African sunset!

Friends bought tickets to a guitar recital at Tregwynt Manor, an old gentry house set on elevated ground close to the coast. During the interval I went out for a last look at the view. A bar of cloud obscured the setting sun which, though hidden, cast a fiery glow upon the sea. Just as I was called in it emerged blazing through the fork of a sycamore tree.

If this were Africa, and this were an acacia tree, the shot would be a shoo-in for a book cover. Recently it's been noticed how this particular image is used almost without exception for works, both fiction and non, about Africa. Not only is it lazy and repetitive but the image perpetuates a outdated, outsiders', stereotype of Africa as a land of mystery and wilderness, without giving any credence to other aspects of its existence in the modern world* (sophisticated, urban, industrial and so on), nor employing its own indigenous artistic talent to provide a different take.

(Similar book cover clichés exist for other continents and cultures, 'Asian sleaze' for example. Read about here and see if you agree.)

The guitarist was the accomplished young Welsh musician Gerard Cousins playing a variety of pieces including his own compositions. His influences range from Spain to India, from John Tavener to Arvo Part, but have a listen to him here playing a classic welsh hymn.
I don't normally do music recitals but this was a delight.

*See link provided by ppatrick.