91. Nggwal mindsha, antiphony to the
ancestral spirits
Abelam
man, 1917, oil on canvas, 2019
The Abelam are one of those groups
of indigenous peoples that speak to my imagination. Like the Jivaro, Selk'nam,
and the Andamanese, the Abelam of Papua New Guinea belong to those most remote
and prehistoric one can imagine. Situated just south of the equator along the
Sepik River, running from the Highlands of Papua north to the Pacific Ocean,
the Abelam were first seen by westerners a mere hundred years ago remaining
with characteristics of the stone age. No metallurgy or writing system they
knew of, tools are just of stone or bone. I first learned of the Abelam through
the collection The Music of Primitive Man
[Horizon, 1973] that featured two short outtakes. One, Abelam Warning, belongs to the most outlandish recordings I've ever
heard and was listed in a top 100 some ten years ago. Last year I came across
the cd Music of Oceania: The Abelam of
Papua Niugini [Musicaphone, 1983, Germany] and downloaded several tracks. Nggwal mindsha, antiphony to the ancestral
spirits is one.
92. Eighteen Visions Vs. Otto von
Schirach – Champagne Enemaz
Otto von
Schirach, oil on canvas, 2020
A track from my favorite hardcore
disc Threat: Music That Inspired the
Movie (Halo 8/King's Mob, 2006). The track features a remix by Otto von
Schirach of a recording by the Californian metalcore band Eighteen Visions.
After Sun Ra,who I painted recently, von Schirach is yet another musician in
this top 100 who claimed to have been born in outer space. His biography states
that he was dropped either by UFO or Gravitron in the third point of the
Bermuda Triangle, which is Miami. He was indeed born in Miami, FL in 1974 from
German and Cuban ancestry. His grandmother practiced Santeria. As customary
with DJs I had assumed that breakcore musician von Schirach was not his real
name but apparently it is. Typing von Schirach into Google search, results in
the biography of the infamous Nazi politician Baldur von Schirach.
93. György Ligeti – Dix Pièces pour
quintette à vent
György
Liget, oil on canvas, 2020
Les Siècles Live: György Ligeti (2016), directed by
François-Xavier Roth featuring cover art that was found by the publisher Actes
Sud on my Top 100 blog. A beautiful CD on which Les Siècles perform Six Bagatelles, Kammerkonzert, and Dix Pièces pour Quintette à vent. I'm
still very proud about their use of my painting, but this one is brand new.
94. Jean Dubuffet – La Fluer de barbe
Jean
Dubuffet, oil on canvas, 2019
For a week I visited my old home town which is Columbus, Ohio. Besides visiting family and friends, the Columbus Museum of Art, a trip to Used Kids records was high on the to-do list. Which ones of the ten that I selected should I buy? I left behind records that I would've bought in a heartbeat had I seen them at Joe's in Fort Myers: One of three Moondogs, one of three John Cages, and a double record of the Art Brut artist Jean Dubuffet who I admire. At $27 I left it behind, the track, that through Ubuweb.com was already in the top 100 (La Fleur de barbe) wasn't even on this record.
For a week I visited my old home town which is Columbus, Ohio. Besides visiting family and friends, the Columbus Museum of Art, a trip to Used Kids records was high on the to-do list. Which ones of the ten that I selected should I buy? I left behind records that I would've bought in a heartbeat had I seen them at Joe's in Fort Myers: One of three Moondogs, one of three John Cages, and a double record of the Art Brut artist Jean Dubuffet who I admire. At $27 I left it behind, the track, that through Ubuweb.com was already in the top 100 (La Fleur de barbe) wasn't even on this record.
95. Manobo Dulangans: Kanta Para Sa
Patay
Mouners
sing at a wake, oil on canvas, 2019
Two mourners from the Manobo-Dulangan tribe sing Kanta para sa patay (Song for the dead) recorded by Jenny de Vera in Mindanao, Philippines on the occasion of a wake for her departed father, Benjamin de Vera (1946-2007). The names of the performers are not given, they may be professional mourners hired by Jenny de Vera but they sure shed real tears in the video uplaoded on YouTube. Benjamin de Vera was the leader of the Philippines Communist Party (CPP-NPA).
Two mourners from the Manobo-Dulangan tribe sing Kanta para sa patay (Song for the dead) recorded by Jenny de Vera in Mindanao, Philippines on the occasion of a wake for her departed father, Benjamin de Vera (1946-2007). The names of the performers are not given, they may be professional mourners hired by Jenny de Vera but they sure shed real tears in the video uplaoded on YouTube. Benjamin de Vera was the leader of the Philippines Communist Party (CPP-NPA).
96. Captain Beefheart – Owed T'Alex
Captain
Beefhert, oil on canvas, 2019
Captain Beefheart's Owed t'Alex appears on the compilation The Dust Blows Forward from 1999. It
originally appeared on Shiny Beast from
1978.
97. The Birthday Party – Big Jesus
Trash Can
Nick Cave,
oil on canvas, 2019
Nick Cave made the list again
after so many years due to the Peel
Session Sampler LP that I played a few times last year. The record features
Big Jesus Trash Can by Cave's band
The Birthday Party.
98. The Beastie Boys – Time For Livin'
Adam
Horovitz, oil on canvas, 2019
Adam Horovitz returns because of
an MTV video Live in Glasgow that
can be watched on YouTube.
99. Women of socos performing harawi –
Pasqakuymi
Women
performing Harawi, oil on canvas, 2020
The track Pasqakuymi comes from the cd Traditional
Music of Peru, Vol. 6: The Aycho Region. Heard are women of socos performing
Harawi.
The women depicted above are not the women heard on the Pasqakuymi but part of a group performing Harawi (a style of
singing) on a later track on the CD. Pasqakuymi
refers to Compadres' and Comadres' Thursday, part of the Peruvian carnaval following
Ash Wednesday.
100. Fiona Apple – Every Single Night
Fiona
Apple, oil on canvas, 2019
#100 in the top 100, #1 in the last top 10 (of 74) for the year, Every Single Night—the more you listen to it, the more of an anthem it becomes—brings Fiona Apple back into the list. The singer-songwriter is steadily becoming a mainstay in my music appreciation endeavor. Thus it's time for a short biography (Wikipedia reference): Fiona Apple was born September 13, 1977, in Manhattan, classically trained on piano she started wrtng songs at age eight and released her first of four albums at seventeen. Every Single Night comes from her fourth and last The Idler Wheel... of 2012.
#100 in the top 100, #1 in the last top 10 (of 74) for the year, Every Single Night—the more you listen to it, the more of an anthem it becomes—brings Fiona Apple back into the list. The singer-songwriter is steadily becoming a mainstay in my music appreciation endeavor. Thus it's time for a short biography (Wikipedia reference): Fiona Apple was born September 13, 1977, in Manhattan, classically trained on piano she started wrtng songs at age eight and released her first of four albums at seventeen. Every Single Night comes from her fourth and last The Idler Wheel... of 2012.
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