And here’s mine, the only photo from the album in which someone is playing a musical instrument.\u00a0 I imagine this monkey is dancing to the beat.\u00a0 It was amusing enough for a few people to stop and watch and for at least one soldier to stop and photograph.\u00a0 My father wrote ‘Kan-Kan’ under the photo, so that must be the monkey’s name.<\/p>\n
An Egyptian man with a dancing monkey is generally a beggar who lives on alms.\u00a0 He is called a fakir (so I read), an Arabic word for ‘needy man’.\u00a0 In Western countries, the use of animals for street entertainment is frowned upon now, though I did see some online\u00a0 images of dancing monkeys in India and Pakistan.\u00a0 I suppose it’s like busking;\u00a0 there’s probably some talent involved in training the monkey.\u00a0 But from then on it has to dance for its supper.\u00a0 It’s something which leaves me ambivalent:\u00a0 I have a real (Western) pleasure in Orientalist images, whether they be paintings or designs or photos like this one.\u00a0 I feel the same when listening to gypsy music like that of Django Reinhardt, which makes sense:\u00a0 the word gypsy comes from Egyptian.\u00a0 The colourful elements of Middle Eastern life are like chocolate to me; they’re rich and mysterious.\u00a0 Here’s to ancient peoples!\u00a0 We owe them much.<\/p>\n Ailsa proposes ‘Rhythm’ as this week’s photo topic, which is great for me!\u00a0 Since the WordPress weekly photo challenge is proposing ‘Today’ as a topic, I can’t draw on my father’s black and white photos from seventy years ago!\u00a0 But I can for Ailsa. See her Rhythm story here:\u00a0 http:\/\/wheresmybackpack.com\/2012\/06\/01\/rhythm\/ And here’s mine, the only … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/worth.id.au\/wish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/kan-kan_adjusted.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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