Toumani Diabete @ Other Music

Other Music has been hosting some intimate live events with some pretty great musicians at their E 4th street shop. No Age, Vampire Weekend, and White Williams have all performed there during the past couple months... I just came across an April 18th performance by Mali's most baller kora player, Toumani Diabeté.

I will say nothing more than Mr. Diabete is the hombre. His music is absolutely beautiful. Check out his bio, read the blurb from Other Music, pump up the vol:

Diabate traces his musical heritage back 70 generations. His instrument, the kora, is more than 700 years old and is an integral part of his traditional culture, and this history is central to Diabate’s music and his life. He is both a musician and a teacher, a traditionalist as well as an innovator, and while many in our circle may have first taken notice of Diabate from his recent appearance on Bjork’s Volta album, or know his name from his Grammy-winning recordings with Ali Farka Toure, despite many high-profile and innovative collaborations, Diabate sees his primary mission as an educator and champion of traditional Malian culture. It was an honor to have him play for us at Other Music, and even more so to sit with Diabate and learn. The first film is centered around our interview with Diabate and is interspersed with highlights from his set. We’ve also included a second clip which features a full song performance. Both segments are truly stunning, we hope you enjoy. -Josh Madell

Posted by Pan Tostado on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 12:29 PM 0 comments

baby elephant

national geographic footage of a baby elephant monkeying around in the water. when i was in africa i saw a baby elephant that had been abandoned by its mother. a camp had taken it under its care but the elephant didn't know how to use its trunk yet and it kept spraying water all over the place. his trunk was thin and not strong yet. the elephant was the cutest baby mammal i have ever seen. even cuter than the seven-legged lamb, or baby pandas.

did you know that elephants wander thousands of miles throughout their life, but when they are ready to die they remember to go back to where their ancestor's died and wait to die there...pretty unbe.

Posted by Madame Lamb on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 7:17 AM 0 comments

battle at kruger

this video came up at dinner tonight and my dad hadn't seen it... the footage is quite spectacular.

taken at kruger national park in south africa. i've actually had the pleasure of both being there and witnessing ferociously awesome lion kills but this one takes the cake & eats it too. it was taken by amateur photographers ( i believe). i know a national geographic special about the making of the video was in the mix when the video first came out a year or two ago.

a synopsis, to entice you to watch the entire video because it is 8 minutes and 23 seconds. and trust me, there are a mere handful of people who i trust enough to actually watch all the youtube links they send me. there is nothing worse than a youtube upset...

so this pride of lions attacks a herd of water buffalo. one gets caught, the lions are attacking it, it falls into the nearby crocodile infested pond. crocs try to steal the water buffalo away from the pride of lions, then the herd of water buffalo come back to get their little buddy.

turns into a sort of epic natural spectacle, the type that makes you want to dig your teeth into the raw flesh of an animal. the type that i had anticipated 1000 BC to own (rotten tomatoes confirmed otherwise)

Posted by Madame Lamb on Friday, March 21, 2008 at 6:09 PM 0 comments