It’s about time there was another Ospreyshire video. I made one on my Debut EP and I did that Katauta 52 series a few years ago. This is also the first time I made something for just a single. I enjoyed creating this video even though there were some difficulties. The stop motion scenes with the go stuff was very arduous. The scene with the dozens of stones took a half hour to shoot for just 10 seconds of footage since I had to make it frame by frame. This video also has some Easter eggs that include references to other bloggers and some of my interests in some way. See if you can figure it out!
Don’t forget to download the single for free or by donation on Bandcamp!
O ti ja aworan wa
Mase paro ki o so pe o se awon ohun-oso wonti
Awon ile iso re je awon ewon
Je ki a je ki eyi se alaye si o
[French]
Rends-nous notre art maintenant!
Nigeria Lyrics:
[Igbo]
I bu ihe nleda anya
[Yoruba]
Nitori ti o ji wa aworan
[Hausa]
Bidajen kayan tarihin ku ya sa aka kama su. I ghotara?
You better return what’s ours!
Senegal Lyrics:
[Wolof]
Luy sa tiis?
Am nga tere xewoonu Afrig?
Yeena ngi saacee yi
[French]
Comprends maintenant?
Vous ne possedez pas notre histoire!
Here’s a triple header for the Art Theft series! These were challenging songs to write lyrics and Art Theft: Benin was actually an Ospreyshire first for me. That was the first poem I wrote that contained absolutely no English words in it! The Senegal one was even tougher because I really had to work on my Wolof since you can’t use Google Translate or any easy online sources for example. Fortunately, I bought a book on a whim that has words and phrases in Senegal’s native language.
These three countries among others in Africa are quite ticked and rightfully so. Their art, crafts, and artifacts have been looted by Europe. They’re held in museums in that continent and these African nations are suing these countries to get their stuff back. To add insult to injury, some of these nations are giving things back…as LOANED items. No, I don’t want to see loans whether temporary or permanent. You stole them, so you give them back to these nations! I really hope these nations get full returns on their art.
Here are some videos from Dr. Mumbi about the matter:
Even Dr. Y. had some choice articles about this situation:
Wouldn’t it also be crazy if this situation was featured in a mainstream movie even though a character is portrayed as the bad guy for wanting the artifacts back? Oh, wait… Side note: Notice how Benin is mentioned in this clip.
Say what you will about Killmonger, but he was absolutely right about his questions involving the curator’s “ancestors” and that’s historical fact even though Wakanda doesn’t exist.
Here’s another random fact: I’m also part Beninese and I have a tiny bit of Senegalese in my DNA from my mom’s side. #ForTheCulture
I didn’t expect to get some attention for my new EP, but I appreciate those who’ve listened to it. If you haven’t then here it is.
I wanted to strip my sound down for this concept. This involved a restricted setting with the recording and writing process. For starters, every song had to be based on the same poetic format. In this case, I chose the nonet. That’s a nine line poem with nine syllables each. There are also nine songs on the EP, so one can say I went up to the nines, right?
The recording process is even more minimal than previous recordings I’ve done with my last EP, singles, and compilation contributions. I only used my voice and acousmatics for this one to see what sounds I can get or manipulate. Some of the found sounds are more obvious than others like using a bathtub in one example.
Besides the composition, I thought this EP was therapy for me. I have to be honest with all you readers. I have a lot of issues with internalizing my anger and sadness. A ton of people have enraged me for most of my lives. Most of them are people I haven’t done anything wrong to. I won’t name names, but the tracks involve people who’ve bullied me in the past, some racists who’ve given me hell, and former co-workers who questioned my worth while getting special treatment. This has been a long time coming. The times when I was open with my anger, people treat me like I’m Satan himself. Not to mention a lot of those same people never owned up to THEIR actions and wrongdoings which frustrates me more. You really want to get on my bad side? It’s when others don’t take responsibility for their words or actions when they do something hurtful. I was sick of hiding these feelings for years now and they manifested in spoken word form.
So what do you think? What was your favorite song on the album? What are your thoughts on how I created this EP?
Maybe this could lead to something good and that’s saying nothing about another album I’m writing and recording. Wink wink.
I told you I would do something after getting 200 followers on my blog. This is a brand new single for the occasion. It’s called Nkama Mibale or 200 for those that don’t know Lingala. This poem/song is free to download or you can pay what you want for it. Hope you enjoy it!
I’ve been on a huge African music kick and I wanted to check out the music in the big DRC. That’s the Democratic Republic of Congo for those not familiar with that initialism. I discovered this band called Konono No. 1 who are from Kinshasa (No, it’s not just Shinsuke Nakamura’s finishing move) which is the capital and largest city. These musicians don;t sound like anyone else. It consists of singers, drummers, and three thumb piano players that are hooked up to DIY amps. The frequencies almost sound like distorted guitars which is crazy with how full their sound is. They incorporate traditional rhythms with avant-garde electronics.
I’ve been negligent in incorporating instruments into my Katauta projects, so I decided to debut one of my panflutes for this minimalist spoken word piece.
It was fun trying to come up with a linear, yet noticeable melody in between each line of the katauta as a motif. Maybe I should use this instrument more often in recordings or possibly if I decide to do this Ospreyshire thing live at concerts.
Ospreyshire's Realm 