Meanwhile Elsewhere in Slavland....

BBC tells the unfortunate tale of Gaitana, this year's Eurovision representative from Ukraine.

 The right-wing Freedom Party attacked the ground-breaking selection of a Gaitana - who is half Congolese - to represent Ukraine. "Millions of people who will be watching will see that Ukraine is represented by a person who does not belong to our race," said Yuri Syrotyuk, whose party is preparing to contest the parliamentary elections later this year. 


 "The vision of Ukraine as a country located somewhere in remote Africa will take root," he added. Oh, European right wing, you never fail me with the absurd soundbites.

Irena Yebuah-Tiran

Picture credit

Not to turn this page into a Who's Who of Black Slovenians, but hey I think it can't hurt to show that the few black Slovenians and black people in Slovenia have done and can do remarkable things.

This vision of loveliness before you this time around is the lovely Ghanaian-Slovenian opera singer Irena Yebuah-Tiran.

Just the other day, someone mentioned to me that there was an old Ghanaian guy in Dolenjska who had settled down there and (much like every one else in Dolenjska) had started his own vineyard. A quick Google search led me to this 2004 story (Slovenian language only) on Mr. Robert Yebuah and then onwards to his talented and lovely daughter Irena. According to her website, Ms. Yebuah-Tiran has been training her voice since middle school and gained her Masters degree in Music from the prestigious Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and has performed in both Ljubljana, Vienna, and beyond.

Check out her music on her Myspace page here and cheer her on!


Picture credit

As they say in Ghana, ayekoo! (well done!)

Hey Everybody It's....

A Gratuitous Picture Post!

last weekend we went on a walk around Šobec...














at some point we also went to kranjska gora and watched a bit of popular Slovenian rock band Siddhartha. They are really pretty awful.

a Ijubljana moment

A meditative little moment a few weeks back in the tunnel from Ljubljana's Tivoli Park. The city recently "cleaned up" the graffiti in the tunnel and I'd been complaining that it felt lifeless and dull, but this guy brought a nice warm energy to the place.

The city is coming up aces these days, really growing on me!

David Byrne!!

On Friday, I had the distinct pleasure of getting to see David Byrne live in concert here in Ljubljana.



There was a lot of back and forth about whether I was gonna go and it really came down to a few hours before the concert where I was racing out the door and to the ticket counter, but it was WELL worth it. David Byrne is one of my favorite artists and people (see his blog here) of all time and has been a big influence on me. It was an honor and a pleasure to see him in concert and I promise I will never hesitate on something like that again. My face was hurting from smiling and cheering. Bravo!

Here is some footage from Belgrade


and another from Vermont

Jose James

Late last night, The Captain and I had the distinct pleasure of going to see my favorite singer, Jose James, live at Klub CD (which is a kindy sucky space, but....) in Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana* . The show was magical from beginning to end. I tried to take photos but my hands were trembling from the good vibes. So, instead, I'll post this video of Jose from last year with the (also fantastic) Soil & Pimp Sessions from Japan.

Support this man. Buy his music. Go to his shows.







*"In my opinion, the greatest gift to Slovenian art would be -- and here comes my terrorist side --to place a giant bomb under Cankarjev dom, while all the cultural workers are gathered there." - Slavoj Žižek

Real Cool Slovenia

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No sooner do I get home then I discover that not only is my favorite singer Jose James coming to Ljubljana but so are Sinead O'Connor and David frikkin Byrne!

My dear lord. What is going on? I am not sure, but you won't catch me complaining. Just off to queue up and spend all my money on tickets!

Update: I also see that CocoRosie, Royskopp, Morcheeba, and Medeski, Martin & Wood are on their way. Welcome, welcome all!

Trkaj- Poker Automat

Happy Monday!

The band is Trkaj (Knock), the song is called Poker Avtomat (Poker Machine), and I'm officially riding for this song. Yes, that means I (*gasp!*) really and truly like it.



Ker življenje je kot poker avtomat
Hočes vendar ven dobit
Treba najprej noter dat
Reven al bogat
vse ta teb je brat
nikoli ne pusti stat
Daj življenje notr
kaj boš tu ta rezultat
*
(my poor translation)
Life is like a poker machine
If you wanna get something out
First you must put something in
Poor or rich,
Whatever you get
Never let it go
Put it into your life
See what you get

Far From Home

A song for my black expats and globetrotters....get up, stay up.

So Far From Home feat. Phonte - Jazzanova

I Shouldn't Laugh....

....but this busted Backstreet Boy/Jeremy Jordan (if you don't know who this is, I encourage you to click and compare) wannabe cracked me up today! Part of the humor is in the words so if you don't understand Slovenian you miss part of the hilarity, but it is still pretty ridiculous without the lyrics.



Soulgreg feat 6pack Čukur - Nisi Ženske Zame (You're Not The Woman For Me)

Unfortunately this is one of the best songs I've heard here, so I shouldn't laugh too much.

Oh Dear!

I got up early because I couldn't sleep and this video came upon the screen. Everyone involved in this video needs to get slapped....hard. I'd be more than happy to do it. I've slapped people for lesser offenses.

Sandra Auer - Vroče Kakor Afrika (Hot Like Africa)





File under: White People What We Gon' Do With You?, What Were They Thinking?, Black people who are out they minds.

Fingers Crossed!

Today on this day of the American election, I sit here with my fingers crossed tightly for Obama to pull through.

This song is dedicated to today.

Saved

Passing through Ljubljana's main square a few hours before the Queen passed through to greet people, all I could think of was what a big upheaval the whole thing was for some inbred idiot... and this song.



I'm saving my energy for the end of the week when one of my truly favorite Brits comes to town .

Hip Hop iz Slovenije

While I am unapologetically in the school of thought that (save a few choice MC Solaar tracks) the only good rappers are American, I didn't want that opinion to stand in the way of me giving props to a young creative brother in our all-too-tiny community of African people in Slovenia. I had the chance to see a brief performance by Murat & Jose at the very wonderful opening of Kolovrateater in Ljubljana on Friday night, and I gotta give them props for doing an earnest job of things.


In case you're wondering, Jose's father comes from the country of Burundi (don't be ashamed I had to recheck where it was on the map too).

Here's one of their videos for their track "Postan ti sam".

New Theme Song?

Pharrell, Lupe, and Q-Tip urging black people to get passports and see the world? Sounds good to me!


Paris Tokyo - Lupe feat. Q-Tip and Pharrell

Swinging Slovenia

This is probably one of my most favorite Slovenian songs ever.

Mala Terasa (Little Terrace) by Bele Vrane (The White Crows)



There are a fair amount of under-appreciated properly kitschy tracks from the 60s swinging Ljubljana days. I've heard quite a few on Radio Student and also occasionally on a late night bus ride back from Ljubljana but this is the only song whose title I ever remembered. Does anyone know if there are any compilations out of this kind of stuff? It'd be great to pop this into the car when on a ride, instead of cursing the awfulness of current Slovenian music.

UPDATE: LerumSLO has a bunch of this stuff on their Youtube channel.

Sounds

In case you were wondering what my neighborhood sounded like last night. Wonder no more..



We had another visit from the Balkan brass band. They seem to come around about once a month during the summer but I never went over to look until last night.

Here are some blurry images too (gotta figure out the camera night-shot feature still)




I love Balkan brass music, it always makes me wanna dance*, but alas Slovenian music is not Balkan music. The most beloved Slovenian music is this:



Bless these people, but it just aint my thang.

*Of course, I don't dance because people here don't really dance and I just haven't been intoxicated or crazy enough to make myself the unsolicited and uncompensated life of the party.

Also....

Jose, Gilles, but no Camille?

NOTE: New York friends, go see these people (and many other dope ones) in Central Park for free- THIS SUNDAY!!!

I was planning to go to Serbia (Niš, to be exact) to see two of my favorite music people Gilles Peterson and Jose James in concert at the Niš jazz festival, but then the television blared with news of people rioting in the streets of Belgrade....which is a city I would have to pass through. The Captain is none to keen on my adventurous backpacking to Serbia trip anymore. Anyone out there got first-hand news on the situation? I hear it was just a bunch of football hooligans, but I am in no mood to be hooliganized.

Africa + Balkans =

I am stealing this post from my new blog, but only cause its appropriate here.

Just grabbed this great mix off of the fabulous Masalacism blog. West Africa (where my mother is from) and the Balkans (where I live) come together to make a sweet track.

Grandpamini- Les Princes du Tiers-Monde (direct dowload)

BTW, I am DYING to dance. I think I am going to have to find somewhere to DJ once a week.

Where I Am Sometimes

My brother and I are sort of music snobs and the other day while exchanging links and music files we decided to start a blog rambling about music and other stuff. If you're into that kind of stuff, you can check it out here:



Don't worry, I am still working to keep this blog (and my many other blogs)updated.
See you around the nets!