I don’t think we really had any Christmas traditions growing up.
There were those Christmases at my grandma’s when I was little; joyous and precious moments that has forever shaped what Christmas means to me. I do consider those tradition.

Last weekend when we were putting up the Christmas decorations, I realized that it’s become somewhat of a tradition – somewhere along the way I’d picked up some traditions of my own.
The tree usually goes up on the first weekend in December; we brought the boxes of decorations up from storage over the weekend.

The fun is in getting everyone to corporate, deciding what goes where, and the memories that comes with a few special ornaments.
And I, I’m always on hand with snacks; I made Italian wedding cookies, the unofficial cookie of Christmas – I’m not sure why they’re called wedding cookies.
I’m in charge of music too, I love Christmas songs, especially the hymns I used to sing when I was a child.
I had Enya’s ‘And Winter Came’ album playing and every time ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’ came on, we sang along reminiscently.
It’s one of my very favourite Christmas songs
And as the wonderful smell of cookies filled our tiny space, with soothing music playing in the background as we hung ornaments on the old tree I knew that this was a tradition I hoped to keep.

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While on vacation last year, we stayed in the Marais district of Paris, close to Centre Pompidou.
Our mostly pedestrian cobble-stoned street, often packed with revelers, was a quite the social hub.
The area really came alive at night; with several restaurants, bars, nightclubs and people pouring out into the streets to make our little cramped quarter.

On some evenings I’d sit by the wide windows with a glass of wine and people-watch into the wee hours.
I slept with the windows open every night just to feel a part of the incredible energy outside.
Across the narrow street was a restaurant; you could see inside from the apartment, they cleared the tables and chairs at night to create a makeshift nightclub.
There was loud music, drinking, general merriment and mostly young people dancing.

The DJ was a big guy with messy long hair; he took long breaks outside, drawing leisurely on his cigarette, unfazed by the raucous around him.
After a few nights of waving bonsoir at him, I finally got to ask him what it was like to be that cool.
He laughed and we had a long chat, it turns out he loves African music – Ghanaian and Congolese music to be precise.
When I told him I was from Ghana, he’d hum/sing this old sixties highlife song whenever he saw me.
I thought it was charming; I mean, here I was… barely able to speak passable French, and he, not that great English and yet we’re bonding over Ghanaian music from the sixties.

When I came back home, I sent him a link to Awesome Tapes from Africa and promised him I’d have a favourite French song by my next visit.
I decided that I also needed a song for whenever I saw him – and watch the whole song-singing banter go from cute to annoying
It took a few months, but I too have found my favourite French song; and it’s not by Celine Dion (although she did a cover of the song).

I watched Commes t’y es belle, a French romantic comedy about the lives and loves of four Jewish Parisian women.
Yes, it’s a chick flick, but it’s French and different in a fun and charming way.
It apparently was a big hit when it came out in 2006.
The movie had a few music montages, and the soundtrack which played over several scenes was ‘L’envie D’aimer’
I loved it! So much that I shazamed it, found it and a bought a copy.
Listen…
[See post to listen to audio]

I can’t believe I’d never heard this song before…
It’s a beautiful soft melodic tune about the courage to love, the words are simple – I added a few phrases to my vocabulary.
It turns out the song is from a popular French musical from 2000, Les dix commandements about the ten commandments, it’s the final song in the musical, sung by Moses.
I’ve listened to it so much that it’s pretty much the only French song I can sing almost word for word (the alouette and frère Jacques songs don’t count).
My favourite line from the song is “Faire que l’amour, Qu’on aura partagé Nous donne l’envie d’aimer” – something about sharing love to find the desire to love.

Watch this video, and tell me this isn’t your favourite French song too!

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Well, isn’t today the most perfect of Saturdays.
A picture perfect day.

We’re headed to Ambleside Park for a little picnic.
I’m making this awesome maple cornmeal biscuits to take with us.

These maple cornmeal biscuits are super yummy!
It’s quick and easy to make with ingredients I have on hand.

They come out of the oven buttery and crunchy on the outside.
The grittiness of the cornmeal really makes that maple flavour pop.

There’ll be popcorn and drinks too!
Now we just have to leave the house

Anyone remember this song? It mostly reminds me of Trainspotting which I was mildly obsessed with.
I leave you with this and hope you’re having a perfect day where ever you are.
And yes, I know the song is possibly about drugs

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I was listening to Nikki (the ‘I Believe’ girl) Yanofsky’s new album this morning on my way to work.
The songs are beautiful jazz, with a little bit of pop and soul, and she has an amazing voice.
I’m almost tempted to go see her during the jazz festival but I’m afraid my fascination is because she’s young and so talented.
Maybe my admiration is the kind reserved for child prodigies.

Someone suggested I listen to the album – because it’s ‘music to inspire travel’ as I’ve been a little obsessed with traveling lately.

It’s just a few months till September.
I spent the last week planning my vacation.
I usually take my vacation in September.

September is not a (very) high travel season, it’s also not blazing hot and I get to spend the summer in Vancouver which is the only time our weather is awesome.

When planning, I started off wanting to go to the same places I’d always gone, doing the same things I’d done.

But then I decided I wanted to try something different this year.
I’m going to rent a tiny apartment in Paris, and for a few weeks live out my Parisian fantasy.
I already have my days planned out; my days will be filled visiting open markets, boulangeries, little neighbourhood cafés, museums, sightseeing, brocantes and puces.
I’ll take a long scenic train ride to London one weekend to visit with friends and family.
It’s all I’ve been working on for the past while and it’s very exciting, I think waiting is going to be the hardest.
And when I finally return home, I want to have changed a little – because for a few weeks I lived a different life.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

I also saw K’NAAN live at the Orpheum as part of the Cultural Olympiad last February.

It seems like ages now and I’m not sure I remember every awesome detail about the show.

When I first got K’NAAN’s sophomore album Troubadour – I listened to it again and again.

“Wavin’ Flag” soon became one of my favourites, I had it on repeat, and knew it was going to be a hit.

I was excited at the chance to see him live.

The show at the Orpheum was great and thrilling, the atmosphere electrifying.

He and his band were incredible!

“Waving Flag”

The set was inspiring and� fun – the crowd danced and sang along to all the songs.

Almost everyone in the crowd sang along to the choruses.

He did an extended freestyle version of “Wavin’ Flag,” where he gets into a little bit about his life.

There were a lot of actual flag waving too being that it was during the Olympics and folks were feeling rather patriotic.

“Waving Flag” Freestyle

My favourite part of the show was “Fatima”

He had us all sing along to the chorus, it was moving, but in a totally fun and stirring way.

More pictures…

“That’s Exactly How I Feel…”

This was the first time hearing this song, it’s not on the Troubadour album.

I’m not even sure what the ‘official’ title is but I really like it.

This is what a wore for the concert;

Diesel jeans, J Crew tank, purple Uniqlo shirt, a brilliantly thrifted Alexander McQueen jacket and Clarks shoes.

The necklace is from Foxy Originals although I love it so much I’ve decided it’s my personal crest.

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I fell in love with a Tuareg man once, a Kel Tamasheq who called me his Tamedrayt (sister).

He had beautiful kind eyes, a wide smile and the smoothest gorgeous skin

I was in awe of him, I’d listen to him talk about this striking, vast and arid land he came from.

A land so colourful, harsh, beautiful that the sun shone so bright it sparkled into the horizon.

He’d speak of his people; strong, proud warriors who loved the land and the freedom to roam it.

I cried the day he left, big sad heaving tears; he wiped them away smiling and said

“Aah… Tamedrayt, One of these days you’re going to love something so precious you wouldn’t be able to trust yourself with it”

I smile through my tears. I, of course didn’t understand what he meant then.

I mentioned this to my therapist; that I believe the Kel Tamasheq man was the love of my life.

She thinks I’m romanticizing again, and a little surprised… “love of your life?, really? – What about the potential French husband”

“Have you considered life living on the desert?” She asks

I ask her if she knew� the Tuaregs were matriarchal.

It’s the men who wear the veil, not women.

I could have been a matriarch; I would have been revered…

Video 1

It was he who turned me on to Tinariwen and they’ve since become one of my favourite bands.

I saw them live for the first time back in February as part of the cultural Olympiad.

There were incredible, like everything I expected.

Their songs are a mesmerizing trance-like mixture of blues, rock and punk set to African rhythms.

Their sound has been described as desert blues, Afro rock, indigenous rock and roll and everything else in between.

Video 2

Their songs evokes magical places I’ve only dreamed of.

Songs that make melancholy sound beautiful, hauntingly beautiful words I don’t understand.

If you ever get a chance to see them live, do it! They are awesome!

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

I hurried home from work on Friday to catch the opening ceremony of the 2010 Paralympics on TV.

It was a lovely and inspiring show; I look forward to the next two weeks

The Paralympics are going to be a mellow and calmer affair than what the Olympics were

I’m sure this image has been making its round on the internet.

The boss sent this in an email; the first picture is Granville Street on the last day of the Olympics and the one beneath is Granville Street a week later.

Pretty amazing huh?

One other thing to come out of the Olympics is this video for Haiti recorded in Vancouver during games.

A group of Canadian artists dubbed Young Artist for Haiti recorded K’naan’s Wavin’ Flag.

Proceeds from the song will go to Free The Children, War Child Canada and World Vision Canada.

Here’s where you go to find out more about getting the single and contributing towards a worthy cause.

PS: I have a picture and video heavy post coming soon from the K’naan concert last month.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

I missed the second series finale of True Blood.

My DVR got too full while I was away on vacation so it got deleted for newer shows.

I still haven’t watched it.

I saw this ad while waiting for the tube at Bank Station, and thought… cool True Blood is on FX here in the UK (I didn’t even know there was an FX UK).

I took a second look at the poster and noticed… ‘That’s not Sookie!’ that’s some random tall blond woman.

And who’s that behind her? Is that supposed to be a vampire? That’s not Vampire Bill, looks more like a zombie.

I wonder who it was that came up with that idea for the poster, wouldn’t be easier to just get a poster with the real characters?

In other True Blood news, I love, love, love the show’s opening credits.

The song in the credits, Bad Things is by Jace Everett, it’s become one of my favourite songs.

Take a look…

Cool eh?

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

The African Peace Festival has been going on every year for the past four years, and for some strange reason, I’d never heard of it until recently. What kind of African am I?

As luck would have it, I met one of the performers weeks earlier at the jazz festival who promised it’ll be fun.

The festival is organized by the African Peace Forum Society to raise funds ‘for a grassroots humanitarian project in Africa which is selected annually’.

This year’s festival was held at the Roundhouse Community Centre on the 18^th of July. I went there not exactly sure what to expect.

I imagined a peace festival would be a conference style sort of atmosphere with workshops and possibly breakout sessions where there’ll be lots of vague talk about how to bring peace to ‘Africa’. This isn’t exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday afternoon.

Thankfully, it wasn’t anything like I imagined. It was a market place with a performance stage and seating area in the middle. I really liked the set up because I could browse, watch and listen to the performances too.

The market place featured an array of interesting vendors;

Pathfinder Press publishes writings and speeches from revolutionists like Thomas Sankara.

Afri-Pads is a Ugandan based organization that sews and distributes washable menstrual pads to girls in rural Uganda – it’s such an exceptional enterprise.

Performances included a poetry slam, musical acts and an acrobat dancer. Saw the Raging Grannies!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the whole event because I had to be at the Folk Festival.

It was� overall great fun; I’m glad I was there,� saw some old friendly faces and discovered new ones.

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My work colleagues and I stood around the ‘water cooler’ (in our case an old drafting table in the hallway by the kitchen) discussing Michael Jackson’s sudden death.

Most of us remember loving his songs when we were kids; a colleague recalls his Bad album being the first ‘tape’ he ever bought with his allowance. I had the Bad album too; my brother Paul got it for me when he went away to school in California. I knew the words to all the songs.

It’s incredible how one person’s music has affected so many lives, that’s the Michael Jackson phenomenon and hopefully his legacy lives on.

People often ask me why I moved to Canada and specifically Vancouver – I have several reasons, all valid but there’s a one that’s very old and impulsive that I don’t talk about often.

When I a ten year old living in central Freetown I watched a short clip of Michael Jackson (Jackson Five) on tour in Vancouver, BC. I think that was the very first time I heard of the city. It was an old video, probably from a special on his 1984 Victory tour; it had clips from other cities as well. The clip included shots of Vancouver, it’s not anything like I remembered now but the views of the water and mountains were still pretty amazing back then.

Years later when we were presented with the opportunity to live in Canada, I chose Vancouver remembering that video, and was pleasantly pleased after a little research into the city.

By the time I got to my teens, I’d gone from living with my mom, dad and siblings to living with my dad, his new wife and a bunch of strangers. My mom and siblings had all but disappeared from my life, and these new folks were not very nice people.

Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone” helped me through some very turbulent times. I used to play the song over and over again. I still get misty eyed when I hear that song sometimes. Before then, my ‘woe is me’ song used to be Madonna’s “Oh Father” but I could only play that on my Walkman.

If I were to make a compilation of the soundtrack to my life, it’ll include a Michael Jackson song.

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