I Just Read About That…

   SOUNDTRACK: K’Naan-Tiny Desk Concert #34 (November 9, 2009).

I really only know K’naan from his song “Wavin’ Flag” which was the World Cup anthem in 2010.  It’s an uplifting anthem which would be schmaltzy except that K’naan is Somali-born, spent his childhood in Mogadishu and lived there until the start of the Somali Civil War in 1991, when his family moved to Canada.  “Wavin’ Flag” was for the people Somalia and their aspirations for freedom.

In this set (the first ever hip-hop Tiny Desk Concert–although there is very little hip-hop in the set), K’naan plays three songs. “Take a Minute” is quite beautiful.  It’s funny to me the rap section kind of spoils the song  but because K’naan is a much better singer than rapper.

“Fatima,” which has a less interesting musical style than the other songs (perhaps it’s better when not in this Tiny Desk format) is startling lyrically.  It’s about childhood friend of his, with the harrowing line–“what did the gunman say before he took you away.”

The final song is “Wavin’ Flag” (which was popular but nowhere near as big a hit as it would be soon enough). The anthemic nature of the song still sounds inspiring in this stripped own format.

I’m not a big fan of this style of music in general–poppy/R&Bish, but K’naan has a great sense of melody and brings a very interesting perspective that makes his style unique.  And most importantly, he has a good, subtle voice.  This is a good introduction to his music.

[READ: January 3, 2014] The Bridegroom was a Dog

In continuing the “small book” idea, I recently subscribed to the New Directions Pearl series.  It is a collection of smallish books–novellas or short stories–in starkly beautiful binding.  This was the second book I received in the series (I haven’t read the first one yet).  Incidentally, this book has a list of the other pearls, and I rather hope they will send me some past Pearls as well, as they are quite a great collection.

This was an interesting selection to me because I actually own this book already (it’s the same translator, Margaret Mitsutani).  Although as it turns out the book I own (which has the same title) is actually three short stories while this one is only the title story. I bought the book in 1998 and never read it (there is a bookmark that suggests I read a few pages, but I didn’t remember a thing).  So I was happy to get reintroduced to the book and to finally read it.

And I intend to read the other two stories in the near future as well.

This is a peculiar story (as the title indicates).  In it a teacher, Mitsuko Kitamura runs the Kitamura School which is described as a cram school–an extracurricular school.  And the students learn some interesting things.  Like “snot paper.”  She suggests that using used tissues is better because they are warm and wet.  And indeed, she goes so far as to say that you should use “snot paper” when wiping your behind because “it feels even better.”

Mothers were concerned about this, but felt that overall she was doing a good enough job to dispel the rumors.  But then she started talking about stories where people marry animals.  Like “The Crane Wife” or “The Bridegroom was  Dog.”  This latter story was quite long and many of the students were confused about the details.  But the one part they all seemed to remember was the explanation that if a dog licked the young girl’s bottom clean, then one day he would be her bride.  The mothers had never heard of this story and wondered just where Kitamura had worked before coming to their village to have heard such a tale (that made me laugh).

The kids were all fascinated by Miss Kitamura, especially when she worked in the garden, practically nude. The girls were entranced by her large breasts, but when the boys came up, they were mortified and ran away.

In the summertime, the school was closed and the students stayed away.  But one day, a man came to Miss Kitamura’s house (no one had ever seen a man there before).  Taro was a strange man with very dog-like qualities.  The first time he approached her he sniffed her up and down, licked her bottom and proceed to have sex with her. Taro stayed there and this became something of a daily routine.

When the villagers heard that there was a man at her house (they didn’t hear any details), they wanted more information and sent their children round to learn more.  But all that was discovered was that Taro looked an awful lot like the missing husband of Ryoko, a woman from the next village.

So there’s that, but there’s also a subplot with a young girl in the class who is picked on, named Fukiko.  Miss Kitamura tries to help Fukiko through this awkward time.

The way the two plots interweave is bizarre and quite intriguing.  I’m very curious about what the other two stories might have in store for me.