Diarabi – Boubacar “Kar Kar” Traoré & Ali Farka Touré

Ali Farka Toure part 2

Ali Farka Toure part 3

2007 is the 800th anniversary of the birth of Rumi, the mystic Islamic poet, who by all accounts was a most remarkable figure.

I bought two collections of English translations of his love poems about a month ago and this passage from Coleman Barks’ “Rumi: Bridge To The Soul” struck me:

Rumi’s place in the history of religions is as a bridge between faiths. The story of his funderal in 12273 is well known. Representatives came from every religion – Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus. When questioned about this, they responded, “He deepens us wherever we are.” Rumi lives in the heart, the core (he might call it friendship) of our impulse to praise, to worship, to explore the mystery of union. Even his name is a bridge word.

But his meeting with Shams Tabriz is the key to his inclusivity. Shams operated beyond form and doctrine. He once said that if the Kaaba were suddenly lifted up out of the world, we would see that each person is really bowing (five times a day) to every other person. In other words, if the icons of religions could dissolve, we would be left with the radiance of each other, the one honoring the other as the same glory. Friendship. Namaste.

I dedicate the passage above to all my friends, past, present and to be, in this life, in the lives before and the lives to come. I raise a toast to tolerance and goodwill among all.

This entertaining and bizzarre video has been circulating among the inboxes of civil servants in Singapore.

Big Love

Fingerstyle Fleetwood Mac.

As Long As You Follow

This is a pop song I really liked (and still like) for a very long time.

Aren’t both the original and cover versions beautiful? The cover by TE is impressive, it captures the feel and mood of the original. I think it’s especially hard to cover a piano piece on the guitar.

Tommy Emmanuel Playing Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes”

Original music video. Live version.

I was first introduced to Butoh when Sonny, who wrote arts reviews for the mainstream Straits Times gave me a free ticket to a Butoh performance during one of the Singapore Arts Festivals. I no longer remember the name of the troupe but I remember the impact it had on me. Although the majority of the audience was alienated and perhaps disturbed by that performance, I was so struck by it, especially the finale, where the birth of baby was enacted with such a simmering slow and excruciating intensity that it’s fair to say that my lifetime love of butoh began at that instant – it was love at first sight.

I see butoh as a dance of darkness. It perverts and inverts the aesthetic standard by turning the grotesque, wretched and awful into the sublime, transcendent and beautiful. Despite the madness and absurdity (at times abject and empty and at other times humorous) in the butoh performances I’ve seen, there is also a painful and heart wrenching search for grace, redemption and salvation.

Perhaps you can get a taste of what Butoh is in the videos below.

This video is an useful introduction to Butoh.

Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis

Edin Valez’s Dance of Darkness

The Sky is Crying

Arkansas Woman

Baby Please

Interview & Live Footage

This is hilarious. A Hindi music video (with English “subtitles” based on what the Hindi words sound like in English) inspired by Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Courtesy of my wife.

God knows…

Final Fantasy 5 “Clash on the Big Bridge”

Final Fantasy VI The Decisive Battle

Chopin

You Dont Know What Love Is – 1977

Somebody Loan Me a Dime (1977)

Fenton Robinson at Buddy Guy’s Legends