Purple dusk

Purple dusk, originally uploaded by Sachira.

Recently, I had to change houses once more. This is my seventh home in a period of seven months. Every time when I move, I not only leave the house, the furniture and the neighborhood behind, but also the brand-new friends I make at each of those places. Nevertheless, I think, now I have got used to a nomadic life. After all, life itself is nomadic. (To be honest, I do miss the feeling of isolation in the barren, semi desert landscapes around Perth though)

For some extraordinary reason I always end up ‘camping’ close to a river. The Swan River I fell in love with back in Perth, Brisbane River in West End, and now slot in between the same river and the Moreton Bay. Rivers have an amazing ability to calm my mind down. Nothing feels more serene than going for a walk down by the river, at the sundown, listening to some soothing music. I do not always accompany my camera with me for such walks, as the urge to take photographs of the splendors created by the setting sun itself deprives me of my relaxation.

Nightingale

Is it really the poet that composes poems, or is it the subject? As per my experience on that particular night, it was music that composed this poem. It merely used my mind and brain to process language and my hand to write down the words on a piece of paper. Thus, the poem belongs to this music, not to me.

Nightingale

Helplessly, I have drowned,
in self intoxication
I cannot see a way,
to break free,
nor have the intent
Lost among defilements, am I?
A heart that feels so heavy,
sighing, seemingly unending,
In my reminiscence,
I hear it playing,
perpetually, consuming me
It is no more the reality,
that I live in

Last week in this blog I posted a picture that belongs to some one else, although I started the blog with the intention of sharing my photography work. Today I am going to break the traditions again and post a piece of music in my 'hereafter so called' photoblog.

All the boundaries we know are created by our consciousness. In reality, every thing is just a result of conversion of other things. Matter and energy, in the universe as we know it, creates everything, and matter is convertible to energy and vice-versa. So, in that sense what is the difference between a photograph and a piece of music. They both are art. The way we perceive them, and the way they generate a sensation in our minds is the same. After all, it's our mind that creates everything we see, hear, smell, feel and dream.

With that somewhat controversial justification I am taking this opportunity to share a piece of mesmeric music. This track made me feel exactly the same as in the above poem, on that dark, peaceful night.

The Dawn

The Dawn, originally uploaded by Sithara.

This picture is the work of one of my closest friends, Sithara Dayarathna. As an appreciation of his wonderful photography, despite the limitations of his hardware, I decided to post this on my blog. This simple poem happened to get composed in my head while I was drowned in its memorizing beauty.

Fire, fire burning bright,
higher and higher into the sky
Fewer the days that start so bright,
and, here a child dreams to fly

Confusion

Confusion, originally uploaded by Sachira.

The feeling of utter confusion of being amoung the network of roots in the mangroves gives a unique sensation. With that it is not hard to understand the role the stripes on zebras play on hungry eyes of a predator on African savanna. I stumbled upoun this mangrove swamp at the Nudgee Beach in Queensland, Australia. About 20km from Brisbane and facing the Moreton Bay.

Mangroves and the adjoining wetlands are important to retain the ecological balance of this area. Mangroves work as a filter of water streams that flows down to rivers, bays, or lagoons, while wetlands help controlling floods. These eco-systems also house an array of wild animals whose existence rely entirely on the preservation of these wetlands.

Apart from all that, mangroves provide shade, rest and a photo opportunity under its canopy to eco-tourists, as was the case with me that day.

Vacancies...

Vacancies..., originally uploaded by Sachira.

On one fine autumn day, I saw these three benches along the riverside walkway calling for passersby to sit and rest on them. Finally, I was able to listen to their silent call and quench their thirst for company for a brief time.The Picture was taken at the walkway along the Brisbane river in Teneriffe, Queensland, Australia.

I never had any idea about where Teneriffe is or what is there to see until a new bus service, called "City Glider", started operating from where I live, West End, to Teneriffe Jetty. A ride on the bus during the first couple of weeks was free and I decided check out what Teneriffe was like.

An evening on the rooftop

Every photo has a story behind it. This particular story, I enjoy recalling over and over, because it brings back a feeling I adore so much.

The roof of our house, back in Colombo, was a flat concrete surface. There was a stair case to access it as well, making it easier for anyone to climb up there. Back in those days, I had a habit of going up there in evenings and watching the sunset. Our house was two storied and located on bit of a higher ground. Since it was a residential area, there were not many taller structures around it either. That made it an ideal location to observe the heavens, day or night.

Didgeridoo player in Fremantle

Click PLAY to see the video


This guy is the best casual Didgeridoo player I came across while my stay in Western Australia. I met him in Fremantle while admiring these wonderful instruments at the store he was working in. Didgeridoo has always been an instrument of passion for me. Even before I came to Australia, I loved listening to its music.

My sister knew about this and one time she tried to buy one for me from Perth and bring it to Sri Lanka when she was visiting us. However, it did not really work out because of the bulkiness and the fragility of the item. Instead she bought me a CD of didgeridoo music by an artist named David Hudson, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

So, ever since I landed in Australia and got a chance to wonder around the shops, especially the aboriginal art and souvenir stores, I enjoyed admiring didgeridoos. Not just through my eyes, but also through my ears. Most of these instruments are painted with aboriginal arts making them look even more fascinating. Although, some original didgeridoos were supposed to be just a plain hollow wood. Some warm-hearted guys, like the one in the video, went to the extent of putting on a short performance for me, even when they knew that I was not going buy one.

As far as what I came across, one can buy a decent didgeridoo starting from around AU$75. Most of them are intended for tourists and casual players. Probably the professionals would own ones that are of much higher value.

Didgeridoo is an Australian aboriginal instrument. It is said to have originated in northern part of the continent. Traditionally the instrument was made out of Eucalyptus wood and can measure 1 to 3 meters in length[1]. The end where the mouthpiece is, usually have a smaller diameter compared to the opposite end to create resonance of the sound.

When playing a didgeridoo, a technique called circular breathing is necessary, which for my experience is not that easy to pick up. The aboriginal people considers the instrument to be sacred and do not like women playing it. In addition to that, I have heard that the intense breathing method creates a lot of stress on stomach mussels, and could affect negatively on women's womb.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I can guarantee you that there will be another article on didgeridoo soon on this blog.

Reference:
[1]. Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia. Didgeridoo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didgeridoo. Accessed on June 6, 2010.