words sounds visions
Pleased to tell you that I’ll be taking part in a group show called Dites Le Avec de l’Art from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th February 2019.
Its in the Galerie Epatée in Paris 20th. There are eight artists in all and we are all working on the theme of Saint Valentine’s Day. Here are the eight artists participating:
Hope to see you there! Here is a link to the FB event https://www.facebook.com/events/776082352760549/
Its been a long time! I’ve been busy though. I’m going to get back into my website. Its not a new year resolution or anything I’m just getting sick and tired of social media and its algorithms that push us under the radar even more. That said take time to look at my instagram
So tomorrow on tour with Zarboth! Our new album (with artwork by yours truly) which is a two track album SIDE A and SIDE B is available worldwide through bandcamp here
The two tracks are Underground River which is about the vital force in all of us, that a lot of us don’t see or want to see… and Putain Putain which is the B side asks the timely question what does it mean to be European. This is a track that we all look forward to playing in Switzerland, that most European of non European countries.
Who knows what Europe means anymore? We don’t!
This song Putain Putain is a cover version of a song by TC Matic with the Belgian singer Arno- there are some lyrics in Flemish. I threw a Beastie Boys rap into the mix, just go and check it out. Hope you enjoy the sound.
And so tomorrow we take all of this to Switzerland – come and see us if you live there and put the word out to others who might like to come and see us. Here are the dates:
ZARBOTH on TOUR:
January
24 : Zürich (CH), Rotwoche
25 : Fribourg (CH), La Tour Vagabonde
26 : Porrentruy (CH), La Galerie du Sauvahe (Muzak)
March
21 : Paris (75), L’International
April
12 : West (Breizh), Help
13 : Angoulême (16), Mars Attack
26 : Gérardmer (88), Le Grattoir
27 : Strasbourg (67), Festival Bendorf
This week I am saying a famous poem by the French poet Victor Hugo.
My children learn poems nearly every week in their school (this is what they do in France) and I heard this poem and fell in love with it. There are other great poems too that they have learnt and I will share them soon too.
A nightmare for any parent: this poem was written by Hugo for his daughter Leopoldine, who had drowned with her husband in a boating accident. She was 19 years old at the time of her death. The accident happened four years before the poem was written.
You know that this poem is a love poem, but it is not until the second last line that you learn that the object of the poet’s love is dead. It is beautifully put together and controlled and with beautiful sonorities. It sounds very conversational in the first part of the poem. It rolls off the tongue with the simple rhyming scheme but if you look at it you can see that Hugo has cut sentences up and the rhymes happen within them.
Hugo is a powerful lyrical poet. He was so well known in his day that his writing affected the politics of his country. He also drew a huge amount during his life. He is a little like a more contemporary version of William Blake…
PS: I’m very busy at the moment so that is why I have not put up as many poems as the other weeks. Now it will soon be the holiday season so I will have time to learn some more poems.
Have a good Christmas!
Demain, dès l’aube, à l’heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m’attends.
J’irai par la forêt, j’irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.
Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.
Je ne regarderai ni l’or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j’arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.
3 septembre 1847
Victor Hugo
