Voting on a new NZ Flag

Today I got to vote on the new New Zealand flag. I love the fact that my birth country includes me in these decisions even though I don't live there.  I do visit regularly though and that counts. 

My favourite flags of this lot are the Koru design in the middle and the triangles flag which was included only after the public had complained about the selection made by the committee. All the others look like marketing icons to me.

Addendum on 11/12/15: the first results are out and the first flag on the left got the most votes. The Koru got the least but I still like it best. I am glad the flag far right didn't get the Guernsey as I like it the least. The next vote is in March 2016 and we will choose between the preferred flag of this lot and the current NZ flag which is very similar to it but has a union jack instead of fern leaf.

Paris

2015 Maribor Festival draws to a close

Tara Simincec

Jaka Stadler

Richard Tognetti

The Maribor Music Festival is almost over for another year. As always, it was a fantastic journey, lots of different music and a diverse array of performers. I have painted musicians and Maribor for the last 10 days and will have their music in my head for months to come. It is an exception festival in a lovely town and all the people who visited this year are hoping the organisers will find a way to hold it against next year.

If you have never been to Maribor, put it on your buckt list. It's gorgeous! I just went for a last-night-at-Maribor stroll - here are some photos.

At the wine bar on the river Drava

Wine at dusk

Swans on the river Draver at sunset

Town square lights and monument
to plague victims

Monument to plague victims

What are we fighting for? Flanders Fields reflection

This morning I received an email from my Belgian friend Monika, a woman who has a long history of opposing wars. She has given permission for me to quote her. She wrote:

"Yesterday, I went to visit the Memorial places in Flanders Fields from the first World War ...  It was a very special experience, very moving, one no words can explain. ... we went to visit the gigantic, very impressive Commonwealth cemetery, Tyne Cot, with thousands of soldiers from the first world war.  I went looking for graves of Australian and New Zealand soldiers, and like to send some to you. It was very moving, touching, overwhelming, looking at their names if they had one, and their age. Some of them had written on them ‘Known unto God’, no name, no identity, nothing, for a war which has served whom and for what? I was thinking of you and would have loved you to stand with me at the memorial ceremony that evening in Ypres, with the Last Post.

Flanders Fields. Photo: M. Triest

There were so many Australians and New Zealanders who had come all the way, to present a wreath to show their respect. There were national anthems, songs, there were flowers, and I just stood there, speechless. It’s now exactly 100 years ago, and in Belgium there are an enormous amount of events, films, conferences, books, articles, TV shows on this topic. That’s a good thing, otherwise young people wouldn’t be able to find out what happened and learn some lessons from it....

 As you can tell, it was an emotional day for me. I would like to tell the world Pete Seeger’s words:

‘What if there were a war and nobody came?’"

I wish I could  reply that I am glad we have learned from that debacle, but unfortunately I cannot. The Anzac celebrations divided Australians this year. Not so long ago we could debate the Anzac Gallipoli landing, its merits and its relative position in our history but in 2015 we seem to have lost our sense of perspective. Yesterday Scott Mcintyre, a young and gifted sports reporter with the Australian multicultural SBS TV channel, posted some anti-war tweets online under his own name. The Federal Government Communications Minister complained about them (dobbed him in to his boss personally, then boasted about it online) and the young man was sacked.

So I am wondering what our soldiers are fighting for now? Not freedom of expression, as we have  lost that, nor the right to talk to each other privately without the government spying on us, as we have lost that as well. Journalists and especially whistle-blowers as well as anyone who talks to them lost protection under the law recently so presumably we are quite happy to put up with rorting, intimidation and wrong-doing in our workplaces. Two women in Australia are being murdered each week by their partners (current total this year is 33) while at the same time resources for women's refuges have been withdrawn (the new policy is called Going home, Staying home) so we are not fighting for safe and fruitful family lives either.

Perhaps now that it has become clear we are not fighting for a way of life after all, men will simply refuse to fight. It was reported today that Australian WWI soldiers frequently went AWOL which infuriated the British who demanded that Australia introduce the death penalty for such cases. The Australian Government resisted but I doubt our current government would be so reluctant. However I wonder if co-oped conscripts would shoot at their supposed enemies or whether they might turn their guns on those who send them to give their lives to protect the resources of the 1%?

First Dog on the Moon comments on anti-Anzac ...

Addendum: Online petition for Scott McIntyre to be reinstated

Subtropical temperate cyclone

Is this the new norm in our climate-changed world? Ferocious winds and driving rain, that's the NSW Central Coast right now. Trees being blown over or ripped apart, a hundred thousand without power, trains not running and people being asked to stay home if they don't have to be at work. This morning I had to mop up water driven in through closed windows, well around closed windows more accurately, by the gale force winds.

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The big gum tree on the street in front of the house has had several branches blown off. Falling branches make a sickening thud and I am almost afraid to look out the window to see if there is other damage when I hear one fall.

But I am counting my blessings as I still have power and the house is standing. The damage is very extensive right across Sydney and surrounds, with fallen trees damaging cars and homes, boats smashed against seawalls and, further north, homes swept away in floods.

Later:
I never discarded my yellow bike gear used in Hamburg and on days like this I am happy I still have it.  I used it to keep dry as I rescued the rubbish bins that had been blown over. The lids had been blown off them and clear across the street.The weather is still so bad I don't dare stay out for fear of more falling branches.

Yellow plastic rain gear

The weather bureau says we are in for another wild night. I am crossing my fingers that the big gum tree that has had several branches blown off stays standing.

Louis Lortie in Sydney

Louis Lortie plays preludes

If you had told me I would be listening to 57 preludes one after the other,  I would have thought you were joking, but yesterday evening that is exactly what happened.

The virtuosic French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie played 9 preludes by Fauré, 24 by by Scriabin and then, after an interval, Chopin's series of 24 preludes including the well known Raindrop Prelude D flat major. Lortie was wonderful as you can hear in this sample  and I came away with a whole new feeling for preludes.

Lortie played for nearly two hours, often looking towards the ceiling as he concentrated on his inner music. As he stood to take his bows he looked rather shattered, as if he was still in the grip of the music. I thought it very gracious of him to sign CDs with such good humour before he had really had time to recover.


Watch Louis Lortie play Chopin Etudes (below):

Concert to commemorate the centenary of Gallipoli

Last night a concert of new works by Australian, Turkish and New Zealand composers was presented in the Paddington Church by soprano AyşeGöknur Shanal.

Ayşe won the Australian Singing Competition in 1998 and has won many national and international awards since. She is a passionate advocate of 21st Century music and this year she commissioned work by six composers which were presented for the first time last night.  Ayşe was accompanied by pianist Patrick Keith, himself an award winning accompanist. 

Composers Ross Fiddes, Diana Blom, Sylvia Rice and  John Wayne Dixon with
pianist Patrick Keith and Soprano Ayşe Göknur Shanal

It was fascinating having the composers on hand to explain their music, at least all but one, Erberk Erylimaz, who is currently in America but who wrote a stunning piece called Songs Against War that included voice sung into the piano which was quite extraordinary - you have to see it performed to appreciate it.

Below is a video in which Ayşe explains how she discovered her love of opera singing.

Turkey in Music

Turkish music enthusiasts packed the Capitol Theater in Sydney last Wednesday to hear seven virtuosic 'Masters' of Turkish instruments, the Orchestra of Samsun State Opera and Ballet and several Australian guest artists play and sing.  The delighted crowd gave them a standing ovation after almost two hours of non-stop playing and singing.

ACO, Four Seasons, Joseph Tawadros

The Australian Chamber Orchestra has released a new CD - The Four Seasons. Why would you want another four seasons CD you ask yourself? Well, listen to this one and you may decide you do.

Joseph Tawadros plays Oud

I heard the ACO Four Seasons concert yesterday and it is a beaut; a collaboration with Joseph Tawadros who composes for and plays the Oud (Egyptian string instrument) and his percussionist brother James Tawadros who played the Riq', which is like a small tambourine.

Put a group of virtuosic players in a room together and this concert is what you get. It is energetic and obviously fun for all participants. That makes it even more fun for the audience who leave the hall smiling and humming.

The concert is touring Australian east coast cities through February ... catch them if you can.

Squirrel

Glass squirrel
26x 51 cm (10" x 20")
Acrylic on Canvas

Many years ago I gave my mother a smokey glass squirrel. It sat on her kitchen cupboard for a long time and now sits on mine, eternally eating its acorn.

I painted the squirrel over the top of another painting which had words written on it. In the finished painting you can  see through the squirrel to the words beneath. Just!

I particularly like the effect. It will be an inspiration for the next painting. Funny how these things happen. Happy accidents.

I write this on the cusp of the new year - so happy new year for 2015. I wish heath and all the acorns you desire.