Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Bark louder, little dog.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Infrastructure week. at last.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Semi-Respite Open Thread: World Music

Reader Interactions

30Comments

  1. 1.

    MaxUtil

    Sona Jobarteh! Highly respected kora player from the Gambia. That’s not any of that dreaded “pop”.

  2. 2.

    Anne Laurie

    @MaxUtil: See how little I know?  She showed up on my YouTube bar between Sho Madjozi and Angelique Kidjo (speaking of two artists who don’t have all *that* much in common), and I really liked the video…

  3. 3.

    Anya

    I might die on this hill alone (at least on this blog), but I wish we retire the useless and problamatic term “Sub-Saharan Africa”.

  7. 7.

    Prometheus Shrugged

    @Anya: Speaking strictly as a climatologist, this term has considerable utility because it defines wind and moisture balance regimes.

    I know that you’re talking about culture, but the term is not going to be retired in the scientific literature.

  8. 8.

    Fair Economist

    God, I love Angelique Kidjo. Bought one of her albums way back in the olden days just because I liked the cover and did I luck out on that purchase. And she can still sing like that at 60! Just amazing.

  9. 9.

    Yutsano

    @mrmoshpotato: That’s not the point. Sub-Saharan Africa is 46 distinct countries with hundreds of different cultures. We readily acknowledge the existence of the Arab countries north of the Sahara desert* yet we lump everything below that arbitrary line into one piece. Africa is very diverse, very alive, and very differentiated. We should stop doing the peoples who live the the disservice of cutting them off as distinct entities.

    BTW I know you’re being funny. It’s just a good opportunity to start changing our thinking on this part of the world.

    *yes I am massively oversimplifying.

  11. 11.

    Amir Khalid

    @Anya:

    It is a simple geographic description for a contiguous region: that part of Africa south of the great desert. It doesn’t per se imply anything about that region. I’m aware that the term sometimes gets used as code for negaive attributes e.g. black*, poor, underdeveloped, corrupt and/or authoritarian government. The problem, it seems to me, is not that name but those associations.

    *I myself don’t see being black as negative, but obviously there are some who do.

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    This strangely haunting bit of movie music just happened to be playing in my head. It accompanies a scene where a pædiatric neurosurgeon performs a controversial procedure on a very young patient. It’s not from my part of the world — so I can consider it “world music”, right?

  15. 15.

    prostratedragon

    I wish I could recall the name of either artist who did an album together fewer than 10 years ago. They were a man who is a blues singer (not Magic Slim I don’t think, but similar name) and a woman who sings in a Mediterranean tradition. Just heard one or two songs, but they were tremendous together. Deep dive into my ridiculous music bookmark file comes up empty so far.

  18. 18.

    prostratedragon

    @HumboldtBlue:  Joe Pass? I have Anatomy of a Murder in my ear at the moment, but that duo popped up in the queue. (Amir started it with Mark Snow.)

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    If you guys are ever curious about grocery prices in Malaysia, check out this video by a foreign visitor shopping for food in KL during lockdown. The market he goes to is part of the Isetan department store in Suria KLCC, the mall in the Petronas Towers’ podium block. It’s on the expensive side here, but still quite cheap cf. North American or European grocery prices.

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    @mrmoshpotato:

    “Just … just turn the wheel in literally any direction.”

    I think the family dynamic we figured out is:

    Tina is Bob’s favorite.
    Gene is Linda’s favorite.
    They’re both a little afraid of the amoral demon-child that is Louise.

  29. 29.

    the antibob

    @Anne Laurie: Lovely set you put together. If you’ve discovered this is your sort of thing, the world can be yours with the Rough Guides to World Music and a Google Play or Spotify account.

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