The Paris "adventure" - Naji Kamouche exhibition

Thursday afternoon - The 24th of January 2013

I decided to walk to the Forum des Halles and try to find some books and CDs I hadn't been able to find in Portugal. As I approached it several architectural details caught my attention, amongst which was the 1549 Fontaine des Innocents ... the fact that it was re-allocated on what used to be a cemetery ... gave this square a rather "ephemeral-like" and sacred ground to walk on and stop at for a while.

Coldness and some mourning-like thoughts led me into FNAC where I ended up spending quite a long time rejoicing at the wide variety of choice in regards to English Literature and Music.

I then walked back to Marais so as to relax at the hotel before heading to the exhibition vernissage I had been invited to.

I met Naji and Jean Jacques prior to the exhibition opening, which was really nice, once I was gradually introduced to many of the people who were gathering for it, thus allowing me to later not feel so "outcast". The Modern Gallery was inside a courtyard which could not be seen from the outside on Rue du Temple, which further added a secretive type of approach to the whole thing.  

I had been "acquainted" with most of the works Naji would be exposing, though having seen them in a brochure is not exactly the same as seeing them in their full splendour and size, apart from the fact that he included some of his most recent works as well.

In a wide variety of artistic approaches Naji Kamouche's works are not as innocent as they look .... they are overcharged with meaning ... and one has got to get into his frame of mind to really understand what he is trying to convey ...

The atmosphere around the event was a rather interesting one, once it gathered many people from the various fields of Art, ranging from writers to theatre actors ..., though the most important was the fact that each one of us, whether or not specifically Art related got together to appreciate Art in a cosy sort of environment and atmosphere ...

Another Rajasthan trip companion, Aurélien decided to show up, so the four of us still had time to remember some of the episodes we experienced not long ago.

When the exhibition was over thirty of us went to a restaurant so as to continue celebrating Naji's artistic projection. A rather unforgettable evening with  very interesting people sharing some quite exquisite Asian food, which made us all want to continue celebrating throughout the night.

 

I got back to the hotel long gone eleven ... feeling happy with the fact that I decided to accept this invitation to travel to Paris to be at a vernissage.

The Paris "adventure" - Victor Hugo House Museum

Thursday morning - The 24th of January 2013

Flying to Paris and staying for just a few days can be an adventure in itself, but the setbacks related to this particular two day trip were more than adventurous ... the cancellation of the initial flight because of snow constraints and its subsequent anticipation ... having to reorganise something which was planned to the smallest detail in just less than a few hours ... was too much of a strain, though it was finally done ...

I flew into Orly-Sud late on the 23rd and stayed at a small hotel just 12 kilometres north of the airport. The room was quite comfortable and the early morning breakfast rather copious. Two ladies I had met the previous evening and I got on a fairly early bus followed by a train which took us straight into Chatelet, from where I then walked to the Parisian Hotel I would be staying at.

It was freezing cold though the 30 minute morning walk kept me warm. As I was walking towards the Rivoli street I photographed the 1523 imposing Tour de Saint Jacques, which is all that is left of an ancient church used as an assembling point for pilgrims going on long journeys ... the surrounding greyish-like atmosphere didn't allow its beauty to shine through ...

The same didn't happen with the Hotel de Ville which projected its natural beauty as if untouched by the adverse weather ...

I dropped the backpack at the hotel and left soon after, this time in the direction of the Place des Vosges just five minutes away from there.

Snow could still be seen almost at every corner of this old Medieval tournament stage square ..., which is of an exquisite beauty ...

 

 

 

From there I walked into Victor Hugo's Museum House, an 1832 second floor, which houses a huge collection of drawings by the writer, photographs, manuscripts, editions of his works, items of furniture dating from before and after the exile and various mementos.

Oil portraits of Victor Hugo by Leon Bonnat  and his grandchildren by Charles Voillemot (left)

Juliette Drouet's medieval drawing room in Guernesey displaying several objects created by Victor Hugo from second-hand furniture (left).

The Chinese drawing room taken from the second home of Juliette Drouet's second home in Guernesey.

 

Faithful recreation of Victor Hugo's bedroom in the Avenue d'Eylau town house in which he lived from 1878 until his death in 1885. 

Quite an interesting morning which not only allowed me to get into the life of this outstanding man, but also kept me away from the cold.

(To be continued)

More presents for the children of Calheta ...

I have been given a few more presents to take to the children of Calheta and although my suitcase is getting heavier I don't really care once I am anticipating the way they will react when they get them.

Presents for Marquinho (left) and little Aniza (right).

Presents for Leiziny (left) and Edeson (right).

Presents for Lou (left) and her siblings and mother (right).

 

A present for Marquinho's mother.

Life ...

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage "  

                                                               Anäis Nin

A year ago I had part of my stomach removed in a culminating turn of events I had not all expected. Being able to face the unexpected is something nobody is prepared for nor the way one might react to that unpredictability.

As time goes by one gets used to one's limitations or the refusal to accept them, similarly to life and the way the course of events sometimes unfold.

One may be astounded at the capacity one has to face obstacles and setbacks ...

Life takes its course ignoring one's fears ... one's vulnerabilities ... one's feelings ... and yet at every new dawn one should rejoice at life's beauty ... irrespective of the path it may lead us to ...

Contemporary Ballet Company from Angola at Camões Theatre, Lisbon

I had some expectations as to the performance of the Contemporary Ballet Company from Angola, whose "Paisagens Propicias" was supposed to have taken the literary and artistic production of the Angolan anthropologist and writer Ruy Duarte de Carvalho as its starting point.

The seven male dancers turned out to be great performers on stage, some solos having revealed an incredible mastery of body movement, though I felt their performance alone was not enough to provide the required consistency I felt the overall choreography could have been so as to highlight the desert of Namibe community values.

The music which incorporated some of the Southern Namibe sounds and dialects was incredible and was a major point in the whole performing sequence. 

Contemporary Ballet Company from Angola

Artistic Director - Ana Clara Guerra Marques

Dancers:

Adilson Valente

André Baptista

Antonio Sande

Armando Mavo

Benjamim Curti

Daniel Curti

Samuel Curti

Choreographer - Rui Lopes Graça

Music - João Lucas 

Nevertheless quite an interesting evening ..., that brought back the sounds of "my" Angola ...

The peacefully disturbing concert of Kayhan Kalhor ...

How peacefully disturbing was Kayhan Kalhor's concert  last night ...

Kayhan Kalhor "entered" my life almost unexpectedly as I was buying  tickets for a ballet concert and came across his name ... a name I had never heard before ... and for that matter neither had I ever heard any mentioning to the Persian bowed string instrument he plays ... the kamancheh.

I managed to gather quite a lot of information on him and the bass santoor musician he would be playing with at the concert, and the more I got closer to the date of the concert the more I felt nervous. Something about him as a person, as well as his musical approach  had touched me and having heard several compositions he had played touched me even more. There was some tinge of sad and sensitive melody magic that appealed to me ... and it did appeal to me so strongly that I just couldn't help wanting to hear him play live.

The Iranian carpeted stage with these two imposing masters of Kamancheh and bass santour sat in asana positions set the whole atmosphere of the concert ... sensitive light strokes and glides of both instruments filled the theatre and I was numbed ... bewitched ... overwhelmed by the music and the soul they put into it ... I didn't know if I wanted to cry or rejoice at the beauty ...

I had to deal with these mixed emotions throughout the one hour and a half non-stop concert that took us all into his own "trip" of isolation ... the one he felt throughout the dark period that beset his homeland Iran, once the concert was based on his "I will not stand alone" CD, reflecting that disturbing experience.

Once the concert was finished we all stood up and paid our tribute to these grand masters of music and defenders of their homeland tradition by clapping our hands as hard as we could, whilst they humbly bowed acknowledging our recognition.

They played for another twenty minutes and I don't think any of us in the audience wanted them to ever stop playing ...

A memorable evening ... a peacefully disturbing evening ... the acknowledgement that we don't stand alone in our feelings ...

Kayhan Kalhor - Kamancheh

Ali Bahrami Fard - Bass Santoor

The latest book I have read ...

Taking place over different periods of time "The Garden of Evening Mists" by Tan Twan Eng deals with quite a few inter-wined historical issues, though the main theme seems to be the role of memory in human existence and the relationship between memory and forgetting.

The book opening quotation by historian Richard Holmes "There is  a Goddess of Memory, Mnemosyne but none for forgetting. Yet there should be, as they are twin sisters, twin powers, and walk on either side of us, disputing for sovereignty over us and who we are,all the way until death" sets the tone of this novel.

Though I found it hard to adjust my frame of mind to the slow powerful and reflexive-tinged narrative, I ended up surrendering to its artistry.

I could eventually select and write down several (many) of the book's extracts for future reference and yet I have only copied this one ...

"Are all of us the same, I wonder, navigating our lives by interpreting silences between words spoken, analysing the returning echoes of our memory in order to charter the terrain, in order to make sense of the world around us."