1. Gong – “Radio Gnome” (1971)
2. Mother Gong – “Lament for the Future of the Forest” (1991)
3. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Swedish
4. Gong – “Inner Temple” (1973)
5. Mother Gong – “Ancient” (1992)
6. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Mandarin
7. Gong – “Cat in Clark’s Shoes” (live) (1975)
8. Daevid Allen / Euterpe – “Euterpe Gratitude Piece” (1976)
9. How to Say “Excuse Me” in French
10. Gong – “Continental Circus World” (1971)
11. Steve Hillage – “Aftaglid” (1975)
12. Planet Gong – “New World Transformation Try / No More Sages” (live) (1977)
13. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Russian
14. Gong – “Yoni On Mars” (2000)
15. Gong – “Witch’s Song / I Am Your Pussy” (1973)
16. Steve Hillage – “UFO Over Paris” (1978)
17. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Arabic
18. Gong – “Shamal” (live) (1975)
19. Gong – “Other Side of the Sky” (1973)
20. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Hindi
21. Gong – “Master Builder” (1974)
22. Gong – “Eat That Phone Book Coda” (1973)
23. How to Say “Excuse Me” in German
24. Gong – “Givin’ My Luv To You” (1973)
25. Acid Mothers Gong – “Makototen” (2004)
26. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Hebrew
27. Gong – “Flying Teapot” (1973)
28. Gong – “Wet Cheese Delirium” (1971)
29. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Spanish
30. Steve Hillage – “The Salmon Song” (1975)
31. Gong – “Outer Temple” (1973)
32. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Korean
33. Gong – “Isle of Everywhere” (1974)
34. Gong – “Zeroina” (2004)
35. Daevid Allen – “Stoned Innocent Frankenstein” (1971)
36. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Italian
37. New York Gong – “Materialism” (1980)
38. Steve Hillage – “The Glorious Om Riff” (BBC session) (1979)
39. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Japanese
40. Gong – “Thoughts for Naught” (1974)
41. Gong – “Blues for Findlay (Instrumental)” (1971)
42. How to Say “Excuse Me” in Polish
43. Planet Gong – “Allez Ali Baba Blacksheep, Have You Any Bullshit? / Mama Maya Mantram” (live) (1977)
44. Gong – “I Am You” (live) (1990)
45. Gong – “Gnome the Second” (1971)

Total Time: 3 hours, 21 minutes

Hello Good People who read this blog

(please excuse any typos I need to take a break and will edit again later/tomorrow)

I am recovering from my evening out at the Forum last night in Kentish Town ( in London for anyone who might be reading this in Estonia) to see Steve Hillage and Gong.

Our little troupe of Hillage/Gong fans started our  journey to the gig after lots of cups of tea and a supper of winter foods including of course our green vegetables. We trailed up the road happily like well-fed hobbits, ready to face the bright lights and commuters, but had to make a detour after a rather alarming  encounter with Orcs dressed in blue accompanied by their hounds of hell.

By the time we got to The Forum , The Steve Hillage band was already on stage, playing “Love Guitar” one of my favourite soppy songs. I wanted to put it up here before but the video on youtube is to film clips and is not hippy-like at all and besides you can’t embed it. The audience didn’t seem quite warmed up at that point and so we reckon we must have arrived pretty much close to the start of the proceedings.

(double-click on the photos to see them in full-screen)

Steve Hillage Band-The Forum-27/11/2009

Left to right

Miquette Giraudy Keyboards-Synth-Backing -Vocals-Air Guitar and fun

Steve Hillage -Genius Electric Guitarist, Vocals.

Chris Taylor (I think! at least it’s him on the 2032 new album by Gong) – Drums with a zillion tempo changes

Mike Howlett-Bass-player extra-ordinaire

I know the Steve Hillage and Gong have played The Forum before in 2008 and that they have toured quite a bit in the past 18 months or so but this is the first time I have seen the “Steve Hillage Band” , i.e. Steve Hillage doing rock since 1980. Also to my embarrassment I had never seen Gong live until  last night. Although I know their early albums and the fantastic Japanese import  “Gong Live etc.” (Virgin,1977 ) back to front. If you do not have this double album, try to get one.I got mine on vinyl as a Japanese import around twenty-nine years ago now, but still love it.

Steve Hillage and Gong fans are very difficult to get rid of, as we could tell from the average age of the audience although there were a minority of teenagers looking blissful and cuddling with their significant others.

We didn’t go there to take photos or film but we took a few like the two above before the memory was full. We went to  have a good time in the audience not film, and we did have a great time, my sore  feet, sore neck and sore throat ( from singing and dancing along) are testimony to this so I’ll stop writing now and put up some photos and clips enshrined in a couple of comments.

After the first couple of songs the audience were warmed up and the crowd had swelled, in fact the place was packed out. They had made an early start and this had obviously caught some by surprise. Steve Hillage and his band were on form. Hillage seems to have lost confidence with his vocals, as many singers do as they get older, especially if they have not been singing for a decade or two. If you listen to Joni Mitchell in the sixties and now in her sixties, her voice is totally different but it’s good, she has had to change her singing range and vocal style to keep on.

In terms of guitar playing and performing, Steve Hillage is still at the top of his league. As the evening wore on, he just got better and better ( and better) playing complicated solos and key changes, tempo changes, etc..

Here is a clip Intro to Hurdy-Gurdy Man

He played some fast and furious guitar and the band were great but we were too busy dancing to film it! No doubt more footage will appear on youtube. Also Mike  Howlett’s excellent bass playing was mixed in a way that was not beefy enough and yet obliterated the rest of the band a bit, not sure how! I guess that’s what live music is about, it depends where you stand (and the taste and/or ability of the engineer).

The set was amazing and the crowd were ecstatic,great lightshow too with great animations projected.

My only complaint about The Steve Hillage Band was that their set was so short, I would have been happy to see them play their first five albums from start to end and would have not got bored for a second or judged them if they had missed a few bits and improvised instead.

However when we saw the long set that Gong played with the same instrumentalists , we realised perhaps why Steve Hillage’s set was short but quality. When we arrived at 7.45 pm, The Steve Hillage Band was already playing and by the time Gong had left the stage it was past 11 pm.

Miquette and Steve ( Forum 27/11/2009)

There was a long break for drinks, just as well as it seemed impossible to get served. Two bars for thousands of people, the bar we queued up at only had one person serving, although after half an hour or so there were three behind the bar.

The mood was jolly, lots of blokes, average age 50, many still with long hair or bald.But there were also women of all ages and young, some very young , guys.

There is always a new crop of hippies germinating from any background, they emerge at around the age of 14 and by 16 they are either in a band or leading some form of alternative lifestyle with individual image to boot.These budding hippies who emerge from nowhere decade after decade, will always gravitate towards the music of Gong and Steve Hillage.

Gong appeared on stage at around 9.15pm. The consisted of the members of  The Steve Hillage Band , plus Daevid Allen ( vocals and  guitar, and much leaping around), Gilli Smyth ( Vocals, “Space Whispers”, Goddess/Witch) and Theo Travis ( playing some rather excellent flute and sax).

Gong at The Forum 27/11/2009 ( minus Miquette)

We couldn’t help but notice that Gilli seemed older than the kind of woman you’d expect onstage with a rock band. Well we have been conditioned to expect only young people onstage doing weird rock music, and especially when it comes to women, we are super-conditioned that only certain types of sexualised young women or alternatively young teenage rebel girls who shave their heads or dye it blue will  be there. But I believe in breaking boundaries, most of the best classic bands are older, too old to rock and roll and too young to die? No! Get on stage I say!

According to Wikipedia, Gilli Smyth, is 76 years old,she used to be in academia, lecturing at the Sorbonne before deciding to do something all the more intellectual by forming Gong with her partner Daevid Allen.

Here is Gilli being a Witch on stage along to a free-form jazz jam from other members of Gong.

The Witch’s Song Performed at The Forum 27/11/2009  originally released 1973 on “Radio Gnome Invisible.Part One”

Daevid Allen is 71. But he bounces around the stage like a kangaroo on acid and speed. Daevid has such a stage presence and is such a character that I can’t help but wonder what on earth he would do if he didn’t go on stage and dispel that energy. He is a jester with apparently boundless tigger-like energy. He definitely needs a stage to bounce on!

Gong- You Can’t Kill Me

Unfortunately we ran out of memory before being able to film Daevid in his special silver-white silk catsuit embellished by CDs, or his “No one Knows I’m a Lesbian” T-Shirt, or when he chases Miquette around the stage, but his energy is impressive.

Daevid Allen at The Forum 27/11/2009

Miquette having fun playing air guitar along to Steve (27/11/09-Forum)

There were times when Gong shouted and repeated the same line over like a cross between a sergeant major barking orders and the rat-rat-rat of a self-loading machine gun, which reminded me of war , riots and abrupt change. There were times when Gong intoned half-sung and half-spoken poems with collective unconscious and mythical archetypes to a free-from jazz jam, with a strong melodic chorus planted wherever and whenever it seemed least expected. There were times when the music became ultra-psychedelic , the same repeated riff and beat, getting faster and louder with glissando guitars and strobes, it went on in a cyclic trance fashion. I could not help but close my eyes to take it in ,it felt like I was at some spiritual ceremony and that spiritual energies were being purposefully raised. I felt like I was in the dance tent at some winter festival. People didn’t dance as much, but then we are older and were tired by the end of the evening .However there seemed to be some incredibly strong positive force present within the music. ..and I couldn’t help but notice that at the end of the evening, after a long encore and a very long gig, that Daevid Allen seemed to do a little ceremony to seal off each one of his chakra points, starting at his head and working his way down.

Aha! I thought to myself , that’s where Daevid gets his energy from: rituals and chakras!

I am somewhat cynical about anything too religious, but they must be getting their energy from somewhere!

Love and Peace ( off to do yoga,meditation and find my chakras now!)

Born2rant

p.s. for more of a spiritual explanation click on Pete’s comment on the upper part of the left hand column of this blog or follow this link ( thanks again Pete)

http://vimeo.com/1626328

Move out of the way Big Bang, 2NE1 is the new face of Baskin Robbins. The fashionista girl group released two cf’s and tons of pictures.

I noticed that Minji was wearing my all time favorite Street wear brand Hellz Bellz. 

The Queen Save God Tee in White Women’s Tee  to be exact. Interested in purchasing?

Karmaloop sells it for $16.95 ,that’s $21.05 dollars off the original price. You can buy it here.

Check out the 1st Cf here:

It’s so adorable. It reminds me of a Barbie commercial from the 1990’s.

Happy Shopping!

Hwaiting!

Cosmic Trip Machine is proud to announce the release of their new album, Vampyros Roussos, on Record Heaven label. You can order a copy here:

RecordHeaven

« One of Belgium’s finest psychedelic bands, these night-trippers sound like Demis Roussos jamming with Gong imagining a psychedelic horror soundtrack wandering through a free-flowing erotic surreal delirium with enough sitar, cosmic electronics and wailing acidic guitar leads to blow your head clean off. » (Sloowtapes)

The first two extracts from Vampyros Roussos are available in exclusive versions with an amazing cover there: http://cosmictripmachine.be/single

Cosmic salutations

“It takes more than intellect to be a musician. Put your soul into a little. Of course, it doesn’t pay much, but, at least, it’s a start.”

Some awesome fairytale pictures from Korean celebritys. I wonderd if i should have something like this in my final work?

Han Chae Young and Baek Seol Gong as the Queen and King from Snow White.Ye Ji Won as Little Red Riding Hood

Ha Ji Won as Gulliver from Gulliver’s Travels

Kim Seong Ryeong as Rapunzel

Chae Sira as Cinderella’s step-mother. Models Kim Min Hee and Lee Hyuk Soo’s reinterpretation of Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride

Nice work, i wish i had a budjet for that…

Hello Good People who surprise me by still reading this blog during my long absences.

This post was originally half written over four weeks ago and was never finished, I was interrupted by the ‘flu,the Cultural Revolution and Revolutionary Operas and then had to recover from the exhaustion of all three!

Anyway, I am now myself again and am greatly excited at the prospect of seeing the Steve Hillage Band and Gong live at The Forum in London, this Friday (on the 27/11/2009 in case you read this at some point in the future).

Talking about some point in the future, before the Cultural Revolution, or sleeping or reading about East Asian pop music compulsively once  again, I will get straight to the point and illustrate Gong’s new album entitled 2032 with a short clip. I have to admit that I think this music video is amazing. It was made by the Japanese animator team Mu-0C Magic , who I believe are Hibari Hoya,Haruka Sakota, and Akira Watanabe.

Gong- How to Stay Alive ( 2009)

Is the album entitled 2032 because an asteroid is due to hit Earth in that year?

Answers in the comments section please, the song is certainly cheerfully apocalyptic. But then the first ever song by Gong that hit me lyrically in the centre of my brain was You Can’t Kill Me, a song about killing off the rest of the family, symbolic and  psychologically strange.

( preceded appropriately by Radio Gnome Prediction) released in 1971 from the album Camembert Electrique:

The tracks on the new album 2032 sound definitely like the old Gong, although on occasion I can hear a bit of old Hawkwind and The Ozric Tentacles too. However considering that without both Hawkwind and Gong , there wouldn’t be any Ozric Tentacles ..I’ll let you do the maths…

Here is Pinkle Ponkle from the new Gong album, starting off sounding a bit techno, then a bit middle-Eastern but then definitely just like Gong’s unique style with echo unit orgasmic sighs by Gilli Smyth , Daevid Allen’s poetry, psychedelic spacy effects by Miquette Giraudy, Steve Hillage’s uniquely wonderful  guitar sound ,with Mike Howlett on bass,Chris Taylor on drums and Theo Travis on flute and sax.

See the Gong website (http://www.planetgong.co.uk/) for further guest players on the album including the original Didier Malherbe.

Gong and Steve Hillage surreptitiously introduced me to Gamelan, free form jazz , Middle-Eastern and Indian classical music and musical concepts like drones on Miquette’s synth,and modes from the East on Steve’s guitar, when I was only fourteen and “World Music” was not generally heard in London’s mainstream media, apart from a bit of Indian Classical music.

In recent years of course, Steve Hillage has been creating music with Miquette as System7, but even with dance/trance/techno music he was still playing his guitar live.

Now with the reemergence of The Steve Hillage Band , he is playing his old stuff again, something many of us had wished and prayed for during the past two and a half decades and never dared to hope would come true.

I will end with some video clips as it’s late and I need to go to bed! One last piece of info, I phoned up a ticket agency today ( Keith Prowse) and there are still tickets available for this Friday (tomorrow) at the Forum in Kentish Town…

but only because every Steve Hillage fan in London does not realise he is playing yet. If you are one of them, get yourself a ticket by whatever means , it’s not too late. Or you could go and see The Steve Hillage Band and Gong , on Saturday the 28th at The O2 Academy in Oxford,  and Sunday the 29th of  November at The Corn Exchange in Brighton.

I have already put up so many of my favourite Steve Hillage tracks up on this blog along with my favourite youtube video clips so forgive me if I am repeating myself .

Om Nama Shivaya from the album “L” (1976)

Salmon Song ,this is a clip from the fantastic video of Steve Hillage playing in Canterbury from the truly excellent DVD  Steve Hillage LIVE in England 1979.

and from the same DVD here he is with Hurdy Gurdy Man

and here they are in 2009 in Bonn playing  Searching for The Spark ..they need a bigger audience to bounce their musical vibes off, so get down there , if you are in London, Oxford, or Brighton and dance your hippie dance.

See you all on Friday or online sometime.

Love and Peace

Born2rant

Cosmic Trip Machine
Lord Space Devil (2008)

Click here to start the download

Please, give your opinions here

To download each track (right click and choose “Save Target As”…)

01. Lord Space Devil
02. Floor
03. Go Down Streets
04. Mantra #27 (Shiva’s angry vs NoHype Studio)
05. Sorry Edgar for the spelling
06. Giallo (Profondo Argento)
07. Another Venus
08. Plastic Hippie
09. Death Light (Light beyond Death)
10. So Sad
11. Strange is laughing under view
12. Time
13. Mariachi / The Twilight (Donde esta la biblioteca de Madrid, hijo de puta)
14. Ciaroscuro
15. Lonely Grave
16. Conversation
17. In the Haze of Drugs
18. Last Song

To print cover, it’s here

Cosmic Trip Machine is…
Will Z. : steel-string acoustic guitar, vocals, sitar, bass, organ, Siel keyboards, Antonelli plastic shit, percussions, rainstick, tambourine, gong, screams
Majnun : electric guitar, steel-string acoustic guitar, classical guitar, guitar-sitar, percussions, flute, satanic voices (the narrator)
JP : recording and mixing, tea, water (Evian or Bru, we don’t know), keeping Google quiet

Produced by Will Spector (wall of sound) and Jimmy Pakkes

Recorded and mixed by Jean-Pol Gerard at NoHype Studio between March and April 2008
Mastered by Paul Van der Jonckheyd at Foon

Artinasaly (sic) distributed by Open your Eyes Production

Cosmic Trip Machine
Lord Space Devil (2008)

Click here to start the download

Please, give your opinions here

To download each track (right click and choose “Save Target As”…)

01. Lord Space Devil
02. Floor
03. Go Down Streets
04. Mantra #27 (Shiva’s angry vs NoHype Studio)
05. Sorry Edgar for the spelling
06. Giallo (Profondo Argento)
07. Another Venus
08. Plastic Hippie
09. Death Light (Light beyond Death)
10. So Sad
11. Strange is laughing under view
12. Time
13. Mariachi / The Twilight (Donde esta la biblioteca de Madrid, hijo de puta)
14. Ciaroscuro
15. Lonely Grave
16. Conversation
17. In the Haze of Drugs
18. Last Song

To print cover, it’s here

Cosmic Trip Machine is…
Will Z. : steel-string acoustic guitar, vocals, sitar, bass, organ, Siel keyboards, Antonelli plastic shit, percussions, rainstick, tambourine, gong, screams
Majnun : electric guitar, steel-string acoustic guitar, classical guitar, guitar-sitar, percussions, flute, satanic voices (the narrator)
JP : recording and mixing, tea, water (Evian or Bru, we don’t know), keeping Google quiet

Produced by Will Spector (wall of sound) and Jimmy Pakkes

Recorded and mixed by Jean-Pol Gerard at NoHype Studio between March and April 2008
Mastered by Paul Van der Jonckheyd at Foon

Artinasaly (sic) distributed by Open your Eyes Production

Filosofi :

• Gong merupakan alat kesenian tradisional rakyat sunda, berfungsi juga sebagai penyeru.
• Memiliki lingkaran yang terpusat, sebagai lambang keterpusatan segala sesuatu kepada Allah SWT.
• Sebagai lambang pemersatu dalam hal :
  • Informasi terpusat
  • Penyamaan persepsi
  • Penyamaan visi
  • Struktur dan rantai jalur komando terpusat dan teratur
• Gaung/gema dari suara yang ditimbulkan lebih langgeng dan luas secara merata sebagai cerminan dari tekad yang kuat dan landasan yang benar.
• Memerlukan topangan/penyangga yaitu masyarakat yang :
  • Bersatu
  • Mandiri (sehingga tidak mudah dikuasai pihak-pihak yang bermotif destruktif)
  • Amanah (terpercaya dalam memegang sistem)
• Keseluruhan keberadaannya identik dengan keharmonisan antara berbagai elemen baik pemerintah maupun masyarakat sehingga dapat berdiri dengan benar.
• Kontur yang luwes sebagai lambang kesantunan dan menghargai hak orang lain, namun juga mempunyai sisi yang jelas sebagai lambang ketegasan dalam bersikap dan berperilaku.
• Mempunyai identitas dan situasi serta kondisi yang jelas atas keberadaan dan penggunaannya. Terbuat dari bahan yang sesuai dengan fungsinya, tidak lebih dan tidak kurang sebagai lambang pengamalan kesederhanaan sekaligus pengetahuan yang mumpuni atas fungsi dan penempatan segala sesuatu sesuai bidang masing-masing.

Ich werde von meinem Radiowecker geweckt. Genauer gesagt wurde ich bislang immer von Herold und Indra, Radio Energy München, geweckt.

Aber die blonde Co-Moderatorin Indra ist für mich kaum mehr zu ertragen. Nein, nicht kaum: garnicht mehr. Die Stimme. Die Geisteshaltung. Ihre ständigen Versuche das pubertäre Mädchen-Jungs-Spiel zu spielen, lassen einen peinlich berührt lauter mit dem Frühstücksteller klappern: Mädchen sind toll, Jungens nur peinlich. Der Gegenbeweis ist hörbar. Ich dachte das klärt man in der 9ten Klasse?

Alles tut ihr leid: alles. Ich brauche morgens weiß Gott kein weinerliches Referat über Bauer sucht Frau und warum die Bauern ihr Mitleid verdient haben. Wenn das Wort “Twilight” fällt, dann schnappt ihre Stimme über und sie hyperventiliert wie eine 14-jährige -bei der ich diese Hysterie verstehen könnte. Ungeregelte Hormonhaushalte eben. Die immer gleiche Wettermoderation: Wolken und Sonne, inthemix. Die immer gleiche Intonation. Mir tut Herold leid: sie fährt ihm in fast jede Parade, ruiniert beinahe jeden Witz, von Niveau oder Esprit leider nichts mehr übrig – da kann Herold noch so schnell denken. Ihre Monologe musste ich zuletzt leiser drehen oder ausmachen. Da ich mich nicht jeden Tag aufs Neue ärgern will, habe ich nun also ein neues Projekt: neuer Stammsender. Manch einer mag lachen – einfach umschalten? Nene, so einfach ist das nicht. Immerhin müssen sämtliche Radiogeräte umgestellt werden, und da ich nur schön altmodische Drehknopf-Radios hab, ist das mit Arbeit und Feintuning verbunden. Teilweise sogar mit umräumen und umstellen, weil ich nicht in allen Ecken meiner Bude alle Sender reinkrieg. Alles nur wegen IHR.

Ich habe eine Liste mit allen Sendern, die in meiner Vorstellung in die engere Wahl kommen könnten und die teste ich also. Heute morgen also von Mike Thiel, Radio Gong geweckt worden. Die MorningShow habe ich vor Urzeiten mal gehört, da war Bully noch Showpraktikant. Es gabe einige überpitschte Aktionen, die einem schnell zum Hals rauskommen: Hit oder Shit z.B. Aber ich schalte nun so ein, dass ich das nicht hören muss und hab ein Problem weniger. So hab ich mir das gedacht.

Tag 1, Radio Gong, MorningMan Mike Thiel, 45 Minuten Laufzeit zwischen 07:41 und irgendwann später

Erster Eindruck: ganze drei Songs, davon zwei Oldies (Gaynor und Oldfield). Der Rest bestand aus Werbung, Wetter, Nachrichten. Ist mir definitiv zuviel Geschwafel. Morgen noch einVersuch, ich bin gelinde gesagt geschockt.

Das kann ja heiter werden!

The sounds made by the gongs of different ethnic groups and countries are an invaluable treasure of the people, the chairman of the Gia Lai Province People’s Committee, Pham The Dung, said at the closing ceremony of the International gong festival at the March 17 Square in the city of Pleiku, the central highland province of Gia Lai, in the evening of November 15.

The Chu Se District’s gong troupe of Gia Lai Province perform at the closing ceremony of the 2009 International gong festival.

The ceremony featured special performances like “the Legend of Bien Ho (sea lake),” “The arms of Dam San (the heroic chieftain of E De group) and more.

The four-day event attracted more than 20,000 Vietnamese and international visitors and 400 journalists.

The festival, held to honor the gong culture in the Central Highlands, which has been recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, drew 63 troupes and gong troupes from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, and Myanmar.


Related articles:
Preservation of gong culture discussed
International Gong Festival opens in upland
Jubilant atmosphere covers highland city
22 ethnic groups to join Gong Festival
Vietnam’s biggest gong to be displayed at festival

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The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a seminar November 14, “Changes in socio-economic conditions and the preservation of gong culture in Vietnam and Southeast Asia,” in the Highland city of Pleiku as part of the ongoing International Gong Festival 2009.

(File) Performers in traditional costumes participate at an ox-killing festival (Photo: SGGP)

Many international and domestic social scientists spoke about the social role of gongs and gong culture in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia, focusing on economic and social effects, as well as preservation and development of human values of the culture.

The presentations also mentioned measures to preserve and build on these cultural values. Participants stressed that keeping space for the gong could protect and preserve the special culture.

Master Linh Nga Niek Dam said ethnic minorities all have sets of gongs because the musical instruments are the soul of a group.

Gongs are regarded as the axis of the culture of rice, architecture, traditions, oral literature and food. It therefore needs to be protected with proper policies and public awareness to preserve the specific culture raised, he added. Otherwise, a group of ethnic people should be trained to keep the culture.

Vietnamese Prof. To Ngoc Thanh said teaching how to play gongs from generation to generation is very important; therefore society should pay attention to nurturing artisans as ‘human treasures.’

Furthermore, schools should teach gong culture and folk traditions and cultures in curricula in a bid to cultivate young generations to have an understanding and sense of protecting the special musical instruments, Prof. Thanh said.

Artisans are currently performing gongs sets, statue sculpting and slaughtering an oxen throughout Pleiku, such as at Dong Xanh Cultural Park, Dien Hong Park, Ve Nguon Entertainment Zone.

In addition to performances of M’nong, Cham and H’roi artisans, Burmese players contributed with 70 musical instruments of the Mon people and Indonesian performers with ten instruments.

A photographic exhibition, “Space for the Highland’s gong culture,” was also opened in the province’s museum the same day.

VTV 2 will broadcast the closing festival ceremony on November 15.

Related articles:
International Gong Festival opens in upland
Jubilant atmosphere covers highland city
22 ethnic groups to join Gong Festival
Vietnam’s biggest gong to be displayed at festival

Bookmark & Share

A ceremony to present Vietnam’s biggest gong was held by the Vietnamese Guinness Record Center in the city of Pleiku November 13.

The biggest gong in Vietnam is displayed in Pleiku, Gia Lai Province. (Photo: SGGP)

The gong, measuring 2.5 meters across and weighing 700 kilograms, was cast by artisans and experts at the Phuoc Kieu Bronze Casting Village in the central province of Quang Nam.

The gong took 90 days to take shape, with one ton of brass and 100 kilograms of other metals used.

The gong is displayed at the Green Field Cultural Park during the four-day the International Gong Festival in the central province of Gia Lai.

On the same day, there were gong performances by 15 troupes, including groups from Indonesia and Cambodia.

Three international troupes, including Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines, also performed at Dien Hong Park, Pleiku.

On the framework of the International Gong Festival 2009, Gia Lai Province’s People’s Committee held a conference on investment promotion.

The conference attracted more than 250 domestic businesses nationwide.

The province called for investment in 53 projects with a total capital of VND11.2 trillion.

Pham The Dung, chairman of the province’s People’s Committee, said the province needs businesses to invest in many fields, such as industrial plant processing, mining, tourism and wind power.

At the conference, many businesses donated over VND48 billion to the province’s social welfare fund to build houses and hospitals for disadvantaged people.

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And so, here we are: the final installment of The Kids Don’t Get It NBA 2009-10 Season Preview.

You can read the first 5 parts of “Earning Your NBA” by clicking the tab by the same name under “Categories”.

"Ha! Bein' EVIL's GREAT! Ha!"

For a brief recap, after watching the MLB playoffs which was full of some of the fattest, cheating-est sons of bitches around–and that’s just counting Guliani sitting in the stands–I thought it was high time someone tried to drum up support for the NBA.

So I’ve done a division by division, team by team breakdown of the league. Here are some highlights:

• The Atlantic Division: where we learned about Rasheed “Black Woodsman Cannibal” Wallace (Celtics), discovered an overweight Ben Affleck moonlighting as a PF (Knicks) and unlocked (?) A.I. Mudbutt (76ers).
• The Central Division: Charlie Villanueva is the first Chernobyl baby to play pro ball (Pistons), Shaq’s doughnut sweat (Cavaliers) and head coach Vinnie of the Blacks (Bulls)
• The Southeast Division: home of Hedo Turkoglu’s face (Magic), why Brendan Haywood loves riding wood (Wizards), and how the Charlotte Bobcats are destroying the African-American community.
• The Northwest Division: where tattoos=NBA contracts (Nuggets), the 80 yr-old Greg Oden and Richard Pryor re-incarnated (Blazers),  and Utah perfects cloning Karl Malone (Jazz).
• The Pacific Division: Pau Gasol escapes Che Guevara, Steve Nash’s pretty, pretty hair, and making love to Stephen Curry’s mom.

And now, the final division rears its head: the Southwest Division!

The Southwest Division (Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies)

• Houston Rockets: I lived in Houston from 2001-03. Amazing time, and by “amazing time” I mean, “thank Batman I made it back to the East Coast”. It was my own personal Escape from New York. If you have an equal love for strippers and burritos, urban sprawl and mega-malls, then Houston’s the place for you. Anyway, because I was there from 01-03, it meant that I was there to witness the very first game of Yao Ming; the much-heralded introduction of the China man that would Change the Face of the NBA (so they thought). Anyway, I knew Yao was in trouble when, while sitting in the stands for that 1st game, every time he scored or touched the ball, one of the fans around me yelled something along the lines of, “Yeah, give it to’em Jackie Chan!”….or, “open your eyes n—a!”….or even “karate kick his ass, Jet Li!”. As if this wasn’t enough, the Rockets organization–anticipating the confusion of Houstonians seeing a 7-ft-tall Chinese man (fearing someone would say, “you sure that just ain’t a brother with that Michael Jackson disease?”)–referred to him as “Emperor Yao” and more amazingly, whenever Yao blocked a shot, hit a free throw, scored or drank Gatorade on the sideline they would make a gong sound on the overhead speakers. Amazing. I nervously waited for the day that the same marketing team would come up with the idea of having Yao bring Tracy McGrady out in a rickshaw as part of the player introductions. And poor Yao was interviewed from Day 1, initially only speaking in his native language….then eventually speaking in broken English (fitting right into the Houston scene)….then in a modified English that made him sound like an Asian Frankenstein…to his current English speech, which makes him sound closer to Marlee Matlin. At one point, the Rockets had Patrick Ewing as a big man coach, Dikembe Mutombo as back-up C for Yao and Yao Ming all under one roof–that’s 21-ft of gibberish. Want proof? Check this out.
• Dallas Mavericks: Home of Dirk Nowitzski, the German 7-ft’er with the shooting range of Larry Bird and the face of a bad police sketch. Actually, poor Dirk is quite familiar with the police lately: his pregnant fiancee Cristal Taylor was arrested on a series of outstanding warrants and revealed to have at least 8 different aliases. When questioned by reporters, Dallas detectives commented, “we haven’t seen this many warrants and name changes since Ol Dirty Bastard”. On top of that, the Mavericks prized SF, Josh Howard, who once casually told reporters “yeah, I smoke weed occasionally”, was caught on YouTube at a flag football charity event where he said in reference to the Star Spangled Banner: “I don’t celebrate that sh-t. I’m black.” He then blew a huge cloud of weed and disappeared like a ninja.
• New Orleans Hornets: how do you save a sinking city? With basketball of course! The N.O. Hornets have one of the league’s best PGs playing for them: Chris Paul. Paul is the energetic, quick, creative point guard that’s been likened to a young Isaiah Thomas, which is sort of like your daughter’s teacher telling you that she reminds the teacher of an “up and coming Jenna James”. Paul is flanked with Peja Stojakovic, who looks like a member of “Right Said Fred”, and Emeka Okafur, the PF/Cwho has now gone from black people-crushing Charlotte Bobcats, to black people-crushing New Orleans. This man’s life is clearly cursed.
• San Antonio Spurs: With little-to-no star power, the Spurs have had to rely on Tony Parker’s marriage to make them talk-able to the general public. I mean sure, people know who Tim Duncan is, but Duncan’s got about as much marketing charisma as Lipitor.  Duncan’s biggest headline will be whenever he retires because it’ll be something like, “Duncan Leaving NBA to Return to Solo, Millenium Falcon”, or, “Future Hall-of-Famer Duncan Returns to Yeti Life”. To be sure, there’s other guys: the Spurs also have The Kids’ favorite Manu Ginobili, SF Richard Jefferson and the aforementioned Tony Parker. But really, it all falls back on Tony Parker being married to Eva Longoria; it’s the only thing the Spurs have going for them. And how rough is that to consider? You’re a multi-championship-winning team that’s always competitive, boasts one of the greatest PF ever (Tim Duncan), full of likable guys on your roster…..yet your #1 asset is a chick that looks like she should be standing next to a concept car on a rotating stage. The mystery that is the public thinking that Eva Longoria is hot continues unresolved. America runs on Duncan.

• Memphis Grizzlies: Pau Gasol left and was replaced by his less-talented brother, Marc Gasol who is sorta the “Khloe” to Pau’s “Kim”–or maybe Pau should be “Khloe” since they both play ball with Lamar Odom? Ah, whatever. This puts the Grizzlies into the category of “Sibling-Shared Franchises”, earning a #4 spot:

1. Brotherly Love (starring Joey Lawrence and his mutant brothers)
2. Sweet Valley High (twins Cynthia and Brittany Daniels)
3. Anything the Duff sisters do
4. Memphis Grizzlies Pau/Marc Gasol
5. Anything the Simpson sisters do (Ashley & Jessica; Maggie & Lisa)

This season, the Grizzlies have also brought Allen Iverson onto the team, after Iverson made stops in Philadelphia, Denver and Detroit–I actually think he’s trying to recreate 50-Cent’s last tour–before landing in Memphis to play for what might be the worst team in the league. I mean, sure, the Griz have Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley–but they also have Allen Iverson and Zach Randolph–a man so crazed and erratic that even Isaiah Thomas let him go. I wish David Stern would create a new franchise team in some effed-up city/town like, ttesay, Trenton, NJ. And then, he can start a team there that’s full of guys like this. It’d be a team with Zach Randolph at PF, Stephen Jackson at SG, Rasheed Wallace at C, Ricky Davis shooting craps mid-court and Ron Artest doing Ron Artest things like wearing a Scream mask during post-game interviews and hiding under the bleachers eating Snickers. The team would be called the Trenton City Dick-Punchers, and their mascot would be something douchey and punchable–but instantly obnoxious–like say Nick Lachey.

And so, that completes our Kids Don’t Get It NBA 2009-10 Season Preview (an abrupt ending, I know). Guess to make this worth something reportable, I should make some predictions for the season. Ok, here goes:

• MVP: Hedo Turkoglu’s Face
• Coach of the Year: Mikhail Prokhoro (Russian Mafia-assisted)
• GM of the Year: Mikhail Prokhorov
• Rookie of the Year: Mikhail Prokhorov (Russian Mafia-assisted)
• 6th Man of the Year: Dirk’s ex-fiancee’, baby
• Defensive Player of the Year: Ron Artest’s teeth; Stephen Jackson’s gun (tie)

There you go. Jump-ball has already started on the season, so you’d best get to watching.

The NBA: Where Magic Johnson happens.

The 2009 International Gong Festival will open at the March 17 Square in the city of Pleiku, the central highland province of Gia Lai, in the evening of November 12 and runs until November 15.

The Buon Trap gong troupe of Dak Lak Province rehearse for the Nov. 12 opening ceremony of the 2009 International Gong Festival (Photo: SGGP)

The festival, this year themed “Space of Gong Culture of the Central Highlands,” aims to highlight the gong culture in the Central Highlands, which has been recognized by UNESCO as a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.’

According to the province’s People’s Committee, 22 ethnic groups with 63 troupes and five gong troupes from Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Laos and Myanmar, a total of 3,000 people, will join the event.

Earlier, the Vietnamese High Quality Goods Fair, featuring more than 200 businesses with 450 display booths, was held on November 11.

The province’s ethnic groups’ handicrafts were also presented to visitors at the fair.

The day also saw the opening of a photo exhibition of Dinh Nup, a freedom fighter of the Bahnar people, who was born and spent most of his life in the idyllic region.

Held at the Gai Lai indoor sports center, the display features 152 pictures taken by over 50 photographers and collected by Nguyen Quang Tue, deputy director of the Gia Lai Museum, of the hero’s daily activities and struggles from 1946 to 1999.

Dinh Nup (real name Dinh Nhui), who lived from 1914 to 1998, led the local resistance against the occupying French for many years and was a leading character in Nguyen Ngoc’s famous novel Dat nuoc dung len (The country’s uprising). He was also the first member of an ethnic minority to be awarded the title “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces.”

The festival will include gong performances, a food fair, a seminar on promoting investment in the province and a photo exhibition of Space of Gong Culture and the Central Highlands’ ethnic culture, among many other events.

The national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, will increase the number of flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Pleiku between November 11 and 16.

The provincial Transport Department will also increase bus trips during the festival.

Related articles:
22 ethnic groups to join Gong Festival
Vietnam’s biggest gong to be displayed at festival

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Gong-The Original Psychedelic Space Gypsies at 40.

You can hear an audio version of this blog, with Gong’s music.

The voyage of the original Star Trek ended in 1969, but another band of space travelers called Gong launched that year and they’re still wandering the galaxies. Gong is a free-wheeling psychedelic band that wraps itself in its on myth, namely, that we’re in contact with mystical, acid drenched beings from the Planet Gong. It’s never quite clear whether the band treat this as fact or metaphor.  Like Sun Ra, they seem to live the life and speak the jargon, whether on-stage or off.   Gong’s founder is the 71 year old Australian guitarist, Daevid Allen.  Speaking backstage at Nearfest 2009 in Bethlehem, Allen articulates the ethos  of Gong.

Daevid Allen:  Well Gong has an ongoing story to it.  So that is kind of a backbone and guide.  It really is a teaching story–in the old Sufi sense– it’s meant to be a story.  But we never wanted it to sound serious because then everyone embraces it as a religion– a terrifying prospect.  So we made it as silly as we possibly could, so that most people wouldn’t take it seriously.

Daevid Allen @ Nearfest Photo: Gino Wong

Needless to say, psychedelics played an important part in Gong’s creative process.

Daevid Allen: It’s almost like channeling because we were consciously saying there are more intelligent beings than us that wish to work through us.  And the acid was really a way of getting rid of our egos so that that could come through as purely as possible.

Gong’s best known work is the Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy. It tells the tale of Zero the Hero while careening from space to jazz to rock, minimalism and beyond.  It also marks two signature sounds of the band, heavenly glissando guitar and deep space echo.  Gong guitarist Steve Hillage.

Steve Hillage: If you’re doing music that has a philosophic connection to the universe and space.   there is nothing better than creating this unearthly spatial environment with all the unearthly reflections.

Allen & Hillage @ Nearfest Photo: Diliberto

Both Daevid Allen and Steve Hillage claim to be teetotalers now, but they’ve just released a new album called 2032 that’s in the spirit of 1972. What that means is, Gong is still making a joyful, hallucinogenic music full of cosmic whimsy and sonic exploration.  Forty years later, Gong is still traveling the spaceways and currently touring Europe. I’ll have an interview with them next week on Echoes. This has been an Echo Location, Soundings for New Music.

You can hear an audio version of this blog, with Gong’s music.

Read review of Gong’s 2009 Nearfest performance.

John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

You can hear an audio version of this blog, with Gong’s music.