Currently listening to...

..."Milking The Cow" by Scottish group Mouth Music, fronted by Martin Swan. I wrote about this song here on Oh, By The Way ten years ago and the song just popped up on my playlist. I am still so hypnotized by it and it certainly deserves a re-post.

"Milking The Cow" is a stunning anthropological study, from Mouth Music's second release, 1993's "Mo-Di" (a phonetic spelling of the French word "maudit" which means "cursed"). It is one of the most profound pop songs ever recorded; it reminds me a lot of Peter Gabriel's work on "Security" in which he examined the lives of African tribesmen through the lens of Carl Jung. Here, Mouth Music, in a phenomenal blend of Scottish and African sounds, sing about the most fundamental relationship: that of human being to animal and earth. Indigenous people have always drawn their mythology and cosmology from the environment around them and this is a beautiful, breathtaking expression of that. If a tribe comes from the jungle, they will have a pantheon of plant-based gods and jungle animal spirits in their cosmology. If a people come from an island or a seaside area, you can bet that their cosmology will include the sea, as well as sea creatures, as a spiritual force. If a tribe comes from an arid savannah with not much vegetation and only a handful of animals, then their cosmology centers on what sustains them and gives them life, much like the relationship between the Plains Indians of the United States and the buffalo. Take a listen to this powerful, moving song that abandons itself to the idea of the exhilarating, painful cycle of life, including death in all of its mess:

Spirit moving, living, breathing
Healing motion, feeling devotion

Under the desert sun
Two hearts beat as one
Rhythm of the living drum
Milking the cow
Pray for the rain to come
Blessings from the one
Milking the cow

Behold the shifting sand
The riches of our land
Life flows through our hands
Milking the cow
Beneath the darkened sky
Hear the spirit cry

To feed the cow is to praise the hand of God that moves before us
To milk the cow is to worship the spirit that breathes within us
To kill the cow is to accept the darkness deep within us
To spurn the cow is to spurn the gift of God that gives us life
Milk the cow and feel the rhythm that beats inside us
Touch the cow and feel the spirit that moves within us
Kill the cow and feel the sorrow that lies before us
In blood we are born, blood of the cow redeems us

Spirit moving, living, breathing
Healing motion, feeling devotion
Spirit moving, living, breathing
Healing motion, feeling devotion
Milking the cow

http://www.mouthmusic.co.uk/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Ahluwalia

Day two of London Fashion Week, and I am drawn to the marvelous African geometric prints and colors at the Spring Summer 2023 Ahluwalia show. I have been increasingly attracted to African prints recently...they are just mesmerizing.

Ahluwalia is a relatively new brand and the website says:

"Multi-award winning label Ahluwalia was launched in 2018 by Priya Ahluwalia.

Ahluwalia represents the intersection between near and far, past and present.

The label combines elements from the designer's dual Indian-Nigerian heritage and London roots. It explores the potential of vintage and surplus clothing by giving existing material a new life through various textile and patchwork techniques. This means that many Ahluwalia pieces are one of a kind.

Inspired by art, music and literature, much of the work created by Ahluwalia go beyond her collections and include collaborative campaigns, books and films."

https://ahluwalia.world/

BEAUTY: Photography--Omar Victor Diop

Fine art photographer Omar Victor Diop created his Allegoria series to invite us to think critically about environmental justice, anthropocentricism, and our collective and individual responsibilities in securing more viable, liveable futures. His self portraits show him with species that are extinct or will certainly be in the next few decades, as well as referencing landscapes (and food) that are in peril. The artist's website says his work's "dramatic renditions borrow openly from different genres that include classical painting, universal religious iconography, and mid-century West African photographic studio portraiture, as well as Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock compositions from the Edo period—'pictures of the floating world.'"

https://www.omarvictor.com/

BEAUTY: Photography AND Hair--Luke Nugent and Lisa Farrall

After seeing "Black Panther," I was smitten with the absolutely gorgeous costume designs and the glorious women warriors of Wakanda. So I was thrilled when I found English photographer Luke Nugent...he photographs the amazing, jaw-dropping work of Award Winning Hair Session Stylist Lisa Farrall who shares the same powerful approach to African style and image as the women--and men--of Wakanda. Just feast your eyes on the gorgeous women and their GORGEOUS hair below!

https://www.lisafarrall.com/
http://lukenugent.co.uk/

BEAUTY: Sculpture--Simone Leigh

Simone Leigh's Artist Statement:

"Simone Leigh's practice is an object-based on-going exploration of black female subjectivity. She creates sculpture, videos and installations informed by her interest in African art, ethnographic research, feminism and performance."

I love how these sculptural ceramic busts look like African fetishes carved from wood.

http://www.simoneleigh.com/

BEAUTY: Photography--Ingrid Baars

The fine art photography of Ingrid Baars'  l'Afrique series focuses on the iconic beauty of images of women from ancient Africa. I love how Baars takes photographs of women but morphs them into carved African heads and masks, the kind that inspired Cubist artists in the early twentieth century, or mystical goddesses. Some remind me of the marvelous work that Jean-Paul Goude was doing with Grace Jones in the 80s.

http://ingridbaars.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Wales Bonner

I confess that Wales Bonner, the eponymous label of Grace Wales Bonner, was not on my radar until this collection. But cut me some slack: this is technically her first show ever after a period at talent incubators Fashion East and MAN. She may be only 25 but she has already won a British Fashion Award as an emerging talent, and she is now nominated for the 2016 LVMH Prize. An auspicious start to a career that seems, right out of the gate if we can judge from this collection, daring and rich.

Taking her cue from the 1930 crowning of Haile Selassie as emperor of Ethiopia, the look is a mash-up of official, ceremonial, military--and even religious--silhouettes from Europe with touches of pan-African details. Capes, tail coats, and frock coats are embellished with hints of the tri-colored Ethiopian flag (the traditional "Rasta" colors), and cowrie shells, that ubiquitous object used in Africa as decoration on clothing, as beads, and as divination tools. On the surface, the monochrome palette might coat the collection with an air of simplicity, but the technical execution of the garments and the inspiration is anything but.

http://www.walesbonner.net/