Welcome to The Cuckoo Jar, a blog by Nanna Koekoek - illustrator, music- and flea market junkie. Head over to my website to take a look at my portfolio. And don't hesitate to get in touch!
I lied when I wrote earlier that EVERYTHING was closed for three days in Copenhagen over Christmas. On boxing day the National Museum opened its doors again. We visited the section on Prehistoric Denmark, where we enjoyed Viking runic stones, coffins containing preserved human remains and clothes, and lurs, ancient Nordic wind instruments. But the high light for me were neatly displayed fossilized dog turds. 9000 years old!
Of course I couldn't resist paying a quick visit to the 'ethnographical collection', in my quest for more information about my masks. They had lots of masks on display, but alas... I did make a few quick sketches though. I especially liked this mask, as it appeared to be a chicken mask made from chopped up noodles!
Totally inspired by the Grayson Perry exhibition and replenished with tea and a scone from the cafe I started wondering through the rest of the British Museum. It truly is a treasure chest! I went downstairs to the African section first hoping to find out more about the masks I bought in a charity shop recently. Idle hope of course... But I did see a lot of other interesting faces!
∧ Don't these African masks remind you of the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland?!
This Saturday I took a day trip to Bristol. While passing some time before catching the train I spotted these two lovely fellows in a charity shop! Love or hate 'm... I'm not quite sure myself to be honest. The shop assistant said originally there had been six masks and the others had flown out, so I had to decide on the spot (the fact that my train was leaving soon also helped hasten the decision). But they were just too funky to let them sit there. And besides, they were only £2.50 each. I'm completely in the dark about their heritage, but coincidentally the lady who bought two of the others masks was in the shop and she told me they're from Ghana.
I really had a lovely day in Bristol. We went by the contemporary arts centre Arnolfini to catch a musical performance, had tea and cakes with a friend and did some shopping in Stokes Croft, Bristol's '(counter-) cultural quarter'. Think lots of vintage and charity shops, record stores, bars and street art (I now completely understand why street art is so big in Bristol.. there are some grand buildings in that city, but boy there are lots of ugly, derelict ones as well!). I was gutted the bookstore slash gallery Here was closed, and I didn't nearly have enough time to visit all the vintage clothes stores, so I'll have to go back soon! I did score at Plastic Wax Records on Cheltenham Road, where I bought these two compilations of Jamaican music for a tenner:
They're not in mint condition (hence the price), but the music still sounds great:
Lloyd Price - Coconut Woman (off 300% Dynamite!). 3x faster and (thus) 3x better than Harry Belafonte's version of this very tropical calypso song. Download it here.
Prince Buster - Cincinatti Kid (off 300% Dynamite!). Inspired by the 1965 movie, a song about poker. Love the Hammond organ on it! Download it here.
Jerry Jones - Compared To What(off Feel Like Jumping: The Best Of Studio One Women). Raw and soulful reggae tune by this American singer. Download it here.
