I was at home with Q last Sunday when the phone rang. It was M, our wife and mother and fun companion. She’d found these beautiful Mongolian Camel Bells and wanted to buy one for me. But there were so many to choose from, and I’m so particular about sound and music, that she wasn’t sure which one to get. Cell Phone to the rescue! Granted, a cell phone is not hi-fidelity. Not even lo fidelity. It’s pretty much sub-fidelity. Nonetheless, she rang each bell over the phone, and I narrowed it down to one that sounded, at least over microwaves, like a beautiful gong.
It came home, and it’s lovely. A rich, deep tone, like a cowbell slowed down to half-speed. The clapper has a gorgeous tassle on it, and the leather band which it hangs from still smells very ripe and dusky/musky – I suppose it’s the smell of camel. (Hey, I’m not from Mongolia already). Here it is outside the studio…
