Established 1961 29 Sunday, November 26, 2017 Lifestyle Features Iraqis sit at the century old Shabandar cafe, one of the capital Baghdad’s few remaining traditional cultural cafes. — AFP photos Baghdad cafe marks 100 years as intellectual hub eated at tables with glasses of tea in the Mutanabbi Street on which the cafe stands- and made a decision that would prove defining: heart of Baghdad’s bookshop district, the killing around 100 people. Among the dead were he banned all games, including cards and domi- Scustomers of Shabandar cafe have four sons and a grandson of Shabandar’s owner, noes, from the cafe. While the move surprised watched 100 years of Iraq’s tumultuous history Mohammed Al-Khashali. some customers, it meant the new owner stayed pass by. Since opening its doors a century ago, true to a “promise” he had made to himself. the establishment has become a hub of ‘A history book’ “That this would be a place where people of Baghdad’s intellectual life, drawing poets and But Khashali does not want to dwell on that culture would meet,” Khashali said. “That is tru- politicians to its wooden benches and photo- tragic event-and today the rhythm of clinking ly what happened.” lined walls. tea glasses, bubbling “I’ve been coming here hookah pipes and conversa- ‘School of thought’ for the past 60 years,” Abdel tion hums just as it always Dozens of black and white photographs cov- Fattah al-Noeimi, 77, tells has done. “Taking a seat ering the walls of the cafe offer a glimpse into AFP, dapper in his spotless Where people here is like taking a seat in a the history of Baghdad and Iraq, chronicling brown suit and matching tie. “ history book,” the propri- some of its leading lights and others who have “At nine in the morning until of culture etor tells AFP from his regu- since slipped into obscurity. In a golden book, a two or three in the afternoon, “ lar position by the glass and number of foreign ambassadors have left their when everyone is leaving.” would meet wood front doors. When it signatures. The diversity of the faces of the men From British rule to modern- first became a cafe in 1917, and women lining the walls is echoed nowadays day Iraq, Shabandar has the brick and plaster build- by the varied crowd that still packs into lived through the birth of a ing was already a local insti- Shabandar each morning. nation, the toppling of its tution as it housed the The cafe is “not reserved for any religion, or Peddlars sell fruits in their stalls in at Al-Mutanabi Street outside Iraq’s century old Shabandar cafe. monarchy, decades of domi- printing press of merchant culture or part of society everyone is here”, says nation by Saddam Hussein, the drama of the US- Abdel Majid Al-Shabandar-whose name comes regular patron Noeimi. It even encompasses a and shouted orders rumbles on around him, their glasses with steaming hot tea, as they led invasion and the bloody chaos that followed. from Turkish, meaning “the greatest of mer- certain “school of thought” of its own, he insists, Rammah Abdelamir, 17, looks up from his book barely look up from deep in their conversations. The twists and tragedies have all left their mark chants”. where despite the profound divisions that have on modern political thought to take in this “This place is a bit of a mecca for intellectuals on the cafe. During the sectarian bloodletting, a Khashali-who sports a traditional white robe torn apart Iraqi society, “everyone respects “monument of old Baghdad”. and a place of learning for each new genera- car bomb in 2007 tore through the historic Al- and beard of the same color-took over in 1963 each others’ ideas”. As the hubbub of chatter Waiters weave between customers, filling tion,” Abdelamir says. — AFP Pioneering jazz singer Jon Hendricks dies at 96 on Hendricks, the pioneering jazz America, won the Pulitzer Prize for music. singer and lyricist who with the trio But the fame of the trio that began record- JLambert, Hendricks & Ross popular- ing nearly a half-century ago has not fad- ized the “vocalese” singing style in which ed. Hendricks and Ross teamed up again in words were added to instrumental songs, the late 1990s in a series of concerts. And has died. He was 96. His daughter, Aria “The All-Music Guide to Jazz” says Hendricks, confirmed his death to the Lambert, Hendricks and Ross “has yet to New York Times. She said he died be topped as a jazz vocal group.” Mitchell, Wednesday at a New York City hospital. who rarely sings songs other than her own, Lost and found Hendricks found fame in the 1950s and recorded “Twisted” on her 1974 album, items, including ‘60s teaming with Dave Lambert and “Court and Spark,” and “Centerpiece” on cell phones, are Annie Ross. Their interracial trio became her 1975 “The Hissing of Summer Lawns.” seen at Burning one of the most celebrated jazz vocal In a 1979 Down Beat magazine interview, Man festival groups ever, and among the latter-day she recalled hearing “Lambert, Hendricks headquarters in stars they influenced were Joni Mitchell and Ross: The Hottest New Sound in Jazz,” San Francisco. and Manhattan Transfer. The trio’s first as a teenager. — AP photos album, “Sing a Song of Basie,” won “In a way I’ve always considered that acclaim for its use of vocalese, in which album to be my Beatles, because I learned the voices mimic the instrumental parts. every song off it...,” she said. “I don’t think Shoes, bags, even dentures lost Hendricks wrote the lyrics to existing Basie songs, and the three recorded their own voices in layers instead of using backup singers. at Burning Man await owners Others experimented with vocalese before Hendricks, but he is widely regard- ed as the father of the spirited singing indsay Weiss once lost her cellphone and got it back, so she and a old hippies and young thrill seekers who descend on a dried-up lake bed style for popularizing it. In the 1980s, he friend knew what they had to do when they discovered a camera in the Black Rock Desert for an adventure combining wilderness camping collaborated with Manhattan Transfer on during the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert - even though with avant-garde performance 120 miles north of Reno. The usual sus- L an album called “Vocalese” that won three it meant giving up their coveted shady seat for a musical performance. The pects top this year’s list of most frequently lost in the land of drum circles Grammys, one for Hendricks himself. He friends snapped a quick selfie and took the device to lost-and-found, so and psychedelic art cars: 582 cellphones, 570 backpacks or bags, and 529 first teamed up with Lambert, a be-bop the owner could claim it and the pair could “forever be a part of their drivers’ licenses, passports or other forms of identification. singer he admired, in the mid-1950s; the journey,” Weiss said. Unclaimed items are listed on Burning Man’s website with photos and duo had a hit with “Four Brothers” and “Losing something out there on the playa makes its mark on your trip,” numbers. They include more than 200 shirts, 100 jackets, 80 hydration “Cloudburst.” The two became a trio with she said of the sprawling counterculture gathering. “Kinda makes you feel backpacks, 50 pairs of eyeglasses, six suitcases and several dozen water the addition of Ross in 1957. The English- like a loser.” Cameras and IDs are among the more common belongings bottles. “Your item may look different after rolling in the dust,” the web- born Ross was already known for her own that end up at lost-and-found after the event this summer billed as North site advises. It links to an online forum that has brief descriptions of found vocalese lyrics to Wardell Gray’s music in America’s largest outdoor arts festival. Other items left behind in the items: a “big bag of ladies clothes,” a piano tuning kit, a “small stuffed cow the classic “Twisted.” dusty, 5-square-mile (13-square-kilometer) encampment include shoes, with cowboy hat” and one black Dr. Martens combat boot. In a 1997 Associated Press interview, keys, stuffed animals - even dentures. Hendricks recalled that Lambert said, Still missing are a marching-band hat with gold mirror tiles, a furry A celebration of art “Let’s do something artistic so that the cheetah vest, a headdress with horns and a chainmail loincloth skirt. “As of Other articles lost-but-not-yet-found include a wedding ring, a flute, Earth will at least know we were here. mid-November, we’ve recovered 2,479 items and returned 1,279,” said “fire nunchucks,” a stuffed bunny - “daughter’s since birth,” and a “dark- Why don’t you lyricize 10 Count Basie Terry Schoop, who helps oversee the recovery operation at Burning leafy-print bandanna lost on the playa somewhere around the giant things and we’ll see if we can record an Man’s San Francisco headquarters. “We have about a 60 percent return flamingo.” The high rate of return doesn’t surprise Mike Kivett, manager In this Jan 13, 2004 photo, Jazz singer Jon album.” After trying out by recording a rate.” Not bad for a temporary community of 60,000 artists, free spirits, of a company that has provided portable toilets and trailers at Burning Hendricks talks about his career in jazz at large group of singers, Hendricks recalled, Man since 2003.