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So, now I went and listened to at least some of the Eurovision entries.

- The Swiss winning song is... okayish, I guess? Singer's good but not outstanding on the technical level. Their performance was enthusiastic and good enough, but the song itself is utterly forgettable as far as I'm concerned. I have no idea why it got so many high votes from the juries all over Europe; it seemed to have been significantly less popular with the audiences that voted, who also seemed to think it was musically nice enough but not outstanding.

- Lots of drama around Israel's presence; I don't want to comment on that mess beyond the purely musical here. Anyway, my feelings about that entry are the exact opposite: with a better singer (and, for that matter, a less predictable arrangement), that would have had the potential of being a really good song. Unfortunately, that lady can't sing. It's one of those cases... I'm sure she had voice lessons and all, but every time she uses an effect, it's like "I'm using this effect now, did you hear how nicely I executed that trick?" - nothing natural about it. Too bad.

- Best singer, imho, was the guy from France. He sounds truly great, and I think it was an excellent decision to let him sing large parts of the song without any distracting instrumentals; he definitely has the kind of voice and natural presence that let him carry the whole thing on his own. Unfortunately, the song was crap - supposed to be romantic, I guess, but crossed the border into kitsch land in unforgivable ways. A shame...

- I also loved both Ukrainian singers. Not so much the song itself, which was a pretty clumsy (and, in the end, also pretty forgettable) attempt at connecting folk music to more modern musical styles - but in terms of vocal technique, that was a flawless and very impressive performance. They ended up in third place, which I suppose is okay.

- I'm kind of torn about the Croatian entry that placed second (and not just because it's not my preferred type of music), but it was wildly popular with the fan audiences, so... Um... I mean, I can recognize it's a really excellent composition that actually successfully blends different genres. In terms of complexity and general creativity, it's a clear winner. Also, the choreography on stage was brilliant. (I hear the dance trended on TikTok, and while I don't use "social media", I can easily see why.) I just failed to connect with the song. It still should have won if you ask me, because it's really f*cking good.

- Germany, after some spectacular Eurovision failures in recent years, decided to play it safe and send the least offensive entry they could find. Clearly, the objective was, "what's going to make the lowest number of people yell at their family members to turn down that noise". Unfortunately, the result was predictably unoffensive-but-bland, mostly saved by the singer's decent performance, and the 12th place well deserved.

I was sooooo amused earlier when I drew an address on Postcrossing and got a nice person in Russia whose hobbies are... music (!) and papercutting (!!!). That's... kind of niche, but of course, I was super happy! I don't usually make papercut cards for postcrossing, simply because that's too much work, but in this case I was willing to make an exception.



Not very detailed, but hey, it would be a shame not to send a papercut, right? I didn't find my good scalpels so I had to use one that wasn't really sharp anymore, and it kind of shows, but whatever. This took me a bit over an hour as it is. XD At least I used decent paper (not silhouette paper, but a very good alternative intended for... lamination?!?, but also very stable - it works great!) and decent spray glue. The background is simple white cardboard. I'll be mailing this in an envelope because I don't trust Deutsche Post with my art. XD

So, uh, who wants to receive a chord zither postcard? A pile of these just arrived from the print shop, and I'm perfectly happy to send them out to those who follow my ramblings about rather obscure musical instruments.



The picture itself is matte, but the strings and pegs are glossy! It’s very difficult to demonstrate this effect in a photo, but I tried:



Zither strings need to shimmer! :)

My scheitholt arrived - and it's truly deserving of its name! Isn't this a lovely log of firewood?



I mean - whatever else can be said about this instrument, it's certainly authentic. A true masterpiece of Nether-Saxon craftsmanship! It's from Bassum, where someone found it in an attic and, incomprehensibly, decided they didn't want to keep it. If you ask me, that's a shame: at the very least, it's culturally valuable, and I'd view it as a true tragedy if it were ripped out of its context! I mean, that's clearly a family-heirloom level instrument, hand-crafted, hand-painted, and everything! Who the heck wouldn't want this???

The wood and all the other materials were carefully chosen for their acoustic proper... oh, JUST KIDDING.

( More pictures and explanations behind the cut. )

Anyway: I LOVE this instrument! I'm sooooo happy that I have it! :D

(I suppose the surprising thing is that it actually sounds good. But, hey, the design has been around virtually unchanged since at least the 1400's, without anyone feeling the need to do anything about it, so... Success!)

This "Fomen" 5/21 chord zither is, if I have to guess, from the '50s, maybe?!?



The design is inoffensive, but, as far as I can tell, meaningless - it's some flower thingy I can't identify. (Most likely, the designer tried to do something in the style of older zithers, but without having a solid grounding in folklore and folk art. Ah, city people... LOL. Anyway: Some Flower Thingy it is.)

This instrument needs some repairs, the lower part came a bit loose and rattles - I can fix that, it's just mildly annoying. (Also, the instrument was sold as decoration-only, so I can't really complain.) Otherwise, it's in okayish shape. Sounds a bit thin, but clear, which will make it an excellent practice instrument once it's fixed. (It's quiet enough, so it won't disturb the neighbors! Important consideration! LOL)

I wanted this one because it has the tuning I need! 10 tones per octave, which is how it's supposed to be! XD Like... No, okay, I know almost everyone considers this scale obsolete - but, I mean, it's the most useful for German folk music. And also, this is how I learned it. There's nothing wrong with chromatic-scale instruments, I just prefer this tuning...

I promised zither pics, didn't I?



This "Musima" 3-chord zither is a relatively new instrument, built in 1987 in the former GDR. (I'm calling it relatively new because, frankly, not many zithers are being built these days.) You may notice that 3 chords (C, F, G) are not very many. While this immediately invites all kinds of communism jokes (it's the GDR, they couldn't afford more chords... you know, you know), in this particular case it's not that they ran out of tones. Rather, it's an instrument intended for children. It's almost normal-sized (it has to be, considering the length of the strings demanded by physics) and - very unusually - has a full chromatic (!) scale. (Typical chord zithers tend to have ten tones per octave. This one actually has twelve. It's a bit weird, but, okay. I'll have to get used to it.)

Ahem.

Anyway - I got this one not because I expected to receive a good instrument (it's a GDR product, ffs!) but because I liked the design. The flower motif is a classic - this particular combination of flowers (poppy, cornflower, ...) isn't chosen randomly but represents the typical flowers you'd find growing on the edge of a grain field. As a whole, this design represents something like a good harvest or, more generally, prosperity. It's very common in German folk art. It's less common to put it on a bright orange background, though. XD I think the designer chose this a) to make the instrument more appealing to young girls, and b) because orange is associated with autumn and harvest, too, so it's strangely appropriate. I think it's a really cool design!

The sound quality is... Well. I wonder why-oh-why this sounds like a badly made plywood box with some wires. (It's bad plywood, too...) At least it's in good shape - no cracks in the wood, no rust on strings or pins. Of course, I wasn't able to tune it yet (you know how it is with wood instruments: they need to get used to the new room climate for a few weeks first; otherwise, they will be ruined), and actually playing it is going to be difficult because of the weird tuning, but it's a cute instrument for sure! :3

Oooookay, shopping for zithers is annoying. Yes: zithers, plural. At this point, I'm unwilling to spend the €€€ on a new or professionally restored instrument. So, what I did was to order several cheap, old zithers on eBay. I firmly stuck to the "old" that means it's too old to be considered useable, but not old enough to be considered a valuable antique. Chord zithers in that category are, of course, dirt cheap. I bought more than one because, hey, you can expect most used instruments (which were not very good in the first place) to be somehow damaged, so, if I buy four, maybe one of them may be somewhat playable. And this approach is still much cheaper than actually buying a decent instrument. I guess I'll just see what arrives in the mail. Surprise zithers, yay! XD

...and what I'm still desperately searching for is an actual Scheitholt in its original form, which is that of a large drone zither. Ideally one from Lower Saxony because, hey, local culture. I'd be willing to pay any price for that.

The thing is: no one ever manufactured those professionally. There's a reason. (Most likely, professional instrument builders took one look at the design and said no thanks.) The most detailed description of a Scheitholt (although it has been documented even earlier) is from around 1600: Praetorius described the instrument. He was... not entirely convinced, either.

"
Although this instrument should be referred to among the rag instruments, I have nevertheless included it in here, because it is known to few, and is not at all unlike a firewood log or piece of wood, for it is almost like a small monochord made of three or four thin boards, badly joined together, with a small collar at the top, in which three or four pegs are stuck, and covered with three or four brass strings. Three are unisono but one is forced down in the middle with a chopper, so that it must resonate a fifth higher: And if one wishes, the fourth string can be added an octave higher. Over all of these strings, however, the right thumb is always used to move over the bottom of the string, and a small smooth stick in the left hand is used to press back and forth on the first string, so that the melody of the chant is brought about over the frets that are struck as brass wires.
"
(Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum II De Organographia, Wolfenbüttel 1619, translated by me)

Basically, yeah, the instrument design was shitty by the standards of 1619, and - because we're talking about a remarkably unbroken musical tradition (as in, newer instruments look exactly like the figure in Praetorius' book, although the overall size and the number of strings can vary) - it's still shitty by the standards of today. Objectively speaking, it may be the world's worst zither. I still want one, please! ;_;

So I had the opportunity to watch a relatively new Disney movie, 'Encanto', and... I don't know what to think.

The good part: I watch Disney movies mainly for the soundtracks anyway, and, WOW, Lin-Manuel Miranda delivers!

The bad part... Uh. I have this kind of hate-love for Lin-Manuel Miranda. He's clearly one of the best songwriters out there - really - but... He consistently ends up working on projects I hate. Whether that's super-weird political propaganda stuff ('Hamilton': questionable content with really catchy songs) or cringey Disneyfications of Polynesian religion ('Moana', and yes, it's really just as awful as the concept sounds - but with, again, really nice music... 'We know the way' and 'How far I'll go' are two of my favorite Disney songs, but I will say that film never should have been made), Miranda seems to have this special talent to immerse himself in seriously awkward shows. Still, I had hopes for 'Encanto': it's a story about a Colombian family with magical powers, and everyone lives together in a magical house. Basically, hearing the summary, I expected bland but somewhat entertaining kitsch in the narrative style of 'Frozen'. Not much that can go wrong there, right?!?

Um.

I'm not going to go into the treatment of Colombian culture here: I don't know anything about Colombia, I've never been there. It's obviously a Disneyfied view of that culture, with happy villagers who are dancing to folk tunes all the time - but, I mean, it's Disney, they do that with everything, and whether you want to call it racist or just accept it as a weird stylistic quirk is entirely up to you. XD Anyway - that's not my main problem with this film. (It's nowhere near as bad as 'Moana', anyway: at least it stays away from religion.)

My actual problem? I hated everyone.

Really. Every. Single. Character. Who the hell wrote this story? I mean - it's supposed to be a family story, and I'm sure the makers intended it to be this uplifting story about a girl working hard to understand her family members and bring them closer together with the powers of empathy and hope, yadda, yadda... But, seriously? That whole family is toxic as f*ck. I'll just say, if I were Mirabel (the annoyingly cheerful and optimistic heroine), I would run away and never contact my relatives again. They're not just constantly bickering the way normal families do, they even have a whole song about how much they hate one perfectly innocent family member they've chosen as a bullying target. (And - in true Miranda style - that content disaster, 'We don't talk about Bruno', is from a musical standpoint the best song in the film... Miranda really seems to like the awkward themes. Don't feel too sorry for that guy Bruno, either: while he's not a villain, he has the problem-solving skills of a toddler. Seriously, WTF?) While watching that family disaster unfold, I found myself wishing they'd all die in a house fire - while knowing that, of course, that wouldn't happen - it's Disney, after all.

Oh, but the music? It's great!

Seriously, go and listen to 'We don't talk about Bruno'. (At least if you're not triggered by toxic family situations. LOL) Even better: go and watch the animated sequence with the song. It's easily one of the best Disney songs of all times. All the singers (portraying multiple members of a large family) are not only very good (which is to be expected: again, it's Disney!) but also fit their roles perfectly. The song arrangement is brilliant, too: based on something like a cha-cha, it switches through several different musical styles, and, in the end, blends them all. It's great, and this song has been stuck in my head for days now! (Insta-earworm...)

So, can I recommend this film? Yes and no. Yes, if you don't care about the story either way and you're just there for the music. No, if you don't want to dive into the life of an incredibly toxic family. I will not recommend it to kids whose family situation I'm not 100% sure of, because otherwise, watching that thing without therapeutic processing is potentially harmful. And, I mean, I know kids, I know how resilient they can be, and that they usually can cope with media that adults don't typically trust them with - but this one? Heck, I wouldn't recommend the film to adults with any kind of family trauma, either...

But the music is really really really awesome. Thanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

This dragon is not interested in gold or precious jewels - he only loves his music! (However, he's not entirely free of his kind's usual hoarding tendencies.)

While painting this, I imagined a soundtrack consisting of old-fashioned jazz music for the picture. Ironically, I don't know anything about that style of music. Oh well.