Nefisa's Archives - JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH 2007

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH 2007

MAR 31- If you've read about the captive situation in Iran, then come and read this too. Peace, Y.

MAR 28- I'm just on my way up to Birmingham having done some last minute sound-checks and rehearsed a few times... I wanted to link to this because it's important to remember that we are living in a society which most people assume is more civilised than others around the world and yet, we're torturing people and letting those responsible get away with it. "Why do they hate us?!?" Whatever the American government may do in these dirty wars, the British government has a very significant percentage of blame, for the simple reason that they endorse Americas actions by collaborating with them in war. As for the Iranian crisis, I said a long time ago that I thought war was going to come to Iran sooner or later, and whilst I pray it doesn't, I still can't see past the opportunism of America and England in terms of creating some excuse to go to war (although for PR purposes, it will have to be more concrete - in appearance - this time, like perhaps the kidnapping or killing of some English/American pawns who are of course expendable as far as the big-boys are concerned- they've already proved they have no regard for wasting human life of their own citizens/soldiers). Finally, "Pulling out of Iraq would be helping the terrorists?" say the Republicans. I'll say this, every soldier is also a citizen, and those citizens out there dying in the desert don't give a damn about the security and stability of Iraq (nor should they, they should give a damn about their families before anything else) they want to come home, all of them- I hope they do.

Whatever happens, pray for peace and don't stop speaking for it either.

Wish me luck on my performance too,
Peace,
y.

MAR 26- This is a notice to all in the Birmingham area, I've been asked to perform at the Birmingham Young Writers of the Year award ceremony at the ICC. Not as a writer, but as a musician. Isn't that ironic seeing as my first novel is on the brink of publication...? Still though, I am going to perform a trunctuated set of around 10 or 15 minutes at most, covering one or two of my well-known songs and one other suprise. The event's also going to be recorded and I'll find out more about if it's going to be broadcast or not.... It should be a giggle, especially since I've decided to use the occasion as a testing ground for a new song, a guitar piece I wrote fairly recently. It will be, as I stated at the start of this month, the first time I would have performed with guitar and sung (as opposed to rapping over my beats) before. I did used to be nervous about that, but not anymore. I'm quite optimistic- as I wrote in my diary earlier today, "This is what I do." And so it is.

I hope anyone in the area will consider stopping by, its taking place in the Library Theatre in the International Convention Center. It feels like I should spell that wih capitals.

Peace and love to these blue Spring skies.
Y.

MAR 22- Tony Benn was one of the great politicians of our time, a standard by which most of the nincompoops out there in the political arena today should measure themselves. I was very happy to hear that he'd done an interview with the Guardian recently and even happier that it was an in-depth one lasting an hour or so- something solid you can really experience. Anyone interested in what being socialist, or left-wing for that matter, truly means should hear this interview which is a reflection / theoretical meditation on current and recent political history- mostly in the UK. It's very interesting, you should listen. Peace, Y.

MAR 21- Having just returned from my daily run, taken in the cold spring-time sun weather, having taken my shoes off and re-entered my room, I sat down in the morning and listened to this- a wonderful song from pianist robert glasper in tribute to his late mother. The reverend presiding over the funeral delivers such an eloquent and original eulogy, beautiful perhaps chiefly in its sublime logic and design, as well as its passion. His words are laid to rest amidst glasper's serene piano chords, which plug away at eternity and seem to keep travelling-hovering above and not landing-just as those who have died are continuously alive. You should listen to it.

Peace and love, may all our dashes be full of life,
Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi.

MAR 17- If you have realplayer installed on your computer then you should be able to check out this lovely two-part programme on traditional music in Japan. I am very much interested in traditional music of all cultures, and since you're here on my website, I thought, why not share what I love with the rest of my visitors. After all, you are my guests, and just as I expect you to take your shoes off when you step into nefisa, likewise you should expect me to offer you a drink, inquire as to how your life has been recently and dance for you. Speaking of which:

A wolf asks a dog why he is chained up, the dog says: "That's the way it is."
"I'd rather be free," says the wolf, and walks away...

Watch Chechen Muslims dancing and expressing their faith in the style of the Sufi-Islamic tradition. It's quite wonderful and intense. It's what all good art is, it's faith too. For those people who don't know where Chechnya is, it's near Russia. These guys are Muslims, just like Arabs, just like Pakistani's, just like Americans, just like Brits, just like me. The world is diverse, as is the world of faith and tradition. One of the reasons I boycotted the film Borat was because I had seen the show in its television format, and was slightly annoyed that in todays world, to ridicule others could be so widely accepted. I ceded that I may well be laughing if I were to go and see it in the cinema, however that was besides the point for me. A lot of regular people watching those Chechens dancing would automatically think to make a joke, relate it to some stereotype of 'simple eastern people' doing crazy dances, and I don't want to live in a world where such ignorance is tolerated- when dances so filled with meaning and profundity can be reduced to objects of ridicule from ignorant people. The buck stops here. Peace, Y.

PS- Nefisa wants nukes out of Britain, Tony wants more nukes. Nefisa thinks Tony is an arsehole. But Tony insists that Blair Cares. Nefisa tells Tony about a conversation she had with a friend earlier today, in the London sunshine. The friend said, "I just love how history has already judged him to be a ---- and there's nothing he can do about it, so it's not really worth hating him anymore." Nefisa (and Yoshi) agreed wholeheartedly, with the whole of their hearts and no holes in their hearts.

Peace,
Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi.

MAR 14- Here's a review of Joanna Newsom's album 'Ys' that I wrote at the start of this month... Also, here is an excellent article on anti-semitism and the political weapon which the term is often used as to suppress voices of reason. It's from one of the most articulate papers, al-ahram. Peace and love. Y.

MAR 09- Here's an extension to the previous update, Scott Cohen talking about the mainstream media...

MAR 09- Here is a video of dear Amy Goodman speaking upon the importance of independant media in this time, which we happen to be living in. Check the links of nefisa for more ideas and off-shoots of brain activity, or better yet, formulate your own set of keys. Fashion them from thought. Peace and love, Y.

MAR 8- Welcome to March, one of the best times of the year. It's been sunny for three days in a row, and that's a good enough reason to share a song that always makes me happy. I can't translate the title, it's a hard translation, it's a Japanese song from Ua, who is sometimes quite interesting with her musical style. If you can't see the Japanese writing up above then it means you don't have Japanese fonts installed on your computer, hopefully you should be able to hear the song regardless.

I also want to link to this radio play. It is a BBC Radio 3 production, and for those familiar with BBC plays (I acted as an Afghan child in a BBC play when I was 5 or 6 and my father always had BBC radio on with such performances over breakfast in my house) this one, 'The Fiery World' is well acted and produced. It is about a man who, the more I learn about him, the more I grow to love him- William Blake. This is a realaudio file, and I believe it will only be available for the next few days (perhaps it will be taken down this Sunday) so if you have an hour to kill, want to relax, I suggest taking your laptop to a nice place, plugging in some headphones, or turning the lights off in the room where your desktop computer is, getting a pillow, lying on the floor and listening to this really interesting play. It conveys Blakes conviction so enthusiastically, and whilst I was suprised at the harsh London accent the director had chosen for him at first, I did suddenly realise that this wonderful man was from London, so perhaps it's as it was.... It's just that with his poetry and drawings, I always got the impression of such gentleness. But it's the contrasts that make life such a great story, and it's Creator the greatest story-teller.

Finally for today, I want to introduce you to someone, Walt Whitman. Read his poetry, start from the top and see which ones you like. He's great.

Personally this is a crazy month. I have a few things cooking, I found out a few days ago that I have been sampled on a new electronica release, 'Son of a Glitch' by the really good (I've since checked his music out) Atom TM. The song Men in Black and at least one other one apparently feature material of me taken from Mikrosopht's CWILD project, which you may recall I was involved in (and which you may still download...) I was not credited on the album due to a mix-up, but as I said to Atom, who along with Mikrosopht, was kind enough to let me know and apologise, "The only important thing is the music... So send me a copy!" I'll be letting you know how it sounds when it arrives, Atom is currently working out of Chile, and his music is well worth checking out.

As for anything else, I completed a short film this month which will be premiered on Friday night at a screening for Producers and other film-makers at Royal Holloway University of London. Anyone in the London area is invited to see my first short documentary (15 mins. approximately) which is entitled, 'Let the clouds of America burn calligraphy onto my frozen heart'. I'll make it available to the general public eventually perhaps...

The rest of this month is taken up with another film project and yes, yes, the release of my novel. It is now scheduled for an APRIL release, I'm sorry about all that. It is still mentioned in the March issue of EMEL magazine where I am featured in the 'Watch this face' column.. And watch this space for more press coverage on the book. I say watch this space, but I am organising all of this myself and as such, it is very difficult. I'm not a press man. I'm not a manager. I have so far got nothing else in terms of publicity because I am too busy. I'm doing my best to compete with the world of boring writers with good connections. I'm in London, that's a start isn't it!?!

Finally, a notice to all midlanders, I am up in Birmingham at the end of March (28th to be exact) performing two sets of music in the international convention center. I will be playing guitar and singing perhaps, this will mark the first time I have performed something other than hip-hop, and I see it as a huge risk seeing as I have not played in a while due to my stressed left wrist which is currently in a bandage. I remember an old episode of ER from when I used to watch the television, from the time I looked at my tele as a friend. It was George Clooney's character who said something to the effect of 'My daddy always told me that if you're going to make a mistake, make it a big one.' That's how I feel about performing non hip-hop music, about playing guitar and singing when I've had lessons or training in neither. We can do what we want, 'With God on our side', as Bob Dylan would remind you.

Listen, I give you my love and peace, until the next day or so, I have some more things I'd like to share with you when I'm next able.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi

FEB 28- Two excellent links- one is about Venezuela and written by one of England's finest politicians- George Galloway. Click here for that. The other is about the much broader issue that is, perhaps, the most important in the world right now. It's an interview with one of the world's greatest speakers, Hamza Yusuf. Click here for that.

Jump on your horse, kick it, and ride. It's a new day.

Peace,
Y.

FEB 27- It's time to listen to one of the best songs ever written by one of the prettiest souls I've ever known. This little video-in-nefisa is a new thing (if it works, if it doesn't, just click here!) I just thought that it was too good to not be watched comfortably. It's been one of my favorite songs for many evolving years, but this is the very first I have heard of the piano version, (the original is on electric piano) and, well it's just stunning. Please read along with the lyrics below, if you want.

Peace, and may the dust of the ages wash over all of us and remind us of what we're destined to become,
Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi.

Joni Mitchell - Woodstock (live version, UK, 1970)

I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road
And I asked him, "Where are you going?" and this he told me:
"I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm,
gonna join in a rock and roll band,
I'm going to camp out on the land,
I'm gonna try and get my soul free."

We are star-dust, we are golden,
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.

"Well then, can I walk beside you? I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning."
Well maybe it is the time of year, or maybe it's the time of
'Man, I don't know who I am!'
But you know, life is for learning.

We are star-dust, we are golden,
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.

By the time we got to Woodstock,
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration.
And I dreamed I saw the bombers,
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation.

We are star-dust, billion year-old carbon,
We are golden, caught in the devil's bargain,
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.

FEB 22- I was making a mix of my own music for a friend who is making a documentary, putting together some songs of mine which I thought may fit the mood of her film. I came across the very old 2004 remix I did of one of my earliest musical teachers DJ Shadow's song 'Blood on the Motorway.' Putting aside how much I have moved on musically since then, I heard the vocal sample in that track, and remembered immediately back then, as young as I was, how much the words, so perfectly written, appealed to me. I want to repeat them again here, they were spoken by a priest somewhere in an American desert out in the Mid-West a couple hundred years ago. That was the era of the film I sampled it from anyway. This is a mantra, learn it.

---

Alone and unbending in Thy heaven,
Accept with mercy into Thy judgment this- Thy child.
Moulded from the cold shards, and fired with a soul warmed in Thy presence, comes forth MAN.

To struggle and move, unbound through this harsh world- alone.
To be tested by life. To be confused by passion. To be tempted and brought down by evil...
To seek for the light that the soul knows and never turns away from
And then to return from which he came, again, ALONE.
To stand in all finality before Thy gaze and give account. Such is man's destiny.

And from the hardness comes forth a purity that soft men can never find.

- - -

Thank you, as I look to the sky.

On another note, as I mentioned in my previous post, I am now featured in the current edition of EMEL Magazine which has hit the streets in the UK. The short interview is slightly bare bones, not exactly deep stuff, but just gives newcomers an idea of who I am and what I'm getting up to. Actually, you can see it online, although they have only put up the first sentence of the interview, it will give you a flavour just scroll down to 'watch this face'. The photo they put doesn't look like me at all. But hey, as I said to my friend just a few hours ago, after first seeing the magazine and not being too happy with the picture, "I have to learn to take more care of my appearance..consistently!" We're physical beings too! Nonetheless, those of you near a Borders bookstore will find EMEL either in the lifestyle or spirituality section. I also wrote a review for a poetry book in that magazine. There are a tonne of other things going on, but I don't want to spend ages going into them, why talk when by waiting, you can actually SHOW? Needless to say this has been amongst the busiest of the waking-weeks of my life.

Peace and much love to all, Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi.
PS- Do remember that quote above.. It will come true, all that the old priest said.

FEB 13- Monsieur Webmaster has been suffering from 'high fever'. He has been hallucinating, sweating buckets, shivering, and he has been ensconced in thought, some of it highly charged, creative & reflective, the rest of it just protons and neutrons of energy. I am feeling better now and ready to resume. As my friend Ben says, things will be "bright on" from here onwards. God-willing.

I had hoped to bring you art from two of our established nefi's (Dana & Christina) who've both done finished some great pieces of late, however both of these amazingly talented people feel that they'd rather not share their works at this time, and whilst that's bad for nefisa, it's good to see in one sense, because it shows a high standard from the artist, and if I have that harsh trait in appraising my own work (a trait one should be grateful for) then why should I not celebrate others who have it. May the art that comes be useful to the artist first and foremost, and then to others.

I myself have had my printing plans for my debut novel pushed back another week due to this sickness (I was supposed to hand in the final copy to the printer, who is a bit far away) however we are looking, still, at a mid-March release date for the book.

I've been extremely busy editing my up-coming documentary, in fact that is just what I have returned from now. The bell outside my University here in London just struck 3. I went in to edit at 18:00, and time took ahold of me. I spend most of my evenings in the edit room now. I ate a nice potatoe for dinner. The documentary itself is a sort of free-form take on travel (in particular travel across the USA) with some interesting insights and people featuring. I look forward to making that available to you in some form or another soon. I am toying with the idea of putting it out with my next album as a duel CD/DVD release, anyone who has thoughts on this, e-mail me. Also, later this month, humans should look out in their local BORDERS for EMEL Magazine's March issue, which has a full page feature on me. Apparently I am 'one to watch', so watch me there. I've also written a review of a poetry book for that issue, so I'm in it twice.

I saw this little thing on comedy and thought it appropriate. Also, I'd like to re-link you to my good friend Mikrosopht's media-label Godxiliary. He is doing an insane amount of work also, and just one peek into his mind can blow yours right away. Speaking of 'away', By the way , if someone unintelligent is ever bothering you, you can always say this to them: "If your brains were dynamite, you wouldn't have enough to blow your own hat off."

On that note I say Peace. There'll be more in a day or so, promise. Enjoy this months song, it's an old Negro Spiritual, and like a lot of the very best ones, it is filled with soul. Quite simply, beautiful.

Yours faithfully,
Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi

JAN 28- I can think of nothing more worthy to share than this, a friend from Iran sent it to me just now. Also, on another note, God bless Jimmy Carter, and these people protesting in my home away from home- D.C. Peace and love, Y.

JAN 27- Hi again. Lots of things have been going down, so I apologize for the lack of updates. There's been a sad loss of a good friend, and a wonderful person, and this week has been taken over by this sad news, and all the horrible practical things that take place after someone has left this world. I wrote something for my friend, and you are welcome to read it here. A few weeks ago, I sat on a beach, in Southern California. I wrote a postcard to a different friend, a much closer friend. I didn't mail it though. It's still here and may well remain here. It says this, "All I know, all I've learnt, is that things die and things get born, or re-born, constantly. I guess I always knew that." I will update more, maybe as soon as tomorrow. I am eager to move forwards and make something of these days and these birds twittering at dawn, and these hours. What are they here for? What is time here for? It's filled with too much potential for it to be wasted, and we waste it all much too much.

There are just some fresh quotes in the ORBS and DRUMS sections. There might be some actual new content soon too.

May there be peace and growing love in each of us, Y.Misdaq.

JAN 18- Dear World,

The sun is coming up in front of me. I'm near a big window. Unfortunately it's stained with rain-drop tears and the wind is howling outside. That can only mean two things, 1- I am back in England, 2- I am in Moscow. Unfortunately, I am not in Moscow, but it feels wonderful to be back home in my home country.

I was walking home from a friends house last night singing to the spirit of George Harrison, as I sometimes do, talking to him, and I was telling him how he made me proud to be part of England, to be an Englishman, as well as the other things that I am. It took George to make me verbalise that feeling. But I am proud (whatever that pride really means) to be from this strange little section of the world, and to have friends from here, and to speak this language. I always feel this when I return home after travels.

It took me a while to update this months song, it's January's song, although it may not be up for the whole month, I hope you listen to it nonetheless. It's from an amazing album I downloaded called 'Noapte Buna' and, well it might well be the perfect music to watch the sunrise to if you are me. If you're not me it might also be great. You'd have to tell me though, because I don't know for sure. One thing I re-realised the other day is that no one is me and I am no one. But on the other hand sometimes everyone is me and I am everyone. So there goes the neighbourhood as they say in America, or 'that's the way the cookie crumbles' as my old boss used to say. I'm now listening to Duke Ellington, and with all the joy in the world I wish you peace.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi.

JAN 06- As part of my experimentation with life, I am going on another journey. Unfortunately this means nefisa will probably not be updated until after the 16th, in 10 days time. Last year I took a train across the USA, through the middle of America from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, California. I had such a good time, although I didn't document it on this website. My hopes this time are to film my experience, as I am carrying a camera with me. On the way I will meet with a couple of fellow nefisa-friends/fellow producers. First of all, in Chicago I am going to spend the day with Victrola, a great hip-hop producer and very good friend who I have never met in real life. Victor promised me he would bring a guitar and harmonica, computer and cd's for us to mess around with! Hohoho, merry christmas. Secondly, I am going to meet Mikrosopht (aka Ben Kelly), an amazing electronica experimentalist and head of the internet label 'Godxiliary'. That will be in Kansas city. Then finally, I am going to hopefully be hanging out with the third good friend- who is also a musician and who I have also never met, MichL Bridge, who is currently working on a movie soundtrack in Los Angeles. Check all those links to see where their respective websites, they are a talented trio! I don't know whether this meeting, and this journey will be good or not. It's rather silly to repeat things, and whenever I do that I always get the feeling that I may be setting myself up for extreme dissapointment and worse still, I worry that some nightmare might befall me on my journey. Anyway, I ask for your prayers, and in return perhaps I shall reward you with some art for your life. What I do might not make a huge amount of difference to the mainstream world, although I hope one day it will, but for those out there who are checking out nefisa, and consume the art that I supply, you're the ones I am working for. We're all servants of our fellow man when it comes to the things we are gifted in. Our gifts are there to be used for the benefit of the world around us. They should make us slaves to those that need them. The best advice I got the other day was, be generous.

Peace and much love,

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi.

ps- here is the itinerary for my journey, first leg, and second leg! Feel free to sign up on the forum and talk about any subject which takes your liking (or licking). The spam postings on that forum have been stopped! Peace, Y.

JAN 04- Hi there. I have just returned from some time away. I sat by a pool and relaxed, it felt nice to be warm in December, I was grateful for that. Not everyone can afford to be in Rio De Janeiro at this time of year (that's something anyone who lives in a cold country would like to do, surely). Whilst away I saw a film, and wrote a review for it. It is Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. You can see what I thought of it by checking it out in the CAKES section under films.

In other news I have set an initial release date for my book, February the 9th. This is the initial date and it is not yet confirmed. I will confirm the title sometime soon also. Considering the book hasn't actually been printed yet, I am getting a little ahead of myself, however I'm looking forward to it with great anticipation, as I know you all are you blood-thirsty fans. I had to escape two paparazzi's when I came into my family home earlier today, that's the kind of world we celebrities live in. Just joking, no-one knows me, I'm like the artist known as 'abdul-Mati Klarwein who did such amazing paintings all his life and was completely ignored by popular culture. How scary to think that might happen to me too. I have made a promise with myself, from a pact with a friend, that I will try not to write anything creative for the next few days. She gave me the idea earlier today, thinking that it might give me a different perspective on my writing and a fresh approach. Seeing as I am always interested in experimenting with myself (I stuck my hand in a toaster four days ago) I thought this was an excellent idea, even though in the past I have always shunned the notion that you should put rules or limitations on your expression, ultimately it just comes down to this: to change anything is good, even if it's not broke.

Here comes my friend paying me a visit, I can see her driving up to my house out of the window. She's a photographer, she's walking towards the house now, here she comes! We shall discuss future plans for education and socialisation, and I will play her the new song I learned on guitar today. It's sung by Willie Nelson. Catch thou later, alligator, check back in a few days. Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi.