In honor of Ascension day, which we will celebrate by being open for your browsing and shopping pleasure, we will be playing the Ascension oratorio by – who else? – Johann Sebastian Bach, whose music we play exclusively on Thursdays. If you can’t make it, or even if you can, have a look and a listen direct from Leipzig. It’s good for the soul even if you might not believe the tale.
As a Harvard graduate, who studied there when Henry Kissinger, one of the university’s professors, was actively helping the country’s president wage war in southeast Asia as national security adviser and later, after I graduated and moved to Sweden, as secretary of state, it is heartening to see Harvard in the forefront of the struggle against the current president’s efforts to wage war on his own country. In these tragic times, it seems appropriate to remember and sing along to the words of another Harvard graduate, the inimitable Tom Lehrer, in offering our support to the fight. This was one of the first songs he wrote, when he was still a college student in the 1940s, a “genteel” fight song, as he called it, before he wrote the politically satirical songs that were so popular in the 1960s and which we often play at the shop. He gave up song-writing in the 1970s, saying that he couldn’t write political satire after Kissinger won the Nobel peace prize. But his songs, and for that matter, he himself live on. Fight fiercely, Harvard!
It’s a pity he won’t be coming to Sweden, but you can see quite a bit of the concert on you tube. And to think he also grew up in New Jersey…
We always play Bach on Thursdays at Andy’s Corner and women singers on Fridays so here’s a piece that we just might play both today and tomorrow. I found it surfing on the internet after getting a cd with Marian Anderson, which brought back memories of seeing and hearing her at the Lincoln Memorial on another momentous occasion, in August 1963. Let it remind us that good things can also happen in Washington and in the United States even if it looks pretty bleak these days.
We’ll be open again at the usual hours on May 2. And come ready to load up on old National Geographics, which will be on sale for 20 kr or 6 for 100 as long as the supply lasts – and we’ve got plenty! In the meantime may peace be with you.
It was quite a festive occasion when Alison Luthmers enthralled us yesterday with her presentation in words and music of her newly released cd. We already look forward to seeing and hearing her and Giulia Cantone, who joined Alison on lute for a duet yesterday, at Andy’s Corner again. For those of you who missed the party we have cds in the shop for you to buy. We couldn’t post the video clips we made so here is a link to Ali playing in the fall:
We’ll be open today but closed tomorrow and Saturday, as we wish you all a peaceful holiday celebration, be it Easter or Passover or, as it is for an aging atheist, the glorious return of spring and the reemergence of life. To help celebrate, we will be open in the evening on Saturday, April 26 as part of the neighborhood’s annual culture night when the shops and galleries show what they have to offer. It’s usually quite festive, so do come by and join in the spring spirit. And don’t forget Alison’s release party on Sunday, April 27. Should be something special. Here’s a little taste to whet your appetite:
Judith-Maria Blomsterberg and Giulia Cantone will join Alison Luthmers on April 27 at 3 p.m. to celebrate the release of Alison’s new cd with music by the Swedish composer J.H. Roman. More info at Bookstore Events.
We call it a season
But it’s really a mood
It gives you a reason
To try to feel good.
It’s light in the darkness
It’s warmth in the cold
It helps you to harness
The strength to grow old.
Frida Kahlo wrote the words “Viva la vida” – or “Long live life” – on this sumptuous painting that she completed just a few days before she died in 1954. With all the hype and commercialism that has come to immerse her in recent years, it was a real treat to be able to visit her actual home in Mexico City, where she grew up and where she died, and walk through the blooming garden and the colorfully decorated rooms, with their pictures, among others, of Marx and Lenin on the walls, and get a feel for what inspired that remarkable woman.
During my week in Mexico City, I also visited a house once lived in by David Siqueiros – another communist artist, who spent four years in jail for his beliefs – which he had given to the city in 1973 along with paintings, murals and sketches, and which is now a small museum, but where, in striking contrast to Frida Kahlo’s museum, which is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Mexico City, I was the only visitor.
Altogether, it’s been a week marvelling at marvelous art and artefacts, both from the recent past and from Mexico’s pre-columbian past at the many museums and outdoor sites that are to be found in the city. It made me realize how short the age of European and northern American domination has been and how long and rich a legacy Mexico has to build on in the future.
Walking through the Alameda on my last day in the spring sunshine and savoring the local cuisine, and then seeing another Sunday afternoon in the Alameda portrayed as a dreamy vision of Mexico’s history in Diego Rivera’s fabulous mural – yes, Frida Kahlo’s husband was also a painter – was a truly memorable experience.
Let’s hope I can bring some of the warmth and wonder of that experience back to Sweden with me. We’ll be open again at the usual hours on Thursday. Long live life.
AndrewJamison