Globe Corner Blogs

Iceland --photo by Lisa

I am absurdly excited  about the upcoming Viking Invasion of Boston. From March 11-17,  Boston will be hosting A Taste of Iceland. This festival of Icelandic culture and entertainment is bringing Icelandic musicians, DJs, acclaimed chefs, and a film festival to various venues in and around Boston in celebration of all things Icelandic…and Icelandair’s non-stop service to Reykjavik. You can even enter a drawing to win a trip to Reykjavik! The full schedule of events can be found at the “Iceland Naturally” website.

Certain staff members of the Globe Corner have already expressed their love for all things Icelandic: from the delicious and addictive Skyr, Arnaldur Indridason’s Inspector Erlendur Series, and The Blue Lagoon (a geothermal spa) to the always interesting Iceland Airwaves Music Festival. We’re so excited about the festival that we’re taking 15% off all books about and maps of Iceland through March 17th. And as an extra bonus,  Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds will be dropping by the store on Saturday, March 13th at 4:30 p.m. to play a few songs for us!

Off the Beaten Path Maine

I recently found myself in Rockland, Maine for the North Atlantic Blues Festival. An old friend who was vacationing there invited me up for the weekend, and I eagerly jumped on the opportunity. She and I had grown up together in Los Angeles. For many Los Angelenos, even natives, a common effect of the urban sprawl is a feeling of disconnectedness to the city they call home. Places with names like Playa del Rey and Whittier technically qualify as “Los Angeles Country,” but they exist in my mind as mercurial suburban wastelands with no actual geographic location.

Mainers, on the other hand, seem to root their sense of self in their towns, lighthouses, and occupations.  This phenomenon was made evident to me on the plane ride up, when the man seated next to me – who wasn’t even from Maine and merely summered there – excitedly pointed out every coastal town and island, listing their attractions. There were even a few houses whose owners he could name starting three generations back. As he wildly gesticulated and bounced up and down in his seat, I drew a kind of vicarious pleasure in his understanding of himself through towns with names like Union and Friendship.

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Raven Map of Texas

I have recently returned from Austin, Texas.  Everyone says the greatest things about Austin, and I have no complaints.  I’m sure it was lovely.  I bet it was spectacular.  Maybe it would’ve been my future home.  I will never know. I went to Austin not to see the city and its sights…I went to dance!!

There I was on stage in front of 2000 lovely people, or so I assumed, but the lights were so bright!  Not too bad right?  There is a catch though, this was the opening night for the world’s largest drum convention called The Percussive Arts Society International Convention. PASIC asked the Berklee West African Drum and Dance Ensemble to perform the first ceremony of the convention.  So as a drummer and dancer, I was in front of 2000 other drummers and I hoped and prayed that we were all on the beat.

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Berklee West African Drum and Dance Ensemble --photo by Jess

For such a small country, Ghana sure does have a lot of distinct musical traditions, each marked by unique rhythms, instruments, and dance styles. I learned all this first hand when I saw the GCB’s favorite bike-riding, drum-playing, book-selling employee, Dan, perform with the Berklee West African Drum and Dance Ensemble in a show titled Ghana: A Musical Landscape, directed by Joe Galeota.

At the store, we often hear about Dan’s love for West Africa, drumming, and dancing – but hearing about it (no matter how enthusiastic he is) does not compare, even slightly, to going to a show and seeing his entire ensemble, including native Ghanaians, perform for nearly two hours.

The show, which was exhausting just to watch, showcased six traditional musical styles from different regions of Ghana – Kete, Bamaaya, Yilla/Guola, Bewaa, Adzogbo-Todzo-Le, and Kpanlogo. For each style, the dancers wore the traditional dress to provide a more complete portrait of Ghana. Besides just seeing Dan in his dancing element, a highlight of the show was the gyil solo by Bernard Woma, lead drummer of the National Dance Company of Ghana. The gyil is a type of xylophone constructed using wooden bars hung over various sized gourds (see photo when post continues).

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Project: Iceland: Music, Art, Fashion

I really need to unsubscribe from Icelandair’s email list. Their emails always appear in my inbox to taunt me just when I am having severe wanderlust attacks — and their deals are just too tempting. Even though I just got back from a two day layover in Reykjavik on my way back from Europe, I want to go back for one of best music festivals in the world: Iceland Airwaves. I have gone before and always returned back to work the next day exhausted, giddy, and carrying an armload of new CDs. But because I went broke in the Balkans this summer, I had resigned all aspirations of attending Iceland Airwaves in October and had even kind of forgot about it.

Then we received a new book yesterday. As I picked it up to put it on the shelf, all I could think was “OH NO, this is not fair!” Its title is Project: Iceland: Music, Art, Fashion and it is a book of photos and interviews of Iceland’s art community. Continue Reading »

Dubrovnik--photo by Lisa

If I was following my carefully planned, ambitious itinerary, I would currently be writing a blog raving about the beautiful Lake Ohrid in Macedonia. Instead I find myself waiting with impatience to see my favorite Croatian rock band, LET 3, perform tonight in Dubrovnik. The night before I was supposed to go to Macedonia via Albania, I had a revelation. August is not the best time to spend most of the week using public transportation throughout the Balkans. (If you want to read an interesting description, try the Macedonia Tourist Board‘s public transportation page.) Instead some of my new friends and I decided that August was a great time to stay in Dubrovnik! Five weeks is a long time to stay in this town and some of my colleagues have started to get a bit restless. There are only a few blockbuster tourist sites, it is often overrun with tourists that swarm the old town when cruise ships come into port, it is trendy and has therefore become expensive, and it is a bit small. But I am still awestruck by its beauty.

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I made my first trip to Scotland nine years ago; back then I fell in love with the country of mist-shrouded glens and lochs that unfolded through the windows of the Haggis tour bus. This time ’round, I have a fiddle slung over my shoulder and am riding local buses to find traditional musicians who will teach me tunes and, hopefully, a bit of history.

The past month has been, at times, sunny and sopping wet and I have, at times, been in states of bliss, quiet, doubt, and inspiration. Such is the life while traveling but all is positive and making for an incredible experience.

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Rocking the World--photo illustration by Llalan Fowler

Here at The Globe Corner Bookstore, we like to think we know a little bit about world music. We know the beat of a Salsa versus that of a Tango, we know the whine of an Irish accordion from that of a Cajun one, we know a Buena Vista Social Club from a BigBadBoogaloo — we also know which one’s best to dance to around the bookcases on a slow night. And let’s just say we are quite familiar with the Putumayo ouvre. Sometimes I even wake up in the morning with a track off “Arabic Groove” running through my head.

If I’m not careful I forget that, in all likelihood, most people my age don’t listen solely to the traditional music native to their homes. I, for example, listen to more than just the OSU Marching Band’s rendition of “Hang on Sloopy.” This month’s issue of the music/film/culture magazine, Paste, features bands from all over the world. Whether they buck tradition or embrace it, they all rock — here’s a few of my favorites:

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