Rhythms East-West

Some random Mickey Hart interview i heard eons ago came to mind while watching this lively montage. Mickey talks about breath as the source of all rhythm, evolving palaeontologically into The Beat as we commonly think of it, or maybe just take for granted dancing around till sunrise in an ecstasy-propagated workout. It punches out the frequency of our hearts, our brain waives :-), REM flutter and just about everything else indicative of life. Even in dormancy there is a pulse, however faint.

The soundtrack for Akachi's short film is provided by the Brasilian-based ensemble, Barbatuques, who are also dedicated to exploring this rhythm-body-sound relationship. STOMP without all the toys. Their own website has some nice visual interpretations of their musical journey, definitely worth having a look at if you're in a free-thinking, relaxed mood and need something non-specified to focus on (that is not an oxymoron, contrary to how it reads). In all likelihood, Too Far West Is East was probably made with other objectives in mind, but it's a beautiful rendition of how rhythmically we humans behave, across vastly different cultural parameters and regardless of the material objects which partly define or direct our movements.

Too far west is east from Takayuki Akachi on Vimeo.

So i've been looking into the Maori reparations agreement, and interestingly enough the main point of interest in New Zealand and elsewhere is the granting of intellectual property rights for the Ngati Toa Rangatira nation's Haka. This traditional Maori dance has evidently been appropriated widely in New Zealand, most notably by the All Blacks rugby team, who perform it before the start of every match. Check out one of the many youtube haka clips and note the terror it clearly instills in the opposing team.

Reparations in a twisted Green world

The government of New Zealand has made a reparations deal with 8 indigenous Maori tribes for treaty violations and land seizures dating back to the European invasion of the islands. The interesting thing about the deal is that half of the total payment will be made in cash, while the other half is to be made in credits for 'renting' forests and in greenhouse gas emission credits. Sorry, but there's something about this that seems very twisted to me and understanding why the Maori accepted these terms is something i've got to investigate. Why would tribes agree to pay for the use of forests which used to be part of their own territories? And what on earth are they going to do with emissions credits, sell them to Japan in exchange for capital to open casinos? Not that i've got a problem with Maori engaging in capitalist trading schemes, it just seems like a strange spin on "your way of life has totally ransacked us" resolution.