9/11 Nine Years Down The Line

... A Mystery Unsolved!

Hugo Farrant, poet in temporary exile

This bearded stranger with golden dreadlocks sitting in my Bamboo Palace goes by the name Hugo Farrant. He showed up just over a week ago on his way back to Melbourne. Waiting to get his visa approved, he said.

British-born Hugo has spent the last three years or so making waves in the Australian rap scene. That's right. Hugo's a rapper.

Not just a rapper, mind you. Hugo's essentially a poet, a master wordsmith in the truest sense, a questing visionary, philosopher, mythologist and weaver of semantic tube toruses.

In short, Hugo Farrant is a high-end rapper. Unlike your run-of-the-mill street-corner gangsta-rapper, Hugo is a lexicological wunderkind with an almost unlimited vocabulary.

Listening to his recently released album, The Enlightenment Era, not once did I come across any references to humans with oedipal tendencies. Instead, I was titillated by tales of angels and atoms, dimensional shifts, 11:11 stargates, extraterrestrials, obelisks, Olympic medalists, Friedrich Nietzsche, and a chance encounter between Pavlov's Dog and Schrödinger's Cat.

Hugo expands his fan base in Malaysia

I kid you not. This guy's creative genius is beyond description. The Muses love him. If I were the Australian government I'd offer Hugo Farrant a generous arts grant - instead of putting him through the bureaucratic runaround and keeping him in suspense over something as meaningless, trivial and irrelevant as an entry visa.

Ah well, Australia's loss is Magick River's gain. I shall insist on collecting some DNA samples before we let golden boy Hugo leave. Check out these nifty videos from The Juice Media (Pssst... Hugo plays all the characters!)...

RAP NEWS from The Juice Media produced by Hugo Farrant & Giordano Nanni





Intrigued? Get to know Hugo up close here!

Saloma sings Selamat Hari Raya

Those seem much jollier times in retrospect when P. Ramlee and Saloma were the toast of the town. Let this Hari Raya greeting to all who celebrate this occasion be a sweet reminder of how simple life can be - and what a cheerful, friendly, abundant land this will be when love proves stronger than fear or hate.

Safe traveling, please!