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Kathakali Boy

from Crow Coyote Buffalo by Mama

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    Comes in a high quality six-panel digipack made of 100% recycled cardboard with original cover artwork by Feargal Shiels and booklet design by Sarah Turner. If you like, Sarah can sign the CD with a personal message to you or the intended recipient, if it's going to be a gift – just indicate how and to whom you'd like it signed in the "Leave comment for the seller" link on the checkout page. As Zoë is now living in Sussex it may be more difficult to get her signature on the album, but feel free to ask and we'll make it happen if we can! NOTE: Also includes immediate download of 11 track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.
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about

“Kathakali” literally means “story-play” and is a form of classical dance from Kerala, India. Traditionally performed only by men, with female roles being played by men dressed as women, Kathakali involves elaborate makeup, each colour having a particular significance. In the past, Kathakali performances lasted all night and took place only in temple precincts and palaces. That’s now begun to change, as has the men-only rule.

lyrics

Claimed by your calling before you were conceived
Already dancing before you learned to speak
Now you are teaching and I am at your feet
My heart is yearning and you are all I see

Oh Kathakali boy in the coloured lights
Oh Kathakali boy in the coloured lights

The rhythm of the drumming, the flickering of the lamp
All night ’til morning you worship with your dance
The beauty of a woman, the body of a man
Five hundred meanings in the movement of a hand

Oh Kathakali boy in the coloured lights
Oh Kathakali boy in the coloured lights

Green for the hero and yellow for his wife
Black for the hunter with eyes of red and white

An entertainer for princes and for gods
To be their pleasure, your reason and your cause
I am no better, the freedom I have sought
Confines me tighter than any prison lock

Oh Kathakali boy in the coloured lights
Oh Kathakali boy in the coloured lights

credits

from Crow Coyote Buffalo, released November 24, 2008
Zoë Pollock (PRS) & Sarah McQuaid (IMRO)
Zoë: vocal, classical guitar
Sarah: vocal, steel-string guitar

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Mama UK

When pop star turned potter Zoë Pollock and trad/folk innovator Sarah McQuaid both fetched up in rural west Cornwall after years of world rambling, the stage was set for a musical partnership whose unique sound defies any attempt at categorisation.

"A pleasingly maverick mix that recalls both the eccentricity of The Incredible String Band and the pastoral narratives of Lal Waterson." – MOJO ... more

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