2009年渥太華國際爵仕音樂節 / 2009 Ottawa International Jazz Festival

The 2009 Ottawa International Jazz Festival started with a free concert on June 24 and drew to a close last Sunday July 5, 2009. This year's event was quite a success in terms of public attendance and calibre of the musicians. For several evenings, the wet weather drenched the audience but it did not dampen their enthusiasm. I usually do not spend a lot of money on night entertainment, but this year, I bought tickets for three evenings of open-air events and enjoyed every single one of them.

My favourites performers included, in chronological order: Trombone Shorty (young vocal, trombone and trumpet musician from New Orleans), Reverend Al Green (8-time Grammy Award winning Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer), Esperanza Spalding (young bassist and vocalist from Oregon with a beautiful voice), Chris Botti (worked with Sting, Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell, great trumpet showman crossing contemporary jazz with pop), Claudia Acuña (Chilean born vocalist now living in US, delivering beautiful songs in Spanish and English), and Chucho Valdés.(founder of the Orquesta Cuban de Musica Moderna in 1967, veteran Cuban Latin-jazz musician whom I saw in Cuba five months ago, a master pianist with unparallel speed, rhythms and ease).

The Ottawa event is the third international jazz festivals that I have attended in the last six months, the first two being the Cuba International Jazz Festival in Habana and the New Orleans International Jazz Festival in Louisiana. In the summer months ahead, I look forward to attending the Ottawa Blue Fest, the Chamber Fest and the Ottawa Folk Music Festival. If the weather cooperates, I will be spending quite a few nights out under the stars or in churches/studios, listening to some great music played by talented musicians from all over the world.

References / Related links:
* Ottawa International Jazz Festival June24-July5, published program pp. 34-46
* OIJF Website: http://www.ottawajazzfestival.com/
* Info on jazz festivals across Canada: http://www.jazzfestivalscanada.ca/

Upcoming music festivals in Ottawa:
* Blues Fest: July 8-19: www.ottawabluesfest.ca
* Chamber Fest: July 25-Aug 8: www.chamberfest.com
* Folk Fest: Aug 21-23: http://www.ottawafolk.org/

攝影皆作: 伏都柔魂 / Photo Story: Voodoo Apparition

(接上回: 【攝影皆作: 女人的背影 / Photo Story: Woman Entering a Voodoo House】
http://lotusandcedar.blogspot.com/2009/05/photo-story-woman-entering-voodoo-house.html)

我在上回說道那穿白衣的女人,跨過女巫的門檻,踏進黑暗的伏都教廟宇內。在數分鐘後,我也跟隨她入內,眼睛習慣了漆黑的環境後,發覺我是在祭神房內。

在黯淡的燈光下,我看到祭壇上擠滿了各式各樣的偶像,有些是面目狰獰的非洲鬼巫,有些是在西方敎堂常見的耶穌聖母像,也有東方宗教的坐蓮觀世音菩薩,真是滿天神佛,令人毛骨悚然。

獻臺上放置的物品,在我這個外來人看,是有點雜亂無章,除香油金錢之外,也有很多符咒藥物,在鋼琴旁白衣小女像的左边,似乎還有一個乾製了的羊頭。想起白衣,我左顧右盼,卻看不見那剛進來穿白衣的女人,可能她是仙化去了。

当我跑跑撞撞想找尋出路之際,卻在另一個黑暗的房間中,迎頭碰上了一個形容憔悴,身體廋長的女人,她肢體似乎是飄浮在空中,藍白色的裙子無風自動。

『請問出路在那裏?』我心急地問。
『嗯!』她不置可否地回答。
『我是遊客,希望妳不介意我闖進來,在廟內拍照。』
我一边說,一边裝模作樣,提起相机週圍乱拍,閃光燈在牆上留下她廋長的黑影子。
『嗯 ...!』她還是沒有回答我,虛弱的身體似乎仍在飄浮著,一会兒坐在地上,一会兒坐在椅上。

我突然感到一陣寒意,心中捲起無名的恐懼,頸後的頭髪一枝枝直豎起來。『媽呀!我不会是白日見鬼罷!』在驚慌惶乩中,我颤抖祈求: 『歴代祖宗,饒恕我這個不肖子孫,給我一線生机呀!』。在那一剎那間,陽光從門縫透入來,我怱怱拿著相机,頭也不回,半跑半跌地離開那伏都女巫的住所。在紐奧連斯溫暖烈日之下,我的額角流下了豆子般大的冷汗。
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攝影圖片 Photo (一): 令人不寒而栗的伏都木偶像: 『天堂有路你不走,地獄無門闖進來!』..... 媽呀!!!!

攝影圖片 Photo (二): 廟內其中一個祭壇,碗內可能是祭物,女巫留言指示怎樣許願下咒: "To make a wish, rub statue daily in a clockwise direction, tap 3 times ...."

攝影圖片 Photo (三): 獻臺上有很多美鈔,有錢使得鬼推磨嘛!。

攝影圖片 Photo (四): 她可不是那白衣女人的化身罷!?

攝影圖片 Photo (五): 『嗯!』如果穿藍白花裙的女人是伏都教廟宇的 "Gate Keeper",我会很有禮貌地回答說: 『鎖妳,但我不是妳尋求的 "Key Maker",拜拜!』

攝影圖片 Photo (六): 『嗯...!』為了替她保護私隱,我用手筆加上一些遮掩面部的秀髪,但我是不会忘記那双幽幽的怨眼!!

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Related Info:

1. 伏都教許願下咒例子: (Source: "Louisiana Voodoo" Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Voodoo)

* If a woman wants her husband to stay away from other woman, she can do so by putting a little of her blood in his coffee, and he will never quit her.
* If a woman's husband dies and you don't want her to marry again, cut all of her husband's shoes all in little pieces, just as soon as he is dead, and she will never marry again.
* You can give someone a headache by taking and turning their picture upside down.
* You can harm a person in whatever way you want to by getting a lock of his hair and burning some and throwing the rest away.

2. 伏都教(Source: 維基百科http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E4%BC%8F%E9%83%BD%E6%95%99&variant=zh-hk

伏都教，又譯「巫毒教」，源於非洲西部，是糅合祖先崇拜、萬物有靈論、通靈術的原始宗教，有些像薩滿教。流行於東起加納西迄尼日利亞的西非諸國，信仰的民族有芳族、約努巴族等，也盛行於海地。伏都教也是貝寧的國教，有60%的國民，約450萬人信奉。「伏都」在芳語中是靈魂的意思。伏都教最著名與最恐怖的特色是活死人，即是殭屍。如果有人開罪別人，那人會找巫師，巫師會讓他吃下河豚毒素，他會進入奇怪的假死的狀態，成為奴隸，在莊園幹苦工。

攝影皆作: 女人的背影 / Photo Story: Woman Entering a Voodoo House

她戴著情人送的帽子
還記得新奧爾良市酷熱的太陽
醉人的爵士音樂
散漫的悠揚樂韻
在那一瞬間
我望著那白衣女人的背影
扭著豐滿的蠻腰
跨過女巫的門檻
在黑暗中尋「伏都教」的愛情迷藥

(註解: 新奧爾良市 New Orleans; 爵士音樂 Jazz music; 女巫 priestess; 「伏都教」 Voodoo 西印度群島和美國南部等地某些黑人中流行的巫術信仰)

Photograph 攝影圖片: I took this photo just as the woman in the white dress was about to enter into a Voodoo house in New Orleans. This Voodoo temple is run by a priestess of Cajun origin. I will show you in my next article, what it was like once she stepped inside. (Please click to see enlarged photo)

**** Please read the conclusion of this story: 【攝影皆作: 伏都柔魂 / Photo Story: Voodoo Apparition】
http://lotusandcedar.blogspot.com/2009/05/voodoo-temple.html ****

旅遊路易斯安那州暮日下的沼澤 / Sunset Tour of the Louisiana Swamp

在2009-05-01晚上,我參加一個旅行團,坐汽艇(airboat)夜遊離New Orleans新奧爾良巿45分鐘的一個沼澤。導遊那條平底船約十八呎長,可坐六個乘客,因汽艇是靠空氣推動,所以在草叢丶濕泥丶淺水中都可以行走自如。可惜那部在船尾的「大風扇」非常嘈吵,所以行船時每人都要戴上護耳罩。

汽艇在六時開航,在暮日下,路易斯安那州的景色使人心醉,沼澤隱藏着的危險令人迷惑,我們知道這是美國短吻鱷的出沒地帶,但周圍看到的都只是枯草爛木,密西西比河就是要保護大自然,不這容易讓我們看到她的原居民秘密。最後導遊關掉了那吵耳的「大風扇」,汽艇在塘泥池中停了下來,在大自然的寂靜中,我們終於看到浮在水中的一双双紅眼睛,密鱷一定是希望我們船沈溺水,自願獻給它們一頓豐富的晚歺!!

我趁著天色未漆黑之前,拍攝了几張路易斯安那州沼澤的大自然丶大青蛙丶和小鱷魚的照片,在這裏貼上給各位欣賞。如果您想看一條12呎長的鱷魚錄影,懇請參看我昨天貼在網誌上的YouTube視頻: "旅遊路易斯安那州的沼澤: 短吻鱷 / Alligator-watching in the Louisiana Swamp" http://lotusandcedar.blogspot.com/2009/05/alligator-watching-in-louisiana-swamp.html

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Related information:

* 维基百科: "... 短吻鱷（學名Alligator），屬於鱷目的短吻鱷科。其英文名alligator源自西班牙語el lagarto（意思：蜥蜴）。這名稱是早期在佛羅里達州的西班牙探險家和定居者命名的。... 現時只有兩個國家有短吻鱷，就是美國（密河鱷）和中國（揚子鱷） 。中國短吻鱷更是瀕臨絕種，並只生長在長江沿岸的淡水地區。... 大多數的美國短吻鱷棲息於佛羅里達州Florida和路易斯安那州Louisiana。據統計，僅在佛羅里達州，就有超過一百萬隻的短吻鱷。美國也是世界上唯一個同時擁有短吻鱷科(alligator)和鱷科(crocodile)的國家。美國短吻鱷一般居住在淡水環境，例如池塘、沼澤、河流和濕地。 ..."

(http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E7%9F%AD%E5%90%BB%E9%B1%B7&variant=zh-hk)

Photo credit: "Airboat" picture is from Wikipedia; all others are mine.

旅遊路易斯安那州的沼澤: 短吻鱷 / Alligator-watching in the Louisiana Swamp

The video was taken during an airboat ride in the swampy bayous 45 minutes from New Orleans 新奧爾良, Louisiana, USA. Other than the noise (ear protectors were provided), it was an enjoyable sun-set tour of the wetland where alligators, frogs, bugs, eagles, and other creatures carved out their existence. The 12-foot alligator in the film was not too interested in greeting tourists in a noisy airboat. Apparently, he (the gator) was eyeing a female near by.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMao9KnbIzI )

My Responses to Your Comments (UPDATED May 5, 2009: All Jazzed Up !!)

Updated May 5, 2009 01h05:

I just got off the plan after spending abt 10 days at the 40th New Orleans Jazz Festival !!! You may say I am all "jazzed up" :)

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From now till May 5th, I will continue to read your comments but might not be able to provide feedback on a timely basis. Rest assured that I will respond back as soon as I can.