Mr Story-teller, tell us a story,
let it be a "riwaya"
Tell me about the people of old times.
tell me about "Alf layla wa layla" (thousand nights and a night)
And about Lundja (the Daughter of the Ogre.)
And about the son of the Sultan.
Take us away from this world.
Every one of us has a story in him (in his heart) (*2)
Tell us and forget that we're Grown Ups.
Imagine that we're little kids.
Tell us about Heaven, Tell us about Hell.
About the bird that never managed to fly away.
Teach us the meaning of this world.
Take us away from this world.
Every one of us has a story in him (in his heart) (*2)
Oh story-teller, tell us exactly like they told you
Dont add, dont take anything from it,(from your head.)
For we can remember, put that in mind.
Speak and let us forget about this time.
Leave us with "kan ya ma kan" (Once upon a time)
Every one of us has a story in him (in his heart) (*2)
Every one of us has a story in him (in his heart) (*2)
(dedicated to the Black Sun, in sign of gratitude for that last Roxana-description which has made me laugh with tears :-)
Love this r. The children, the music. The artist, Massi, she's beautiful. Her voice and didn't you love her smile at the end. Thank you for sharing. We all need storytellers---to make sense of everything.
ReplyDeletetout à fait charmant!
ReplyDeletegood catch!
ReplyDeleteThese self-portraits are beautiful, Roxana.
ReplyDeleteThese photos-along with the other Japanese ones- are amongst my favourites of all that you've posted-and that's very hard to say given that so many of them are great pictures.
Salaams,
b.
foarte buna prima!
ReplyDeleteexcelenta!
Superb post. It was all good: portraits, music no favourites.
ReplyDeleteI always love your Japanese pictures. Such a lyrical clarity --- which is what? love for the place and the people? --- and touched with a certain sadness --- which is an awareness of distance? a premonition of parting? These conditions which are so often a prelude to beauty.... Thank you.
ReplyDeletefolded, what a surprise, i had no idea you were still coming for a walk on the floating bridge... i am happy you liked it. and yes, i totally agree, about her beauty and our never ending need of storytellers.
ReplyDeleteomami, merci beaucoup :-)
ReplyDeletehehe, marius, ma simt onorata, daca maestrul necontestat al portretelor de copii imi face un asemenea compliment!
ReplyDeleteb!!! what are you saying there, self-portraits, are you implying that i have realized the centuries-long-sought androgynous perfection? :-)
ReplyDeletei wish!
and so many words of high praise concentrated in such a short comment, i see that the children have really found their way to your heart :-)
i.b., imi pare bine ca-ti place baietelul, era putin pierdut in fata unui templu japonez...
ReplyDeletethank you so much, Dave, you know how much i value your opinion.
ReplyDeleteJames, i wish i knew these answers... yes, love, for sure, and then the sadness and awareness of parting, but i wonder if they are related to Japan, since they are somehow present in every act of taking a picture, in my case... but i was not aware this was so clearly visible in pictures as these ones...
ReplyDeletethank you...
Well, I don't mean that these particular pictures are sad ... they are not. But I do think there is a special melancholy in your Japanese pictures, even underlying very happy ones, if that can possibly make sense....
ReplyDeleteOne example. The boy in the first photo here is unusual, because he is looking almost directly into the camera. This is very rare in picures with the label "Japan," where people are often seen from behind, in profile, turning away or already having turned. Of course these types of pictures occur in other categories, too, but in "my Secret Women," for example, about half of the portraits are of subjects who gaze directly at the viewer. I understand that this could have something to do with cultural differences in the meaning of the direct gaze --- but even in photos from Japan where the direct gaze would be possible, such as in the last picture in the post, you tend to chose a blurred, indistinct resolution for the image, and this is true in other "Japan" portraits, as well. I'm talking about tendencies, of course, not absolutes --- but the tendencies do seem to create a mood of parting, of loss already anticipated....
I know this is a pretty tenuous argument based on small evidence --- maybe I see things that are not really there --- so ignore it if you like :-) Regardless, understand that this is praise, not criticism. This melancholy, whether you intend it or not, touches me....
ha, James, i like that: 'ignore this if you like' :-)
ReplyDeletehow could i be able to ignore such ponderings? i am amazed that my pictures can be the object of this kind of deep and loving meditation, James, again, i don't know how to thank you...
but i feel helpless now because you know that i am not somebody who approches her 'work' in a self-conscious manner - i don't know!
if i try to be pragmatic, i would risk an answer: it is easier to have 'direct gaze' photographing women i know, in a private setting, than in such pictures as the Japan 'travel photos'... but i know that you are aware of this as well, and yet you seek beyond this - obvious- surface... i can only follow you there, silently, and ever gratefully wondering...
Best shoots
ReplyDeletehi Roxana a kiss fot you
Oh, sorry..I thought some were of you-especially the second one, which was definitely you (or so I imagine)..moody, temperamental,somewhat detached from the world, at a slight angle to the universe.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think you would stop at one state..rather more restless: it would be from girl to boy to girl again, perhaps?
The mythical beast never 'realizes' a form but always remains half submerged.
thanks Morris :-) bacio!
ReplyDeleteb, how on earth did you get the idea that i would be moody and temperamental? i am the embodiment of the phlegmatic type :-P
ReplyDeletebut yes, i will most probably go/flow from state to state, restlessly, how well you know me - or to put it even better (this means excluding any implicit praise of you): how transparent i unfortunately am :-)
moody and temperamental..er..well, you're a woman, aren't you?...so, 90 % chances of being right there!
ReplyDeleteRemarquable photo d’enfants de ton pays, beaux nomes qui demande à vivre , j’aime ton univers tu as une façon de présenter très libertaire et littéraire , les couleurs de ta pellicule j’adore cela donne une ambiance naturel les chaussure de la petit fille c’est la mode .Allan
ReplyDeletewhether musing or playing - kids can be so deliciously & seriously self-contained within the world.
ReplyDeleteand you seem to catch their secret...
love your use of hues - the world in blue, or the world 'en rose'
b! that's an easy way out, tut tut :-P
ReplyDeleteAllan, c'est le Japon, ce n'est pas mon pays meme si je le ressens parfois comme ca - je suis certaine d'avoir vecu au Japon dans beaucoup de mes vies anterieures :-)
ReplyDeletetu sais, je suis une 'litteraire' de profession, peut-etre que ca se voit dans mes images aussi, quelle horreur! :-)
fff, yes, their impossible concentration and their serious way of playing, being totally absorbed in a stone or a stick, whatever! how i envy that :-)
ReplyDeleteThe easy way out is sometimes the best way out!Why should one always look for difficult ones?!
ReplyDeletePourquoi horreur tu n’as pas à être juger tu file entre les goutes, oui je m’en doute , donc tu as shoter au japon ; moi horreur du à mes faute de frappe , j’ai un ordinateur très bien sauf le clavier et thai ; tout les touche son inverser le w à la place du z je passe du temps chaque fois .
ReplyDeleteoh, Allan, je rigolais seulement avec 'horreur' :-)
ReplyDeletej'aimes "tu files entre les goutes", c'est une belle description, et peut-etre, vraie aussi.
Ce frumoasa e prima!superba!!
ReplyDeletevad ca spre prima merg cele mai multe voturi :-)
ReplyDeletemultumesc, Edith, draga mea.