senduQ

mind entropy of the ethiofrican

prickly self-expression

12 December, 2008 | No comments | Category: for.the.love.of.words!, madness!, prose.tales, thinking...

a fuzzy tube of void fills with the aroma of congested, stifled breath… a ball of feeling anchors it in the pit of the stomach.

feelings…tiny bubbles of unsettled distaste rise along with flittering flattering flimsiness traveling like smoke from an incense burner through the throat up into the mouth, where the tongue rests motionless. pity;  swallowing heightens tastes of bitter sweetness; the pleasurable fragrance of incense replaced with breaths of bafflement.

the face expressionless, those delicately-crafted tender lips down-turned, as cheeks lunge in concert with the lids and fragile soft skin sags under the eyes…contrary to its age.

swallowing hard, her mind races …speeding stamina of thoughts do not dissipate, as if regenerated as the race drains the perkiness from her face channeling energy to her mind keeping it reeling.

have you ever closed your eyes and kept typing? …a lady emerges as a foggy image from whatever is streaming through fingers as the keyboard and cushy finger tips step a staccato tap dance.

is there anything like releasing emotion through expression?…anything as cathartic? the disconnect between the physical and the abstract paralyze while, mysteriously they fuse to make the tangible feelings…prickly.

Possibly Related Posts:


Wayna & Dinaw: Slums of Paradise

8 December, 2008 | 9 comments | Category: I.dentity, book snip, for.the.love.of.words!, i.mmigration, love.of.words!, musiqa, nostalgia.personal, peace & conflict, poetry, prose.tales

The African immigrant experience within the U.S.
…complex, diverse and ridiculously chaotic!
Which experience isn’t, eh?
A friend recently told me we are ‘transplants’…
Surely there is no way that can be less-than-a-chaotic experience!
A chaotic experience that’s gotta be told…

Why Stories?

Stories are powerful and profound…
They are ways to …share the most beautiful parts of ‘me’ and ‘us’:
stories of sincere, vulnerable, honest, contradictory and complex humanity…(great video on that)…a way to confirm my & our presences in this world, in our own voices…I love stories, always have for some reason.

My mum told me, when I was a little girl and wouldn’t eat food, she used to tell me stories so my mouth would unconsciously gape open and she’d slip the food in! We should tell each other our stories to share each other, and to build/reaffirm our commonality – or humanity.

Stories make & relay meaning, share, connect, inspire, uplift, persuade, shape thought, teach, transfer history, bring together, affirm culture, enable self-reflection…they confirm ‘you are not alone in your experience’ and describe common narratives of communities. From the political-historical angle…written stories hold weight as Virginia Woolf once said; “Nothing has really happened until it has been recorded.”…and as long as the victors tell the prevalent stories, they would have the upper hand. Stories are paths to peacemaking, just as they are to the absence of peace. ‘Stories fill our lives in the way that water fills the lives of fish.’ Stories are as all-pervasive as culture.

Wayna’s Slums of Paradise

Below are sublime original sounds by Grammy nominee Wayna Wondwossen. ‘Slums of Paradise’ holds her description of experiences as an Ethiopian-born immigrant in the US with parents filled with expectations about her future. She is an incredible neo soul musician wonderfully deserving of her Grammy nomination. Listening to her live rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’ last March, I literally had tears in my eyes and goosebumps! Her voice has a clarity and beauty that is just uplifting. No wonder the incredible Stevie Wonder himself said “She is Incredible!”
Slums of Paradise – Wayna

 

Desparate Days – Wayna ft. Tewoderos Taddesse

 

Dinaw’s “The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears“

Also been reading a very engaging novel by Dinaw Mengestu, an Ethiopian Immigrant, winner of the 2007 Guardian First Book Award. The story is about a man, Sepha Stephanos, who flees a communist junta as a teenager to become a transplant immigrant in the US, making attempts to grasp the ‘beauty that heaven bears’- the American dream. The book captures the loneliness, and internal angst involved in the immigrant experience- it is so bare and honest… The best parts of the book, to me, circulate around the emotional narrative behind the illusion of opportunity and Sepha’s attempts to reconcile his ever-present nostalgia. His fleeting romance with a family of a single white mother and biracial daughter is a touching tale of a man fearful of love in his self-doubt. Here is an interview with Dinaw by Tadias Magazine. My favorite part of the interview:

“I don’t think most writers ever decide to write. For me, it was something that I did because I had to. It’s been my way of managing and making sense of the world I live in.”

It’s exciting that voices like his are starting to get heard.

(more…)

Possibly Related Posts:


Kenna.i.love: Grammy Nominee EthioAmericans!

4 December, 2008 | 1 comment | Category: madness!, musiqa, thinking...

This is way beyond surreal! I was writing up this post last nite before going to sleep-- and this morning I woke up to an alert on facebook: Two Ethiopian American Musicians have been nominated for Grammys!! Way to PUSH the envelope! CONGRATULATIONS- Way proud of you guys!

Best Urban/Alternative Performance

Say Goodbye To Love -- Kenna

Wanna Be -- Maiysha

Be OK -- Chrisette Michele Featuring will.i.am

Many Moons -- Janelle Monae

Lovin You (Music) -- Wayna Featuring Kokayi

____________________________________________________________

Kenna.i.love?

such love!

its inexplicable! wheew!

its beyond the realm of words i tell ya….

it’s a feeling located in a place only music can reach.

Kenna Zemedkun, is an Ethiopian-born American musician- a rocker…

i didn’t like his music just a year ago…i thought it sounded like empty ruckus muckus suckus. tehehe i know, so harsh right?

but now--NOW i hear him and i quickly connect…he is like a genre of his own which u acquire a taste for. his voice is so singular, so clear…so confident. his style is so unapologetic…which i just love. His artistry is like he has a little caption under his music: this is me *shrug*. that’s kinda deep… that’s a lot deep…!

yes, part of his stuff sounded/s kinda the same…but thinking more about it, to me, he’s kinda like gnarls barkely in that -- his distinction and sometimes sublime lyrics have an enthralling clarity. hmm…his stuff is always so recognizable, and catchy…great ‘on the move’ music.

what i am in love with the most tho is that …from his work i sense he’s a creator…a musician  who flows passion into his work, pours it all right out, splatters it onto the guitar strings, sound mixer and keyboards from his heart. exhaling ‘there!‘ An artist friend of mine once said to me “creativity comes from the heart” and i was like …hu? the heart spits out innovative cartoon thought-clouds? sawweet  …it’s all subjective anyway, i guess…

been looking @ some stuff on creativity. The “creative personality” article on Psychology Today was an especially intriguing commentary on creative people’s personalities… had some fascinating observations including -- ‘creative people are more like ‘multitudes’ rather than ‘individuals.’ ‘one word what makes their personalities different from others, it’s complexity.’ Here are some more abstractions from the article…

  • great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest
  • smart yet naive
  • combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility
  • alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality
  • tend to be both extroverted and introverted
  • humble and proud at the same time
  • escape rigid gender role stereotyping
  • both rebellious and conservative
  • very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well
  • openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment

Well i don’t know how this all sounds to anyone else but, to me, these descriptions paint portraits of people who are full of contradictions and frankly speaking- plain ol CONfuSION…I think it’s like they’re comfortable with the confusion and ambiguity…they choose to be at that itchy middle point, the interface, on the edge. They are comfortable with discomfort because they know the Brink is where they can push themselves off the edge into something new. after all…one wise dude once said ‘necessity is the mother of innovation’. out of a survival instinct standing at a void-at emptiness and a lack of fulfillment of what is humanly necessary or comfortable, these creative minds make do and use what is available to create…

ok enough philosophizing for one sitting. handing it over to a queen of creativity herself…

lo and behold the world-renown ‘Joy Luck Club’ author Amy Tran asking where Creativity Hides. Quite the edgy, quirky, rambilicous talk seeped with sarcastic humor. video again courtesy of Nani

Possibly Related Posts:


an African Activist speaks!

2 December, 2008 | 3 comments | Category: I.dentity, i.mmigration, thinking...

this material is pure palpable energy that leaps off the computer screen!

really tho!- why don’t we Africans write our own stories, generate our own content…hone our voices, develop our own media… we’re too busy surviving the rock and roll ride which is life! are we now? or stories are transferred orally… |tangent: so there are media outlets out there for African generated content!|

This video is dedicated to those Africans that live in the ‘first’ world and feel confused about ‘what now?’ for the motherland…

video courtesy of Nani

for me, watching this video was like experiencing this from the history boys:

~The best moments in reading are when you come across something -- a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things -- that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.

I was reminded of a kwame nkrumah quote:

Africa needs a new type of citizen, a dedicated, modest, honest and informed man. A man who submerges himself in service to the nation and mankind. A man who abhors greed and detests vanity. A new type of man whose humility is his strength and whose integrity is his greatness.

…ok enough blabber…back to novels written by african immigrants…’The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears‘ and ‘Notes from the Hyena’s Belly‘-- how is it so freakin’ hard to focus on one book at a time wheeew!

Possibly Related Posts:


senduQ © All Rights Reserved
Site Admin | Log out | Entries RSS | Comments RSS