May 21 - Akua'ba

Children are the reward of life.

~ African proverb

I saw and was drawn to this African artwork display when on a college tour with my oldest son, and in particular this wooden fertility doll.

Some artwork is much more than art, and this is one such piece - I don't imagine it was crafted for pleasure or sale, but rather as an artifact, a talisman of hope for parents who were hoping for a healthy child.  I found myself transported while staring at it, wondering if it were cherished and hoping it was successful.

If there is any true magic in the world as I hope; somewhere, somebody is alive as direct result of this.

Instead of paraphrasing what I learned about these dolls, I'm going to quote the Wiki directly:

Akua'ba are wooden ritual fertility dolls from Ghana and nearby areas. The best known akua'ba are those of the Ashanti people, whose akua'ba have large, disc-like heads. Other tribes in the region (f.ex. Lobi people ) have their own distinctive style of akua'ba.

Traditionally, these dolls are carried on the back of women either hoping to conceive a child, or to ensure the attractiveness of the child being carried. When not in active use, the akua'ba would be ritually washed and cared for. 

Today, one is more likely to see a mass-produced akua'ba for sale as a souvenir than an heirloom in ritual use. Traditional use does, however, continue in some areas. The form of the akua'ba has also gained currency as a general symbol of good luck.

I tried capturing the form in a couple different ways.

May 20 - Holy Diver

In the misty morning, on the edge of time
We've lost the rising sun, a final sign
As the misty morning rolls away to die
Reaching for the stars, we blind the sky

We sailed across the air before we learned to fly
We thought that it could never end
We'd glide above the ground before we learned to run,
Now it seems our world has come undone

~ Black Sabbath Children of the Sea
   Ronnie James Dio
   (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010)

Ronnie James Dio is one of those musicians that has helped provide the musical landscape for my life.

I owned few albums in 5-6th grade, but one of the first times I tried to make a tape for myself was with my boombox paced next to the speaker and playing the Heavy Metal movie soundtrack.  I would read the liner notes and introduce each song like a DJ.

This was my first exposure to Dio, The Mob Rules with it's slow rolling introduction, set to an epic cartoon, chock full of fantasy sexuality and I ... loved .... it.  I didn't know much about it at the time, I was a musical mess but I knew I loved this.

It was the following year that my best friend Marvin introduced me to Holy Diver and I began to associate this musical sound with the Dungeons & Dragons we would play, it was the perfect landscape and we started defining more clearly our musical tastes.  I have been lucky enough to see him play a number of times, and to this day, Black Sabbath Heaven & Hell remains on my "desert island" playlist.

The day Ronnie James Dio passed left me in shock.  Music is a constant companion, there in your best and worst times - and to think that this person who for 30+ years had been providing a connection and release through my history.  I had lost a friend in a way I couldn't express, I sat in my room and wept for the loss.

\m/ Magic \m/

May 10 - Maria Franz

~ Heilung - Othan

Hariuha laþu laukar gakar alu ole lule laukar

The balloon today is dedicated to Maria Franz, Norwegian singer and co-founder of the bands Euzen and Heilung.  This image is based on the shaman she portrays in Heilung.

I tend to like a wide variety of music, my kids never know what will be playing in the car when I pick them up: choral music, reggae, 80's rock/metal, perhaps some songs I might be practicing for my next time at Karaoke.  Recently it's been a selection of Norwegian folk music, but to describe Heilung as music seems somehow insufficient - it's more like magic.

The video above is for the song Othan, the text of which is from Hávamál - The Sayings of Hár, the second poem in the Poetic Edda - which is said to be one of the most important works regarding Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends. Maria's vocals are as hauntingly beautiful as she is herself.

May 4 - Thanos

I'll do my best not to include any spoilers here, but if you haven't made the time to see Infinity War by this point - it's really on you.

For me, every superhero movie is defined by the villain, the better the villain the better the movie.  Black Panther was fantastic in this respect, there was a sympathetic quality to Erik Killmonger - you were torn between understanding his quest and the ends at which he was going about it.

Thanos's motivation is pure, he wants stability in the universe - it's what he is willing to do to achieve it that makes him a villain.

Brilliant.  Can't wait for the next installment.

May 2 - Gall Biter

Galladnium Bitoris or "Gall Biter" is a predatory and parasitic worm.  Though practically blind, this jaundiced leech uses olfactory nerves at the tips of its appendages to sense infected and perforated gallbladders, a primary food source.

This was inspired by both Alex Pardee, who is just now recovering from gallbladder surgery (Gall Boy cannot be stopped!) and Zipper Von Don Groshong (zippertpaints) who offered a challenge based on the word "monster".