Beautiful People

100 Faces from the Top 100 2022

100 Faces from the Top 100 2022

 In order of appearance clockwise from the top left corner, spirals inward:

1.     Marlene Marder (LiLiPUT)

2.     Les Dani de Nouvelle Guinée (CD cover)

3.     Katherina Bornefeld (The Ex)

4.     Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra)

5.     Allen Ravenstine (Pere Ubu)

6.     Anne-Marie Petrequin (anthropologist)

7.     Pierre Petrequin (anthropologist)

8.     Rundi woman performing "Ubuhuha"

9.     Rundi woman performing "Ubuhuha"

10.  Brian Elliott (Cromagnon)

11.  Austin Grasmere (Cromagnon)

12.  Paco Aguilar (Cuarteto Aguilar)

13.  Han Bennink (drummer)

14.  Lukas Foss (composer, conductor)

15.  Inuit singer performing "katajjaq"

16.  Inuit singer performing "katajjaq"

17.  Penny Rimbaud (CRASS)

18.  Charlie Parker (saxophonist)

19.  Jon Ibragon (saxophonist)

20.  Tirudel Zenebe (Ethiopian singer)

21.  Don Cherry (jazz musician)

22.  Ake Egevad (archeo-musicologist)

23.  Rosa Balistreri (Italian singer)

24.  Alice Coltrane (jazz pianist)

25.  Tukana elder

26.  Henri Lecomte (ethnomusicologist)

27.  Henry Grimes (bassist)

28.  Steven Feld (ethnomusicologist)

29.  Charlotte Heth (Cherokee singer)

30.  Cat Power (American singer)

31.  Kimya Dawson (American singer)

32.  Marjorie Shostak (ethnomusicologist)

33.  Instruments of the Kalahari San (cover)

34.  Stanley Diamond (ethnomusicologist)

35.  Miles Davis (jazz trumpetist)

36.  Miss Palu Vavau Tupou (Tonga)

37.  Jimmie Garrison (bassist)

38.  Rahsaan Roland Kirk

39.  Esna Redzepova (Rom singer)

40.  Lars Persson (ethnographer)

41.  David Sanborn (jazz musician, host "Night Music")

42.  Music from Mato Grosso (cover)

43.  Pierre Sallée (ethnomusicologist)

44.  Neil Young

45.  Rebecca Natialuk (Inuit singer)

46.  Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO)

47.  ???

48.  Ulahi (Papuan singer)

49.  Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth)

50.  Andrea Quispe Chura (Q'ero)

51.  Andy Moor (The Ex)

52.  Caetano Veloso (Brazilian musician)

53.  Albert Ayler (saxophonist)

54.  Gal Costa (Brazilian singer)

55.  June Tyson (Sun Ra Arkestra)

56.  Sun Ra (jazz musician)

57.  Dave Thomas (Pere Ubu)

58.  Klaudia Schiff (LiLiPUT)

59.  Anna Kolegova (Chuchi singer)

60.  Howard Kauffman (anthropologist)

61.  Eve Libertine (CRASS)

62.  Terry Hessels (The Ex)

63.  Cuna Indian

64.  Deben Bhattacharia (ethnomusicologist)

65.  Iannis Xenakis (composer)

66.  Tangkul storyteller

67.  Donald Tayler (ethnomusicologist)

68.  Michel Vuylsteke (ethnomusicologist)

69.  Tom Herman (Pere Ubu)

70.  Nigeria (Jos plateau)

71.  Loren Bommelyn (Native American singer)

72.  James Mtume (jazz percussionist)

73.  Shuar woman

74.  Tom Maimone (Pere Ubu)

75.  David Blair Stiffler (ethnomusicologist)

76.  Alan Vega (Suicide)

77.  Ansambl Teodosievski (musical director)

78.  Alex Chilton (American musician)

79.  Nicole Beaudry (ethnomusicologist)

80.  Gee Vaucher (CRASS)

81.  Michael Hurley (American musician)

82.  John Cohen (ethnomusicologist)

83.  Hugo Zemp (ethnomusicologist)

84.  Irina Kolegova (Siberian singer)

85.  Getatchew Mekuria (saxophonist)

86.  Sunny Murray (jazz percussionist)

87.  Gyorgy Ligeti (composer)

88.  Elise Aguilera (Cuateto Aguilero)

89.  Rung-Shun Wu (ethnomusicologist)

90.  Brian Moser (anthropologist)

91.  Cajsa Lund (Archeo-musicologist)

92.  John Cage (composer)

93.  Music of Thailand (cover)

94.  Cathy Berberian (singer)

95.  Tukano shaman

96.  Music of the Indians of Panama (cover image)

97.  Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth)

98.  Music of Ngassa (cover)

99.  Aileen Figuaroa (Yurok singer)

100.                 My Larsdotter (My Bubba)

 There are a few questions in the list, they will be answered when I work on the new Top 100, I'm sure. I also noticed there are 101 faces rather than 100. That extra one (between 58 & 59) I can't identify.

Disorder

Vision of Disorder/Naxi group at Puji monastery, Yunnan, China

I've been experimenting with the concept of double exposure. I covered an old painting of Vision of Disorder (VoD) from 2015 with strings of tape and painted part of a Naxi group over top of it. Then I removed the tape. I hoped for magic when I pulled the tape but was was left with disappointment in stead. I thought for sure the sum would be greater than the parts. Below are small reproductions of the 2015 painting and the Naxi group on the same canvas. 30x40 inches.

Not really pleased with the result I am planning on changing the tactics a bit and try again. The image of the Naxi group comes from a book by Helen Rees: Echoes of History: Naxi Music in Modern China (Oxford Press, 2000.) The book comes with a cd and a song from the cd appears in the Top 100 2022.

10 More miniatures

June Tyson from the Akestra

The miniature painting of June Tyson is probably my favorite of the 65 I've done this past month. Tyson sings on the Sun Ra epic Space is the Place and was a member of the Akestra. The following nine are some other of my favorite miniatures, embedded in the 100 Faces from the Top 100 2022 painting I haven't shared with you yet. Each of the paintings is about 3 inches tall.

David Blair Stiffler

Last year I couldn't find a decent image to paint of the American ethnomusicologist David Blair Stiffler and used the only (blurry) image that a Google image search yielded. Stiffler recorded more than just the Music from the Mountain Provinces he recorded in the Philippines and I had known him for. The Top 100 2022 features recordings of Indians from Costa Rica he recorded. I found a recent interview with Stiffler on-line which means I have all access to many images of him, be it as an aged man.

Iannis Xenakis

The most exciting thrift store haul of 2022 was a collection of modern classical records including three discs with compositions by Iannis Xenakis. His works had just previously, in 2021, debuted in my Top 100. The painting I did then is one of my favorite from last year's series. Thus far three compositions by Xenakis have entered the list.

Cuna Indian from a vintage photo

This individual stood right next to the one I used last year (in a vintage photo) to illustrate a song of a Cuna medicine man from Colombia. The same track is in the list again and now much higher (at #2 for the time being). Some of the miniature paintings, like this one, only took 10-15 minutes to complete. The quick ones are also the best ones.

Esma Redzepova

This one was perhaps even less than 10 minutes and honestly, I'm not even sure if her song Jalandi Coban will make it into the list of the Top 100 2022. I painted her because of the context of how the single came to me. I revived my old Musical Thrift Store Treasures just for this one. Here's that post: http://musicalthriftstoretreasures.blogspot.com/2022/05/nine-years-later.html

From the cover of  Music of the Indians of Panama

 

 

A great impulse for the selections for the Top 100 2022 was supplied by the record store Vinylarchive in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Due to unfortunate circumstances I had to spend a lot of time in this city whre I had grown up. Every visit to the city included a visit to this record store, the only one I know of with an excellent collection of ethnomusicological recordings. Music of the Indians of Panama: The Cuna (Tule) and Chocoe (Embera) Tribes is only one of a dozen records to be featured multiple times.

Rung-Shun Wu

The Taiwanese musicologist Rung Shun Wu recorded the Vunun tribe in Taiwan. Pasi But But is becoming a regular in the Top 100.

Music of Thailand (cover)

Howard Kaufman

The record Music of Thailand from Folkways has been with me for many years. I've painted bot the cover for it, and a portrait of the recorder before. This year the opening track Suksanaen makes the list. The tune is played on an instrument called can.

Sun Ra

Last, but not least, is a portrait of Sun Ra. A number of his recordings will feature in the Top 100 2022!

The Top 100 2022

100 Faces from the Top 100 2022, oil on canvas, 24x36" 

The above painting is still in progress. The process of it is establishing the concept for the series of a 100 paintings for the Top 100 2022. The series, like last year, will be double portraits, but the focus will not be on difference but on equality, or similarity, or familiarity. Different too will be that the 100 paintings will not follow the list by the letter. While the list is a ranking of 100 songs, the paintings will not be depending on the rankings. This will give me greater flexibility in my choices of who to paint. The one aspect of following the list I grew tired of last year was that I had to paint certain individuals over and over again. Last year I painted six portraits of Hugo Zemp for example. Even though there are already several duplicate performers in this year's list (that is not even half way compiled), the above painting has no duplicates, yet every song is represented and there are already more than 60 people portrayed (out of a list of 40 songs). The following 10 details are likely to be repeated in the series that will become The Top 100 2022.

Austin Grasmere and Brian Elliot of Cromagnon

The two members of Cromagnon were painted side by side. The song Caledonia is nothing short of spectacular. Experimental garage rock featuring a bagpipe. It has it all. I had never heard of the band but was introduced to them via the No Wave Facebook group. Their record Orgasm (later reissued as Cave Rock) was produced for the New York based ESP records. The 'E' in ESP stands for 'Esperanto'. The label was founded with the intention of releasing recording with lyrics in Esperanto.

Rundi women performing Ubuhuha

One of my favorite tracks from the treasured LP Burundi:Musique Traditionelles is back in the list this year. For earlier paintings (and written commentaries) click on this link.

Klaudia Schiff and Marlene Marder of LiLiPUT

A return after about 15 years to the list for the Swiss post-punk band LiLiPUT. This time not with their high scoring Eisiger Wind, but with the equally exciting single Split. LiLiPUT used to be called Kleenex but had to change their band's name because of the threat of legal action by the company who used Kleenex as a brand name.

Swedish music anthropologists Ake Egevad and Cajsa Lund

The record Musica Sveciae: Fornnordiska Klanger means a lot to me as I'm interested in prehistoric art and the origin of music. Professor Cajsa Lund, who produced the record, and her collaborator Äke Egevad are professionals who research bot interests and use archaeological evidence to reconstruct sounds from the prehistoric era. Two tracks from the album are listed in the top 100: the sound of a bull-roarer and a performance on the Kantflöjter (flute).

Albert Ayler and Sunny Murray

Sunny Murray is the percussionist on Spiritual Unity, an album by Albert Ayler from 1965. Gary Peacock (not depicted) is the third member of the trio. Ghosts, First Variation is the opening track that also features in my continued top 100, which records and adds points for a recording going all the way back to 1983, the year I started the Top 100.




 

Family First

Cover image from "Les Dani de Nouvelle Guinee, Vol. 2"

The world of ethnomusicology is no longer (and hasn't been for a long time) a field primarily occupied by a handful of adventurous men. As academic practices have shifted from being observers to being  participants for lengthy spells of time, ethnographers, anthropologists, musicologists, and others, travel with their families to go live among the cultures being researched. An added bonus of taken the family along is that of access to ceremonies restricted to one gender only, especially in societies that are strongly stratified. Another bonus is that when contacting the most remote peoples, a family will be perceived as peaceful visitors, while a company of men only can be perceived as a threat. Anne-Marie, and Pierre Petrequin visited, recorded, and lived among the Dani of Western Guinea in Indonesia. Some of their recordings were collected on four disks called Les Dani de Nouvelle Guinee. Two recordings, one from Volume 1, and one from Volume 2, are listed in this year's top 100.

Anne-Marie and Pierre Petrequin

Traditional music among distant cultures is often a family affair. With no television, computer, or radio available, families make music for entertainment (or so it seems.) Below are portraits of Irina Khritoroforovna Kolegova and Anna Vasilevna Kolegova. The two perform several tracks together on Kamtchaka:Tambours De Danse De L'extreme-orient Sibérien recorded by Henri Lecomte. I've painted both Anna and Irina Kolegova twice before. Read here to learn more about their recordings.

Anna and Irina Kolegova

In 1923, four of the six children, Paco, Ezequiel, Pepe, and Elisa, of Dr. Francisco Aguilar, created a lute quartet: Cuarteto Aguilar. From Murcia, Spain, the four made a name for themselves until the Spanish Civil War ended their career. The worked with the composer Manuel de Falla, and are pictured in a photo together with Igor Stravinsky. The tune Fiesta Mora en Tanger appears on an LP from the Secret Museum of Mankind series who are, after a lengthy hiatus, compiling new collections again.

Paco and Elise Aguilar

There are plenty of examples of lovers working together in the field of popular music. Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa are an example. The Top 100 2022 features the track Relance, written by Veloso and sung by Costa. (Edit: Despite some cozy pictures together, I don't see evidence the two were lovers. I guess the musicians of "Tropicalismo" were one big family.)

Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa

Family is on my mind a lot these days as I travel back and forth from the US to the Netherlands where my mother is battling a serious illness. Here's her portrait too:

Tonnie van Boekel

 

Miniatures (Top 100 2022)

Allen Ravenstine, Pere Ubu

David Thomas, Pere Ubu

After a little break for a while I'm ready to start the next series of 100, the Top 100 2022. While it was clear for a while already I would stay close to the double portrait concept used in 2021, I am going to make some changes in the process. Looking back on the Top 100 2021, I found that the juxtaposition, or contrast of object and subject was hardly ever as black and white as I had imagined. In stead of focusing on the differences between the people portrayed, I'm now treating them as equal. There's always a relationship between two people (or more) involved in the making of a recording and this relationship is usually much more egalitarian, at least today, as the colonialist attitude of the earlier 20th century I took as a vanishing point last year. Even within early ethnomusicological recordings I found that the relationship between object and subject was often based on equality, certainly not as dismissive as it is portrayed in contemporary criticism. 

I've started collecting the images of the people who will feature in the top 100. It's a mix of familiar faces (to me) and new ones. To become familiar with the musicians, musicologists, and producers of the recordings in the list I thought I would paint a bunch of miniatures onto a canvas. As I did with the two larger recent canvases I am planning to paint 100 miniatures on it. I organized the canvas in such a way that all 100 portraits have a 4x4 inch square available to them. I neatly gridded out the canvas. I will present the images on here in series of 10 at a time. I have now 45 done. Here's the painting thus far. Below it I'll zoom in on the individual people with a little commentary to go with it.

100 Faces of the Top 100 2022, in progress, 24x36 inches

The first images I'll zoom into are all related to the band The Ex. Several of their songs already secured a spot in the 2022 list even though that list is nowhere near completion. The first one to enter was the song Eoleyo, written by the famous Ethiopian composer and percussionist Mulatu Astatke. Eoleyo is not a famous Astatke song, it was only released locally on cassette tape, but the audience at a concert in Addis Ababa burst out in ecstatic approval. The vocal at the concert are by Katharina Borneveld, who is usually the drummer for The Ex. For the occasion Han Bennink, the most famous of Dutch drummers, sat in. Terrie Ex (Terrie Hessels) is the only one from the six portraits below whom I painted before. He produced the record Ilital: New Ethiopian Dance Music, from which Gue by Tirudel Zenebe is listed high in the Top 100. Another famous Ethiopian musician, the saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria, did a whole tour with The Ex. She Ilelle, in the Top 100, was performed on one of those occasions (Groningen.) Andy Moor is the third Ex member I painted. Here are all six:

Tirudel Zenebe

Getatchew Mekuria

Han Bennink

Andy Moor

Katharina Bornefeld

Terrie Ex

The final two images illustrate two songs in one by Cathy Berberian. Her album magnifiCathy I had on tape in the 90s and was thrilled to find a copy on vinyl in a second hand record store in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Both songs, A Flower and The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs, by the composer John Cage. A Flower (1950) has no words, just sounds, while the text of The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs (1942) is based on a passage in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. The musical score to accompany both songs was written for closed piano (the lid closed so that the piano becomes a percussion instrument.)

John Cage

Cathy Berberian