Revisiting Palermo

I expected to find da sud-island-sudest (southern) heat

but alas i was welcomed by sista rain hersef....

t'was kinda funny and sad at the same time neh!

so me land inna palermo mek it straight to da a friend's house

and he's not there, he no longer lives there

me friend Katie is not answering her fone (found out later that she relocated to padova!)

me other friend who was supposed to host me is outta town

and my other friends (couple) are jus about to hav a baby so it wud be an inconvenience to host me

I mah not feeling da palermo vybz no mo'
so cut long story short me don have nowhere to go

but i had a good mind to prepare two huge paninos/sandwiches

from Anthony B&B befo leaving dat morning

so me head to piazza garibaldi to sit under a tree

[i mah familiar with dis here piazza, we used to sleep on (top) of these trees

(they are huge) with dem mah hippies friends back in da daze]
me munch on mi sandwich clear me head and think of the immediate future

but i was too tired to think, so i ate and actually fell asleep on the park bench deh

i was woken up by rain drops!

whatta way to wake up, me look around there are trees all over

me hav no idea where am i who am i what time/day/year is it

is jus rain drops and they are getting faster and vigorious

me gather mesef up and rush under the nearest tree for cover

that sicilian rain that com in heavy loud drops (jus like dem sicilians)

my cover under the tree was limited but me hung out as long as i could

dodging drops here and there but i still managed to get wet

so eventually i came out of the hiding place and threw mesef into the city

and the rain.......

as i am heading up the road not too sure where i mah heading except forward

one bwoy on a motorino/scooter spots me and slows down and hesitate

i pull him over and ask for a lift (my street wit/cred is slowly coming back to me)

he stops and start chatting, where have yu been, long time no seen blah blah

so the guy knows me but hell i don rememba who where when

this is a common occurrence fo me in palermo

cut long short

bwoy offers me a place to stay

says he just rented a big house for his girlfriend who will only be moving in next month

and if i need a place for a short stay, well the house is free albeit with no electricity

one of those fortuitous coincidences seen

so that is how i came to spend my palermo trip in da enchanted house...

the house is empty its bare and its huge

it really looks to be a family house - once upon time

two bedrooms two bathrooms a lounge

a big kitchen a store room a lobby

it is clean, walls are clean and looks to be recently retouched

the only furniture is a mattress a wardrobe and a divano and the kitchen suite

the matrasse and the wardrobe are in the bedroom with the en-suite bathroom

the divano with springs and no cushions in the living room

the kitchen with its built-in cupboards fridge stove etc etc

and the doors of the cupboards were all always open and empty even the fridge door was open

revealing the barreness state of the house

the two other furnished rooms would be where i wud spend my days

the area is the noisiest i have seen in palermo

its a totally new zone for me, i had never even had designs on this area

and its not far from the hospital/clinic, which means the sound of the ambulance is a common feature

and young bwoys and gyals on motorinos whoozing past non stop

cut story short its a noisiest place - not loud

ca people deh ya talk a lot mo with their gestures and looks

and i notice there were a lot of butcher shops

compared to the usual bakeries/panificio, which were not missing!

'l'angolo del carne, la carneriera, carne carne carne'- meat everywhere

even the one shop specialising in horse meat only...

fo the inhabitants of that area

the whole world starts and ends there in the area

i kno all this ca that is what i wud end up doing the whole time- peeping/gazing from the window

an i was at the corner which meant my view was three dimensional

arabs africans sicilians all battling it out under the economic recession

chinese and indians line up the commercial section

and theres me who has just moved into an empty house with no lights

the consequence being i had to keep all the windows open at all times

to get light in the house, daylight from the sun

night light from the street pole light outside

i was rather conscpicous in the dark, yu kno, shadowy, dats all you cud see, a shadow

then i start wondering about this house

why hasnt the girlfriend started moving in

and why is she supposedly moving in alone not with him

i realise that this bwoy bubbles a lot talks fast and say a lot of things

he has left me there to freshen up and hed be back later

and has left with the keys

i shudder a bit but alas he rocks up and gives me the key and

the freedom to com n go as i please free reign

as i was enjoying the free reign

i notice water on the floor, i thought it was drippin from somewhere

but i cud not figure out from where

and everyday this pool of water slowly grows bigger

i try getting ahold of the guy but alas his fone is always off

and this water which i cud not tell where the f is comin from

i start shuddering again, i wait for daylight to comb thru the house to discover where the water be comin from

but nuttin a gwaan yet the pool is getting larger and larger

everytime i mop the water, it reappears....spoooky

and still the guy is not picking up his fone

i start spending a lot of time outdoors trying to relocate ol an new friends

but alas they are scattered everywhere,

and the fact that tis the rainy season does not make things easier

cos sicily is such an outdoor place, everything happens outdoors

so in a way was forced to spend a lot of time indoors, and that water (which by now i stopped mopping)

the pool is just growing and growing and still cannot detect where it com from

the house is spooky awrite, but i stay on anywhichways...

until t'was time to take leave of the place

and i did graciously...

left a note, the keys, an sms an a likkle present fo the disappeared bwoy...

and jus as i landed in rome, he calls.....[note that mah las sms was to inform him about mah depature!]

i thank him and we small talk a bit

somehow the water thingie did not com up in our small talk...

so i left it like dat....

in ya dis ya time

Freedom blues

especially in ya dis ya time!

The Other Side of the Story

The other side of the story - The golden ages of Africa
by Djehuti-Ankh-Kheru

'And still the notion p0revails that the history of 'africa only started with the arrival of the first European 'explorers', who quickly proceeded to all forms of disreputable trade which eventually culminated in the colonization of the continent. To this day it is overlooked that from the very earliest times, high cultures and true civilizations existed in Africa, and that these high cultures could be found all over the continent. But unfortunately, the image of a civilized Africa was psychologically and politically, absolutely, unacceptable to the colonial European powers. the had, as a consequence, engineered the deliberate obscurity of the history of the second largest continent on earth, even negating the facts if it served those puposes.

This work tells a history which will anger people with a Eurocentric outlook on the world. However, that is not considered a legitimate reason for the author to leave this history whre it is now - pushed under the carpet. Therefore, let us be witnesses to an odyssey through the past, which commences with the origin of man, then continues with the Nile Valley civilizations, the great migrations, the civilizations of East Africa, the achievements of the Moors, the civilizations of West Africa, and also the presence of Africans in the Americas long before Christopher Columbus was brought to the surface. This work lays continuous emphasis on what Africans have created by themselves, for, the less credible historians were mainly interested in which elements of 'civilization' Europeans had introuced into Africa, suggesting that there were no developments of note in Africa before the arrival of the Europeans. This book, however, shows another side of the story, both literally and figuratively speaking. This document puts the Eurocentric view of Africa, which many have internalized, completely upside down.'

Djehuti Ankh-Kheru

The Grapevine Publications
Tel: (0031) (0) 615527841
http://www.thegrapepub.com/
email: postmaster@thegrapepub.com

Maafa 21

Maafa 21
Black Genocide In 21st Century America / Modern Racism
[Full 2 Hour Documentary] [Re-Upped]




In ya dis ya time!

Spicing up me life

Bin listenin to a lot of richie spice of late
Thats him on the side deh…chillin
Is bin a joyful spicy musical ride

an acquaintance once remarked:
~I overstand now why how Richie can sing the way he does~
She happen to be travelin with Richie on a tour
From one African country to another
A long journey of over six hours
And thru out da whole trip
Richie neva said a word
Until them got to the destination
And when Richie did speak it was to ask
What time is sound check…or singthing to that effect..practical
Then off to his room to rest an meditate…
A true rasta man this here Richie
He even say so his self:
~I mah true rastaman smoking me herb doin mah ting~
I rememba whe I first heard Richie
Marijuana had just catapulted him into world charts
and everywhere yu go yu cud hear that hauntin dedication to Marijuana
~nah nah nah nah nah nah yeeah~
That was such a refreshing sound to hit the scene
And I was down in the island call Sicily
Back in the daze of mah island haze in Palermo
Reggae music was/is a rarity there but is there awright
The massive is scattered far and wide and in isolation
So we wud wait fo summer to colour the island red gold n green
Summer was opportune ca we cud jus camp by the seaside an listen to all the reggae weneed
It was also perfect ca all the yutes com back fo holydaze
If is not by the seaside it wud be at some camping area in the midlands
I memba chillin by the seaside meditatin an watchin mr sun takin his leave
The magic of the orange ball of fire setting
Accompanied by the sounds of richie spice
~nah nah nah nah nah nah yeeah~
That was majestical
And eva since then I hav always bin a Richie spice reader/listener
I rememba also whe I first catch him live
It was at rototom sunsplash
And I believe t’was his first euro tour and everyone wanted a piece of him
~ Babylon A Gwaan~
But Richie In his black skull cap and red hand glove was neva fooled
That’s why he is where he is now and why he sings the way he sings



Then yu can have a full on session on his ganja chunes
Then almost as sudden he would humble you an bring ya back in ya dis ya time reality
An acute observer and commentator of social decadence and social upliftment he is
And if your hearing is keen yu will ear that his imagination is alive
Yu can ear his message is deeper than the light breeze’s sound.
I was gonna put up some quotes from his repertoire
Snippets from here and there

But I think i better leave that to the experts
here is a better write up on Mr Spice

In ya dis ya time y’all

How to write about Afica / The danger of a single story

I read this article long time ago
but i was not blogging then...
i also happen to kno that the writer is a good cook too
met him back in da dayz
in mah cape town daze
but i also did not expect to find it on youtube


funny thing is
now some other multi-western-ngo
is using it for its benefit....sigh!
i guess that why he felt he needed to respon
here
but wait
mah favourite story teller
in the same vain as the other article
has this to say:
The danger of a single story



in ya dis ya time y'all

Forget Africa: the response

Here is the response from the man
whats disturbing about this whole thingie
is that these are the self elect people who claim to be championing Africa's cause
and this is a common thread here in Europe
its irritating to say the least
but eh go so
...
ofcourse i responded, but will let it go
an move on to other tings n times
in ya dis ya time y'all