Crotchety Man is no fan of ritual and has never been impressed by bling. The preparations for the coronation of King Charles III leave him cold. For the next couple of weeks, he will be ignoring the crowns and the bunting going up in the towns and the villages around here. And, when it's all…Read more Ritual Diamonds
world
Afrikan Culture
Shabaka Hutchings is a paradox. A paradox, that is, in the sense of "a person, thing or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature" (dictionary.com). He was born and lives in the U.K.'s capital city, but he has inherited dark skin and African features from his Barbadian parents. His last name is fairly common in this…Read more Afrikan Culture
Panopticom
One of the artworks in the Panopticon Sculpture Trail, Lancashire, UK Panopticom? Is that a word? And, if it is, what could it mean? Well, 'pan', as a prefix, is the Greek for 'all'. 'Optic' is also Greek, and it refers to the eye. So, perhaps, a panopticom is a device that sees everything. But,…Read more Panopticom
Changing Earth
It can't have escaped your notice that the Earth is changing. The greenhouse gases that we are pumping into our atmosphere are warming the planet, and nowhere is that effect more striking than at the poles. If you want to bring peoples' attention to the problem, you mount an expedition to the polar regions, where…Read more Changing Earth
Monsieur MÂLÂ
Spotify delivered an early Christmas present this week. Down at number 28 in my Release Radar playlist, there was a track called Sahara Spring by Monsieur MÂLÂ. In these cold, damp, early winter days, there could hardly be anything more incongruous than a Sahara Spring, but the music warms the heart like a glass of…Read more Monsieur MÂLÂ
Where Is Home (Hae Ke Kae)
Crotchety Man watched Later ... with Jools Holland on the TV the other night. There was the usual mix of styles, centred around pop singer/songwriter and pop/rock bands. But one artist stood out. A very black countenance in a sea of Anglo-Saxon faces. A classical cellist among massed electronic instruments. Traditional African dress among conventional…Read more Where Is Home (Hae Ke Kae)
Longing for the Dawn
As autumn rolls in slowly in these parts of the Northern Hemisphere, our thoughts begin to turn to the coming winter. It could be a hard one. The news outlets are warning us of possible surges in the Covid and flu infection rates, and a shortage of natural gas may lead to power cuts in…Read more Longing for the Dawn
Bloom
Roses bloom, algae may bloom, and musicians bloom sometimes, too. Yazz Ahmed, trumpeter and flügelhorn player, has been blooming since 2011, when she released her debut album, Finding My Way Home. This Track of the Week is from her second album release, La Saboteuse (2017). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHDayLZdPIY The general style of Yazz Ahmed's work is ambient…Read more Bloom
Tünel
Tünel is the Turkish word for "tunnel". The one pictured here carries water 120 kilometres across Finland from Lake Päijänne to a reservoir at Vantaa on the outskirts of Helsinki. (The photo was taken when it was undergoing refurbishment.) It seems unlikely, though, that Naci Oğuz had this particular rock channel in mind when he…Read more Tünel
Monument
The al-Shaheed Monument, Baghdad Credit goes to my Spotify-curated Release Radar playlist for this week's topic. Item 28 in the list was a track by Portico Quartet called On the Light. It comes from Monument, the second album released this year by the band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Eos6c-MPA Live at the Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, Camden, London. 3 February…Read more Monument
Crotchety Man 