sounds of India
Yesterday he sang at the University of Chicago (Logan Center), accompanied by violin, drums (mridangam), and drone instrument (tamboura). He performed for over two hours without intermission, singing not a word of English. Sailing these unfamiliar seas was, for me, heavenly.
TM Krishna (vocals) featuring Vikku Vinayakram (ghatam), Raga Begada, live, India (Mumbai), 2018
back to church
“My Soul Is a Witness for My Lord,” Mt. Ramah Primitive Baptist Association, Thomaston, Ga., 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
A string of raindrops
dangling
from an iron bar reveals
opportunities for
clarity.***
As if you could escape
by followingthe path you carved
thereto its prescribed end.
***
As if, after all,
the thing that comes to mind
squared times inertiaequaled the “real.”
—Rae Armantrout (1947-), from “Worth While,” “Inscription,” “Equals” (Versed [2009])
Last night, at the University of Chicago (Mandel Hall), they opened with this piece, which was followed by Shostakovich (String Quartet No. 4 in D Major), Brahms (String Quartet in A Minor) and, in an encore, Webern (Langsamer Satz). One-word review: spellbinding.
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), String Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, No. 4 (excerpt); Takács Quartet, live, New York, 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
more
Otis Rush (vocals, guitar) with Little Brother Montgomery (piano), Jack Myers (bass), Fred Below (drums), live, Berlin, 1966
“All Your Love (I Miss Loving)”
***
“Sweet Little Angel”
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lagniappe
reading table
The silence will be sudden then last.
—Deborah Landau, from “The Silence Will Be Sudden Then Last” (Poetry, 10/18)
this weekend in Chicago
They’re also playing at the University of Chicago—tomorrow night.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), String Quartet in F major (1903), 1st Mvt.
Takács Quartet, live, New York, 2017
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
this weekend in Chicago
Saturday night they’re playing at the University of Chicago.
Thomas Meadowcroft (1972-), Walkman Antiquarian (2013); Yarn/Wire, live, New York, 2013
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Six Cello Suites (excerpts); Yo-Yo Ma, live, Washington, D.C., 8/17/18
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lagniappe
random sights
other evening, Chicago (riding the Green Line)
passings
Otis Rush, guitarist, singer, April 29, 1935-September 29, 2018
Today, remembering him, we revisit a couple of posts.
1/21/10
Otis Rush (with Fred Below [drums], et al.), “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” live, Germany, 1966
I was staying with my sister and messing around with the guitar every day for my own amusement. Then she took me around and introduced me to Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, and the first time I saw that onstage, it inspired me to play. I thought that was the world.
—Otis Rush
*****
9/15/18
basement jukebox
Otis Rush (1934-)
“All Your Love (I Miss Loving),” 1958
***
“I Can’t Quit You Baby,” 1956
***
“Double Trouble,” 1958
back to church
Who needs instruments?
“Look Where He Brought Me From,” Mt. Carmel Primitive Baptist Church, Ideal, Ga., Easter Sunday, 2011
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lagniappe
random sights
July 22, 2018, Monhegan Island, Maine
My kind of “genius.”
Vijay Gupta, violinist, educator, social-justice advocate, 2018 MacArthur Fellow, talking and playing
***
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Filled with music, we’re free of all else.
