In which there are English-Gambian music, Malian music, and The Bird of the River
- Sona Jobarteh is a kora player, born in London into a family of traditional (and world famous) West African musicians (from Mali via Gambia). (1) Fatafina, 5mins, utu, is a hopeful song about pan-Africanism, from the album Fasiya. (2) Live at the Africa Festival in Germany, 8mins, utu, with a full band and backing singers. (3) Jarabi, 6mins, utu, is a traditional Malian song about love, here played as a trio on the BBC World Service.
- Bonus tracks from Malian singer/songwriter Oumou Sangaré, who I first saw live in the mid 1990s (before some of you were born!), (1) the ironically titled Bi Furu ("Modern Marriage"), 6mins, utu, with a FABULOUS video in which Our Heroine discusses traditional marriage customs (such as some brides being sold by their parents to the highest bidder, even if that's for as little as ten kola nuts), and (2) Ko Sira ("Arranged Marriage"), 4mins, utu, which has a better grrl posse than any western pop vid in which Our Heroine ironically demonstrates the gendered expectations of marriage (housework!).
- Reading, books 2015, 147.
142. The Bird of the River, by Kage Baker. I have a love / hate relationship with Ms Baker's stories: I never feel indifferent to them and this one I LOVED. The plot is a subversion of a standard historical romance plot* (the one in which a young woman marries far up the social and especially economic ladder) set in Baker's fantasy Anvil 'verse. It's told entirely from the heroine's pov, and from her perspective she's living through a coming-of-age story, while for those readers who can't stand the idea they're reading a novel structured around a romance plot... there are also assassins!!1!! Baker fills out the Anvil 'verse as her characters travel through it so, despite being the third novel in the same setting, readers are continually treated to delicious world-building that has pleasingly few direct references to medieval Europe *\o/*. The characterisations beyond Our Heroine, and her memories of her mother, aren't especially deep but that's because we're seeing people through the eyes of a normally self-absorbed teenage girl so we see them only through her interactions, and Baker makes that storytelling style work exceptionally well. I also enjoyed the first novel set in this 'verse, The Anvil of the World; I haven't read the second, The House of the Stag; and I LOVED this third venture into that world. (5/5)
* Bird almost makes up for The Life of the World to Come which is a standard trope-filled romance plot, transposed to the science fictional Company 'verse, in which the "hero" is creepy, ew, stalky, ew, and rapey, EW.
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- Bonus tracks from Malian singer/songwriter Oumou Sangaré, who I first saw live in the mid 1990s (before some of you were born!), (1) the ironically titled Bi Furu ("Modern Marriage"), 6mins, utu, with a FABULOUS video in which Our Heroine discusses traditional marriage customs (such as some brides being sold by their parents to the highest bidder, even if that's for as little as ten kola nuts), and (2) Ko Sira ("Arranged Marriage"), 4mins, utu, which has a better grrl posse than any western pop vid in which Our Heroine ironically demonstrates the gendered expectations of marriage (housework!).
- Reading, books 2015, 147.
142. The Bird of the River, by Kage Baker. I have a love / hate relationship with Ms Baker's stories: I never feel indifferent to them and this one I LOVED. The plot is a subversion of a standard historical romance plot* (the one in which a young woman marries far up the social and especially economic ladder) set in Baker's fantasy Anvil 'verse. It's told entirely from the heroine's pov, and from her perspective she's living through a coming-of-age story, while for those readers who can't stand the idea they're reading a novel structured around a romance plot... there are also assassins!!1!! Baker fills out the Anvil 'verse as her characters travel through it so, despite being the third novel in the same setting, readers are continually treated to delicious world-building that has pleasingly few direct references to medieval Europe *\o/*. The characterisations beyond Our Heroine, and her memories of her mother, aren't especially deep but that's because we're seeing people through the eyes of a normally self-absorbed teenage girl so we see them only through her interactions, and Baker makes that storytelling style work exceptionally well. I also enjoyed the first novel set in this 'verse, The Anvil of the World; I haven't read the second, The House of the Stag; and I LOVED this third venture into that world. (5/5)
* Bird almost makes up for The Life of the World to Come which is a standard trope-filled romance plot, transposed to the science fictional Company 'verse, in which the "hero" is creepy, ew, stalky, ew, and rapey, EW.
This entry was originally posted at http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/558193.html and has
comments Please comment there using OpenID.