Lightly misting to lilting music

It is now Wednesday morning. Another commute in the dark (no surprise) and it was very lightly misting rain. I know that in some parts of the country and world rain is simply rain. It can be light to heavy, but it is always generally the same sort of rain. Here, as in other wet-inclined northern climes, we have a whole range of falling wetness besides just "rain" fall. It can mist, sprinkle, shower, drizzle, and more.

Even the Beaufort Rain Scale is left wanting for enough distinct describers of rain. To be honest, I don't think this scale, copies of which can readily be found on the Internet, is really something Beaufort created. Some of the descriptors seem outside of his time. More likely it a rain-oriented tribute to Beaufort's very poetic wind scale. Whoever the creator of the rain scale, it is richly descriptive of at least some of the forms falling wetness can take:

- Scotch Mist: Presence of wet in the air, hovering rather than falling...
- Individual Drops: Individual drops of rain falling, but quite separate as if they are all freelance and not part of the same corporate effort.
- Visible Light Shower: Hair starts to congeal around the ears. First rainwear appears...
- Downpour: You can see rain bouncing on impact, like charter planes landing.
- Etc.

Lightly misting will do, however, for this morning.

The morning soundtrack scramble was delightful again this morning. A real blend of musical styles not commonly sat down next to each other.

The album Sira by Cissoko and Goetze is different from anything else in my music collection. A collaboration between African kora player Ablaye Cissoko and jazz trumpeter Volker Goetze, it has a languid late-night beauty to it as the harp-like melodies from the kora weave in and out of the very-silky trumpet work from Goetze. Cissoko also provides the vocals. The word lilting applies perfectly to Cissoko's contributions to this album. The tunes are predominantly middle eastern in style, as are the vocals. The result is a surprisingly soothing and beautiful album and very worth the listen if you are not already familiar with it.

The set ended with Camera Obscura, a Scottish band whose lead singer sounds just a tad like she could be a modern incarnation of Skeeter Davis or Connie Francis, with strong vocals and energetic tunes.

All in all, very good stuff.

- My Morning Jacket: Hopefully (Acoustic Version)
- Christine Lavin: Bumblebees
- Ablaye Cissoko & Volker Goetze: Sira
- Camera Obscura: Away With Murder


- Posted via iPad.