May 30 - Rina Mushonga / Annie Goodchild

I'm sitting at the airport in KL on the 1st of 2 layovers on the way back to Shanghai. After my week in Malaysia for work, I went to visit friends in Hanoi for the Dragon Boat Festival, which is a holiday weekend in China. I'm kind of surprised it's not a holiday weekend anywhere else in Southeast Asia, but anyway it's not, so my friends did have to work. But I had the weekend with them, which we just spent eating and drinking. Which I was very happy with, since I've been to Hanoi before and really only cared about seeing Tom and Vicky. Plus I got to do a bit of touring on Monday. I ended up going to see Hoa Lo Prison (also known as the Hanoi Hilton, where the French first kept communist prisoners, and later where the Vietnamese kept US POWs). And I went to the Museum of Women. Both were pretty good, but the most interesting thing was how they present the information. In both, there's a big focus on the period of the Vietnam War and the successes and sacrifices made by good Communists or people who later became party leaders. At the prison, everything was presented as the French being horrible to the Vietnamese prisoners, and the Vietnamese later being super nice to the American prisoners. Which is definitely how it was, right? And the Women's Museum made an interesting choice in how they presented information as well. It's supposed to be a museum showcasing women and the roles they play in Vietnamese society, which, as you may have guessed, are quite traditional. And what's the first section of the museum? The first thing they decide to show you about women? Marriage. And then Childbirth. And once you get to the section about women in society and what contributions they've made, it's all about the Vietnamese war. Interesting choices. They've still got a way to go, I think. But anyway, it's nice to see they have the museum. And other than all that, I found this amazing laquerware shop called Hanoia, which I'm a bit obsessed with. I'm not sure if I've talked about the ceramics shop Spin in Shanghai, but it's the Vietnamese laquerware equivalent of that. You should look up both. And if you're in Shanghai, go buy things at Spin. And if you're in Hanoi, go buy things at Hanoia. And of course the food. I ate a lot of Vietnamese food. Including a banh mi for every day. That thing is my favorite. So all in all, great trip!

I've had some artists sitting in my backlog for quite a while now, so we're gonna clear a couple out now, starting with Rina Mushonga. She's a Dutch-Zimbabwean musician, now based in London, who's making some pretty interesting stuff. She had an EP last year, but then this year released the track AtalantA, which I love. It's super weird and there's all kinds of stuff going on, but I love the guitar and bass lines right from the start, and really love when it builds from about 2 and a half minutes onward. All that and her super cool voice, of course.

And we'll throw in her other song, Eastern Highlands also, because it's really beautiful. Very different from AtalantA, but really beautiful. And hopefully on whatever EP or album she's got in the works, cause it's nowhere right now except YouTube.




Next up, from across the pond, is Annie Goodchild. She's been working in this band Melou for years, and has put out a solo EP called A Random Physical Sensation. And the first single off of it, Rooster, is pretty great. If I remember, I didn't particularly like the EP. But I do like this song a lot. I'm not sure how I feel about the big change at around 3:15. I like both parts of the song a lot, but I'm not sure I like the actual change. Anyway, it's still a great song and she's still got a great voice. So I'll also go check out Melou and maybe report back if they're good.