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Month: May 2020

Perspective (#56 in “a shining moment series)

 

Two of many definitions:

the appearance to the eye of objects in respect to their relative distance and positions

a way of thinking about something

Geographically, today’s and tomorrow’s posts involve the same location, on the same autumn 2019 day – just minutes apart, with camera pointing in much the same direction

Musically, they address the same song, as recorded in 1958 and 1956, respectively, for the same label.

Each, however, is remarkably unlike.

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“Ugly Beauty” (#55 in “a shining moment” series)

 

Ugly Beauty is a composition by Thelonious Monk.

Received notions, prejudices and phobias can prevent people from seeing or hearing clearly.

Less so posthumously, but very much so during his lifetime, many just did not “get” Monk’s music – for reasons not hugely dissimilar to those which can blind people to an arachnid’s or a reptile’s beauty.

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Daylight’s opening hour: upland (#54 in “a shining moment series)

 

Today’s song with words is a lovely celebration of daybreak on “the spine of England”.

Its image comes from “the roof of the world”, where even flat, “low” places are several thousand metres higher than England’s Pennine Hills.

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Daylight’s opening hour: lowland (#53 in “a shining moment” series)

 

Today’s photo (copyright Doug Spencer) was taken at 7.41 am on 05 February 2020 in the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan.

Its musical companion is a sublime morning raga, performed by one of the Indian subcontinent’s most eloquent instrumentalists.

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Fresh produce (#52 in “a shining moment” series)

 

The featured image (copyright Doug Spencer) shows produce being sold on the footpath in the “old city” quarter of Jaipur, Rajasthan, on 07 February 2020.

This post has two very different songs.

Neither is new, but each is fresh.

Both vividly remember the calls of actual produce sellers, but the second song is really about something that money cannot buy.

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Weeping, in the middle of the road (#50 in “a shining moment” series)

 

Literally speaking, the middle of the road is usually dangerous, and soulless.

Metaphorically speaking, “M.O.R” signifies music, visual art or literature that is bland, dull, pedestrian.

This post’s actual middle of a road is, however, “safe” only in the desirable sense, and its musical content is highly creative, very playful.

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High flyers (#49 in “a shining moment” series)

 

On this winter’s day in Rajasthan these demoiselle cranes had it easy.

The altitude was low, the weather mild, and they only had to fly for a few minutes – from a local dam to a nearby village, where food is provided expressly for them – then, back to the dam.

To reach this cranes’ paradise, however, they had to cross the world’s mightiest mountains…and as winter becomes spring they will have to fly over the Himalayas again.

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