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Category: ‘non-western’ musics, aka ‘world music’

Remembering Bheki Mseleku (1955-2008)

 

 

…or discovering him.

Arguably one of South Africa’s two pre-eminent improvising pianists, Bheki Mseleku was also an arresting saxophonist and vocalist.

His music deserves to be much more widely known.

Anyone who deeply admires Abdullah Ibrahim, McCoy Tyner and John Coltrane is highly likely to appreciate Bheki Mseleku.

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Perfect storm, at last (#82 in “a shining moment” series)

In 37 years of visits to Albany (on Western Australia’s south coast) we had failed to achieve a key ambition: to experience a major storm there.

A few days ago, nature finally obliged; the image shows Lowlands Beach at 3. 54 pm on Sunday 20 September 2020.

Joseph Tawadros provided this post’s suitably tempestuous music.

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Happiness, joy, contentment…(#73 In “a shining moment series”)

 

It is a great pleasure to encounter a non-gloating, happy person – one who appears comfortable in their own skin, who requires “no particular reason” to be happy, who radiates contentment, is fully alive, and not “on guard”.

Such encounters do not require a common language, nor any words to be spoken.

Typically, no commercial transaction is involved, no contest, no “big event”…

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Freshwater driftwood, riverbed rocks (#59 in “a shining moment” series)

 

On 9 June 2015 the relevant part of the glacier and snowmelt-fed riverbed was bone dry.

But when the river rages, it uproots mighty trees, carries them for a while, then dumps them

Then, over many years, the consistently shifting, ever-swelling/shrinking river transforms their “skeletons”.

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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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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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