tag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:/blogs/delights-sep-2012?p=2Delights Sep 20122022-05-24T13:36:01-04:00pendletonanderson.comfalsetag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217682012-09-29T20:00:00-04:002022-04-14T15:14:05-04:00New beginnings<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/ef04fb2136060a8fa2b2524a55125cb659dbdc8e/original/altamont-in-the-trumpet.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzIweDIyNyJd.png" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="Altamont in The Trumpet" height="227" width="320" />As a bookend for <em><a href="http://www.pendletonanderson.com/delights_sep_2012/before_the_beginning/">Before the Beginning</a>'</em>s look at the Bay Psalm Book, here's <em><a href="http://singthetrumpet.com/">The Trumpet</a>, </em>which publishes new compositions in the shape-note tradition, beautifully typeset by James Gingerich, three times a year. The image is of my own song, <em>Altamont,</em> published in <a href="http://entish.org/sh/trumpet/1-3-trumpet-2011-1-3.pdf">Volume 1, Issue 3</a>.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217672012-09-28T20:00:00-04:002022-05-21T12:43:17-04:00So full of a number of things<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/8fe0564c18a2c43923382b5e124763a4d4ad0db0/original/186px-durer-melancholia-i.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTg2eDI0MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="Durer Melancholia at Wikipedia" height="240" width="186" /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/D%C3%BCrer_Melancholia_I.jpg/793px-D%C3%BCrer_Melancholia_I.jpg">Dürer's Melancholia at Wikipedia</a>. The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings—and you know how happy kings are.</p>
<p>Notice how low the sun is in the sky. Just now I'm hating the fall equinox, and poor Dürer had to put up with the latitudes of northern Europe!</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217662012-09-27T20:00:00-04:002022-05-24T13:36:01-04:00Mola moon landing<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/a7fee9562ae7819008584a99f6bc080147741bc1/original/pmola-moon-landing.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTI1eDE1OSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="The Textile Museum Mola Moon Landing" height="159" width="125" />At the web site of <a href="http://www.textilemuseum.org/">The Textile Museum</a> you can see images of both the permanent collection and current shows. Just now they have some stunning Turkish textiles. The image here is from the permanent collection, an applique panel showing the moon landing, made in the San Blas Islands off Panama.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217652012-09-26T20:00:00-04:002022-05-16T08:44:40-04:00Untouchable music<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/b874796a76ed7f1300ff7523afeabd2a10d3440c/original/zambia-roadside.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjMweDIzMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="CD cover Zambia Roadside" height="230" width="230" /><a href="http://www.swp-records.com/Products/Catalogue%20list/19/__Zambia_Roadside__.html">SWP Records</a> issues recordings of "music that regular labels won't touch", including many beautiful field recordings of village music from many parts of Africa. At the link you can hear some delightful singing from Zambia, but there are many more pleasures at their site.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217642012-09-25T20:00:00-04:002022-04-14T15:17:10-04:00Jazzy quilts<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/233534a7171f0a1f0766247b8cd889604a04f723/original/egg-timer-quilt.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTIweDEyMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="African American egg timer quilt" height="120" width="120" /> My total ignorance of the African-American quilting traditions was shattered when I ran across an art book in a museum shop. At <a href="http://africanamericanquilts.net/Africanamericanquilts.net/Photos.html">Corrine Riley's website</a> you can see a slide show of these gorgeous designs.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217632012-09-24T20:00:00-04:002022-04-14T15:16:28-04:00Idler's delight<p>Be careful -- you might lose track of time -- when you visit <a href="http://www.futilitycloset.com/">Greg Ross's <em>Futility Closet,</em></a> where you can ponder questions, answers, and fascinating tales gathered from all over. For instance, you can discover that mathematicians have been unable to determine the size of the largest sofa you can get around a corner in a one-meter corridor:</p>
<p><a title="By Claudio Rocchini (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHammersley_sofa_animated.gif"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Hammersley_sofa_animated.gif" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Hammersley sofa animated" width="256" /></a></p>
<p>(Image from <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikimedia Commons</a> vie Greg Ross)</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217622012-09-23T20:00:00-04:002012-09-24T02:45:34-04:00The composer's instrument<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LNf06I07zKs" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>The best way to see and hear a clavichord is to know someone who owns one, but the second-best way is probably to use the internet. Here's John Irving demonstrating an instrument owned by Edinburgh University.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217612012-09-22T20:00:00-04:002022-04-18T09:08:58-04:00The wind sings a spooky song<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/30184260?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff" width="500"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/30184260">singing ringing tree | tonkin liu</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/tonkinliu">tonkin liu</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p>Here's a sculpture that sings in the wind, sometimes sounding close enough to human to be genuinely frightening.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217602012-09-21T20:00:00-04:002022-04-14T15:19:59-04:00Cold and lost<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/frx7CXyUVjw" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>Here's Louis Killen's <em>Lord Franklin,</em> as strong an evocation of loss as I ever heard.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217592012-09-20T20:00:00-04:002012-09-20T15:48:47-04:00Eye God see you<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/ce0508131367e6f94fd3ddc5125156c4e126a890/original/brazilian-sky-small.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDIzNyJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Brazilian sky" height="237" width="450" /></p>
<p>Ok, I am in thrall to Google maps.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217582012-09-19T20:00:00-04:002012-09-20T02:59:56-04:00Strange yet not strange<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/831495e4ce3dbed72d3c134d24b150a6b1a1c564/original/raghu-rai-bombay-beach.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjYweDE3MyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="Raghu Rai Bombay beach" height="173" width="260" /><a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2TYRYDDG7FRC&XXAPXX=">The photographs of Raghu Rai</a> show us an India of the familiar and the strange all mixed together.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217572012-09-18T20:00:00-04:002012-09-18T14:40:47-04:00Stitching the world together<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=50.084491,14.551475&spn=0.000411,0.000705&t=h&z=21&layer=c&cbll=50.084491,14.551348&panoid=eFg5OeokQw3AalttbRHLjQ&cbp=12,119.48,,2,-90&source=embed&output=svembed" width="425"></iframe><br><small><a style="color: #0000ff; text-align: left;" href="https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=50.084491,14.551475&spn=0.000411,0.000705&t=h&z=21&layer=c&cbll=50.084491,14.551348&panoid=eFg5OeokQw3AalttbRHLjQ&cbp=12,119.48,,2,-90&source=embed">View Larger Map</a></small></p>
<p>Sometimes the composite world of Google maps has an unearthly beauty. Here we are somewhere near Prague, if that matters.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217562012-09-17T20:00:00-04:002012-09-18T03:02:02-04:00The power of less<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f7s-wXZWT5o" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Hukuda Teruhisa and Kineya Shiho perform Japanese flute and vocal music from the 18th century to the present. </p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217552012-09-16T20:00:00-04:002012-09-17T04:27:55-04:00Pride goeth<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/b807c270127f8e62752f802bd21f203cdb350c04/original/pisanello-initial.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTQyeDIyMyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="Pisanello initial" height="223" width="142" /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisanello">Pisanello</a> is one of those artists whose name eludes me while his images stay vivid in my mind. This initial from a detached page at the <a href="http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=112304">Getty Museum</a> depicts the conversion of St. Paul.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217542012-09-15T20:00:00-04:002022-02-18T11:04:11-05:00A Persian garden of melody<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jMEjPKBvhzE" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>The Iranian musician Kayhan Kalhor in an extended improvisation on a traditional Persian fiddle. </p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217532012-09-14T20:00:00-04:002012-09-15T04:32:07-04:00Dancing to the ekonting by flashlight<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ndeI3O8iKpU" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>The ekonting player Ekona Diatta and dancers perform in honor of foreign visitors in an unlit community center at night in southern Senegal. The silhouetted dancers in the flashlight illumination have a dreamlike effect.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217522012-09-13T20:00:00-04:002021-06-23T06:11:21-04:00Making the difficult look easy<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AZCLPwFZGgY" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Bruce Molsky with his effortless-looking singing and fiddling.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217512012-09-12T20:00:00-04:002021-09-23T02:09:42-04:00Violin, sing the blues for me!<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/5b9540ecffdb28cf76db9f182a6c06a0e3fcea5c/original/mobilestrugglers.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzAweDE4MSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="The Mobile Strugglers" height="181" width="300" />At <a href="http://www.oldhatrecords.com/index.html">Old Hat Records</a> you can find, besides rare old recordings, excellent <a href="http://www.oldhatrecords.com/research.html">short illustrated historical essays</a>, including this one on<a href="http://www.oldhatrecords.com/ResearchAAViolin.html"> early recordings of African-American fiddlers</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>An excerpt:</p>
<p class="body1">In his book <span class="bodyitalic"><em>Twelve Years A Slave</em></span>, published in 1853, Northup wrote:</p>
<p class="body1">“Alas! had it not been for my beloved violin, I scarcely can conceive how I could have endured the long years of bondage. It introduced me to great houses- relieved me of many days’ labor in the field- supplied me with conveniences for my cabin- with pipes and tobacco, and extra pairs of shoes, and oftentimes led me away from the presence of a hard master, to witness scenes of jollity and mirth. It was my companion- the friend of my bosom triumphing loudly when I was joyful, and uttering its soft, melodious consolations when I was sad. It heralded my name around the country- made me friends, who, otherwise would not have noticed me- gave me an honored seat at the yearly feasts, and secured the loudest and heartiest welcome of them all at the Christmas dance.” </p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217502012-09-11T20:00:00-04:002012-09-12T00:51:45-04:00The life of a long-ago city<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/7670c0e6e21d922ab7255cb9ffecec9f925b6eb5/original/streetlife-cover-3.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjAweDI3MSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="Cover image of Street Life in London" height="271" width="200" />At the <a href="http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/">LSE Digital Library</a> you can see the <a href="http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/streetlife#images">entire content</a>s of <em>Street Life in London, </em>published in 1877 with<em> </em>photographs by John Thomson and essays by Adolph Smith. The photographs are very beautiful--it's moving to see these glimpses of the ordinary people who made London work. They are filtered through the photographer's sensibility, to be sure, but seem so much more direct than the amusing or decorative or political or moral figures they too often become in the 19th-century novels (which I love, but still...).</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217492012-09-10T20:00:00-04:002021-08-02T04:30:01-04:00Goodbye to a large soul in a small body<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0V3ajs7Boi4?list=SPFA66EAE1F7C5B574&hl=en_US" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://mountainkeeper.blogspot.com/2012/09/larry-gibson-1946-2012.html">Larry Gibson </a>is why I went back to Kayford Mountain the other day. He fought for the mountain to his last breath, Sunday, September 9th, 2012. It was an honor to know him and sing for him and be included in the Mountain Keepers.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217482012-09-08T20:00:00-04:002012-09-10T05:27:17-04:00Don't like the weather? Google will fix it.<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=-33.931806,151.163284&spn=0.001513,0.002256&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=-33.931966,151.163251&panoid=_oNRUf-PO8mu-7eoXtGhsA&cbp=12,47.93,,0,0&source=embed&output=svembed" width="425"></iframe><br><small><a style="color: #0000ff; text-align: left;" href="https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=-33.931806,151.163284&spn=0.001513,0.002256&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=-33.931966,151.163251&panoid=_oNRUf-PO8mu-7eoXtGhsA&cbp=12,47.93,,0,0&source=embed">View Larger Map</a></small></p>
<p>Google Maps tourism is getting kind of addictive. If you don't like the weather on Centre Rd in Sydney, Australia, just click on the navigation arrow a couple of times to move ahead and merge onto Airport Drive. Now that's more like it.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217472012-09-08T20:00:00-04:002012-09-09T02:40:57-04:00Mathemusician Vi Hart<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jG7vhMMXagQ" width="480"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://vihart.com/">Vi Hart</a> is one of the smartest, most creative human beings ever. I've embedded my current favorite of her videos here, but it's very hard to choose. Go tour her website!</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217462012-09-07T20:00:00-04:002012-09-08T02:16:03-04:00Medieval, Renaissance, or folk?<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kXSHYxSuvec" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Here's the entire (!) album <em>Tracce della tradizione orale in manoscritti italiani del XIV, XV sec.</em> with some lovely Corsican-style singing, among other pleasures.</p>
<p>Not as much fun as singing and playing the gurdy in the park would have been (we got rained out!), but a nice thing to stumble across over my second cup of coffee.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217452012-09-06T20:00:00-04:002012-09-07T01:50:52-04:00The pleasure garden<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/12b92a4e89c2769d159602eccbcce8028e352c52/original/chanticleer.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzAweDE5OSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="Chanticleer Pleasure Garden" height="199" width="300" />This photo and the others you can see on their site only begin to suggest the joy that is the <a href="http://www.chanticleergarden.org/garden_guide.html">Chanticleer Pleasure Garden</a>. If you see only one garden in the Philadelphia area, let this be it.</p>pendletonanderson.comtag:pendletonanderson.com,2005:Post/60217442012-09-05T20:00:00-04:002022-05-23T05:04:53-04:00Before the beginning<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/394957/12879764a5a6aad3cac07a1278ca2b7d4b562015/original/bay-psalm-book.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTgweDMyNyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="Bay Psalm Book title page" height="327" width="180" /><a href="http://archive.org/stream/psalmshymnss00bost#page/n368/mode/1up">Here are beautiful images of the </a><em><a href="http://archive.org/stream/psalmshymnss00bost#page/n368/mode/1up">Bay Psalm Book</a>, </em>in a Boston edition of 1742. The link is to a page from the collection of tunes bound in at the end. Here you can see Old Hundred (<em>Sacred Harp</em> page 49), arranged in three parts, Cantus (melody), Medius, and Bassus.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are no shape-notes, but above each part the syllable <em>fa, so, la, </em>or <em>mi </em>is indicated by its first letter. The Medius and Bassus are closely related to the <em>Sacred Harp</em>'s treble and bass parts respectively.</p>pendletonanderson.com