Sound Of Sirens

These song-lyrics are quite contemporary in my book, although they tell a story from 1649. They tell you about the beginnings of privatization, they tell you ‘what went wrong’ and make you think about what today is being considered normal: ‘buying and selling the earth for private gain’. They also tell you about a different way, about resistence and community.

The World Turned Upside Down
Lyrics and Music originally by Leon Rosselson
(Billy Bragg performing ‘The World Turned Upside Down’)

In sixteen forty nine, to St George’s Hill
a ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the peoples’ will
they defied the Landlords, they defied the laws
they were the dispossessed, reclaiming what was theirs

“We come in peace” they said, to dig and sow
we come to work the lands in common and to make the wastegrounds grow
this earth divided, we will make whole
so it will be a common treasury for all

The sin of property, we do disdain
no man has any right to buy and sell the earth for private gain
by theft and murder, they took the land
now everywhere the walls spring up at their command

They make the laws, to chain us well
the clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us into hell
we will not worship, the god they serve
the god of greed who feeds the rich while poor man starve

We work, we eat together, we need no swords
we will not bow to the masters or pay rent to the lords
we are free men, though we are poor
you diggers all stand up for glory stand up now

From the men of property, the orders came
they sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out the Diggers’ claim
tear down their cottages, destroy their corn
they were dispersed, but still the vision lingers on

You poor take courage, you rich take care
this earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share
all things in common, all people one
we come in peace, the orders came to cut them down

Find more information on the original ‘Diggers’ and a group that named themselves after them in the late 60s in San Francisco.

And so for sunday we continue with some music. To be exact: with the liner notes from Bill Evans for Miles Davis’ ‘Kind of Blue’, Comunbia Records, 1959:

There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a special brush and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural or interrupted stroke will destroy the line or break through the parchment. Erasures or changes are impossible. These artists must practice a particular discipline, that of allowing the idea to express itself in communication with their hands in such a direct way that deliberation cannot interfere.
The resulting pictures lack the complex composition and textures of ordinary painting, but it is said that those who will see will find something captured that escapes explanation.
This conviction that direct deed is the most meaningful reflection, I believe, has prompted the evolution of the extremely severe and unique disciplines of the jazz or improvising musician. …

Get the link to Systems Thinking and the basis of understanding for sustainable living?…‘The universe self-organises and evoles. It creates diversity, not uniformity. It is dynamic, spending its time in transient behaviour…’ (check out ‘Dancing with Systems’, Donella Meadows)

So whenever you are spontaneously improvising, you might just be quite in tune with the whole thing in these moments… Please enjoy how Bird and Dizzy argue about that!

David Rothenberg is a writer, musician, and professor of environmental philosophy. This video was made by Gari Saarimaki while David was jamming live with white beluga whales in the White Sea, Karelia, Russia.

www.thousandmilesong.com
www.whybirdssing.com
www.whaleofatime.org

They are aware and that’s why we like them! Wonder when others dealing with masses of people search for alternatives…

This is from their website, entry of the 2nd of may (www.radiohead.com)

Radiohead take to the road on Monday (via a plane, unfortunately) to start in Florida with the first show of their 2008 tour.
Following on from their posting on the 19th December and the commissioned report (pdf on the site) on touring and CO2 generation, we’ve developed a new section of the site that gig goers can visit: the most gigantic flying mouth for some time.
Here you can try out our carbon calculator and compare different transport methods for getting to and from the venue. The list of tour dates will give you public transport information where available, and where not, there may be venue incentives for car sharing. There will also be weekly postings from Radiohead’s production team on how the band has addressed their own touring carbon footprint and made it easier for fans to reduce theirs. You can discuss our successes and more importantly, our failings at waste-central, post up more local travel information where we haven’t and make friends with other people going to your show.
Hopefully see you on the tour!

I also found a quote of an ‘Wired’ - interview with Thom Yorke:

“At the moment we make money principally from touring. Which is hard for me to reconcile because I don’t like all the energy consumption, the travel. It’s an ecological disaster, traveling and touring… We did one of those carbon footprint things recently where they assessed the last period of touring we did and tried to work out where the biggest problems were. And it was obviously everybody traveling to the shows…
“Especially in the US. Everybody drives. So how the hell are we going to address that? The idea is that we play in municipal places with some transport system alternative to cars. And minimizing flying equipment, shipping everything. We can’t be shipped though.”

They are in Berlin on July 8th. We’ll bike there, I guess…
Find the songs of their new album here.

I would argue that a sustainable community culture would need to integrate ingredients as subtle and diverse as the ones to be found in afro-cuban rumba.
Complexity of rhythm, interdependance, improvisation and spontaneity, creative expression…all of that stuff is being lived in performing an afro-cuban rumba.

And how did Ravi Shankar say: ‘The highest aim of music is to reveal the nature of the universe.’ Eso es!

Enjoy!

If you want more info on Afro-Cuban Rumba you’ll find it here (a beautiful blog).
More info on Afro-Cuban Culture you will find here (Afro Cuba Web).