Born in 1936, Joseph Nangalambe was a prolific composer, guitar player and singer who disguised the underlying meanings of his songs through coded metaphors and allegory. In the following track, Nangalambe sings in the Yao language about a mysterious man called Che Poison. The singer describes travelling to stay overnight in different districts of Malawi, knowing that when he awakes he will find Che Poison there. But who is this mysterious man Che Poison? Che Poyi, makes me wonder, makes me w...| African Poems
Martin Cheney is not typically the first name that comes to mind when considering the impact of clockmakers on Canadian horology. Martin Cheney, born in 1778, was part of a prominent American clock…| Antique and Vintage Clocks
Today I got into splitting some firewood for my log cabin’s wood stove and ran into some especially gnarly oak butts that were still waiting to be split and stacked on the woodpile. Since one particular round was putting up a pretty good fight, I brought out my favorite steel wedge and my heaviest maul, an 8-pounder. As I was slamming the maul into the wedge, I got to thinking that the maul was pretty dang heavy. As I was pounding away, I started singing that old bluegrass song, “Nine Pou...| Native Ground Books and Music
While doing some research on one of the songs for my book Bluegrass Jamming on Mandolin, I uncovered some interesting things about the song “Roll On Buddy,” which is considered a bluegrass standard as recorded by Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. On May 17, 1924 Al Hopkins & His Buckle Busters recorded “Baby Your Time Ain’t Long” with Charlie Bowman on fiddle. Four years later, Charlie Bowman & His Brothers used this exact same melody on a song they called “Roll On Buddy.” Alt...| Native Ground Books and Music
