These Shoes Were Made for...

The more technology invades our lives with impersonal, colorless and "branded" objects, the more value we find in beautiful [handmade wearable art]. In ways we can't always describe, we morn the loss of beauty and sensuousness in a merely functional world. It takes a long time [to make these objects] and the result is something that only time can deliver. ~Tony Cohan in Mexican Textiles: Spirit and Style

Latina magazine recently had a sidebar about a young entrepreneur named Kerry Clarkson Valdivia who commissions Peruvian cobblers to bring to make her line of shoes ideas.

Those of you who visit the link will see that she has some refreshing things to say about what inspired her entre into the fashion industry. For a young woman in her early twenties, she has a keen understanding, it seems, of the appeal of things exotic or unique-- not to mention the price tag that can be put on items possessing these attributes.

This should make folk think a little about how all things created--musical forms, foods, textiles, housewares--have meaning beyond their outer "skins." For example, the African ceremonial mask or Central American rebozo has virtually no meaning if the buyer of it does not respect the culture, traditions and belief systems that gave life to the product. Enduring art is fused, like a Siamese twin, to the handed-down ways that people communicate with God. To borrow a phrase: To love the fruit, we must respect the roots.

(Image copyright J. Watson-Aifah, 2005)

Peace to Maestre Diz

Whether in the form of odes that find their way into some roots-style sambas in Brazil, las ofrendas of Mexico or so many of the other traditional arts, those with souls tied to Latin America have gilded the act of remembering. They are devoted to honoring the living family and remembering the kinfolk hidden behind the veil (Was it Sandra Cisneros who said that for Mexicans the dead aren't gone, they just live--so to speak-- in the next room?). And such a respect there is for teachers!

What I'm driving at is that I came across this interview with Flora Purim where she makes it a point to mention Dizzy Gillespie. Here's a bit of what she had to say:

"If you ever come to my house, there are pictures of [Diz] all over my walls. In the three years I spent singing with the United Nations Orchestra, he taught me so much... He would sit in the back of [the tour bus] with me for several hours telling life stories about his family and things that happened to him. I loved him not just for [what he taught me about music], but I loved him also because he gave me a lot of insight and spirituality..."

Music Carnivals

"Colors of Music" by Nacera Guerin

Ummm. Luciano and Jill Scott and Les Nubians and the astute yout', Lupe Fiasco that so many are raving about-- all performing today at the UCLA Jazz Reggae Fest . Wish I could teleport to it or something :) . Ah, bem...since I've not yet mastered that fine art, I think baby boy and I might hit the Atlanta Jazz Fest to hear Flora and Airto give us um poco de Brasil and the Escovedo family light it up on percussion.

Matt Lauer in Bhutan

Above image from www.barmatours.com.bt

Above image from www.webwombat.com.au

Recently, I watched a video of Matt Lauer with young (elemetary school-age) monks in the country of Bhutan. He and an American woman very familiar with the culture of Bhutan kept speaking, with some amount of envy and astonishment it seemed, about how "happy," how peaceful the people of that country are. As they commented on this, my mind kept circling back to lessons that Eknath Eswaran, Thich Nhat Hanh and K. K. B. Fu-Kiau teach about how inner peace and contentment start with the individual, extend out into the immediate community and into the nation as a whole. It also spoke to how true education involves training a person to live in such a way that they grow a mature and fully-developed soul. I believe this is why in ancient times as well in some of today's indigenous cultures, "school" is logically connected to the places where spiritual rites occur-- be that in the thick of a forest, in a kiva or in the sanctum of a stained glass temple.

Robert Farris Thompson on Daughters of the Dust

Robert Farris Thompson has some insightful things to say about Julie Dash's old film, Daughters fo the Dust. Check out this video clip as well as this fairly new interview with the filmmaker.

If Only...

A friend let me hear Back to Black by Amy Winehouse, and all I could do was shake my head in astonished appreciation. DAMN, can the woman SANG. The tones, the inflections, the utter soul-- I have not heard a voice like hers in many a day. Reminds me a little of one of my favorites, Dinah, and a little of Billie. The thing is, I don't care much at all for Sister Amy's lyrics.

Imagine her teaming with John Mayer, whom I am just as much astounded by and whose songwriting is his especially delicious gift to anyone who takes a moment to listen.


To paraphrase Sister Tanya Stephens: we nuh ready fe that yet!