Ululation

Kerala: Kurava performance
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

From Wikipedia: "from Latin ulolo,  is a long, wavering, high-pitched vocal sound resembling a howl with a trilling quality. It is produced by emitting a high pitched loud voice accompanied with a rapid back and forth movement of the tongue and the uvula." Ululation is an example of onomatopoeia (another beautiful word) "the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named." Sound recordings of ululation are hard to come by, most YouTube clips last for about seven seconds, I haven't heard a recording (yet) on any field recording collection. Yet, the tradition has to be included in the Origins of Music discussion. An example from Kerala (south India) on YouTube that lasts no less than 25 seconds entered the Top 100. For a second time recently I have painted an image of a performer whom I don't have a name for. For a second time too, I am not a 100% sure if I painted a man or a woman. The video on YouTube shows a close-up of one of the performers heard. I assume the image is of a woman as the tradition is usually performed by women. Ululation is referenced in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (that's as far back as references go.) Ululations are performed on ceremonial occasions both happy and sad :(. Ululation in the Malayalam language of Southern India is called Kurava.

Aboriginal Day 2010 at The Forks in Winnipeg

Tumivut: The Competition Song
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

Depicted above is one of the two performers of Tumivut: The Competition Song at the 2010 Aboriginal Day in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It's from a video found on YouTube shot from the audience and is a persistent feature in the Top 100. The video has over 1,000,000 views, thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. I browsed through all those comments just to find out the identity of the two performers. I have not been able to identify them yet. It is the third time I painted from a screenshot of the video. This time it's ten seconds into the 1:25 video and they haven't started yet. The woman on the left fram an audience perspective, is introducing The Competition Song while the one on the right smiles. The Canadian Inuits don't consider their 'katajjait' tradition music as it is merely a game. Ethnomusicolists and myself, we disagree.

Sibérie

Irina Khistoforovna Kolegova
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

Slava Egorovič Kemlil
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

The paintings here represent two of nine recordings from Siberia in the list of 100. Seven of these were recorded by Henri Lecomte, including the two musicians here. Irina Kolegova (b. 1935) is a Koryak woman from Kamchatka, the easternmost peninsula of Russia. Slava Kemlil (b. 1963) is a Chukchi shaman from Kolyma, a bit northwest from Kamchatka. Both recordings by Lecomte appear in a series of cds on Musique du Monde dedicated to the music of Siberia. Kolegova is found on Sibérie 4, Kamtchatka: dance drums from the Siberian Far East and Kemlil on Sibérie 3, Kolyma: Songs of nature and animals. Kemlil's songs consist of imitations of animals, throat singing, and the 'jajar' (a big shaman's frame drum.) The tundra wakes up in the spring is the title given to the recording that made my list. Kolegova's song, a duet with Anna Kolegova, is called A song about ducks in a style that is reminiscent of the pic-eine'rkin tradition of the Chukchi.

Music of Indigenous Peoples in South America

Ye'kuana (Makiritare) Indian, Venezuela
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

 

Mataco (Michí) Indian, Argentina
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

The last several top 100 years have been framed by existential questioning. Why do I like what I like? Is one music better than another? Questions like these are why the Top 100 exists, they're integral to a system of ranking and filing. Last year's Top 100 was positioned around one central issue: The origins of music. Where does it come from? What, if any, is its function? The search for the origin really started when, in the 1980s, I discovered 1930s original blues songs that were popularly covered by some of my favorite bands then like Cream and Led Zeppelin. This was the onset of the Top 100 project. (I talk more about this during an interview on WGCU, Three Song Stories.)

The quest for the origins of music, subject of a series of musings on this site, has lead me to listen to, and read about, recordings from the field of ethnomusicology. I have been seeking out recordings and information on the music of those cultures that have lived in relative isolation from the influence of civilizations, the industrial world. More half of the 100 songs in the 2018/2019 list belong to this category. Naturally  I have become sympathetic to the plight and rights of such cultures. I first started to have an interest (in the political issue) in the late 1990s. This was a relatively positive time in which many governments allotted land and rights to the indigenous people living within their borders. Currently, however, the political trend is to revert back to colonial times.

The two paintings shown here are sort of a pair even though the origin of the two individuals are thousands of miles apart. The first one a Ye'kuana woman from Venezuela, below a Mataco Indian from Northern Argentina. Both images are based on anthropological images from the late nineteenth century. The Ye'kuana woman illustrates Yucca Fertility Song recorded by Walter Coppens and found on the album Anthology of Central & South American Indian Music (Folkways, 1975.) The song is a chant by women to stop evil spirits from affecting the yucca plant (the tree of life) recited during planting and harvesting. [W. Coppens] The Mataco Indian represents a mataco instrumental piece on a stringed instrument and is played by a shaman. (Argentina, The Indians of the Gran Chaco, Lyrichord, 1977.)

Many indigenous peoples, some still uncontacted, live in South American continent. The struggle of the South American Indians, as in the North, is well documented throughout this century and the last. The Selk'nam people, wiped out in a genocide courtesy of economic progress (gold was found on their territory,) I wrote about last year, is just one example of the devastating history of the fate of indigenous peoples after contact. While many protective laws are in place, the onslaught on territories held by indigenous peoples continues and is getting worse. Jair Bolsonaro, the latest Brazilian president, is emblemtic of these developments. He believes that indigenous people should be integrated and that way too much land is appropriated to them. He's firing scientists opposing his "manifest destiny" as Trump does to those defending Alaskan tribal societies. And the ecology again is victim.

Jazz in the Top 100 2018/2019

Rahsaan Roland Kirk
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

John Coltrane
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

There's jazz in the Top 100 2018/2019. Perhaps not quite as many as is usual but it's better than how the blues fared; there are none belonging to the latter category. (It's a first, that there's no blues. I like blues a lot, especially prewar blues, but perhaps it becomes harder to discover new old gems. There were only so many recordings made, I may have heard a good portion of it. Nevertheless I'm going to make sure blues will be back next year.) There's the same Don Cherry/Krzysztof Penderecki piece featured the previous year, there's a Sun Ra All Starts recording, and also a place for the two regulars in the Top 100: John Coltrane and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The Coltrane recording is the same as it has been the last two decades: that recording of My Favorite Things that is my favorite track throughout the history of the Top 100. To read about this tune more you can follow this link. The Kirk recording, however, is one that was not previously featured: Theme for the Eulipians. I first heard the tune as an instrumental through a performance together with Gil Evans. A marvelous performance late in Kirk's life. He had already suffered a stroke and could only play with one hand. Still a virtuoso. The song, as it is a song, appears on The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man and is written by Kirk together with Betty Neals, who wrote the lyrics. Neals is also heard on the recording reciting these lyrics and Maeretha Stewart sings. The musicians, besides Kirk: Howard Johnson, Romeo Penque, Hilton Ruiz, Buster Williams, Charlie Persip, and Joe Habao Texidor, The album was recorded in 1976 (the same year as the Gil Evans concert) and released by Warner Brothers.

The Nivkh of Sakhalin Island

Antonia Vasil'evna Skalygina?
14 x 11 inches, oil and metallic on canvas, 2019

The source of the above painting is a photograph by Henri Lecomte used as the cover for the cd Nivkh, Ujl'ta, Siberie 6, Sakhaline: Musique vocale et instrumentale (Buda Records, Musique du Monde, 1996.) I do not have the cd and therefore I can't say for sure if the person depicted is indeed Antonia Skalygina or not but I like to believe it is. It makes sense. The track in the list of 100 is called Alterateur de voix Kal'ni, voice modifier. The instrument shown could indeed be that modifier but perhaps it is a jew's harp (in which case the performer would be either Ol'ga Anatol'evna Njavan or Ekatarina Cirik.) When I selected the cover image to paint from I wasn't even sure if I was going to paint a man or a woman. An image search on Sakhalin traditional dress confirmed that the image is of a woman,  the jewelry confirmed my assumption furthermore. The painting is done on top of an earlier work from a series of abstractions that were initially intended to be used for portraiture but started a life of their own. It's the first one from about fifteen such works that is appropriated for the Top 100.

Peruvian Indians

Shipibo Indian, Peru
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

Asháninka (Campa) Indian, Peru
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

The sources for both paintings here are two photographs by Charles Kroehle and were taken in 1885 and 1888 in the Amazon forest region of Peru. One is labeled Campa-Indian, Rio Chuchuras, East Peru the other Indien Shipivo, fleuve Pachieta, Amazonie, Perou. The tattoos on both women are very similar. I initially thought one of the two must have been mislabeled. This doesn't appear to be the case though after further research into both ethnic groups. The Asháninka tattoos are strictly linear while the Shipibo have further design elements. I assume the tattoos are ceremonial and depict the origin of the world, the people, their ancestral spirits. I want one! Charles Kroehle (German, 1876-1902?) is considered a pioneer of the photography of Peruvian Indians. One thing is strange though in the data found and that is that if the date of birth is correct and the date of the photos are correct he was nine and twelve years old when taking these photographs? He died of an arrow wound that did not heal right. The two photographs illustrate two songs in the Top 100 that were recorded by Enrique Pinello, a Peruvian ethnomusicologist and composer. The two tracks, Shipibo Song and Ashaninka Songs, appear on the CD The Spirit Cries: Music of the Rainforests of South America and the Caribbean, compiled by (Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and part of the Endangered Music Project series of the Library of Congress. The recordings were made in 1964 (much later than the photos,) the singers are not named. The Shipbo, now known as the Shipibo-Conibo people (a merging of two cultures,) live along the Amazonian Ucayali river and are known for their waeving and pottery. Both feature designs similar to the tattoos seen in Kroehle's photographs. Recent photographs, there are many, as the culture is very popular, do not show tattoos. Today's music is very much of the same tradition as the recordings of 1964, and (I assume) how it sounded in 1888. The Asháninka, or Campa Indians live nowadays scattered throughout the Amazon region that borders Brazil. No tattoos in current pictures either but they do paint very colorful lines on their faces.

Kramer

Kramer of Bongwater
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

To continue where I left off (The Woman in the Band) now to Ann Magnuson and Kramer. Together they formed Bongwater in 1986, started a relation (while his estranged wife was pregnant, hence the baby in the painting) in 1991 and disbanded when the two broke up in 1992. Kramer got back together with his wife then, and Magnuson sued Kramer for breach of contract. I recently wondered how it had happened that I never listened to Bongwater until only recently. Whereas Ann Magnuson is a fairly new addition to the Top 100, Kramer was part of many past Top 100 entries. Shockabilly featured several times, while he was also in Half Japanese, recorded with the Butthole Surfers, and was the producer of many more (most notably Daniel Johnston.) Shockabilly was a trio consisting of Kramer, Eugene Chadbourne, and David Licht, who also part of Bongwater. Kramer is Mark Kramer (born Stephen Michael Bonner in 1958). He used the single name Kramer throughout his career. (I wonder if Kramer in the hugely popular TV sitcom series Seinfeld was inspired by the musician Kramer.)

The Woman in the Band

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth
14 x 11 inches, oil and spray paint on canvas, 2019

Mark E Smith and Brix Smith of the Fall
14 x 11 inches, oil and spray paint on canvas, 2019

Gaye Advert is billed as the first female punk rock star. She played bass in the Adverts. I think she may have inspired women to pick up a rock band instrument as (I assume) Suzi Quatro inspired her to start playing bass. Many guy bands following the Adverts had a women in their line-up. Often she is or becomes married to another band member. Brix Smith Start, guitarist in the Fall was married to Mark E Smith, Tina Weymouth who plays bass for the Talking Heads to drummer Chris Frantz. Kim Gordon, bass player in Sonic Youth to Thurston Moore. In Sonic Youth all members were equal and when the marriage between Gordon and Moore ended the band split up. The Fall, however, always was Mark E's band and when Brix and him split the guitar player was simply replaced. The band finally broke up in 2017 when Mark E Smith became too sick to perform. He died in 2018. 

The punk-rock movement certainly empowered women to pick up instruments traditionally played mostly by men, and to form their own bands. The process towards gender equality in rock music started in 1976.