Posts By: Wanda Waterman

Wanda Waterman

Wanda Waterman is a poet, spoken word artist, blogger, cultural journalist, and digital nomad. She’s been writing regularly for The Voice Magazine since 2004, not long after she began studying psychology at Athabasca. Her poetry has been published in Descant, The Talking Leaves, Chizine, Our Times, The Best of Tigertail, and Pottersfield Portfolio and her articles in Design is Political, Rawckus Magazine, Coastal Life, The New Internationalist, This Magazine, and in her blog, The Mindful Bard. She grew up in Nova Scotia, but after having lived in New Hampshire and North Africa she’s now settled in Montreal.

The Mindful Bard – Leaving Eden

Album: The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Leaving Eden (2012) Musicians: Dom Flemons (four-string banjo, guitar, jug, harmonica, kazoo, snare drum, bones, quills), Rhiannon Giddens (five-string banjo, fiddle, kazoo), Adam Matta (beatbox, tambourine), Hubby Jenkins (guitar, mandolin, five-string banjo, guitar, bones), Leyla McCalla (cello) Genre: Folk/Americana/Old Timey ?When you want genuine music?music that will come right home… Read more »

Gregor’s Bed – Zero Bridge

Film: Zero Bridge (2011) Director/Screenwriter: Tariq Tapa Cast: Mohamad Imran Tapa, Taniya Khan, Ali Mohammad Dar Genre: Art House, International ?Mother tells me ?Happy dreams!? An? takes away the light, An? leaves me lyin? all alone an? seein? Things at night.? Eugene Field ?It is because nations tend to stupidity and baseness that mankind moves… Read more »

In Conversation With . . . Hauschka, Part II

Rhythms of Stability and Freedom ?The essential thing in form is to be free in whatever form is used. A free form does not assure freedom. As a form, it is just one more form. So that it comes to this, I suppose, that I believe in freedom regardless of form.? Wallace Stevens Hauschka is… Read more »

In Conversation With . . . Hauschka, Part I

?I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.? John Cage ?Ideas are one thing and what happens is another.? John Cage Replicating Electronic Experimentation on an Acoustic Instrument Hauschka is the pseudonym of German pianist Volker Bertelmann. Classically trained from childhood, he used his percussive piano skills… Read more »

Maghreb Voices – Izenzaren, Akal

Album: Izenzaren, Akal (2012) Well I’m Goin? to Souss, Morocco, With a Banjo on My Knee Gnaoua music developed when members of black sub-Saharan tribes were forced to assimilate as slaves in urban post-colonial Morocco. The word ?Gnaoua? refers to both a specific black Muslim spiritual sect and its music, and was derived from the… Read more »

The Mindful Bard – And Everything Is Going Fine

Film: And Everything is Going Fine (Washington Square Films 2012) Director: Steven Soderbergh Genre: Documentary ?Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows . . . It’s not desiring the fall; It’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ?don’t!? and ?Hang on!? can understand… Read more »

The Mindful Bard – Thunder Soul

Film: Thunder Soul (Roadside Attractions 2011) Director: Mark Landsman Cast: Conrad O. Johnson, Jr., Conrad O. Johnson, Sr., Craig Baldwin, Craig Green, Bruce Middleton, Timothy Thompson, Gerald Calhoun, Gwen Walker, Kirbyjon Caldwell, Martha Samson, Gaila Mitchell Genre: Music Documentary ?Should we not be putting all our emphasis on reading, writing, and math? The ‘back-to-basics curricula,’… Read more »

Gregor’s Bed – What Is The Beautiful?

Album: What Is The Beautiful? (Cuneiform Records, 2011) Artists: The Claudia Quintet + 1 (John Hollenbeck, drums; Drew Gress, bass; Matt Moran, vibraphone; Ted Reichman, accordion; Chris Speed, clarinet and tenor sax; Matt Mitchell, piano) ?The narrowing line. Walking on the burning ground. The ledges of stone. Owlfish wading near the horizon. Unrest in the… Read more »

Maghreb Voices – Alternative Music in Cairo

?The new world is as yet behind the veil of destiny. In my eyes, however, its dawn has been unveiled.? Allama Muhammad Iqbal ?If I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution.? Emma Goldman Marching to the Beat of a Different Derbouka Noor Noor broke three drumsticks playing in Tahrir Square during the protests… Read more »