Comments on: BLACK MIRROR

By: w&w

w&w — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:38:17 +0000

No, Siebe, it wasn’t me.

And I totally second the Indonesian Guitars volume. Great stuff. Very pretty, interesting, etc.

By: siebe

siebe — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:36:25 +0000

Hey waxk0, is that you Wayne? Yes, I can rip the cd if you like. I also have the 1990 JAIPONGAN JAVA cd if you’re interested. Gimme a note via siebe dot thissen @ planet dot nl.

By: Sebcat

Sebcat — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:20:21 +0000

jace, have you ever gotten your ears on the Indonesian Guitars volume of the Smithsonian Folkways? It’s a pure gem and I think you’ll like it.

By: waxk0

waxk0 — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:28:40 +0000

Hello Siebe, i’m looking for that fabulous album for more than a year. Have you a rip of it ?

By: steev

steev — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:45:51 +0000

pero ¿que era la palabra magica?

By: siebe

siebe — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:51:50 +0000

That’s gorgeous. Thanks. I bought some wonderful cd’s during my last trip to Jakarta. You might like this as well:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/10378243e73b71ea/

A beautiful song (ánd great music) by Euis Komariah & Yus Wiradiredja with the Jugala Orchestra & Pateraman Dasentra Group: Campaka Kambar (from: The Sound Of Sunda, Ace Records 1989/1990).

The song is about “Twin Flowers”: She turns her sarong into a hammock and swings and dreams. She swings in the sky; she dreams of twin white flowers. It’s beautiful but you can’t have everything. The flowers are destoyed. What a pity”.

By: james gyre

james gyre — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:24:57 +0000

i was recently reminded how awesome jorge luis borges’s writing is. labyrinths is an absolute masterpiece. and they are short stories, so easy to digest. original.

on the political tip (not precisely literature), i was recommended (and loved) eduardo galleano’s “upside down” by the great chicano artist john jota leaños.

also everyone including my basque/nicuraguan grandmother seems to like gabriel garcia marquez.

By: Willie

Willie — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:32:02 +0000

that track is incredibly beautiful.

By: Caro

Caro — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:31:09 +0000

I assume the recs are for things to pick up in situ. Other recs above all get my seal of approval.

My friend Marcelo has turned me on to the Colombian bohemian Andres Caicedo. Apparently Chilean author Alberto Fuguet (a favorite of mine) is turning out an auto/biography of him, basically posthumously edited writings. If you see a copy of Caicedo’s novel Que Viva la Musica, all about salsa, buy two and I’ll reimburse you for one.

http://www.sanchospanza.com/2008/03/brief-life-and-long-increasingly.html

Jorge Franco from Colombia is pretty cool too. (Are you going anywhere near Colombia?). Have fun, very jealous!

By: thraiped

thraiped — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:38:37 +0000

I’m sort of obsessed with Cesar Aira, Argentinian, ridiculously prolific, starts from a premise and then writes forward, throwing up all these absurd obstacles and traps and pitfalls that he has to write himself out of, like some kind of perfromer trapped on stage who has to keep on improvising tricks and art out of nowhere and without knowing why, until for a second you glimpse a pattern in the chaos - and the whole theatre collapses.

Most of his stuff is short - I recommend Como me Hice Monja (translated as How I Became a Nun) as a place to start.