Follow Your Heart, cover detail

Mat Riviere’s debut album Follow Your Heart was released on Monday March 8th 2010. You may like it. It’s good and interesting.

Mat Riviere is from Norwich in the UK.
NME magazine called his music “genius bleak pop”.
But there’s more to it than that. Pomp pop perhaps.
You can hear some of the album tracks at his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/matriviere.
Track FYH has been getting played on the radio. It’s included on the album. Video here:

Follow Your Heart has been released by London indie label Brainlove Records.

See also

Brainlove’s Stairs to Korea

Links

Follow Your Heart at Brainlove Records

Mat Riviere, MySpace

We heart D.I.Y

Everything you’d ever want is in the shops, so why would you make something yourself? Do It Yourself? Why?

Consumerism. People purchase goods in excess of their basic needs for many reasons. Often it’s easier to believe the adverts then question habits. Adverts are not all false.  Purchases can be necessary, and fun. But consumerism can cause unhappiness, feelings of unfufillment, isolation.

Modern mass media thrives on consumerism. In the 1970s and 80s some people tried to form a dissenting thought or two. Often they knew that something wasn’t quite right. But it can be difficult to think when the TV is always on and telling you that happpiness is in stock at the shops.

One reaction to the dominant consumer culture was the punk posture, DIY ethic label attached.

Then time and technology moved on.

In 2010 the huge passive audiences once commanded by a few TV and radio stations are increasingly likely to use social media on the internet. There’s perhaps a slight shift to creating, updating Facebook statuses, uploading photos,  and not just consuming media. Social media and interaction seems to many to be more satisfying than watching TV.

Which brings us to DIY.

You may have the chance to think if the TV is switched off.

Here’s a suggestion: Make something in your free time. Do it yourself. It could be fun and theraputic. An antidote to consumerism.

Why?

David Gauntlett, Professor of Media and Communications, University of Westminster, is writing a book called Making is Connecting. He puts it like this:

“Making is connecting because you have to connect things together (materials, ideas, or both) to make something new;

Making is connecting because acts of creativity usually involve, at some point, a social dimension and connect us with other people;

And making is connecting because through making things and sharing them in the world, we increase our engagement and connection with our social and physical environments.”

This page published: March 2010.

Links – read more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluenza
http://www.shirky.com/herecomeseverybody/2008/04/looking-for-the-mouse.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIY_ethic
http://makingisconnecting.org/
http://makingisconnecting.org/gauntlett2010-extract1-v3.pdf

Detail from an Ark illustration by Gerard Hoet

The news reports that the long-lost Biblical Ark of the Covenant has been found in Zimbabwe has re-ignited interest in its guardians – the Lemba tribe. But where does fiction finish and fact begin?

“Until the story of the hunt is told by the lion, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” African proverb.

What’s claimed to be an ancient replica, a direct descendant of the Biblical Ark of the Covenant went on display at Harare’s Museum of Human Science,  Zimbabwe, February 2010. An opening ceremony was held to mark the exhibition of the ‘Ark’ otherwise known as Ngoma Lungundu (The drum of the ancestors), Government ministers attended.

Can it be The Ark, as some experts have claimed? And how could it have ended up in Zimbabwe?

The 'Ark’ - Ngoma Lungundu

But first…

Why is the Ark still important, still talked about?

According to the Bible, the Ark of the Covenant contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the word of God. The Ark had power – Kings consulted it, people were forbidden to look at it. It played a part in the Battle of Jericho – helping to knock down a city wall. Later, when captured by the Philistines it broke a statue of their God Dagon and made the Philistines ill, giving them hemorrhoids or maybe tumors.

So the Philistines sent it back to the Israelites. The Ark was set in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite. Unfortunately, the men of Bethshemesh were curious:

“And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.”

It was placed in King Solomon’s Temple. In 586 BC, the Babylonians entered Jerusalem and destroyed Solomon’s Temple. The Ark of the Covenant was lost.

But the Ark is an object of fascination and importance to many, so stories of its survival have circulated for two thousand years or so. In recent times the hugely popular movie Raiders of the Lost Ark renewed public interest.

In 2008 scholar Tudor Parfitt popularised one of the lesser known Ark stories. In his ‘The Lost Ark of the Covenant’ book he told us that the ancestors of the Lemba people of South Africa and Zimbabwe  carried the Ark away from Jerusalem then hid it in Africa.

Is there any truth to Tudor Parfitt’s tale?

Tudor Parfitt

Tudor Parfitt is Professor of Modern Jewish Studies at the school of Oriental and African Studies in London. His life’s work has been about tracking down the lost tribes of Israel in Africa and Asia. He’s a respected academic.

The Lemba people are  black Africans, based in Zimbabwe,  who claim Jewish ancestry. Their story is not new – in the 1950’s missionary Von Sicard wrote about the Lemba – but it is fascinating. The Lemba seem to follow many Jewish customs, including; circumcision, not eating pork and Lembas are encouraged to marry within their own tribe of 80,000 or so.

Using new technology, Tudor and other researchers have proved that the Lemba’s stories about their Jewish past may have a basis in fact.  Genetic tests confirmed that the Lemba are physical descendants of the lost tribe of Israelites known as the Cohen.

This may sound suprising, but see the links below for more information about the African Jews – many tribes claim Jewish connections.

So the Lemba have Jewish origins, but are they guardians of the Ark?

In Lemba oral tradition stories relate that they carried a vessel, their Ngoma Lungundu (The drum of the ancestors), into Africa from a great temple in Jerusalem. Ngoma Lungundu was found by Von Sicard in the 40’s, and then lost.

Three years ago, on a forgotten shelf in a museum Tudor rediscovered the Ngoma Lungundu and had a fragment carbon dated. He   says the vessel was built almost 700 years ago and may have included the remains of the original Ark.

In his earlier book written about the Ngoma Lungundu, Von Sicard examined the parallels between the Ngoma Lungundu story and the Old Testament story of the Israelite Ark of the Covenant.

But Tudor has gone further and drawn criticism for suggesting that the drum may be an Ark or at least a direct descendant of the vessel constructed to hold the original tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

Critics remind him that Biblical accounts do not suggest the Ark resembles a drum. Paul Hubbard from the Prehistory Society of Zimbabwe rejected Tudor’s claims on the basis that  Tudor’s ‘Ark’ that resembles a drum is actually a drum – a sacred Venda African drum and does not have Jewish origins.

Talking to the Today programme in the USA, Tudor said: “A fair person would say there really is something here”.

Tudor may really be onto something… but maybe it’s not Ark shaped. Drums are revered objects in many cultures.

Conclusions

The tale of the Lemba and the Ark tells us that:

Ancient cultures travelled more widely than modern cultures may realise. That if you want to pass knowledge down the ages, frown on marriage outside of your tribe. That PR coups and movie-tie ins help academics to sell books. And that sometimes, stories dismissed as myth can turn out to be true.

By CR. This page published: March 2010.

Links. Read more: The largest collection of links about the Lemba, the Ark and Tudor Parfitt on the web

Zimbabwe displays ‘Ark of Covenant replica’

Lost tribe found – BBC

Ark of the Covenant – Wikipedia

Ark of the Covenant – survival stories

Tudor Parfitt’s Ark story – Daily Mail

Tudor Parfitt- Wikipedia

Excerpt from the book: ‘The Lost Ark of the Covenant’

The Ark – more theories

Tudor Parfitt at SOAS

Interview with Tudor Parfitt

Lemba community research

Researcher Paul Hubbard rejects Tudor’s Ark claims

Lemba and the Ark

Lemba and the Ark – Wikipedia

Lemba and Jewishness

Lemba, Jewsish tribes and genes

Lemba and genes, 2000

Lemba index

Tudor interview – Nova

African Jews

Lemba – Wikipedia

Time on Tudor and the Ark

Amazon reviews of Tudor’s book

Ark – more theories

More related links

Beta Israel

Shona people

Prehistory Society of Zimbabwe

Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

Great Zimbabwe

Hamlet’s Mill on Drums

Von Sicard on drums

Poker table. Picture by Nerdy Girl

Phill Huxley is living the dream of many. He’s taking his chances at the card table and making poker his profession. Read an extract from his diary here.

The guy in seat one is seemingly asleep at the table, a mound of chips in front of him. When it is his turn to act the dealer hits his hand on the felt to rouse the snoozer from his slumber. He will then play his hand and promptly doze off again.

The snoozer played the 30/60 game all night and it seems he did pretty decently. When the 15/30 game began at noon he dropped down in stakes and dropped off to sleep. It’s a mystery to me why he doesn’t go home, but occasionally I do wonder if some of these sick gamblers have homes to go to.

When I open raise from middle position and the snoozer rouses himself to unceremoniously three bet me, it brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘he woke up with a big hand’.

Meanwhile, in seats six and seven, two elderly Greek guys have got a bet on the Milan v Man Utd game. Never mind the rudimentary understanding of the rules of ‘soccer’, nor which team is which, there’s a match on the TV and it can be wagered upon! I try to get in on the action but sadly they won’t take my bet. I’m doubly disappointed about this as it is now Friday and the game took place three days earlier on Tuesday.

Elsewhere at the table, a guy who looks like David Blaine has drank six cartons of milk in the past half hour, leaving the scattered containers all over the table.

Next to him is the one man whirlwind called Cincinnati. Now Cincinnati refers to himself in the third person at all times and gives a running commentary on the hand when he is in it. At one point after laying out a river bet, he breaks into song, prompting the floorman to quip that he’s going to be kicked out if he continues as the casino doesn’t have a cabaret licence. The following day in the same game, Cincinnati will be seated next to a studious guy in horn-rimmed spectacles called Cleveland. I believe Columbus was on the waiting list at the time.

Meanwhile the action on the TV has switched to an old black and white rerun of a Man United vs Milan match from the 60s. As George Best rampages down the wing, I turn to the Greek guys and ask them who they have their money on in this one.

This page published: February 2010.

Photo credit: Poker table by Nerdy Girl

Links

Read more: Phill Huxley’s blog about poker, and life

Ken Campbell, a pixel portrait

Ken Campbell, writer, director and actor. One man who made many interesting connections. He was born December 10 1941. He died August 31 2008.

Most articles about Ken Campbell concentrate on the eccentricities of his work. But being a man of enthusiasms meant that he touched the lives of a wide range of influential people. Ken Campbell connected, among others… Bob Hoskins, Jane Wood, Andy Andrews, Dave Hill, Percy James Kent Smith (aka Sylvester McCoy), Dick Emery, Robert Anton Wilson, Derek Jarman, Lindsay Anderson, Chris Langham, Prunella Gee, Douglas Adams, Robert McKee, Danny O’Brien, John Gielgud, Mixmaster Morris, Bill Nighy, Richard Eyre and many more.

By CR. This page published: February 2010.

Links

Ken Campbell tribute

Ken Campbell FT obit

Ken Campbell interview

Ken Campbell website

Ken Campbell’s Warp play

Ken Campbell Times obit

Daisy Campbell – Ken’s daughter

Ken Campbell – Guardian obit

Ken Campbell remembered by Danny O’Brien (EFF)

Ken Campbell remembered by Richard Eyre

Scene from The Road

One day there was a big flash of light, and then nothing (says the promo blurb). The result of this cataclysmic event, whatever it was, is that there is no energy, no power, no vegetation, no food. Millions of people have been eradicated, destroyed by fires and floods or scorched and incinerated in their cars where they sat when the event hit.

In the film, The Man (Viggo Mortensen) and The Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) trudge along, near a road, heading south.

There’s a lot of trudging in this movie. The world is dying, they are dying, and it’s grim. Then they nearly get eaten by cannibals and it’s scary. Grim and scary. With trudging. And death.

It’s based on Cormac McCarthy’s book, The Road. It’s now a pretty miserable film that made me fear for the future.

Two questions poked me in the brain while watching this.

Q) Would I eat another human if I was starving? A) Yes, probably.

And

Q) Where are the bicycles? I know trudging is poetic… but surely they could have cycled at least part of the way. No petrol required! A) There are no bicycles.

Links

The Road official site

So, would you eat another human if you were starving in a post-apocalyptic landscape? Let us know below.

By CR. This page published: January 2010.

London Fields Lido - Lido Love celebration

The history of London Fields Lido was celebrated on the 9th January 2010. There was dancing, magic and music in freezing weather.

The first Lido Love event at London Fields Lido was held in the snow on Saturday night, 9th January 2010. Produced and curated by Adriana Marques and Gillian Fox, the event celebrated the Lido and the community action that’s ensured that the outdoor swimming pool is still standing and thriving in 2010. All tickets sold-out.

Entertainment included: Performance prancing by H Plewis, magic from Ian Saville, Egyptian fire dancing by La Horrox and guitar music from Ron McElroy and Les Bell. DJ Lion Man played some tunes and a Tracey Emin film was projected onto the wall of the men’s changing room.

Photo gallery – Lido Love: Celebrating London Fields Lido

First opened in 1932, the London Fields Lido was enjoyed by swimmers until 1988 – when it was closed by funding cuts. But local people did not forget it, they organised themselves and stopped the site becoming derelict.

In the 18 years before the pool reopened in 2006, the Lido hosted screenings, discussions, community events and even served as a home for squatters.

It reopened after being rebuilt to the highest modern standards. The pool water is heated to 25°C, and there’s disabled access.

This page published: January 2010.

See also

London Fields Lido – more information

Ian Saville – Socialist magician

Links

London Fields Lido opening and closing times

London Fields Lido history

London Fields Lido at night

London Fields Lido is the only Olympic size (50m) heated outdoor swimming pool in England’s capital city. It’s currently open every day for public swimming sessions.

Before travelling to the pool please check the exact opening times, see the link below.

First opened in 1932, the Lido was enjoyed by swimmers until 1988 – when it was closed by funding cuts. But local people did not forget it, they organised themselves and stopped the site becoming derelict.

In the 18 years before the pool reopened in 2006, the Lido hosted screenings, discussions, community events and even served as a home for squatters.

It reopened after being rebuilt to the highest modern standards. The pool water is heated to 25°C, and there’s disabled access.

Photo gallery – London Fields Lido at night

Address
London Fields Lido
London Fields Westside
E8 3EU

This page published: January 2010.

Links

London Fields Lido opening and closing times

London Fields Lido history

Ian Savillle, London Fields Lido, January 2010

“Good evening. My name is Ian Saville, and I’m about to perform some magic tricks for you. But this is not ordinary magic. I will be doing political magic, Socialist Conjuring tricks…”

Links

Ian Saville

Ideas, forms and developments in the British workers’ theatre, 1925-1935 by Ian Saville

Ian Saville – Wikipedia

Detail from Scott 3 album cover

30 Century Man is a song by Scott Walker. It appeared on Scott 3, the third solo album by singer songwriter. Listen to it, below.

This page published: January 2010.

Links

Video not working? Find the song elsewhere on YouTube