MAALI

We Face Forward Music From West Africa

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

We Face Forward: Music from West Africa
Continuing from yesterday's post are the remaining Acts that are to perform as part of the We Face forward music programme in Manchester.

Femi Kuti & The Positive Force
Emerging from the giant shadow that his father Fela Kuti cast, Femi is the true heir to the Afrobeat crown, his music reaching across the globe with a powerful and distinctive voice.
Wed 4th July 2012 – Doors open: 7.30pm

Femi Kuti and The Positive Force

Listen to Beng Beng Beng: Femi Kuti Below

Diabel Cissokho + Carlou D
Featuring the cream of West African artists, with this very special live Senegalese double bill. Featuring Diabel Cissokho, who mixes traditional rhythms with upbeat African dance, plus Carlou D and his 7 piece band - the outspoken voice from Senegal's hip hop generation.
Fri 3rd August 2012 – Doors open: 7pm

Diabel Cissokho + Carlou D

Carlou D

Jaliba Kuyateh and The Kumareh Band
Jaliba Kuyateh is widely regarded as Gambia's greatest modern master of the Kora - one of Africa's most beautiful and complex instruments
Fri 29th June 2012 – Doors open: 7pm

Jaliba Kuyateh and The Kumareh Band

Mamane Barka and Etran Finatawa
Featuring Mamane Barka, Oumarou Adamou, Alhousseini Anivolla and Bammo Agonla from Etran Finatawa, multi-media concert The Endless Journey brings together four musicians from two of Niger’s leading internationally known music groups, Mamane Barka and Etran Finatawa.

The Endless Journey is a live music show, a documentary film and a photographic exhibition. This is the story of these acclaimed musicians from Niger, West Africa, who travelled the world promoting their nomadic culture and desert blues music only to realise that whilst they were away their children were turning their back’s on their cultural heritage.
Tue 3rd July 2012 – Royal Northern College of Music - Doors open: 7pm

Mamane Barka and Etran Finatawa

Mamane Barka + Etran Finatawa - The Endless Journey

To know more about events, prices and dates go to http://www.wefaceforward.org/music

*Culled from wefaceforward.org website.

xx.L

Monday, 25 June 2012

We Face Forward: Art from West Africa 2 June-16 September. I mentioned this on a previous post, but only put pictures of Malick Sidibe's work. Planning to spend a full day in Manchester going to the Museum and then to the Ritz to see Femi Kuti and the Positive Force as part of the We face Forward events.

View some of the works from the series below:

Aboubakar Fofana: was born and raised in Mali and went on to study and train in France and Japan.
Obsession, 2012 is a new work made especially for We Face Forward. Suspended from the ceiling in Manchester Art Gallery’s airy glass atrium, numerous transparent linen panels hang, gently moving in the air.

Aboubakar Fofana

Obsession 2012

Abdoulaye Konaté : was born in 1953 in DIré Mali. He now lives and works in Bamako, Mali. He studied painting in Bamako and then in Havana, Cuba for seven years.
His practices include painting and installations work.Pouvoir et Religion 2011 (Power and Religion) is a 7m long textile work which explores the position of Christianity and Islam within political and cultural life. The symbols of religion and government stand out graphically against the grey background which is covered with white spots.

Abdoulaye Konaté

Pouvoir et Religion 2011 (Power and Religion)

Amarachi Okafor: Was born in Nigeria in 1977 where she still lives and works. Her practice is sculptural.

She trained in Nigeria where she obtained a BA in Painting and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Nigeria in 2002 and 2007 respectively. She is currently doing an MA in Curating at the University College Falmouth, Cornwall, UK.

Inspired by everyday things which we often overlook like plastic bags, letters or rubbish bags, she carefully selects materials not only for their texture but also for their socio-economic context and connotations of use. Her work engages with diverse issues including human relationships, culture, religion, history, gender and sexuality. Okafor uses sewing to create her artworks not only due to an interest in fashion, and referencing women in her local community, but also as a cathartic process of mending broken material.

The Shape of Hanging Skin 2009, a curtain made from the discarded scraps of synthetic leather from a shoe factory Dale Sko, in Norway, is a work which speaks to both individuals and wider society.

Amarachi Okafor

The Shape of Hanging Skin 2009

El Anatsui :Trained as a sculptor at the College of Art, University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, before starting to teach at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1975.
Anatsui’s hanging sculptures of exquisite colour and delicacy, such as In the World But Don’t Know the World, are made with aluminium wrappings and bottle-caps. Anatsui resists the description of his works in terms of ‘recycling’, he is instead interested in the metamorphosis that materials undergo; metal becoming a fluid and fragile textile, and discarded waste transformed into a beautiful and precious work of art.

El Anatsui

In the World But Don’t Know the World 2009

To view more go to http://www.wefaceforward.org/venues/manchester-art-gallery

*Culled from the Manchester Art Gallery page.

xx.L

Saturday, 23 June 2012

Summer is here, so all the shows have slowly come to an end- season finale that is... apart from the ones which have permanently ended like House, Desperate Housewives amongst others. Will miss the ladies of Wisteria lane. Moving on, Shonda Rymes why oh why *Spoiler alert did Lexie have to die on Greys Anatomy. I balled my eyes out, it was too sad. There was no shock value for the season finale of Private Practice, another great show by Shonda Rymes. Then Gossip girl I watch it just because... Blair and Dan's romance was too ewww to watch, yay for Blair and Chuck... and Bart Alive!! Okay moving on...

For comic relief Modern Family, can't even pick my favourite because they are all sooo funny. Then I started to watch Surburgatory, my favourite character is Ryan, he is just so clueless its unbelievable. I'm still trying to get my head round Jeremy Sisto as the dad because I keep picturing him as Billy, Rachel Griffiths (Brothers and Sisters) Brenda's weird brother on Six Feet Under- a show that no one I knew watched, but was such a brilliant, brilliant show just like the next brilliant show I'm going to dedicate this next section to.... Drum roll...

Mad Men!
*Phew* Mad Men was back for another season and it lived up to its expectations. This season was a whole lot more spectacular than previous seasons so I guess it was worth the wait. Only other thing though, was you had to keep trying to remember the previous episodes from former seasons, because a lot of it was tied in somehow with this season.

I was glad mad men came back to our screens again because it ticked all the boxes (for me) of what a great TV drama should be. Also just out of the box calculated drama that makes you really think and if you blink too much, stood the chance of missing details that were so neatly/intricately written into the whole fabric of the show.

So,Thank you Matthew Weiner and the rest of the writers for creating such a show as this. Can't wait for next season....

Can't write about mad Men without putting pictures of the fabulous 60's fashion *wink*wink
Pictures below

Cynthia Cosgrove, Megan Draper, Trudy Campbell

Psychedelic dress

Megan's "Zou Bisou Bisou" moment lol

Lovely Coral evening gown

Also I'm so glad I Just discovered Monarch of the Glen, slowly going through it, I'm sure it will tide me over till the summer ends....

xx.L

Saturday, 16 June 2012

Remember Floetry! Marsha Ambrosius an English singer/songwriter is A former member of the English Soul/R&B duo Floetry...

Late Nights and Early Mornings- Marsha Ambrosius

Get protected!

Listen to Say Yes- Floetry

Have a lovely weekend!

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

I am not very sure about how I feel about this photographer. His work is very intriguing... The particular shoot that really caught my attention was the "Ethnic" series which is a collaboration between Denis and the painter and sculptor David Nal-Vad (check out his work..seriously). It leans somewhat on the controversial and blasphemous side. I am still trying to decide if I consider this series ethically right or wrong. I am not sure if it would be right for me to like it or not. Either ways I am hooked. I keep looking at the pictures in awe because aside all probable controversial meanings and the ideas that are depicted, this work or art is definitely worthy of being called ART.

I wrote a post before about the depreciation of talent in the Arts area. To view Click Here. Denis Rouvre and David Nal-Vad are living proof of the existence of real talent in the world today and the Ethnics Series has inspired me to try to get back to my drawing board (It is a good thing my blackberry is acting up....so I can be more productive).

Denis Rouvre, 1967, France, is a portrait photographer with a large and impressive portfolio. He has photographed an extensive amount of internationally known celebrities throughout the years, but works on many other series, personal and editorial. These numerous series have been exhibited extensively throughout the world. He has also released several books and monographs. The series Senegalese Wrestling won the second prize in the Sports features stories at World Press Photo in 2010. View some pictures from the Ethnic Series, the Senegalese Wrestling and some of David Nal-Vads work. To view more of Denis Rouvre's work Click Here.

Ethnic Series

David Nal-Vad

he definitely has a thing for the cross...

Senegalese Wrestling

xx.A

Monday, 11 June 2012

“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.” Shakespeare

and another viewpoint of the same quote

“It is sins of omission, not commission, that are most fruitful of harm; not the evil that men do, but the good they did not do, that lives after them.”

In lieu of recent happenings in Nigeria, I began to ponder about life.. about humanity...

... and here goes my little musings!

“Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.” is a quote I heard from a rerun of an episode of Law and Order and it got me thinking. When do we start to become cynics in life, when do we decide that "being good" is not just good enough.We want to help but we are scared. We want to love but we hold back. We want to give but we just can not, because good intentions are often misconstrued.

Life as we know it today, is about every man for himself and to each his own, fend for yourself, toughen up or die. Are we our brothers keepers? Why are we so scared of helping, of giving, of humanity itself. The Hate... Do we help at the expense of getting hurt. When do we choose to be heroes and ~~damn~~ the consequences. Does it always end in tragedy or do we survive???

One of my favorite movies is, Amelie a Parisian film set in Montmartre, a magical whimsical romantic comedy directed by Jeun-Pier Jeunet in which Amelie played by Audrey Tautou, is a shy waitress, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation. Amelie's accidental find of a lost box inspires her to do good. She invents little cutesy ways to help others, through matchmaking, encouragement and in an event walked a blind man to the train station while describing all the little details on the street. At the end Amelie discovers love...

The moral of this... do good anyway, for it does not always end in tragedy.

I like this quote below

The Final Analysis (Author Unknown)
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see in the final analysis, it is between you and God. It is never between you and those people anyway.

xx.L

Friday, 8 June 2012

Les Nubians, remember them! Makeda anyone? Where have they been? Anyway enjoy the Afrodance, video directed by Andrew Dosunmu. Have a lovely weekend...

Les Nubians- Afrodance

Thursday, 7 June 2012

We are planning a holiday, so I've been lusting over some Tribal/Aztec print wears on-line and these are a few I Heart....

Tribal Prints on the Highstreet