intense

Worldly Wednesday: “Wonderlust King,” Gogol Bordello

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This is my all-time favorite Gogol Bordello song.  There are others they wrote with lyrics that are more apropos to the current crisis, but I just can’t get enough of the energy of this one.  It sounds so fantastically, bravely defiant.

Gogol Bordello was formed in 1999 in New York City by Eugene Hütz.  “Gogol” references Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol who purportedly “smuggled” Ukrainian culture into Russia in the mid 19th century.

U.S. military troops are relatively close to Ukraine, and the U.S. government has pledged money and technical support.  Russia is using equipment placed in Crimea to block the cell phones of Ukrainian politicians.  Meanwhile, over at The Atlantic, there is a great piece that posits whether conflicts like this are going to be more common in a post-“war on terror” world.

Finally: hello to my readers in Georgia!  Welcome to my blog!  მოკითხვა ჩემს მკითხველს საქართველოში! მოგესალმებით ჩემს ბლოგზე!

—

Back in the day, as we learned,
A man was not considered to be
Considered to be fully grown
Has he not gone beyond the hills
Has he not crossed the seven seas
Yeah, seven seas at least!

Now all them jokers kept around
Just like the scarecrows in hometown
Yeah, scarecrows in hometown
From screen to screen they’re travelin’
But I’m a wonderlust king

I stay on the run
Let me out
Let me be gone
In the world’s beat up road sign
I saw new history of time…
New history of time!!!

Through Siberian woods
Breaking up their neck
Chinese moving in, building discotheques
Trans-Siberian sex toys and whatnot
Yeah, and why not?
Well at least it’s something different
From what they got in every other airport

Я не еврей, но кое-что похоже
Соврать не даст ни Юра, ни Сережа!
Simple because I’m not a total gadjo
Да я шут, я трюкач, ну так что же?

I traveled the world
Looking for understanding
Of the times that we live in
Hunting and gathering first hand information
Challenging definitions of sin

I traveled the world
Looking for lovers
Of the ultimate beauty
But never settled in
I am a Wonderlust King!

I stay on the run
Let me out
Let me be gone
In the world’s beat up road sign
I saw new history of time…
New history of time!!!

And presidents
And billionaires
And generals
They’ll never know
They’ll never know
What I have owned!
What I have owned…
I am a Wonderlust King!

Modernism Monday: “War Again,” Balkan Beat Box

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgF9FAw54jc

This week, The Daily Tune-Up will be devoted to events unfolding in Ukraine.  I find this all so deeply troubling and what do I do when I find something troubling?  I use music to help me sort it out. This song encapsulates my mood about this entire thing.  Balkan Beat Box is, obviously, not from Ukraine, but rather comprised of musicians from the U.S. and Israel who lean on Balkan, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern sounds.  The lyrics talk about the awful cycle of war that can only end if enough people choose that it should end.

Here is a good overview article on what’s happening in Ukraine right now, the background of the conflict, and another on what the U.S. could do about it with the assets it has in the region (if I chose to go the military route).

—

Here we are like we’re going to get war again
Coming hard, come and get a gun, join the gang
With the bang bang and the same song we sang
Coming over and over again

It’s picking up now, getting more like a game
And it feels real like we learn to fake the fame
And there’s never more then one truth
But you can always tell your better half

Always tell your better half of the story
It goes well with the better side of your face you show on TV
Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t start a revolution
What’s in the constitution? Is this illusion that we bought?
You cut the wings and then you say fly
You say the hero is the one that died
But the true hero is the one who doesn’t live a lie and understands
That there’s an end out of the cycle
Who’s the master? Who’s the disciple?
You can do what you can, but will you do it again?
So what’s the plan?
Looks like we are going to get war again

Here we are like we’re going to get war again
Coming hard, come and get a gun, join the gang
With the bang bang and the same song we sang
Coming over and over again

It’s picking up now, getting more like a game
And it feels real like we learn to fake the fame
And there’s never more then one truth
But you can always tell your better half

Look out
Going to get war again, going to get wrong again
Gone again, with the same song again, on again
Can’t be born again, who’s gone again?
Who’s going to gain out of this war again?
Hooligan in a tie rule again
Soon again you will see it all begin again
Sink again, and that will make you think again

And when they call you go
When they are wrong you know
And u will follow, and you will swallow
Again like long ago and the bomb will blow
So sit back relax and enjoy the show
‘Cause you are as cold as snow and I am here below
I’m going to speak out, scream out
Here we go, got the fresh flow
So before it’s over
Then you are going to find a different kind of war to start again

Going to get war again

Funk Friday: “I Got The…,” Labi Siffre

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It’s too damn cold this week for me to be in an uptempo funky mood, so I pulled Labi Siffre off the shelf for today’s funk offering.  I love how spare this song is at first and then builds to a simple richness.  A nice and mellow sound while you pour yourself a drink and curl up indoors.

Sacred Sunday: “Oh Happy Souls,” Robert Shaw

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This piece is an arrangement of an old New England hymn from around 1792.  Originally called “The Slow Traveler,” it was, as far as I’ve been able to discover, published in hymnals regularly for only about a hundred years.  I don’t know enough about Robert Shaw to know how he discovered it, but thank heavens he did.  Robert Shaw and Alice Parker, his frequent collaborator, deserve a Nobel Prize for preserving this style of American music.  There is so much of the American character in this piece.  Its solid, four square construction is brave, unsentimental, and resilient.  It bucks me up whenever I need it.  This is a recording I pinched from my father’s vinyl record collection, which is why it sounds so scratchy.

Salubrious Saturday: “Unexplainable Stories,” Cloud Cult

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Cloud Cult is a fantastic band from Minnesota (doncha know).  This song has a pretty different vibe than some of their other work – this one is much more down-tempo and a little more synthesizer-y.  But I still love the message of the song (“Activate your force fields and just keep going”), and the long brass intro is absolutely gorgeous.  This is a good, calm song for a quiet Saturday after a long, long week.  I hope you enjoy.

Throwback Thursday: “Infernal Dance King Kahchei,” Igor Stravinsky

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OHCRAPINABASKETTOMORROWISVALENTINE’SDAY.  

Yes, friend, I’m afraid it is.  This is one of the few holidays that strikes deep, bone-gripping fear into both the singleton and coupleton.

To singletons, it’s about survival.  For the unhappy singleton, you survive another round of Those Who Won’t Die Alone (And I’m Not Talking About Their Cats) getting an “atta-boy” and a UN-sanctioned pat on the head; another round of mooney stories from smug, self-satisfied couples about the amazing flowers/chocolate/card/gift they received until you want to take said flowers/chocolate/card/gift and throw them into a wood chipper.  Even to happy singletons the day is a royal pain – everyone assumes you’re unhappy about being single and you spend the whole day fending off attempts to make you feel better about being so very, very, very alone.

To the newly partnered, it’s Everything Your New Partner Does Or Says Is A Sign Of Your Long-Term Compatibility Day, or, worse, Everything I Do Or Say Will Be A Signal To My New Partner And Soon After This They Will Decide This Was A Bad Idea Day; the day in which you don’t have a blind clue whether to get flowers or not (“I mean, it’s classic, right?  But, they’re dead, and then they start to smell bad in a few days, and it’s also just so cliche, and maybe it’s also, I dunno, clingy?  But I really like her and if I don’t get flowers…”), or chocolate or not (“did he say he was lactose intolerant?  I thought he mentioned lactose once…#$%! I’m such a bad listener…), or a card or not (“Where are the cards that say ‘I really like you and I know it hasn’t been that long but I think we have a future, unless you don’t, in which case, that’s totally cool, I never really liked you anyway?'”).  And to those that have been coupled up for ages, it’s It’s Been Six Years Since The Last Time I Tried To Surprise Him Maybe He Forgot And This Time I’ll Nail It Day, or, way worse, What Was That One Thing She Said She Really Wanted Dammit No Really What Was It Day.

In sum: Valentine’s Day is, basically, Fear Day.  Enter King Kahchei and his infernal dance from Stravinsky’s “Firebird.”

I don’t often post live recordings, as you’ve no doubt noticed, my eagle-eyed, international readership, but this one hooked me.  First of all, the tempo is absolutely perfect; it’s just fast enough to make you think it’s about to go off the rails, but, obviously, never does.  Second of all, it’s in such a bonkers time signature that I always wondered “How on earth do you conduct this?”  So a tip of my hat to Michael Tilson Thomas.  I become entirely mesmerized watching his direction here.  And third and finally, this video gives you a good sense of the immense scale of Stravinsky’s orchestration.  There are not only tons of musical parts, but there are tons of people playing each musical part.  It’s massive – you can kind of see the whole lot of them at 2:34 and 3:52.  (Oh, and the music starts at 0:29.)

To my single and be-coupled readers, enjoy this calm before the storm.  I’ll be back tomorrow with some fresh Fear Day funk to see you through.

Throwback Thursday: “Symphony No. 5 in D, 3rd movement,” Ralph Vaughan Williams

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If you hear movie soundtracks in this piece (or a bit of Downton Abbey), you’re not hearing things.  Vaughan Williams was such a master at capturing undefinable moodiness that he inspired a whole generation of movie and TV score composers.  I had once wanted to be among them based solely on his works.  There isn’t a sound so lush as a Vaughan Williams string section; I don’t think it’s possible to cram any more instruments or harmonies in there.  I particularly love the range of his orchestration at the beginning, from the lowest notes of the double basses to the highest notes of the violins.  Combined with the vaguely eastern chord progression, and the solo oboe (a classic Vaughan Williams tell), it makes for a very evocative beginning.  Until the strings settle into something a little more standard around 0:50, and we remember, oh right, we’re in England.

This particular symphony is an excellent gateway drug to the rest of his body of work.  Vaughan Williams’s most famous pieces are The Lark Ascending and Fantasia by a Theme by Thomas Tallis, but you’d be better served by diving a little deeper.  If you like this piece, check out his Norfolk Rhapsody, whose simplicity surely must have inspired Aaron Copland.

Throwback Thursday: “Four Last Songs: Beim Schlafengehen,” Richard Strauss

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This piece.  This.  Piece.  This piece is a prime example of how an organized collection of sounds can produce profound feelings on both ends of the emotional spectrum at the same time.  For me, it has always elicited great peace and happiness, and also great sadness – even without knowing the words.  The construction of the song is such that the first half, which begins in a minor key, primes the listener that something is afoot – not all is entirely correct for the singer (who in this recording is the incomparable Dame Kiri Te Kanawa).  The way the melody oscillates back and forth between major and minor suggests turbulence, and a strong sense of longing for something that might never be attained.  The singer is clearly unsettled.  Te Kanawa shows us how tired she is of her lot by her slurring the melody in the first few words of the phrase – appropriate, given the meaning of the words she is singing.

The second half of the song begins at 1:39.  A solo violin leads the listener into the singer’s own daydream of whatever is so strongly hoped for.  When Te Kanawa comes back in at 2:43, the piece unhesitatingly builds to an ecstatic conclusion, at the end of which I am entirely spent.  This is a piece I can only listen to once in a while since it has a power to move me bodily from emotion to emotion, as one would move a doll between rooms in a doll house.  But what a glorious ride.

Words below.

—

Nun der Tag mich müd gemacht,
soll mein sehnliches Verlangen
freundlich die gestirnte Nacht
wie ein müdes Kind empfangen.  Hände, laßt von allem Tun
Stirn, vergiß du alles Denken,
Alle meine Sinne nun
wollen sich in Schlummer senken.

Und die Seele unbewacht
will in freien Flügen schweben,
um im Zauberkreis der Nacht
tief und tausendfach zu leben.

 Now that I am wearied of the day,
my ardent desire shall happily receive
the starry night
like a sleepy child.  Hands, stop all your work.
Brow, forget all your thinking.
All my senses now
yearn to sink into slumber.

And my unfettered soul
wishes to soar up freely
into night’s magic sphere
to live there deeply and thousandfold.

Modernism Monday: “Get It Up,” Santigiold + M.I.A. (feat. Gorilla Zoe)

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PSA: Before you press play, be alerted that this song contains some mild to medium swearing and vaguely salacious themes.

After a certain period of time, you realize that, man, life doesn’t get easier – if you’re lucky, skillful, and have the energy, you just get better at managing.  2014 is already going gangbusters for your Yankette, so Monday mornings are always better with a little extra something to go with my coffee.  Santigold and M.I.A definitely deliver on this track, and it puts a little extra swagger in my step when I need it.  “Always standing in the door, always the same reason you’re stuck: no guts.  No guts.  What will you get it up for?  What will make you want it more?”

Worldly Wednesday: “Nobel,” Touré Kunda

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rhro0xxkhs

If you read the news yesterday, you probably saw the following stories:

– Half the population of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, have fled their homes.  North of Bangui, an armed Christian militia has surrounded the city of Bozoum, raising fears of a massacre of the city’s Muslim residents.  France and the African Union, with the help of U.S. military transport, has sent more than 5,000 troops to bolster an international peacekeeping mission, but so far, efforts have failed to stop the violence.

– An eight-hour firefight between government forces and the Mai Mai Kata Katanga in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, killed at least 26 people.  The Mai Mai Kata Katanga are fighting for independence.

– Nigerian gunmen stormed the city of Shonong, in Plateau state, killing at least 30.  Violence in Plateau has been going on for years, fueled by land disputes between Muslim Fulani herdsmen and mainly Christian Berom farmers.

– The government of South Sudan appears to be close to recapturing the city of Bor, but peace talks, being held in Ethiopia, continue without a breakthrough.

You know this song.  It’s a cover of Phil Collins by the Senegalese band, Touré Kunda.  Not to knock Phil Collins, but this version flat-out knocks the wind out of me.   It’ll leave it at that.