New Paintings

John Cage/David Skidmore (Third Coast Percussion)

I took some time deliberating what image to use for John Cage's portrait and who to pair him with. I had access to photos of Cage not readily available on line, and listened to some suggestions of a friend who's a big fan of everything Cage. For the Cage portrait I opted for the same photo as author Kay Larsen used for the cover of Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists. She obviously chose the image, a reversal of traditional portraiture, with great purpose. And I chose to adopt this purpose: We, the audience, have the same vantage point as Cage has, we are looking at the same shade of orange as he does. We are invited to see the world as Cage does as it were. For the pairing I opted for the most obvious: the performer of The Works for Percussion 2, the work in the top 100 list. The performers are Third Coast Percussion, a Grammy winning ensemble from Chicago. Of the four members Davis Skidmore, the most prolific in composing materials for the group. The other members are Sean Collins, Robert Dillon, and Peter Martin. Once I selected the two images I planned the painting process in great detail. In good Cagean fashion I had the computer select at random the four customary base colors I have been starting most paintings with lately. 

Budai Ilona/Péter Éri

Kék ibolya, ha leszakajtanálak is a lyrical song fromthe album Hungarian Folk Music [Hungaraton, 1964.] No performer or recorder are listed on the album but the location is: Great Plain. The liner notes tell us that the song belongs to the traditional style. The notes further reark that the old songs are hardly remembered. Perhaps because of this important LP the song Kék ibolya, ha leszakajtanálak (which translates as Blue Violet, if I picked You) is remembered as recordings of it are plentiful on YouTube. Thirteen years after the release of the LP by the communist government, the ethnographer Péter Éri recorded it for an album called Élö Népzene II, in a series called Living Hungarian Folk Music. The singer on this album is the well known Hungarian singer Budai Lilona. The vocal version of Kék ibolya on Hungarian Folk Music is followed by short instrumental versions of it, first on a zither, then on a hurdy gurdy.

Eddie Kirkland/John Lee Hooker

Tsitano Muburunyara/Ton van der Lee

Nanang Marin, Dumagat representative/David Blair Stiffler

 

Time for more singing in the shower

Nanang Marin, Dumagat representative
14 x 11 inches, acrylic on paper, 2020

It seems like it was just a few weeks ago but upon checking my painting of a Dumagat woman, representing anonymous throat singing from the Top 100 2019, was made way back in November of last year. Throat Singing in the Shower I headed that post. This reminds me: while talking on the phone with a friend the other day I couldn't think of a single COVID joke to tell and later in writing I reminisced of the laughter of a bygone era. Had I lost my humor? I've been so serious lately, I even wrote a post on facebook on ethical behavior and following instructions by health authorities in the face of the pandemic. So here's one I recently heard: "I've been staying at home for three weeks now and following all the instructions the health department recommends. But now, I believe, I need a shower." The Dumagat are known among Filipinos as "colored people" and like African Americans here the subject of racism.  The recording of the song, subtitled "Anooway" was made by David Blair Stiffler in the 1980s but was not released until 2012. It appears on Music from the Mountain Provinces on Numerophone. More about Stiffler's adventures in the Philippines in this post from December 2019. Nanang Marin depicted above is a community leader and representative of the Dumagat people. She's a stand in to represent the singer in absence of a photographic image of the anonymous performer heard throat singing on the record.

Throat singing in the shower

Dumagat woman and child 

14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

"While singing, the Dumagat woman in this recording vibrated her throat with her hand" are the liner notes to the Dumagat Throat Song by David Blair Stiffler on Music from the Mountain Provinces (Numerophone 2012). The record was intended to be released on Folkways but while recording it founder and director Moses Asch had died. There are a great many throat songs on the year's Top 100 list and I've tried to imitate some but I can't get the particular breathing done. Little did I know that I had performed, as a youngster, the kind of throat singing described by Stiffler all along. I never practiced much as because it's a painful technique and each performance only lasted 20 seconds at most. The recording on the Dumagat lasts for one minute and nineteen seconds and must have been so painful, unless I did it all wrong or Dumagat throats are stronger than mine. The mountain provinces in question are situated in the Philippines where Stiffler recorded in between 1986 and 1988.

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