achille mbembe

this popped into my feed like a happy car crash between foucault and fanon with a froth of hannah arendt on top. how could i not like it it! 

it reminded me both of how much i enjoyed criticial theory and its epic uselessness. not least because i was forced, yet again, to conclude that the left seem either not to have read it or just use it as a handy soundbite, and the right, who appear much more familiar, to the point of actually employing many easily recognisable tropes, use it as a handy shibboleth or deny it altogether!

that said, it's massively easy to pick a recent event of state violence against a population that fits with mbembe's model

two bite sized intros. there's plenty links on the side bar if you want to explore further

isolation is the gift

i've been thinking about that last post and my comment about disinterest and i'm not sure the tone is right. i've been very fortunate, altho i did put the work in, with the likes of writing but at the same time, while i got published a lot, it never made me happy, to the extent that it actually affected my ability to do work and now, it's fair to say. i rarely, if ever, write poetry. plus i was pushing my form and i wasn't carrying anyone along with that, particularly when it came to sound work.

by lovely coincidence i came across the following quote from bukowski just recently. i'm feeling i'm finally at a stage where i can commit to isolation, commit to work, recognise the privilege i have in being able to do it, and just get on with it. i'm not bothered about publication, exhibiting, performance, any of that, just the work. the result? i'm happier than i've been since i was a little kid having a day drawing. 

If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.

then, by another coincidence i came across this video with marianne engberg which, much like the last one with terry riley, shows an artist well into their twilight years. but mainly i liked it because of the patience. the idea that one could take a picnic into their living room just to watch the light is, to me, a fabulous one. further, that notion of not taking short cuts with experimentation, finding your own way, really has resonance (and not just because i'll be doing more calotypes, solargrams etc this year). i struggle with time sometimes and i don't prioritise sitting and taking some time, something that not doing much in the way of sound recording these days hasn't helped. but it's a useful reminder that to work one has ot have space tp pause, to breathe.....

terry riley

i get a fair amount of chat from people i used to know about me not working, mostly about writing. it's really not true that i'm not working, i'm doing lots, not so much writing but i'm working my way back to it. what is true that, before i left, and even moreso since i've been back from sweden, is the disinterest (or even avoidance! lol) that's met my work here.*

hence to terry riley, who's been a bigger influence on my writing, and how i present it, than anything else i can think of. i see him here and i look forward to keeping at creative work no matter how old i get. plus what a massive privilege it is just to be able to be involved in any of the work that i'm doing. what a legend!

*which isn't to say i've not had some lovely interactions here but there's a commitment to, as well as respect for, creativity in the likes of sweden that, in my experience, is not the norm here.

history podcasts

 

after the last couple of posts here's a few of my favourite history podcasts that i tend to listen to either when i'm training or when i'm working. who says i can't multitask!

first off is empire, in which anita anand and william dalrymple start by looking at their specific field of interest and expand from there. the indian history isn't pretty from a uk point of view nor particularly pleasing from an indian perspective insofar as the british established themselves there in the first place. but it's fascinating. this week they're talking about evilya celebi, whose writings in the form of the ottoman traveller, were my favouritie from last year. i can't wait!

well that aged well is not an islamic history podcast but it covers history where arabic is spoken far better than most general history podcasts and, of late, i've found the ottoman stuff of particular interest. quite who's behind it i don't know. is there a person who is erlend hedegart? is he the comedian of the same name? bad jokes appear sporadically so it seems unlikely but, whoever or whatever, this is a gem of a podcast

the bowery boys podcast focuses primarily on new york and its surrounds but, as i lived there for a while, it's all of interest to me. i came across it in a reference to the black tom explosion and went from there. i like the chemistry between the two guys and their presentation style - i like to think i'm sitting having a cup of tea with my two camp mates! lol they also have a relationship with the gilded gentleman podcast - i don't listen to this as much but the recent absinthe episode was a real eye opener

i've just started listening to the rest is history, featuring tom hollnad, who i'm very familiar with, and dominic sandbrook, who i'm not. in this week's podcast they're demolishing what i was under the impression was the accepted version of the albigensian crusade. it raises very pertinent questions of how we know what we know, why we accept it, and the necessity of accepting that history is a dynamic process

are we the baddies

as an addendum to that last post, this comedy classic. and some lines from burns, to maybe draw breath, take a moment, and maybe stop assuming our implicit rightness! lol 

O wad some Power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae mon a blunder free us.....

medieval islamic medicine

many, many moons ago i studied (briefly) islamic medicine, loved it, and have retained an interest in (specifically) medieval muslim medical activity ever since. much to the surprise of some of my muslim colleagues who assume that there's no education re islam in europe. if this sounds super pejorative i don't mean it so - there's good reason for this belief, even if it's wrong, and they were lovely about it. the last time i did it was with an egyptian guy who was doing some work on cupping (assuming firstly that i didn't know what cupping, nor that where or when it had originated in islamic medicine). but i was able to shed a bit of light on a couple of things, share a couple of up to date articles and point him directly at some primary sources down at the wellcome foundation. it was a lovely, synergistic interaction and great chat. how we would have laughed about this article re the ups and downs of life as a medieval physician!

that however is to compare and contrast with the recent hamline case which, rightly, is still rumbling on. interestingly enough the pic in the new lines article could be one i looked at back in the day! plus, i'd be very careful, as an anglophone, raising the spectre of cultural amnesia with anyone else! portrayals of mohammed are especially tricky but representation generally, in some circles, can be problematic. which, for some at the more polarised end of the spectrum, is going to make it pretty difficult to study primary source material that's much closer to when mohammed was actually alive! i feel a bit sorry for the girl who's originally raised her concerns, tho not as much as for the teacher she got fired, mainly because she's young and being idealistically stupid is something i took full advantage of when i was her age. that said, i like to think i'd never have been an advocate of that type of speech fascism that seems to be so in vogue in america these days. which, ironically, has her in direct conflict with actual right wing loopers! plus, if she wants to be that fundamentalist, there's issues much more apparent.

all of which virtue signalling, finger pointing etc gets in the way of actual study. i would argue that the study of the history of the middle east and central asia in particular, with its shift away from europe, especially in the so called dark ages, is just a great way to spend time and an ideal starting point to start counteracting a variety of cultural amnesias (as is study of precolonial africa and india but those are subjects for other posts). 

 

pentatonic scales

not practising scales is foolish. i'm not saying i'm good at it or that i practise anything like as much as i should but here rik beato shows the way with g minor pentatonic. great fingering exercise, good fretboard work