$375
91. Qwíí – Thakadu   
    Album: Qwíí: The First People (1999), Recorded in Johannesburg, South Africa
    Singers: Xaloma Tuelo; Xanashe Xaa; Masego Letlalo

Ann Magnuson, 16 x 12 inches, 2017, Reproduction, original destroyed by Irma  —N/A
92. Bongwater – Folk Song (Magnuson)
    Album: The Power of Pussy (1990), contains a sample of Roundabout by Yes

L.V. Thomas, oil on panel, 2018  —$425
93. Geeshie Wiley and L.V. Thomas – Last Kind Word Blues (Wiley, Thomas)   
    78 rpm single recorded in 1930 listed as: Geechie Wiley and Elvie Thomas
    Geechie Wiley: born as Lily Mae Scott (1908 -?); L.V. Thomas: L.V. Grant (1891-1979)

Dmitri Shostakovich, oil on wood, 2014  —$375           
94. Dmitri Shostakovich – Cello Concert No. 2, Op. 126   
    Boston Symphony Orchestra led by Seiji Ozawa, Mstislav Rostropovich, cello
    Dmitri Shostakovich: September 25, 1906, Saint Petersburg – August 9, 1975, Moscow

Mark E Smith, oil on board, 2018  —$375           
95. The Fall – Smile (Smith, Scanlon)   
    From the album Perverted by Language
    The Fall: Mark E. Smith; Steve Henley; Paul Henley; Craig Scanlon; Karl Burns; Brix Smith
    Mark E. Smith: 1957-2018, Manchester, England

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, oil on canvas board, 2013  —$375
 96. Pussy Riot – Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland
    Song and video created for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, 2014
    Pussy Riot: Moscow, 2011, Nadya Tolokonnikova; Yekaterina Samutsevich; Maria Alyokhina, a/o

Tampa Red, stencil print on paper, 2017  —$85
97. Tampa Red – Denver Blues 
    78 rpm disc redorded in 1934
    Tampa Red: Hudson Whittaker, January 8, 1904, Smithville, GA – March 19, 1981, Chicago, IL

M.I.A. oil on canvas paper, 2017  —$375
98. M.I.A. – Boyz (Taylor, M.I.A.)
    From the album Kala (2007) with Dave "Switch Taylor and Mark "Spike" Stent

Beth Orton, oil on canvas paper, 2017/18  —$375
99. Beth Orton – Heart of Soul (Orton)
    From the album Comfort of Strangers (2006) with Jim O'Rourke and Tim Barnes

Record sleeve selfie: Kenya, Musique des Salampasu, pen  and ink on paper, 2017  —$250
 100. Alto Bung’o horns (Wanyama)
   

   

Empathy

Manchurian Shaman
12 x 9 inches, oil on canvas, 2018

Empathy is a form of communication. Of understanding. Not of language, empathy occurs between humans and between species as well. Can we understand trees too (communicate with them)? Rocks? Can empathy be learned? From books? By meditation, from a guru? I do not understand my cat but I sense that my cat understands me. My cat doesn't judge me (I don't think) but my cat doesn't have to clean up after me either.

Maria Callas

Maria Callas
13 x 4.75 inches, oil on wood, 2018

After showing many Maria Callas record sleeves (that of course were played too) in the post named Maria, Maria Callas also entered in the top 100 of 2017/18. For the painting I was to do this year I stayed away from using one of the record sleeves as I had done before and selected a paparazzi style photo found on a simple Google image search. The top 100 aria Si. Mi Chiamano from Puccini's La Boheme is not from any of those records that I posted either. The source: YouTube, Maria Callas Live.

Nowayilethi

Nowayilethi Mbizweni
9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas, 2018

There's a ton of new paintings that I still need to upload here. I start with perhaps the best of the bunch. The painting is the second this year of Nowayilethi Mbizweni. Mbizweni is for ethnomusicologists kind of what the discovery of ancient cave paintings in Sulawesi was for prehistoric art history. Like the Sulawesi paintings the discovery of throat singing in South Africa proved that traditons are often much more universal than was presumed. Throat singing was always thought to belong to certain cultures from Siberia and neighboring countries. In 1985 Dr. Dave Darvie discovered a tradition of throat singing among the Xhosa in South Africa. He filmed and recorded a group of women on location, most notably Nowayilethi Mbizweni. I posted a film made by Darvie in a separate post. The film was shot in South Africa in 1985 and 1996.

UMNGQOKOLO - Thembu Xhosa - OVERTONE SINGING filmed 1985-1998 in South ...

Kirk

Rahsaan Roland Kirk
9.5 x 4.5 inches, oil on wood, 2018

The third painting of Rahsaan Roland Kirk for the Top 100 2017/18 represents his 1968 classic The Inflated Tear. The tune was a revelation for May Cobb, who is currently finishing a book about "the late, great, multi-instrumentalist." She heard The Inflated tear first in a college class on jazz history. May Cobb and I have been occasionally writing to each other about Kirk. Here's she in her own words (as published in The Rumpus): "The Inflated Tear sounded like the entire spectrum of the history of African-American music rolled into one four-minute song: old slavery spirituals, work songs, field hollers, soul, modern jazz, and early blues. It was like a Duke Ellington reed section, yet more emotional, more intimate, with a sound that ached of centuries. It was like listening to the inside of someone’s heart."

Tanya Tagaq (again)

Tanya Tagaq
10 x 8 inches, oil on canvas, 2018

The revelation for me (in music) of 2017 was Tanya Tagaq. She debuts in the top 100 with three tracks. The top one, in which she performs with the Kronos Quartet, comes in at #3. A bit further down the list is Uja and finally, the reason for this painting, a collaboration with Weaves, a Canadian indie band with Jasmyn Burke and Morgan Waters. Burke and Tagaq together do honor to the title of the song: Scream. The Top 100 2017/18 has now ended and a new one just began. I still need about 20 more paintings to have every track illustrated.

Popular Music

Florence Welch
9.5 x 4.75 inches, oil on wood, 2018

Florence + The Machine had a massive hit with the anthemic Shake it Out in 2011. I'm not much of a Pop Music aficionado but when Maria played the group performing the song on Saturday Night Live I was sold. Florence Welch clearly enjoyed being on the set of SNL as she couldn't shake a smile during her epic performance. The video was Maria's pick when she, Amy, and me presented each other with our favorite YouTube song. Mine was (talking about epic performances) the Late Show with Letterman version of M.I.A's Born Free, a song that has been my #1 for six straight years now. Amy picked Cat Power's To Be a Good Woman, already in my Top 100 list but it had never felt so intense before. I could have cried.