It seems I am bypassing Lent entirely, as I have not stopped playing Carnival songs. Today, though, I visited the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, where I am accompanying a prisoner on death row for as long as it takes. I have been doing this since 1992 and that is twenty years. In prison we … More Angola Road
This is part of a documentary which won awards in 2001 and is available from Doorknob Films. Axé.
Chorus E la ba! E la ba! Hey over there! Hey over there! E la ba, chèri! Hey over there, dear lady! Komon sa va? How’s it goin’? 1 Mo chè kouzen, mo chè kouzin, My dear cousin (male), my dear cousin (female), mo lenme la kizin! I love good cooking! Mo manje plen, mo … More EH LA-BAS
Axé.
Now we have an English approximation of one of this weblog’s main songs. All of our other main songs, were chosen because they fit our ostensible themes, but I had not known why “Voi che sapete” was one of our main songs until I got this question from a student today: “How are you able … More “Voi che sapete” in English
Orson Welles filmed an ambitious film of Brazil, much of which has been lost. This is a piece of it, on raft fishermen in the north, set to music by the immortal Dorival Caymmi. I have always been captivated by the look of these jangadas, with their sails. Axé.
In the brave new world we inhabit I do not allow graduate students to simply make their research presentation toward the end of the term. If I did, I would get the quality of presentation I now call a “first presentation.” Some comments on one were like this: Professor Zero: …although the “negative” poem is … More On analytical powers
Not entirely over Mardi Gras I am in a Calypsonian phase, and I have learned about an apparent subgenre – Kaiso – and this is it. Look at all these performers laughing and singing tongue in cheek lyrics. These rooms and this music have a New Orleans feel and I am right at home. Axé.
A nice letter to the Republicans. TU ME QUIERES alba, Me quieres de espumas, Me quieres de nácar. Que sea azucena Sobre todas, casta. De perfume tenue. Corola cerrada Ni un rayo de luna Filtrado me haya. Ni una margarita Se diga mi hermana. Tú me quieres nívea, Tú me quieres blanca, Tú me quieres … More Alfonsina Storni
Dorival Caymmi was born in Salvador in 1914, and early on worked as a journalist. It would be amazing to have seen the city then. His “O que é que a baiana tem?”, in the film Banana da Terra (1939), made him and Carmen Miranda famous. Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 