Posts tagged video
KRCW's Morning Becomes Eclectic
As the world (or at least a good 4 billion of us) turn our thoughts towards Beijing this weekend, I recalled this wonderful in-studio performance from 2005, by a musical ensemble led (but by no means dominated -- he's merely a virtuoso among virtuosos) by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. They weave together many of the deep, rich musical cultures along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route linking Europe with the Far East: Persian, Roma, Mongolian, Chinese, etc. It's amazing watching this group of diverse musicians interact with, really listen and respond to, one another.
Nate: 
video 
Ugandan hip-hop doc
Ugandan hip-hop doc
via Boing Boing
Trailer for "Diamonds in the Rough," a documentary about anti-war and -corruption themed hip-hop in Uganda. Looks fascinating and inspiring, though I'm just a tad troubled that, as with Wim Winders' wonderful "Buena Vista Social Club" film, the transcendent climax involves the musicians from the developing world making a triumphant and adulatory tour in the West.
Nate:
This song's been stuck in my head off and on for the past few months. My gut interpretation was that it was about the sacrifices involved in pursuing an artist's vocation. The Wikipedia page suggests it's more about frustration with judgmental hipsters, artistic posers, et al. So go figure. Nima Nourizadeh's oddly alluring/disturbing video treatment, meanwhile, is itself a (pretentious? sincere?) homage to a 1973 cult film, The Holy Mountain, itself a psychedelic reworking of material from St. John of the Cross's "Ascent of Mt. Carmel"
Nate:
Look, Think, Stay Alive, by Jimmy Gathu, 1993 :: via Africanhiphop.com
Nate:
The Colbert Report
Given the constraints of the interview -- super-short, and with against a man in character whose main goal is to be funny -- Wright holdes his own on Life After Heaven. It helps that both men are great wits and, in their way, know their stuff.
Nate: