Ubuhuha

Ubuhuha, Rundi Women
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

 From the liner notes by Michel Vuylsteke: "The ubuhuha (literally 'to blow') which were formerly performed by by women during wakes, have practically disappeared today." This was written in 1967 when Vuylsteke recorded these two Rundi women in Burundi. The women use their hands as an instrument, like a trumpet, "The resultant sounds vary in pitch, timbre and volume according to the position of her hands and the tension of her lips." From the LP Burundi: Musique Traditionelles on Ocora. 

Talking with my friend Jade before the Cat Power concert last Friday he mused that most of the musicians I painted would be unknown to her. I told him that I wouldn't be surprised if Cat Power would be much more familiar to these ethnomusicological recordings than one would expect. During the concert Cat Power used her hands to alter her singing voice on several occasions very much like the Rundi women, most poignantly during a cover of Bob Dylan's Hard Times in New York City (perhaps to mimic Dylan's nasal voice). One of my favorite tunes she performed that Friday was Robbin Hood from her latest Wanderer. The following drawing done during the concert then becomes the official illustration for the song in the Top 100.

Cat Power
12 x 9 inches, pencil on paper, 2019

Long-Song

Ganbaararyn Khongorzul
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

The River Herlen featured on a cd tucked into the excellent book Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Musica and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond by Theodore Levin with Valentina Süzükei (Indiana University Press, 2006.) Unlike the other tracks on the cd Xongorzul, the singer of The River Herlen, is not photographed or discussed as an individual but functions as a sound example of the Mongolian 'long-song' tradition. The song is one the beyonds in "Beyond Tuva." The long in long-song clearly doesn't reference duration as the song only lasts a little over two minutes but rather the extended syllables in the text. "A four-minute song may only consist of ten words." [Wikipedia]  The Xongorzul on the disc is likely Ganbaararyn Khongorzul born September 12, 1974 in Mongolia. Ganbaararyn Khongorzul performs with Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble and performed at the opening ceremony at the 2002 World Cup.

A Wake in Mindanao

 Manobo-Dulangan (Bagobo) mourners
14 x 11 inches, 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 occassion of a wake for her departed father, Benjamin de Vera (1946-2007). 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 provided, they my be professional mourners hired by Jenny de Vera, but they shed real tears in the video uplaoded on YouTube. The image is based on a screenshot of the video. Benjamin de Vera was the leader of the Philippines Communist Party (CPP-NPA).

The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

Fiona Apple
14 x 11 inches, 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 Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do of 2012.

Nothing Really Matters

Cat Power
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2014

"When I see your face in the crowd/With a look of obsession" are the opening lines to Cat Power's Nothing Really Matters from 2018s Wanderer. In ten days she will be performing at the Ritz in Tampa, close enough for me to go. It'll be the fifth time I see her live beating Townes van Zandt and (Dutch band) The Fatal Flowers for most concerts visited. It's the sixth painting this year of her and for sure I will draw from life when I see her in Tampa. The backgrounds now have shifted from golden spry paint botanical designs to abstractions that were done on a golden background about a year ago. These abstractions (see The Golden Paintings) were always meant to be painted over with portraits.

Loes

Loesje Hamel
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

Last year I painted both Krzysztof Penderecki and Don Cherry, the two musicians responsible for Actions: Humus, the Exploring Life Force, a work for Free Jazz Orchestra. For the repeat of the work in this year's 100 I looked for someone else to paint and I settled for the vocalist featured on the track who was listed as Loes Macgillycutty. Loes Macgillycutty, it turns out, is Loesje Hamel, a compatriot from the Netherlands, who was a model in the 1950s and died at the age of 35 of cancer. I had never heard of her before but she was connected to score of well known Dutchmen. She was the lover of the famous writer Jan Cremer and (Top 100 alumni) musician Wally Tax. She also collaborated with musicians Ramses Shaffy and Willem Breuker. Breuker's connection landed her in the New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra led by Don Cherry whilst in Europe. A number of Dutch musicians contribute to the composition by the composer Penderecki, besides Hamel and Breuker, Alfred Mangelsdorff, Fred van Hove and Han Bennink can be heard, other famous European jazz musicians on the recording include Peter Brötzmann and Terje Rypdal. There were various images of Loes Hamel available to paint from and I settled on one which sees her smiling. Bad choice; while it's nice to have the person portrayed in a painting look friendly and smile, the all-out bare-your-teeth-smile is another thing altogether, it belongs to the medium of photography, which is instantaneous compared to the delay of painting. A broad smile in a painting eventually becomes an awkward grin. I spend way too many hours to transform the grin and portray someone friendly and cute. I barely succeeded.