On music, TV and blankets

What are we listening to?

Louis de Villiers's music of the week:

Be warned: I listen to almost everything and the wildest things over my speakers are often due to tastes that you only acquire with a few glasses of wine and, if necessary, a spliff. Last week I listened to these tunes many times.

Ana Tijoux is a Chilean rapper who often turns to traditional Andean instruments; here she is a few years ago with her Palestinian colleague Shadia Mansour:

There's always a bit of dirty country at my place and the admittedly decade-old Takin' Pills by the Pistol Annies hits the spot neatly. Three women celebrating their divorces.

Australia plays rotten rugby but rocks great. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have released 25 albums in 13 years and most rock enthusiasts will like at least half of them. Here's a near hit from seven years ago:

The 2Tone ska of the late ’70s/early ’80s had as much influence on my musical taste as on my political preferences. Thank God for The Beat: The famous Manu Chao was first in a revolutionary group called Mano Negra. Their keyboard king, Tom Darnal, defected to Cuba and recorded two breathtaking albums as P18. Pardee pardee:

Acid Arab are dance floor beasties and here we join the Yemeni/Israeli women of A-Wa. Video to die for: 

Had there been a World Cup for music, Mexico would have fared far better than with soccer and Peso Pluma would have been its latest star:

A little early evening jazz with Shabaka Hutchings and The Comet Is Coming.

I only really became jazz-bedônnerd upon hearing Alice Coltrane's harp. Age-old yet timeless and the chillest chill. For sleeping time: 

What are we watching?

Ali van Wyk's TV recommendations:

Anatomy of a Fall (Prime Video)
Director: Justine Triet
With: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner
Movie

The French film Anatomy of a Fall's budget was $6.6 million and the American film Oppenheimer came in at a mere $100 million. Both were nominated for the best picture Oscar and Oppenheimer won. Still, it wouldn't have been unfair had Anatomy won.

It's a simple story. Two writers, a married man and woman, and their visually impaired son have moved from London to a cabin in the French Alps to start a new life. Wife Sandra's writing career is more successful but husband Samuel lands in a dead end. He is also struggling with renovating the cabin. One day he falls from the top floor and dies. Sandra is the only suspect. It seems you only needs top actors, good direction and a great script to make a very good film.

Masters of the Air (Apple TV+)​
Directors: Cary Joji Fukunaga, Dee Rees, Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Tim Van Patten
With: Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Barry Keoghan and others
Mini series (9 episodes)

Masters of the Air is the third series in executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' World War 2 projects that tell the story of prominent and exceptionally brave US Army units. The first two were the incredible Band of Brothers (HBO, 2001) and The Pacific (HBO,  2010). Masters is about the 100th Bomb Group, also known as the “Bloody Hundredth" because it lost so many planes and members. Be warned: this is bloodier than the previous series. The unit flew bombing sorties from the English countryside to targets in Germany in Boeing B-17s, each with a crew of 10.

Hanks and Spielberg weren't stingy, of course. The formation flights and dogfights are spectacular, the young actors are the best in Hollywood, the technical care is superb and the music is captivating. If you still have a small TV, buy a big one, and if you didn't pay too much for a Scandinavian surround sound system, write a cheque.

What’s on show?

Art

Henk Serfontein visited the Sanlam Art Gallery in Bellville, where the first overview of the art of the Basotho blanket is on show until June 14.

Sutha ke Fete (Make way so I may pass) is the boundary-pushing first exhibition of the iconic Basotho blankets. The exhibition charts their history over 160 years. They were originally woven in Yorkshire, England, and over time found their way via the Cape of Good Hope and Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) to the mountainous Basotholand (now Lesotho). The blankets tell stories that comment on our political and cultural origins.

Theatre

Cape Town is abuzz over award-winning director Lara Foot's interpretation and rendition of Othello, on at the Baxter Theatre until May 4. Gerhard Marx designed the production.

The phenomenally talented Atandwa Kani (son of John) is Othello, Carla Smith is Desdemona, superstar Albert Pretorius is Iago and Faniswa Yisa is Emilia. And that's only half the cast.

This genuinely South African interpretation is performed in Afrikaans, English and Xhosa. Foot delves into Othello's psyche and imbues the story with an African essence by setting the play against the backdrop of German colonialism and the Herero rebellion in German South West Africa, now Namibia.

♦ VWB ♦

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