Sombre Little Urchins

Awesome Tapes from Africa

which is, well, what it says on the tin. Some stuff is free to download, some stuff is available to purchase, some stuff is both.

Just on the first page, we have:

Arthur — Vuvuzela  Dance Remixes Vol. 3 — S’Bamu [South Africa]

Nahawa Doumbia — La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 1  [Mali]

Asnakech Worku — Asnakech (featuring Hailu Mergia) [Ethiopia]

Khalifa Gueye — Ruba [Senegal]

The site started as just a guy digitizing music from cassette tapes that you couldn’t find anywhere outside street markets in various African cities, and now it’s an actual record label that works with African musicians… and also a guy digitizing tapes.

I do counted cross stitch, so I think that this building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is amazing.  The creator’s name is Raquel Rodrigo, an artist, and designer from Valencia, Spain.

It looks like graffiti from a distance, but close up, you can see that it’s actually a cross-stitch pattern affixed to this Philadelphia Naval Yard property building.

Take a look at the detail here. It must’ve taken such a long time to achieve this stunning final effect. She covered it with wire mesh like a giant cross stitch canvas.

What a brilliant idea. 

According to the artist, she wanted to bring feminine art that has dressed homes around the world to the street. However, her idea was to use a cross-stitch pattern to do so instead of graffiti.

She now travels around the world, beautifying buildings and making various street art.

She prepares her detailed designs in advance. Then she unrolls them at the chosen location. Her desire is to bring a dash of color and creativity to the surrounding area. I wonder how long it holds up in the weather. I can’t even see where they attached the mesh. So pretty.