It seems a little strange to read about the history of Shaw Brothers while viewing a sepia-photo of the Shaw family with a family of blue-hued Watchmen surrounding it...
Mozart would have approved I think :)
This lady is just so creative, I am so in awe!!
(I think this is from some show, but no idea which...)
Esteemed Kora player Toumani Diabate shows us how the Kora is played. It is a self-accompanying instrument.
Read more about the Kora: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kora_(instrument)
More Mbira music...
The mbira, an African musical instrument, is also known as the 'thumb piano'.
Notice that some of the players have placed their instruments inside some hollowed-out gourd that looks like a giant bowl placed vertically upright. This gourd serves as an amplifier to the mbira, helping it project.
Hear the buzzing sound? That's made by bottlecaps attached to the amplifier. This is not a sign to say that an instrument is 'malfunctioning'. African players like this kind of sound on their instruments, in their music.
From YouTube: 'A critical documentary about music in Africa through the exploration of Mbira, one of the oldest music equipments in Africa. The documentary challenges the stereotypes, biases, and misunderstanding of Africans and their music traditions.'
One of my favourite scenes from the Thai movie Homrong, which still never fails to amaze me.
From YouTube: 'Song done in Burmese dialect featuring the klong yao (long drums). Performed in NUS on 23Mar07.'
At 00:15, you can hear someone hollering, 'Oooeeeeeiiii...', followed by a response from the rest of the ensemble. This is the call by the leader of the ensemble for the rest of the players to get ready.
GEK1054 Music in the Global Context
Tutorial 5 (Thursday, 12 March 2009): MUSIC FROM THAILAND
Photo: Klong-yao (long drum) ensemble accompanying a Thai dance at a concert by the NUS Thai Ensemble, 16 February 2008. The klong yao is the drum that most of the musicians are carrying. The musician at the furthest right-hand-side is playing a mong. The gongs on the floor do not belong to the Thai music ensemble, those are gongs from the gamelan ensemble!Click on the links provided to read more about the instruments / see pictures.
1. Categories of instruments
· Dit: instruments that are plucked
· Si: instruments that are bowed
· Ti: instruments that are struck
· Pao: instruments that are blown
2. Types of tempos
· Sam Chan: slow
· Song Chan: moderate
· Chan Dieo: fast
3. Klong-yao (Drum ensemble)
3.1 Mong / Khong mong
· Medium-sized gong
3.2 Ching
· Twin set of small bells that are struck together. They serve as conductor in any Thai musical ensemble (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_(musical_instrument))
3.3 Klong-yao
· Long drum (http://www.thaimusic.net/glong-yao.htm)
4. Piphat (Thai musical ensemble – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piphat)
4.1 Ranat Ek
· Higher-sounding wooden xylophone, acts as leader of the ensemble, plays the introduction as well as (virtuosic) variations on the main melody. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranad_ek)
4.2 Ranat Thum
· Lower-sounding wooden xylophone, plays fragments of the melody in a playful manner. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranad_thum)
4.3 Ranat Ek Lek
· Higher-sounding metallophone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranad_ek_lek)
4.4 Ranat thum lek
· Lower-sounding metallophone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranad_thum_lek)
4.5 Khong Wong Lek
· Higher-sounding metallophone (the term ‘gong circle’ is used in Wikipedia) consisting of a circular frame that supports a series of potted gongs arranged in a scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khong_wong_lek)
4.6 Khong Wong Yai
· Lower-sounding metallaphone, similar in design to the Khong Wong Lek. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khong_wong_yai)
4.7 Ching
4.8 Drums
5. Angklung ensemble
· An instrument made of bamboo; sound is produced when the instrument is rattled and the hollow, moveable bamboo tubes strike against the frame of the instrument. Originated from Java, Indonesia; adapted by the Thais. Each angklung can only produce one pitch, hence an ensemble is made up of many angklungs of different pitches. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angklung) ¶ 3/13/2009 01:38:00 am 0 comments
From YouTube: 'The Northern Lights are one of nature's most spectacular visual phenomena, and in this time lapse video they provide a breathtaking display of light, shape, and color over the course of a single night in Norway.'
Read more about time-lapse photography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-lapse
From Wikipedia (see the link below):
‘Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber (English: Lick me in the ass fine well and clean) is a canon for three voices in B-flat major, K.233/382d, long thought to have been composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during 1782 in Vienna.’
Original German:
Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber
Leck mire den A… recht schon,
fein sauber lecke ihn,
fein sauber lecke, leck mire den A…
Das ist ein fettigs Begehren,
nur gut mit Butter geschmiert,
den das Lecken der Braten mein tagliches Thun.
Drei lecken mehr als Zweie,
nur her, machet die Prob'
und leckt, leckt, leckt.
Jeder leckt sein A… fur sich.
English translation:
Lick me in the ass fine well and clean
Lick my ass nicely,
lick it nice and clean,
nice and clean, lick my ass.
That's a greasy desire,
nicely buttered,
like the licking of roast meat, my daily activity.
Three will lick more than two,
come on, just try it,
and lick, lick, lick.
Everybody lick his own ass himself.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leck_mir_den_Arsch_fein_recht_sch%C3%B6n_sauber
