Nancy and his sons.Ī goddess of chaos, Eris is often present in times of discord and strife. The sequel, Anansi Boys, tells the story of Mr. For grownups, Neil Gaiman’s American Gods features the character Mr. There are a number of beautifully illustrated children’s books telling the stories of Anansi. To this day, Anansi is the keeper of tales. When Anansi returned to Nyame with his captives, Nyama held up his end of the bargain and made Anansi the god of storytelling. ![]() Using cunning and cleverness, Anansi was able to capture Python and Leopard, as well as several other hard-to-catch beings, all of whom were part of Nyame’s price. ![]() So, he set Anansi out to solve some absolutely impossible tasks, and if Anansi completed them, Nyame would give him stories of his own. Anansi the spider decided he wanted stories of his own, and offered to buy them from Nyame, but Nyame didn’t want to share the stories with anyone. All the tales were held by Nyame, the sky god, who kept them hidden away. Originally, there were no stories at all. It is believed that these tales served not only as a form of cultural identity for enslaved West Africans, but also as a series of lessons on how to rise up and outsmart those who would harm or oppress the less powerful. Because Anansi tales, like many other folktales, began as part of an oral tradition, these stories traveled across the sea to North America during the slave trade. Anansi tales have been traced back to Ghana as their country of origin.Ī typical Anansi story involves Anansi the Spider getting into some sort of mischief - he’s usually facing a horrible fate like death or being eaten alive - and he always manages to talk his way out of the situation with his clever words. He’s a pretty important cultural figure, both in West Africa and in Caribbean mythology. Brian D Cruickshank / Getty ImagesĪnansi the Spider appears in a number of West African folktales, and is able to shift into the appearance of a man. Andi Leitner's drums anchor the hoodoo bash of "Old Man Antoine", while his hand-drumming on "Manzanita Post" complements the sitting-around-the-campfire atmosphere of the song.Īlso present is destroy, munich's Toni Traubensaft, whose multi-layered cello adds gravitas to the somber "Night Time" and sweetness to the lycanthropic folk-house of "We Fear the Dawn".Anansi comes from Ghana, where his adventures are told in songs and stories. Phil also played bass, guitar, organ, glockenspiel, and percussion on a couple of other tracks. Schmiedlechner's backing vocals add a different color to the two-men-choirs on tracks like "California" and his sneaky, reverb-heavy slide guitar perfectly corresponds with Uli Rois' mandolin on "Manzanita Post". The other musicians who played on "The Coming of the Trickster God" are the current touring line-up of Bird People, consisting of Phil Schmiedlechner, who already played with Uli in prog-jamband The Lebanon Blues, and Andi Leitner. Often, the quest for a safe haven, a Shangri-La is at the center of the songs's stories, be it the little log cabin deep in the woods in "Manzanita Post" or the too-good-to-be-true tropical paradise of "Island in the Sun". On another level, most of the songs on the album deal with a certain sense of longing. ![]() They tell of mythical road trips to Sioux Falls, dancing bears in the redwood forests of Northern California, and shady hoodoo practitioners deep in the swamps of Louisiana. The album title, as well as the band's name were inspired by Navajo mythology and a certain Southwestern feeling permeates the whole album, although the songs' narratives stray to some other parts of America as well. The overdub-heavy production lends the album a layered, dreamy, gently psychedelic feel. Bird People founder Uli Rois played most of the instruments himself and also handled production duties. The album was recorded in the fall of 2010. "The Coming of the Trickster God" is the debut album by Vienna-based psychedelic folk collective Bird People.
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