Labels: *******

His latest album 'LAND OF SECRETS

"is a collection of 8 strong songs based around the bluesy/jazzy keyboards of Max Middleton. Each track is excellent in its own right by creating a soundscape which Mr. Middleton is able display his tasty playing. Various grooves, instruments and background vocals are utlized to wonderful effect in order to enhance each track. This is music that satisfies on both an intellectual and emotional level. Highly recommended."
13/08/2003
CD Baby review
Reviewer: G. Nelson

[2.] Loco [MP3 Audio/stream]

[3.] Cherry Blossom Blue [MP3 audio/stream]

Christopher Anton Rea (born 4 March 1951) is a successful singer-songwriter, from Middlesbrough, England.

David Maxwell 'Max' Middleton (born 4 August 1946, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire) is an English composer and keyboardist.

Labels: Middlesbrough, Teesside

Q: "...You've also worked as a lawyer and head of corporate finance for the Prudent Merchant Bank. So I guess you may have a deeper insight into Nigerian politics and economics. What do you think is wrong in Nigeria, a country that has large oil fields but is still a third world country with most of its people being poor..." >>> source...

At the Muson Centre, Lagos Nigeria, 2004

Track title: Labe igi orombo

All directions/composition in music: Funsho Ogundipe

DVD release date: TBA

Copyright © 2006 Flying Monkey Productions

Vol. 1 can be found via the following links:

Vol. 2 is out and can be found at the following:

A further 1500 outlets tba.

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Finally, LP's are making a comeback: CNN's Jim Boulden reports that vinyl is regaining popularity as the format of choice.

In sudan there is a clear divide between the Arab backed government and its Arab landowning class and black Africans . The Black African tribes like the dinka are being targetted. This results in ethnic cleansing in places like Darfur over Land. Black people are being driven from their lands and left to die while the United Nations and an undermanned AU force look on. The people in sudan have links to Nigeria and other West African countries as the Nubian civilisation of Meroe has a link to the Songhai , Kanem,Oyo and the Hausa States . These people once ruled Imperial egypt during the times of Pianky the black pharaoh. Try and explore this linkage and do what you can to educate people about this and also help the people of southern sudan. Most of the countries in North Africa do not consider themselves African. They see themselves as Arab first . ..."

More/continue reading here...>>>>>

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The below video "Resistencia" uses another track "Uma Historia de Ifa (in English: A story of Ifa) from the above album Nos.

Lyrics:

A story of Ifa

"...Shining city,
Ejigbo
Flowered city
Ejigbo
Ele Eleejigbo
Ejigbo, enchanted city
Eleejigbo, its true majesty
Ara Ketu ritual of the candomble
Exulting the cities of Ketu and Sabe
He was wounded but he
was avenged
The great man used his strenght
Hard years have pased
The people have suffered so
Farmers left with no pastures
No crops, no livestock
They flourised no more
The women bore no children
The flower of their sex
Opened no longer
Ele, Eleejigbo
Ele Ejigbo, Elejigbo
The warriors fought among
themselves
In the ritual battle with cane staves
For hours Good fought evil
Then the King and his warriors
Returned to the sacred forest
And ate of the bread of God
As a communion for all Negro men..."

**************Keywords/tags: *************

“…Shell and other Western Oil companies…in collusion with successive military dictatorships, have raped the region…†(Source:)

****A Vicious circle****

When one combines the effect of three different rivers emptying into an estuary, the question of dominant flow enters the equation.

According to a "Dictionary of Geography" published by the Oxford University Press, the german word "thalweg" (also written "talwec" or "talweg") refers to "the line of the fastest flow along the course of a river" which usually crosses and recrosses the stream channel. From a geological point of view it refers to "the line defining the lowest points along the length of a river bed or valley or subterranean stream". In other words, the deepest part of a river or channel or lowest point of a channel section is the thalweg. The thalweg affects the distribution of sediments in a river because it gathers sediments from the bank on one side and deposits them on the other side, forming point bars where the sediments are deposited. With time it may even change the course of the river.

The 1913 Treaty between Germany and Great Britain contain the following provisions (51Hertslet's Commercial Treaties, vol. 24, p. 479):

"XIX. Should the thalweg of the Lower Akwayafe, upstream from the line Bakasi Point-King Point, change its position in such a way as to affect the relative positions of the thalweg and the Mangrove Islands, a new adjustment of the boundary shall be made, on the basis of the new positions, as determined by a map to be made for the purpose.

XX. Should the lower course of the Akwayafe so change its mouth as to transfer it to the Rio del Rey, it is agreed that the area now known as the Bakasi Peninsula shall still remain German territory. The same condition applies to any portion of territory now agreed to as being British, which may be cut off in a similar way."

From the foregoing it is easy to see how the definition of a thalweg can be problematic, particularly if there are seasonal changes in the size of the river.

During the dry season, for example, when water volume shrinks, the residual channel may be assymmetrically located away from the middle of the river valley.

Relying on a 1913 agreement between Germany and the United Kingdom, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2002 ruled on an eight-year dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria, awarding sovereignty over the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon and delineating the boundaries between the two countries.

Apart from the 1913 document, the ICJ also based its decisions on an old colonial agreement, the Thomson-Marchland Declaration of 1929-1930 that was incorporated in another colonial document, the Henderson-Fleuriau Exchange of Notes of 1931 between Great Britain and France.

The Bakassi peninsula c.400 sq mi (1,000 sq km), a strategic piece of territory, on the Cameroon-Nigeria border, at the SE end of the Gulf of Guinea, is extremely rich in oil, extending from Lake Chad to the Gulf of Guinea. Located at the border area in south eastern Nigeria, the Peninsula has been a subject of intense, sometimes violent, disputes between Nigeria and Cameroon for dozens of years.

The traditional inhabitants are mainly Efik (one of the many ethnic nationality groups in oil-producing Niger delta) fishermen with ties to Nigeria.

On the 6th June 2006, the Chairman of the Nigeria-Cameroon Mixed Commission, Prince Bola Ajibola told President Olusegun Obasanjo that activities of the Commission were going on satisfactorily and as planned.

He said thirty-one villages had been handed over to Cameroon in accordance with the International Court of Justice judgment of October 2002.

Omoigui Nowa The Bakassi Story - Part 2: retrieved from http://www.dawodu.com/bakassi3.htm 13 June 06

>>> more

In today’s politically correct society, expressions of prejudice (image to the left: "Silhouette" by © Claudia Markovich (born to immigrants), acrylic on canvas) are by necessity, if not legally, more subtle and indirect and consistent with contemporary societal norms of non discrimination and equality.

Why then are the behaviours of the very few in power so blatantly contradictory to such beliefs? Take the issue in Iran, as purportedly civilised nations, who can explain the actions of the US and its western allies in determining the fate of the innocents in Iran? Is it in pursuit of equality, human rights or simply another example of the abuse of power? While the abhorrent, catastrophic social and political consequences of the war in Iraq continue to be reported, a new war of suffering of the innocents begins its reign of terror under the guise of defending western nation’s security. This in turn breeds a new form of racism, more subtle and indirect, that there can only be one major power in the world today and that all other nations must and will lie down to the powers that be.

While there may be reason, there is no moral justification to begin another bloody chapter in history wherein innocent people lose their lives in the pursuit of political power and control. Prejudice, in this context, is expressed symbolically and indirectly onto social and political issues of which the individual may be unaware!

Picture above: Victoria Island, Lagos Nigeria, linked from A diary and musings from an Expatriate in Lagos

Slavery