Simha Arom in Cameroon

Young Aka woman/Simha Arom

Simha Arom/Baka child at the Aba encampment

Two tracks from Cameroon: Baka Pygmy Music [UNESCO, 1977] found their way to the midst of the Top 100 2021 list and I decided to work on these simultaneously. As an experiment I divided up both canvases into four equal parts that I then painted a certain color. I then painted the portraits on top of the color fields. Simha Aram, who recorded the tracks on the CD twice, juxtaposed with two young pygmy people he photographed. The Baka child is from the CD liner notes, the young woman is not a Baka but belongs to the Aka people of the Central African Republic. The two songs they represent are Song to Attract Game which is sung by four teenage girls and Hut Song by thirteen young girls and children. Both songs belong to the yeyi category which as a ceremonial origin and is still used in ceremonies but more often has evolved into secular songs. Hut song is secular and Song to attract game is ceremonial. Most Baka songs have a ceremonial or ritual origin giving credence to the theory that the origin of music is to be found within the "sacred." In much of the songs of the Baka people the men are dancers and the women singers. Most voices on the CD are of women and children.

Alice Coltrane

While working the paintings for the Top 100 2021 I continue to work my way down the list of the Top 100 2020. I'm milking it because I want to continue to work on the series until the exhibition goes up. I experienced another two week delay because of electrical issues in the archive space. But the exhibition will be really soon. Number 96 is Alice Coltrane with the track Jagadishwar from her 1981 devotional album Turiya Sings. The album is for voice and Wurlitzer, it's the first time Coltrane sings on a recording. At the time of recording she served as the director of the Interfaith Vedantic Center in Southern California. Alice Coltrane died in 2007, outliving her husband John Coltrane forty years.