Other fronts in the war of terror

(img by Barnaby Furnas)

Time to take advantage of my privileged position as armchair critic to be smug and self-congratulatory in pointing out that I basically called this back in January, but now even the Times agrees with me: Somalia's in real-bad shape, thanks in good part to the invasion of the largely foreign sponsored (mainly US and Ethopia) "transitional government".

United Nations officials now concede that the country was in better shape during the brief reign of Somalia’s Islamist movement last year. “It was more peaceful, and much easier for us to work,” Mr. Laroche said. “The Islamists didn’t cause us any problems.”

Mr. Ould-Abdallah called those six months, which were essentially the only epoch of peace most Somalis have tasted for years, Somalia’s “golden era.”

Yay, the Whitehouse's blatant Islamophobia and singleminded desire to force their needs and fears onto other countries has fucked over yet another poor, desperate nation filled with easily forgettable others! Hooray for democracy and freedom!

Better and better...

Well I've gotten myself on a bit of kick on various traditional musics from some different places. After last weeks Gamelan discovery, I've been feeling strongly the desire for some different rhythms, a desire which has been temporarily sated by some great traditional music from Madagascar. Here's a couple:

v/a (Madagascar, Pays Antandroy, Cote Sud-Ouest) - Gorodo

Antsan - Jejo Lava, Chant Pour L'arc Musical

These two both come from discs of the French Ocora label (hence the titles), which seems like a real goldmine in terms of interesting different sounds from accross the globe. The first track is just a blindin, sunny-as-hell piece, paced by a quick percusive rhythm, lively guitar (or something similar), and absolutely joyous singing and yelping. Just happy, beautiful music. The second track is apparently just a man playing a single string tied to a stick and singing along. Ha ha you say, but wait untill you hear it. Simple, repetitive and--hauntingly beautiful. The man 's voice is a thing to behold, and he creates a surprisingly engaging and haunting melody with such a simple instrument. The thing that's getting me with this (and thanks to zhao from here for banging on about this, and for the tunes!) is how sonically advanced so much of this sounds (same for the Gamelan). For "traditional" music, its actually much more sonically adventurous and interesting than the vast majority of western music these days, even the more "indie" stuff that's supposed to be pushing the boundaries. Makes ya think....

Okay, and because I'm still listening to house/techno too, here's a pair that have caught my ear this week. The first is by the revived ex-Chain Reaction duo of Substance and Vainqueur, laying down some deep thundering dub techno. The second is some lovely upbeat minimal house featuring everyones favorite sound. warped house piano! Enjoy! :D

Substance & Vainqueur - Libration

Rejected - Let's Go Juno