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 ...