Just posted the first of a what’s planned to be a series of deep jazz “mixtapes” for our Stereophonic-Supply.co set up. Having been diggin’ for tunes to play at the FREEDOM! session at Charlie Wright’s Int. Bar in Hoxton (4th Sunday of every month) it felt good to fling down some of these wonderful tunes as a mixcloud thang!
SINGING DRAGON have emerged as the leading UK publisher of books related to internal cultivation and Chinese martial arts. Here’s an overview of four recent books that explore different dimensions of this rich and flourishing culture.
Following hard on the heels of Lindsay Wei’s Valley Spirit, a poignant and reflective journal that took us on a journey of discovery to White Horse Mountain on the westerly edge of Wudang comes another book from a similar “seeker”.
Book No.1 – Cover pic. Dr Serge Augier
Robert Sheaffer‘s Ten Methods of The Heavenly Dragon begins in the pouring rain in Taipei and the chance discovery of a tea house which proves to be a major catalyst in changing his life. It provides him with an intimate insight into Taipei daily life while opening up a minefield of potential cultural misunderstandings. It’s also delivers a fortuitous introduction to the Adept Shun Yuan of the Heavenly Dragon sect.
His encounter with Shun Yuan opens up a brand new set of challenges which confront his ingrained western world view. Shun Yuan is a mysterious person, not least of all because is he is also a Westerner. Unfortunately, we are given no information as to how he came to be an adept of an esoteric Buddhist order laced with Taoist practices. Interestingly, my own research points to the Heavenly Dragon sect being an ancient martial arts society initiated by the Jade Emperor dedicated to maintaining the “Mandates of Heaven”, which usually means that they end up fighting supernatural creatures like ghosts and vampires who have violated Heaven’s Mandate by remaining on Earth after death.
Doin’ It In The Park – Taipei
While there are no such celestial encounters in this book Shun Yuan is clearly capable of extraordinary feats. We are simply left to follow our often bemused narrator as he attempts to decipher Shun Yuan’s life lessons while devoting himself to the practice of meditation, qi gong, baguazhang and push hands.
lf you are looking for a deeper insight into esoteric Buddhism or the practices outlined above you may be disappointed with Ten Methods of The Heavenly Dragon. However, I happily consumed Robert Sheaffer’s personal journey and the Ten Lessons he underwent at the hands of Sun Yuan.
Book No.2 – Cover Pic. Dr Serge Augier
If you are looking for a book that delves deeper into the relationship between student and teacher in the martial arts you need to snap up Alex Kozma‘s excellent Warrior Guards The Mountain. I’ve been fortunate to do the odd training session and workshop with Alex and can testify as to his skills in xing yi quan and baguazhang. Over the years he has published several self-penned books documenting his own experiences with various teachers. Having read The Inner Path Of The Warrior, Beyond The Mysterious Gate and Ziranmen I was keen to see what this weighty new tome promised
“Long fascinated with the mystical and energetic aspects of the martial arts, I set out on a journey to study with the masters of these traditions.” says Alex. “From the Taoist arts of bagua , taiji and hsing i… to the Tibetan spiritual fighting arts… to the magical practices of Indonesian pentjak silat… along the way I saw many amazing things and witnessed strange skills. Some of these things I have written about in this book, along with the life stories and training skills of the various masters. The more I practice and teach these arts , the more I see that they are about far more than just fighting… they are a way of facing and working with the deepest aspects of who we are . And that is the way of the esoteric warrior.”
Alex on the receiving end of Master Chen’s peng/ward off energy.
Warrior Guard the Mountain is a serious book of which Alex can be most proud. It builds on the content of the previous books and it takes the reader onto a whole new level. Decades of practice with teachers and friends are distilled into the book’s 350 pages and page after page we are treated to a flow of historical knowledge combined deep and personal insights into the actual practice of various martial arts. Alex takes us on a genuine journey to China, Japan and south east Asia. He delivers concise in-depth interviews with his long-time friend/mentor Dr Serge Augier (Ziranmen), He Jinghan (Baguaquan), Cheong Cheng Leong (Pheonix Eye Fist), Paul Witrod (Chow Gar Southern Mantis + The Vedic Warriors), John Evans Sensei (Fudo-Ryo), Steve Benitez (Silat + Ziranmen) amongst others. The experience of the two women included – Lindsay Wei (Wudang) and Laarni Benitez (Silat) – are a welcome inclusion, as is the chapter Gordon Tso, a Hong Kong banker and with a real passion for martial arts.
Above: A young He Jinghan practices Qing Gong (Lightness skills). Deep!
Regardless of what discipline one might favour in one’s own life, each of these practitioners provides plenty of food for thought. I know that will return to this book again and again. Highly recommended.
8 Sectioned Brocade
While we are on the subject of practice I also enjoyed Richard Bertschinger’s lively little book Everyday Qigong Practice. This long time practitioner/teacher (over 25 years) has constructed a simple but excellent guide to basic daily practice that anyone can embark on. If there’s no teacher’s in your locality or you simply wish to try out early Morning Meditation, An Eight Sectioned Brocade, Three Circles Posture (Standing Post), Ten Aggrievement Exercises or The Three Lowerings in the seclusion of your own home, this is a good a good place to get started. That said, it does require discipline if you wish to get results. As the man says of The Three Circles posture : “A hundred days of this and you should be flying!”
Finally, a short mention of CS Tang’s The Mysterious Power Of Xing Yi Quan which has just been published by Singing Dragon. I reviewed this book when it came out on Alex Kozma’s Line Of Intent imprint and heartily recommend it to anyone interested in the art “Form/Intention Boxing – Xing Yi Quan. Check my earlier review here: https://ancienttofuture.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/exploring-the-mysterious-power-of-xingyiquan-by-sifu-c-s-tang/
PS… If you missed the review of Lindsay Wei’ book check this: https://ancienttofuture.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/the-valley-spirit-lindsay-weis-story-of-daoist-cultivation/ + I’m just going through Mike Patterson’s self-published book on Xing Yi Quan… more on that in the near future… right now, got go the park and practice taiji… all this thinking and typing – need to release the tension.
Just a short note to give a headz-up to Swifty and the I-self’s latest venture – http://www.stereophonic-supply.co. Building on what we were doing with Straight No Chaser magazine the initial aim of this project is to go digging in the visual archives of artists who we’ve worked with or would love to work with and then come up with several pieces (for sale!) that would accompany an interview and a “Mixtape” put together by the artist.
First up comes the legend that is Ian Wright – a brilliant and innovative illustrator. I’ve known Ian since NME days while Swift shared a studio with him during The Face era when Neville Brody was based in East Road. Wrighty is a serious music fan… check his dub-wise roots reggae “Mixtape” for proof… I’m almost scared of doing a follow up of my own! The bar has been set!
We thoroughly enjoyed a trip to the coast to interview Dr. Bob Jones – a DJ whom deserves an honorary PHD in black music. Check out the vid of him on the front row of a mid-Sixties Hendix gig and then savour his “MOD-ern Mixtape” of Sixties gems. Expect Bob’s ‘Sound Of The Drum’ family tree to drop SOON!
Add to the stereophonic-supply mix Swifty’s hand printed tees, his Sunday Afternoon at Dingwalls “jazz classics” and our Word Sound & Power graffix and we have lift off.
Touch down today on http://www.stereophonic-supply.co/ and expect a regular supply of news on this tip. Any feedback is good feedback and don’t forget to tell your friends.
TUNE IN! http://www.stereophonic-supply.co/
Last Tuesday evening, I managed to hook up with broadcaster, DJ and roving A&R man Ross Allen along with former Chaser scribbler and music fan, Oakland CA based CK Smart. The meeting point was the excellent Queen’s Head freehouse in Denman street, a stones throw from Picadilly Circus, and the plan was to take in ‘Caught By The River’ – a gathering of like minded souls who are up for a few real ales, a dose of poetry, a couple of readings with a Q&A and a short film. This is how Ross described the session in his latest e.mail missive to the masses….
“The Caught By The River night is run by some dyed in the wool music loving people who still run Heavenly Records and do lots of other nocturnal things, and need no introduction – Jeff, Robin & Andrew – this night being one of them. The website http://www.caughtbytheriver.net/ has been going a while but this is the first of their nights that I have been to.
“It was an interesting affair. People you know from dancefloors and hedonistic days and nights sitting around getting excited by abandoned airfields, ghost stories from the Isle of Skye, poetry, long lost rivers and the changing face of our nations country. It ties in with my explorations of this fair land with our walks and climbs and also with my journeys to the American south where I first encountered ‘country cool’.
RAF Coleby Grange from Phantom Fields & Ghost Squadrons by Neil R Thomson
“I have always been obsessed with cities. The nights, the underbelly, the music, the clothes, the cultures and sub cultures they fuel. I still am but as a counter to that when I met Tony Joe White, Dan Penn, Larry Jon Wilson. I couldn’t believe that these old guys that were so cool, reserved and musically brilliant but were all fascinated with fishing, hunting and living close to the land. It felt wrong. It now feels so right. It’s the ying to the yang of city life. The ultimate escape and if you like a good story (isn’t a large part of going to clubs talking to people and hearing outrageous tales ?) then you will love Caught By The River, well you might not, but I did. It was a fascinating night. Quite slow paced but that is the country.
“You should check the website out it will give you things to do that you won’t do as well off your nut somewhere, although I think some were trying on the night. Just another tip of things you can do in our urban wonderland that is Londinium and this one will help you get out of it… “
Caught By The River: Book Of The Month
So, as you can see Caught By The River and the excellent publication which accompanies their activities – An Antidote To Indifference – instantly creates inner reflection. As hard core urban-ites who have spent decades roaming the inner city being driven along by a steady but diverse shifting sea of late night, beat driven musical fare we now seem to be open to a range of alternative and natural rhythms that stem from the page of a book or memories of people no longer with us or from the mysteries and meridians of town and country. The passion and humour endemic in each contribution at Caught By The River was quietly infectious and will definitely have this scribbler exploring the writings and images of contributors like Charles Wrangely-Wilson and Neil R Thompson.
So, thanks to Jeff Barrett & crew… looking forward to the next Caught By The River Social Club and the forthcoming launch at Rough Trade East of Holloway, a book put together by Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards.
PS… Just noticed that Heavenly are hosting a live session with William Adamson + DJ Andrew Weatherall reading from the works of W.G. Sebald. William Adamson’s ‘Under An East Coast Moon’ is an engaging musical endeavour rooted in the Suffolk countryside that flows effortlessly into the Caught By The River continuum.
Tuesday 4 June, from 7pm @ The Social, 5 Little Portland Street, London W1W 7JD
FOLLOWING HARD ON THE HEELS of the media coup that was Margaret Thatcher’s funeral Peter Kennard and Cat Phillips present their latest collaboration – BLUE MURDER – which takes on Tory leader, David Cameron’s smooth and line-less visage (do I scent a hint of Botox?) as their blank canvas.
I’ve been familiar with Peter’s work since the Eighties when he contributed to the NME. His anti cold war remix of Constable’s ‘Haywain’ was a classic and it’s hardly surprising that Banksy doffs his cap to the art of this man. Both Peter and Cat were part of Banksy’s posse of art activists who went to Gaza to confront the dreaded Israeli wall and in recent times they have been engaged in the odd large scale collaborations .
As Thatcher’s spawn, the Old Etonians on the Tory front bench – along with Boris Johnson and his brother! – are clearly on a mission to destroy the welfare state and in response KENNNARDPHILLIPS rip into Cameron’s face to reveal a Britain that is reeling from lack of growth, chronic unemployment and cutbacks – a hunched lonely figures trudges down a bleak street, a scrawled sign screams “Elec off” while a bailiffs notice has you wondering about the plight of those cast out onto the street. It’s an emotive exhibition – both these artists are angry and I can’t wait for large scale images like these to appear and haunt towns and inner city neighbourhoods across the UK.
By printing on newsprint and incorporating statistical data from the Financial Times Peter and Cat root the Tory leader in the brutal world of Capital and then, while using raw materials like charcoal and indian ink, they peel back the layers to get under the skin of an ideology which is guaranteed to engender division and conflict.
This show points to the need to nurture a resistance to the Tory onslaught and is a rallying call for other artists and creatives to unite and produce work that aims to expose the physical impact of these rabid free-marketeers on our communities and on a future that John Lydon once defined as, “No Future….”
KENNARDPHILLIPS – BLUE MURDER is on at the Hang-Up Gallery, 56 Stoke Newington High St N16 7PB / CHECK: http://www.hanguppictures.com
Satoko Fukada with Black Top @ Cafe Oto . Photography by Nadjib Le Fleurier
Orphy Vibes Photography Nadjib Le Fleurier
PHEW! Just taking a little break from sorting some tunes for tonight’s FREEDOM! Always good to play out… gives you a chance to roam through the vinyl and touch down on music you have heard in eons. Thoroughly enjoyed John Handy playing live at the Monterey Jazz Festival… totally Sunday afternnon.
I’m posting artist/filmaker Hen Petts’ excellent film of Louis Moholo, Steve Noble and Wadada Leo Smith as a prelude to tonight’s FREEDOM! session at Charlie Wright’s in Hoxton and I’m also happy to announce that Wadada Leo Smith has been nominated for a Jazz Journalists Assoc Life Time Achievement award and is a finalist for a Pulitzer for music prize with his ‘Ten Freedom Summers. Unfortunately, his recent attempts to secure ‘kickstarter’ style funding for the 22nd part of his ‘Ten Freedom Summers’ opus, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of The March on Washington D.C.- August 28, 1963, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, was unsuccessful. Hopefully the Pulitzer nomination will help this project come to fruition.
Definitely looking forward to tonight’s FREEDOM! as South African master drummer, Louis Moholo, promises to be in house. I’m still reeling from the recent Black Top performance at Cafe Oto whch featured Louis as a guest player along with Satoko Fukada on violin and Fumi Okiji on vocals. According to vibes-controller Orphy Robinson, whatever surprises he and Pat Thomas had planned fell by the wayside as the dynamic interplay between the musicians pushed each piece relentlessly forward. Satoko Fukada dazzled throughout and was clearly enjoying being in the moment while Orphy Robinson’s offbeat approach to steel pan resulted in one dazzling and uplifting percussive exchange with Moholo. This project never fails to mesmerise and surpise.
Unfortunately, we seem to have a bit of a roadblock at the beginning and end of each month. Hard on the heels of FREEDOM! comes Jez Nelsons’ Jazz In The Round at the Cockpit – always a dynamic top value session. This month is no exception and it features an album launch for pianist Kit Downes, the Monk-inspired excursions of Tony Kofi and the ensemble of 21 year old drummer Moses Boyd. Flash it.
Bonnie Greer Photography: Nadjib Le Fleurier
This coming Thursday sees the second installment of NEXUS – One World Music, a new experimental series of concerts which take place on the first Thursday of each month at St George’s Bloomsbury. The first of these concerts took place last month on the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr and while the performances by Cleveland Watkiss, Errolyn Wallen, Paul Gladstone Reid, Orphy Robinson and Bonnie Greer celebrated his life and his legacy the music was shadowed by a dark ambience. The ever eloquent Paul Gladstone Reid harnessed the power of the spiritual and transformed Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’ while Errolyn offered us echoes of ‘My Favourite Things’, a spikey salsa and then united with Bonnie Greer on a piece, written for the radical wing of the ENO, that related a challenging encounter on Question Time with the BNP’s Nick Griffin. Cleveland boldly rose to the challenge of vocally interpreting Bonnie’s teenage recollections of that fateful day when Dr. King was killed but it was Orphy Robinson who physically ushered the spirit of the slain civil rights activist into St George’s by playing his final speech through a boombox and improvising on the vibes to rhythm of the the words… to the flow of ideas and the man’s poignant message.
Cleveland & Orphy Photography: Nadjb Le Fleurier
Composer… flautist… Rowland Sutherland
Programmed by Jazz Warriors International This Thursday’s NEXUS performance (2nd May) features a celebration of the birth of composer William Grant Still – the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra. On piano we have the very excellent Robert Mitchell, on flute – the magical arranger of Sacred Music Sacred Spaces – Rowland Sutherland and on percussion, my pandeiro teacher, the brilliant Adriano Adewale.
Tickets: £10 at the door, £8 pre-booked, £6 concession Pre-booked tickets may be reserved by ringing 020 7242 1979 or emailing concerts@stgb.org.uk
CONTACTS: http://www.helenpetts.com / Nadjib Le Fleurier – https://www.facebook.com/nadjib.lefleurier/
NEXUS concerts@stgb.org.uk / Jazz In The Round – http://thecockpit.org.uk
SOUZOU – which is pronounced SOZO. It is one of those terms that has a dual meaning and in the context of this enlightening – and at times disturbing – show of 46 self taught Japanese outsider artists it alludes to the force through which new ideas are born and take shape. It’s on at the at the Wellcome Collection in London’s Euston Rd until the end of June and it’s already attracting a steady flow of fans familiar with the Museum Of Everything and Raw Vision magazines.
Shoichi Koga ‘Seitenmodoki’ (Ganesha Nandikeshvara)
Upon entering the show
the viewer is immediately drawn into the respective visual worlds of the artists involved. We were confronted with images fastidiously constructed from Japanese Kanji – which takes on a kaleidoscopic form – and from fabric and thread that is skillfully woven to create a piece that exudes the power of a Jackson Pollock.
Daisuke Kibushi – ‘Midori Harukani’
The Relationship section exudes more than enough pain and led this viewer to seek sactuary in the Culture corner. I was drawn into Daisuke Kibushi’s film posters which are lovingly recreated from memory and Keisuke Ishino’s inspirational army of cellotaped tracing paper figurines rooted in Japanese anime.
Mitsuteru Ishina – Untitled (though on close inspection the kanji says ‘mother’)
By the time we’d reached 17 year old Norimitsu Kubooko’s fabulous fictional cityscape – a finely detailed work in progress that spans a whole wall and is visually constructed from the internet and newspapers – we were exhausted and perhaps convinced we should come again.
One minor criticism is that the curators could have offered – in the style of the Museum of Everything – more background information regarding the environments and the therapeutic communities which the artists are engaged in. It would be good to know more about the Ateliers that have been created to give these individual artists a visual voice.
Takashi Shuji – Flowers in Bottle + Laquat + Grapes
Hiroyuki Komatsu – Morning TV programme ‘Ohasta 2009’
That said, we can all do our own research and there are talks and workshops accompanying the exhibition. Souzou is complex, illuminating and provides a great deal of food for thought. And for those of you who are tempted to make the journey – the entry fee is FREE! Highly recommended.
Coming in a touch late on this one but had give one hearty welcome to the musical family that is Universal Mind Systems. Taking over the final Sunday night of April at the Jazz Warriors Int. sessions at Charlie Wright’s bar bassist Renell Shaw, drummer Samson ‘Grooves’ Jatto and guitarist Michael Antoniou held it down – Black Rock Coalition style – for a vibrant succession of genre busting new generation singers and poets.
What was totally compelling about this ‘Audio Mass Destruction’ session was the diversity. Each person took to the mic intent on delivering something fresh. You had effervescent singer songwriter Jessica Symonds, the R&B meets Warrior stylings of Ny Gray, the achingly sweet nu-soul vocals of Miles Anthony and Theo Llewellyn, the dynamic poetic exchanges of Dean Atta and Kevin Mark Trail, a dynamic version of Hendrix’s ‘Litle Wing’ with vocals by Jerome Thomas (who was running back and forth between venues) and a terrific Chantelle Nandi Musuku who took on a Verve song and blew us all away with one very fine long note at its climax.
Chantelle Nandi Musuku
This is a session that can grow and grow. Watch out for more information and forthcoming events with Universal Mind Systems.
All Photography by the man called Nadjib Le Fleurier
https://www.facebook.com/nadjib.lefleurier
https://www.facebook.com/TheJazzWarriorsInternational?ref=ts&fref=ts
Here’s a good story about Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald that I came across via Bob Wisdom’s Facebook…
Back in the n the 1950s, the popular Mocambo nightclub on West Hollywood’s famous Sunset Boulevard applied the Jim Crow laws to their clientele and would not book Ella Fitzgerald because she was black. Fortunately for Ella, she had a powerful and unlikely benefactor – Marilyn Monroe. This is what the singer had to say about the Macambo and Marilyn in her biography.
“I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt…it was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular nightclub in the ’50s. She personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she promised she would take a front table every night. She told him – and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status – that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman – and ahead of her time and she didn’t know it.”
Nice.
The late Dr Martin Luther King Jnr- Montgomery, Alabama
TONIGHT WE WILL CELEBRATE the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr at Nexus – One World at St. George’s Bloomsbury. A Jazz Warriors Int. co-production it will be hosted by Bonnie Greer and the concert will feature the music of Errolyn Wallen, Paul Gladstone Reid, Orphy Robinson and Cleveland Watkiss.
The global struggle for equal rights and justice continues.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. RIP
ancienttofuture.com 