Three paintings per week

Brigitta Hauser-Schaublin/Ocarina player (Abelam)

 

The image of the Abelam ocarina played I used last year to illustrate the song Nggwal mindsha. That same song was also part of the Top 100 2019 and was already illustrated for this year's top 100 as well. I commented last year that the ocarina wasn't heard on the recording but the image did come from the same album as Nggwal mindsha: Music of Oceania: The Abelam of Papua Niugini. [Musicaphone, 1983, Germany] The song the ocarina represents now is the actual song the image illustrates: Ocarinas and Bamboo Flutes. The song was recorded by Hauser in 1979 and the photograph was taken that year by Jorg Hauser. Ocarinas and Bamboo Flutes is in spirit much closer to the Abelam Warning, a recording that was my first introduction to the Abelam about ten years ago and at the time qualified as the most outlandish recording I've ever heard. Re-listening to the warning it no longer qualifies as being so outlandish at all. Familiarity will do that to you. I must disagree with the attitude of John Cage, who hated all sound recordings (he thought of sound as alive, recordings as dead). I find that hearing the same performance multiple times increases empathy (I admit that it wouldn't compare to witnessing the original performance, but it would be impossible to witness any of these ethnomusicology performances—it is still better to hear the recording than not hear this music at all.)

Martin Rev/M.I.A.

Born Free by M.I.A. has been in the Top 100 nearly every year since it was released in 2010. Her live performance of the song that same year on David Letterman's Late Show elevated the song to the status of 'one of my favorite songs ever.' On the Letterman performance she is joined by Martin Rev who, as one half of the band Suicide, was responsible for creating the riff M.I.A. sampled on Born Free 20 years earlier. The drummer on the session is Butchy Fuego, who also played with the Boredoms at the time. Because of Rev's presence I thought it was appropriate to share one of my favorite performances ever with the facebook group "No Wave." This was a mistake. (The first comment was "Well that's a crock of shit that pisses all over suicide.")

Meg White/Jack White (The White Stripes)

 

I don't think the No Wave group would have much positive to say about the White Stripes either. Yet, I love the both the the White Stripes and the No Wave group and follow their posts religiously. The No Wave group has been a great influence in this year's top 100. 7 Nation Army by the White Stripes doesn't need any special groups to become exposed to it. The song is all over the place. Much like Queen's We Will Rock You, 7 Nation Army has become sort of a rock 'n' roll anthem that you hear at football stadiums and commercials alike.