a duchess nonethelesss: June 2012

Thursday, June 21

hollywood

you know my thing for cowboys.. nice video from RAC/penguin prison "hollywood"

Wednesday, June 20

been trying my hand at portuguese tiling..or 'azulejos'. a staple in Portuguese cityscapes and a tradition that has been going strong for over 500 years. originally brought over by the moors, the tradition of geometric or simple floral designs has emerged into not only folk designs like roosters but into grand, intricate wall murals, now found all over the world in other portuguese [ and spanish] colonies.

a while ago i completed a wall mural for Pipa Restaurant + Bar [my fams gig].

but more recently i've been getting into proper tile making. here are some 4x4 drink coasters. coasters, tabletop inserts, back-splashes, murals are available for commission.

since i've been posting a lot about other traditional Mediterranean countries' folk music.. why not a little from my own! an amazing tune [/sucker for choruses]!

Monday, June 18

WijeratneWorks

A lovely friend Dinuk Wijeratne is the epitome of an amazing musician; a conductor, composer and pianist who has already made his big debut at carnegie hall [2004]. he has recently been collaborating with Dj skratch bastid to create only what one could classify as magical ear orgasm producing sounds.

check out this track from WijerateWorks [ but don't stop there, check out Dinuk's other stuff too!]

i am extremely honoured to know such a guy, and he is also a strong supporter of my artwork. thanks dinuk, for sharing your coveted cookie that one rainy day.

ecoPerch

The ecoPerch designed by Blue Forest, is 36.5 square meters (just under 400 square feet) and contains a master bed with built in storage, a bunk room, a toilet and shower room with a heated chrome towel rail, a living area with a wood stove, a kitchen with a breakfast bar and a small deck with storage for firewood. It’s highly insulated, made of sustainable materials and can be fitted with an off-grid energy system and composting toilet.

Saturday, June 16

watch.

la tigresa del oriente con los terapeutas del ritmo -new brighter day

Wednesday, June 13

sittin' pretty

this was once a lovely floor length evening gown that was stuffed in my family's dress up box for years. my littlest sister went as marilyn monroe when she was just a wee tot so my mother hacked off about half of the dress.

i rediscovered it years later [like many things in our dress up box] and decided it was a wonderful dress. it's about mid-thigh length on me currently. after a year or so i decided it would be a good investment to get it properly hemmed.

i will have to find out the era of this dress but it consists of three layers. an outer sheer layer, hand embroidered with silver, clear and green glass beads, a lime green silk layer, and then a lining. it still needs a bit of restoration as beads are constantly falling off when i wear it.

i love this dress. i am really glad my mother hacked it apart, because i would have never had the guts to do it. and it would have sat in my closet, with me dreaming of an appropriate day, any, ever, to wear a floor length vintage gown.

Monday, June 11

ghanafest 2012

shout out to a friend's band who rocked it on the last night of malta's ghanafest. incredibly, the band was only formed a week ago; a world music act made up of 2 maltese musicians, a sicilian violinist and a turkish singer.

i can't actually find any videos of the band called HAMAM, so here is a great sound clip of the maltese artists, andrew alamango and michael galea performing.
Gulay Arslan, a famous kurdish singer, who was their lead vocalist in HAMAM.

the festival was an amazing mixture of not only traditional maltese ghana music, but fusion and contemporary acts that pulled from various strands of mediterranean folk music.

another great act i enjoyed was KulTural. redefining traditional maltese music, the 4 artists use a variety of classical elements like guitar and violin but mix it up with beatboxing, and didgeridoo. an eclectic mixture of instruments and ideas, that somehow works really well together.

this song is one of their slower ones, and is absolutely stunning.

spanish act zoobazar was the closing act of the festival. and surprisingly even got the maltese off their asses to dance! again a world music act...that seemed like a heavy metal band gone folk. a great act to check out live.

anyways if you are loving these traditional jams that i have been posting lately, i suggest you check out filfla reccords [andrew alamango's gig]. they are doing good things. the maltese record label / research project aims to collect, restore, digitalize and protect maltese heritage music.

paradise & lunch

a beautiful friend named holly has created something wonderful: a nomadic like vintage sale full of pretty things and tasty food. starting at the lija house, her efforts have appropriately been named "paradise & lunch". after a bit of cleaning up and garden pruning, the lija house was, once again, a perfect location for another paradise and lunch event.
friends come; the girls shop, the boys barbecue, but everyone has a little [or a lot of] something to drink while lounging in the sunny courtyard. it's a great event and it's so nice to be in such a lovely location, surrounded by even lovelier friends.
i snapped a few photos along the way.