#valiha

I'm currently re-reading Grim from the reaping, and I've been curious about how much Tony knows about Nebula and her time with Thanos? And also, thoughts / future plans about Loki having any further contact with his Jotun family?

Tony knows that Nebula was a Child of Thanos, but not necessarily everything that entails -- Nebula's extremely unlikely to have ever sat him down and given him an annotated history of her tragic backstory, even during their time together on the Benatar coming back to Earth. So he knows that she used to be with Thanos, but very few actual details; he probably also hasn't really been in contact with her between returning to Earth and the start of Yonder.

If I ever write the Horizon sequel that I did some concept writing for here, we'll see Loki's first meeting with Farbauti at the Conclave of the Nine Realms. Though prior to that concept, I'd been operating under the idea that their meeting in Yonder was their first meeting. Loki absolutely had no idea until that scene in Yonder either that she was his birth-mother or that abandoning him had been her decision, not Laufey's; Laufey thought the baby had been born dead. The hypothetical Yonder sequel is a multiverse story, not a Nine Realms story, so there aren't any plans for anything to do with Farbauti's family there -- Farbauti also doesn't want anything to do with Loki. Her dismissal of him in Yonder is very much legal, as is Loki revoking any claim he has to Jotunheim during the coronation scene in Horizon; Loki actually fucked up politically, legally, and diplomatically big time by invoking his connection to Jotunheim during the summoning in Yonder. (I love complicated legal systems.) Part of the reason she talks to him in Yonder is to make it clear that he made a very big legal faux pas that he can't make again.

Also, I'm pretty sure Srebrenica at least was recognized as genocide, though several other massacres in Bosnia weren't.

Yes!

The only reason I hadn't done it consistently so far was that I was trying to find a tag that would be at the same time explicit, intuitive and therefore easy to block, and which wouldn't find itself on the regular Tumblr tag research—there are posts I prefer to keep relatively more confidential.

How about this: #Palastu...? I'm pretty sure no one else will be using that tag—it's the name of Palestine, the region, in the Assyrian form that was spread by the Greeks before anyone Abrahamic entered the picture... This way we might be a little less conspicuous.

On a side note, concerning Srebrenica... As a matter of fact, this is how I was taught about it in school myself: as a genocidal massacre. I know the International Tribunal for the crimes in ex-Yugoslavia used the term several times, and several experts have pointed out that it participates in a greater ethnic cleansing campaign for a “purer Serbia”, which is bound to ring several alarms; nonetheless, the qualification has been contested by serious historians and is apparently not accepted universally.

have been remiss in posting about this though I’ve been caressing it lovingly in late days - was reminded by another pakige today that I had not shown off the beautifully bound copy of Life in Reverse that @valiha sent me! it’s gorgeous and all the author’s notes for each chapter are at the end of the book like footnotes or something

Rajery - “Jijy” Resting Place of the Mists: New Valiha and Marovany Music From Madagascar 1996 Valiha Music / Folk Music / World Music

I’m going to do something a bit different with today’s post and write about music that hardly any of us are ever exposed to. For whatever reasons, African music doesn’t get much attention in North America or Europe and that’s a shame. Valiha music is a special brand of African folk music that is mainly played (perhaps exclusively) in Madagascar. The back cover from Shanachie’s valiha and marovany (a similar instrument to the valiha) compilation, Resting Place of the Mists, describes the sounds of these instruments: “The valiha is aptly called the national instrument of Madagascar. Along with its cousin the marovany, its ethereal sound epitomizes the delicacy and exotic allure of Madagascar.”

To get a bit more technical, the valiha is a cylindrical instrument, named after a species of local bamboo that is native to Madagascar. Wrapped around the bamboo are a series of vertical strings. According to Wikipedia, the amount of strings typically ranges from 21 to 24. The strings are often made of bicycle brake cable, but guitar and piano strings have been known to be used by more serious players. Valihas also appear to vary in length and girth.

Here’s an example of what one looks like:

Sprinkled throughout Resting Place of the Mists is the valiha's most well-known ambassador, Rajery. Both a legend and a top-tier musician on the world music stage, Rajery is not merely just an extremely talented player, but a teacher and an author as well. No one has risen the global profile of the valiha more than he has.

And Rajery also only has one hand. He was born with two, but at eleven months old, he suddenly lost all the fingers on his right. There's conflicting accounts as to how it happened, but a piece of poisoned meat was involved. Chris Nickson in AllMusic says touching the meat caused his fingers to fall off, but other press accounts instead say that a woman who hated his family actually served it to him. Whatever the case may be, Rajery losing his hand at such a young age turned out to have a pretty significant silver lining (not to discount in any way the difficulties one faces on a daily basis, both physically and mentally, from such a handicap) because it enabled him to literally play the valiha like virtually no one else could.

From a 2002 article originally published in the Louisana newspaper, The Advocate:

Though the valiha usually calls for the extensive use of both hands, Rajery was gradually able to pluck with his nub. The plucking initially only caused his crippled hand to bleed, but with continued practice, he managed to toughen the skin to a point that allowed him to coax sound out of the instrument. The handicap also led him to take a different approach to the instrument, using his nub to strum and playing swift, delicate melodies with his other hand.

In 1996, a Rajery instrumental called "Jijy" appeared on Resting Place of the Mists. Full disclosure, I'm not sure if this is an original recording or not, because another version of "Jijy," which is a minute longer than the version I'm writing about, appeared on a French world music compilation in 1988. It's possible that the fine folks at Shanachie cut a minute out of that 1988 version (though I wouldn't really understand why), but this could also just be a completely different recording. I dunno.

Anyway, "Jijy" is magnificent. I can't locate any specific liner notes, but I feel like if Rajery was playing with anyone else, the other artists would have been credited in the album's track list. So, I can't say this with absolute confidence, but I'm thinking that every sound of the valiha on this song comes courtesy of Rajery, and I don't think any mixing was involved either, which means that this man, who possesses a single hand and a fingerless nub, is able to play his valiha in such a way that it sounds like there's actually two, sometimes three people, playing at once. Incredible.

And even if that's bull and there actually are other valiha players on this session, "Jijy" is still a very interesting piece of music. Multiple melodies occur simultaneously at all times and they clash, intersect, or complement each other. Sometimes one melody clearly leads while the other accompanies (or others accompany), and sometimes there's no clear-cut lead. The melodies are also constantly changing. Sometimes they're short and might repeat a handful of times, like towards the end of the song, but Rajery often discards of them pretty quickly and moves on to something new.

something you’ve created in the last year that you’re proud of (a playlist, a piece of art, some writing, a craft hobby, a social media account, etc) 

I’ve done a whole lot of art I’m proud of: AU!Esca, this incredibly funky therizinosaurus (which alongside a bunch of dragons/other dinos in that style is on redbubble).

the last tv episode that made you laugh out loud

I don’t really watch TV to the point that it’s long enough ago that I genuinely cannot remember, but the last podcast episode would’ve been something of Rusty Quill Gaming, which is deeply hilarious as well as very Feelings.

a favourite easy recipe: 5 ingredients or less, or takes less than 30 min to make

I’ve been really enjoying these flatbreads (I put smoked paprika in them as well) lately! I also like a good mug brownie:

2 and a bit tbsp flour1 and a bit tbsp sugar1 tbsp butter-equiv1 tbsp cocoa1 tbsp milkdrop of vanilla (optional)???? choc chips (optional)

Melt butter in mug (15-30 secs microwave), stir in sugar, stir in flour, stir in cocoa, milk and vanilla, stir in choc chips, microwave ~1min.