Aik Alif

The moast awesome Saieen Zahoor performs Bulleh Shah's Aik Alif with the band Noori. This has been on an unending repeat over the past few days. 

Sokak Müziği

Tünel, located around the southern part of İstiklal Caddesi, is where music in İstanbul really comes alive. Every second shop in the area sells musical instruments or is a makeshift recording studio. Music is always heard there - on the street or from some inner room of the shops. One of the most surreal memories I have of the city from last year is walking down one of the crazy twisted steep streets of Beyoğlu and suddenly being enveloped by amazing music. I was alone on that street, the music was everywhere and I had no idea where the sound was coming from. I eventually tracked it down to a studio in one of the side alleys, where some musicians were recording - it was amazing and mostly just made me fall a little bit more in love.

Music is heard not only late at night, at the tiny bars which take over the streets in summer and the meyhanes, but at all times of the day, especially on the weekends. One of my favourite films, Fatih Akın's İstanbul Hatırası: Köprüyü Geçmek (Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of İstanbul), has an entire segment on the sokak müziği - street music - of the city. Akın follows the band Siya Siyabend in what is probably my favourite section (and favourite scene!) of the movie. I remember downloading a bunch of songs off their website (available free), immediately after I finished watching the movie - they have been a perpetual feature on my playlist since.

The sokak müziği band I absolutely adore though, is one called Kara Güneş (MySpace page here). I have been listening to them for what feels like eons now (my mom loves them too!), so it was a huge, unexpected thrill to chance upon them performing on İstiklal on my last day in the city. I happily plonked myself down on the ground listening to the music, clicking pictures and having a brief chat with some of them during their break - they were, I think, somewhat amused that I knew of their existence. Of all the music discs I bought in İstanbul, theirs is the one I love and treasure most - all fantastic new stuff I hadn't heard before, with lots of santur.

For anyone even remotely into music, the sounds of İstanbul are truly worth exploring. Akın's movie is great introduction - go watch it now! For people too lazy to get the DVD, the movie is available on google video, albeit with pretty random subtitles (the very first line has Confucius turned into Cumfukius). To listen to music on the Kara Güneş or Siya Siyabend sites click on 'Diskografi' and then 'Dinle' for whichever song you want to hear. To download, click on 'İndir' and then right click and 'Save As' on the 'Link' that appears. Enjoy, and tell me if you liked.

Things seen, tasted, bought...

...were all so plentiful that I am at a loss of even where to start. Beautiful sunsets at Antalya and Side? Or Izmir? Or the amazing ruins at Efes? Or just good old heart breakingly beautiful Istanbul? I have close to some 2,000 pictures to choose from. Jeez.

There need to be many posts on things eaten - ?!!, no couscous but many other wonderful things. One evening we sat and made sigara böreks and I remembered km! I also want to do a photo post on the cats of Istanbul, on the Atatürk imagery seen everywhere and busking in Istanbul...still sorting through the photos as of now, though.

Things bought were numerous. Boxes of cevizli and fıstıklı lokum from Hacı Bekir, a kilo of baklava from Karaköy Güllüoğlu, books on Turkey (am currently in the middle of the very wonderful Fragments of Culture: The Everyday of Modern Turkey), earrings and more earrings from the Kapalıçarşı - though no doubt my friends would argue that one very cute and refined (and also, sadly, very proper) jeweller in Cevahir Bedestan was largely responsible for me making trek back there a second time* - and of course lots of music. Albums I didn't have by Burhan Öçal, Selim Sesler and Levent Yildirim among others. All great musicians you should be listening to, too!

I was hoping very much to be able to buy the DVD of Fatih Akın's Auf Der Anderen Seite, but unfortunately there were no English subtitles. Sigh. I did however get Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Iklimler (which I am very excited about watching) and Yılmaz Güney's 1982 Palm d'Or winner Yol.

Gah - have I mentioned how much I miss being there?

*I actually had to go back to get a broken pair of earrings fixed. So yeah.

To say "I Lived"

Türkçe'de

III
Bu dünya soğuyacak,
yıldızların arasında bir yıldız,
hem de en ufacıklarından,
mavi kadifede bir yaldız zerresi yani,
yani bu koskocaman dünyamız.

Bu dünya soğuyacak günün birinde,
hatta bir buz yığını
yahut ölü bir bulut gibi de değil,
boş bir ceviz gibi yuvarlanacak
zifiri karanlıkta uçsuz bucaksız.

Şimdiden çekilecek acısı bunun,
duyulacak mahzunluğu şimdiden.
Böylesine sevilecek bu dünya
"yaşadım" diyebilmen için...

Nazim Hikmet, Şubat 1948

In English

III
This earth will grow cold,
a star among stars
and one of the smallest,
a gilded mote on blue velvet -
I mean this, our great earth.

This earth will grow cold one day,
not like a block of ice
or a dead cloud even
but like an empty walnut it will roll along
in pitch-black space...

You must grieve for this right now
- you have to feel this sorrow now -
for the world must be loved this much
if you're going to say "I lived"...

Nazim Hikmet, February 1948
Translated from the Turkish by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

The poem in full here.
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There is much that I want to write...half written posts are all around, but I haven't had the time or space to clear my head and actually organize my thoughts. Faiz has been a constant every single night (and during the day - all I seem to be listening to these days is a mix of Nayyara Noor and Iqbal Bano). In between there have been bits of Hikmet.

I do mean to finish my half written post on (my struggle with) reading Faiz in Urdu, but till then Nayyara Noor singing Aaiye Haath Uthayen.

Pakeezah (پاکيزہ )

This trip back home I bought a truck load (quite literally) of books and movies to bring back. Most of the movies were old classics that I had seen a while back but wanted to own. Pakeezah was one of them – it’s a beautiful collector’s edition DVD. I had mentioned the movie in an old post, more than anything it’s the music of the movie I love.

Watching it after a a few years now, I was surprised at how I had almost completely forgotten how clichéd and cheesy the movie really is. It didn’t make me love the movie any less, however. Pakeezah, for all its flaws, is deeply endearing.

Tawaifs have been fodder for Hindi movies since forever [1] and Pakeezah tells the story of one such courtesan. The movie has Meena Kumari in (something of) a double role – she is the blonde haired, light eyed Nargis whom Shahabuddin (Ashok Kumar) falls in love with and decides to marry. When his family rejects her, she runs away and starts living in a cemetery where she gives birth to a daughter before dying. The infant is raised by Nargis’s sister in the world of kothas in the Chowk district of Lucknow and by the time (a number of years later) Shahabuddin finds out he has a daughter she has already become a famous as a tawaif called Saheb Jaan (Meena Kumari again). When Shahubuddin confronts Nargis’s sister about his daughter who he wishes to take back home the aunt hastily shifts to Delhi (I think) with Sahib Jaan.

It’s while the train stops at a station (named Suhag Pur(!)) en route to their new destination that Salim (the wonderful Raaj Kumar) enters the Sahib Jaan’s compartment by mistake. It is this moment that gives us one of the most famous moments of Hindi cinema – taken in at the sight of the sleeping Sahib Jaans feet, beautifully adorned and coloured, peeping out of the sheets, Salim writes her a note that says “Aap ke paon dekhe, bahut haseen hai. Inhe zameen par mat utariyega. Maile ho jayenge” [2]. For Sahib Jaan the note becomes a hope of a life different from the one she is living, of a man who might truly love her. When circumstances do reunite the two, Salim wants to marry Sahib Jaan and she faces a whole new set of questions – should she acquiesce and sully her beloveds name and reputation? She is, after all, a courtesan.

The deep irony of the movie is encapsulated in the note that Salim writes Sahib Jaan. Don’t ever put your feet on the ground, he says. This when her livelihood comes from dancing for clients. The tawaifs of North India were famous for the high culture of dance and poetry, being companions of rich nawabs and teaching them etiquette and manners. And yet, they were never respectable. As the movie has it, it is for the man, then, to rescue the courtesan from ill fate. It is not surprising that when Salim accepts her, he renames Sahib Jaan Pakeezah – the pure one. (This is not a movie that was out to make any revolutionary point.) Sahib Jaan herself is strangely passive; she seems in some cases to want to be more miserable, making proceedings somewhat frustrating.

All that said, this is a very romantic movie. Over the top romance. That, despite the many contrivances and inanities of the plot the romance doesn’t fall flat, rather comes off as truly captivating and charming, is what really makes the film. (Did I mention that I really love Raaj Kumar as Salim?). Pakeezah is not a subtle film – eye popping colours, massive over the top sets, gorgeous clothes, melodrama – so I think the magnified sense of romance goes with that. It adds to the charm of the movie in that it hints at a world that no longer exists. The movie also captures the decadence of the time – no wonder decline was just around the corner.

Finally, Pakeezah would not be the movie it is without its utterly gorgeous songs. This is probably my favourite Hindi soundtrack of all time. There is not one bad song here. It’s not surprising that Derek Malcom calls it one of the most extraordinary musical melodramas ever made. Ghulam Mohammed died after composing only a few songs following which Naushad took over. If I am not mistaken, Mohammed finished the background score, which is especially lovely in some parts, such as some of the scenes set in the Chowk areas. You can almost imagine a tawaif across the building practicing before her performance, in the background.

The songs are almost sub stories in themselves. The wonderfully flirtatious and telling Inhiin Logon Ne (le liina dupatta mera) [3] – these are the people who have taken away my modesty. Sahib Jaan singing about the chance encounter with a stranger in Chalte Chalte. Or Teer- e- Nazar Dekhenge, where Raaj Kumar breaks my heart. And my absolute favourite Chalo Dildar Chalo about travelling together to the far side of the moon. The video below (and picture above) is of Thare Rahiyo [4], wonderfully choreographed, and where Meena Kumari looks her loveliest in the movie [5]. Watch and enjoy.



[1] The other movie on a similar theme I dearly love is Umrao Jaan. I have wanted to read Mirza Mohammed Hadi Ruswa’s novel Umrao Jaan Ada and I finally have it. A reviewing of the movie after I finish might be in order

[2] “I saw your feet; they’re very lovely. Don’t set them down on the earth—they’ll get soiled.”

[3] A clip of the initial shooting of the song, in black and white, here.

[4] I haven’t seen the 2006 version of Umrao Jaan (I am loath to) but the song Salaam has a lot of steps that seem very inspired from this song (and many more from the other tracks in Pakeezah, though that could be due to the similarity in the themes of the movies). Meena Kumari was not really a dancer, but I find Thare Rahiyo very subtle, graceful and suggestive. Aishwarya on the other hand is, I think, very jumpy and there’s something about some of her movements in the song that irritates me but I can’t put a finger on what. Views may vary of course, but what do you think?

[5] Pakeezah famously took more than a decade to complete. Director Kamal Amrohi and Kumari’s marriage broke up soon after the filming began. By the time Kumari came back to finish the movie she was already an alcoholic (she died of cirrhosis of the liver soon after the movie released). It’s not very difficult when watching the movie to figure out which parts had been shot earlier. In some scenes Kumari looks significantly older and puffier.

Around the world

Thessaloniki

Delhi

Vienna

Florence

Istanbul

Vienna

Venice

Istanbul

Siem Reap

Dachau

Delhi

Venice

Angkor Thom

Am contemplating buying a new camera. Have shortened it down to the Panasonic Lumix FZ18 and the Canon S5 IS (though I am leaning more toward the former). Any input is welcome.

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Columbia Magazine has an interview with Pamuk (via 3QD). His new book Masumiyet Muzesi (The Museum of Innocence) will be out in Turkey in December. He has said earlier it’s his most ambitious project to date and I am really looking forward to it. So, here’s hoping the English translation comes out soon!

Another interview (quite an old but interesting one) talks about the trouble he has had with publishers and translators. “Guneli’s translation of The New Life in England received The London Times award for the worst translation of the year, while the American Translators Association gave her the prize for the best translation, which made only more confusion for me.”

I didn’t enjoy Gun’s translation of The Black Book and left it midway to pick up Maureen Freely’s new translation of the book that is now one of my favourites. I keep hoping a new version of The New Life comes out. It’s such a bizarre book I still don’t know what to make of it.

Pamuk was also on The Charlie Rose show a couple of months back and I really loved the interview. He is just completely adorable. You can watch it here.
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After a post on the intermingling of food cultures, it’s perhaps apt that I should write about dance cultures. A couple of weeks ago at a seminar and dinner gathering I was attending on ‘Islam and the Arts’, the roots of the Malay Zapin dance were traced back to the Muslim missionaries who came to the region from Hadramut in Yemen. Though traditionally performed only by males during religious functions the many variants of Zapin are now part of the secular artistic heritage of the area, with women dancers a common sight too.

I found a video of a dance that is very similar to the one I had the pleasure of watching except that the boys (in their late teens I would guess) wore lose jeans, tight shirts and looked strangely like docile punks dancing away to the wonderful music of the oud. One particular young man had the entire female population in the audience drooling including the very elderly lady sitting next to me who turned to me and said “Isn’t he beautiful?” the moment he started dancing. My friend later found out he was half Arab and a quarter Malay and Chinese each. “Ah, clearly he’s taken the best features of each,” she commented knowingly.
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Have been listening to a lot of Abida Parveen of late and by default a lot of Faiz and Bulleh Shah as well. And as much as I love Tere Ishq Nachaya [1] what I have been listening to most has been Abida singing in praise of Shahbaz Qalandar in Lal Meri Pat Rakhiyon..[2]. All this of course makes you feel even more crappy about the shit that is happening across the border.

Strangely enough the NYT had a profile of Aitzaz Ahsan, who is currently in jail, a few days back. Strange because I had just borrowed his book The Indus Saga – From Patliputra to Partition from the library. I haven’t read it yet, only the introduction, but it will be my companion on the metro this week.

All of this reminds of another favourite, Hikmet, and his apt and beautiful words:

Ne devlet ne para

insanın emrinde dünya

belki yüz yıl sonra

olsun

mutlaka bu böyle olacak ama

The world is not run by governments or money

but people rule

a hundred years from now

maybe

but it will be for sure [3]
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[1] I didn’t know till about a year back that Chaiyya Chaiyya (and also of course Thaiyya Thaiyya) were inspired by Bulleh Shahs famous poem. I did however know that Rabbi Shergill was singing Baba Bulleh Shah in his lovely song Bullah Ki Jaana. (Translation here.)

[2] I need to mention that Faiz more than anyone makes me cry. Last week I wept just listening to his ghazals and I do not know why. I just remember hugging my pillow and sobbing away. With some of his poems its even worse - I remember reading a thin little volume in the library and before I realised it tears were streaming down my cheeks. So there is only so much Faiz I can take at a time and I think listening to Dam Mast Qalandar has been one way of not getting overly depressed.

[3] The poem in full

İyimserlik
Şiirler yazarım
basılmaz
basılacaklar ama

Bir mektup beklerim müjdeli
belki de öldüğüm gün gelir
mutlaka gelir ama

Ne devlet ne para
insanın emrinde dünya
belki yüz yıl sonra
olsun
mutlaka bu böyle olacak ama

Optimism
I write poems
they don't get published
but they will

I'm waiting for a letter with good news
maybe it will arrive the day I die
but it will come for sure

The world is not run by governments or money
but people rule
a hundred years from now
maybe
but it will be for sure

Nazim Hikmet, 12 September 1957
The American Poetry Review, Jan/Feb 2002

I get thrilled when I can read Turkish and understand it. The downside is that translations somehow don’t match up to the original then. But, well, they bring their own perspective.

Europe

Even before I have finished planning for my trip to here and here, I have another trip to plan for! I am going back to Europe end May and I am really excited!

I’ll be attending a student symposium in Switzerland and they are really nice because they will be paying for my airfare and the date of return is flexible. Last year I was interning so I didn’t have much time to travel after the conference. I just spent a week roaming around Switzerland. This year I will have graduated and plan to travel a bit around central – eastern Europe. I am already quite sure I’m going to Austria. One of my dearest friends is Slovenian and she made me promise that I would visit her in Ljubljana when I came to Europe next so I am most definitely going to Slovenia. And of course (squuuueeeee!!!) Turkey.

This is all that is certain for now (not bad I think considering I found out I was selected only last night). More plans need to be made and finalized. But in any case I am terribly deliriously happy. And I know it’s too early and everything and I don’t want to jinx my plan to finally reach Turkiye, especially considering last summer didn’t work out…but oh well. So much traveling to do. So many plans to be made. I will never be able to get through these last two weeks of school. But did I mention how happy I am?

Have been listening to Isyankar on repeat since last night. I am so sure I will scream out with happiness when I finally see the Aya Sophya, just like I kept squeeling the first day I walked around Paris. Ok enough. I don’t want my plans to get jinxed.

Music & Lyrics

I had a sudden urge to listen to Hindi music day before yesterday. It’s not that I don’t listen to Hindi music. I do – sometimes. But only to a few songs. Because by default Hindi music has become Bollywood music and other than a few good soundtracks (usually by A.R. Rehman) that usually entails stuff like “Where’s the party tonight?” and “Crazy kiya re” (which, I wasn’t able to listen to in totality, even once). But then once in a while I have this sudden overwhelming urge to listen to Hindi music. And then I go and pull out some of my most precious music discs.

I have a compilation of songs from Dev Anand’s movies that I simply love. When it comes to music in movies no production house came close to matching Navketan. When I was living with my mausa he would make me watch old black and white movies every weekend. At one time Set Max had a one month Dev Anand festival going on and I saw pretty much every movie they showed – Munimji, CID, Paying Guest right up to Hare Rama, Hare Krishna (after which he hasn’t done one remotely decent film). Almost every movie the man did in his heyday had fabulous music. My favourite is of course Guide. Dev Anand had already started overacting by then, his hair was ridiculous but he managed to be really good in spite of all that. Waheeda Rahman is marvelous, gorgeous and absolutely brilliant as Rosie. And then there are S.D. Burman’s fabulous, fabulous, fabulous songs. Not one wrong note.

Then there’s Pakeezah. I saw the movie fully, for the first time only a few years back. I hadn’t expected to like it – I always thought it would be similar to the Sanjay Leela Bhansali version of Devdas – pretty to look at it, but soulless. But I loved it. And can I just say Raj Kumar deserves kudos for mouthing the dialogues, “Aap ke paon dekhe, bahut haseen hai. Inhe zameen par mat utariyega. Maile ho jayenge” with such sincerity that I remember thinking “No wonder she fell in love with him!” And oh, the music. The gorgeous music. I still can’t listen to Chalo Dildar Chalo at night without getting goose bumps.

And since we are on the subject of film music, I can’t not mention Gulzar. Yes, I know he is not a music director, but has there ever been a better lyricist? From Bandini to Guru, he has written one beautiful song after another. Just letting his words wash over you is such pleasure. I doubt anyone could capture the spirit of Bunty aur Babli the way he did. Or the cheerful banter in Do Deewane Sheher Mein . And can I just mention the brilliance of the crass lyrics of Beedi?

Incidentally, I have been listening to Dil Se on repeat all day. Like I said, this happens sometimes. It’s almost as though it’s a new single and I have to listen to it till I am sick of it. The thing with Dil Se is that I quite frankly think it was probably the best song from a Hindi movie for the entire decade of the 90’s. It has such drama. And there’s that one line that always, always gets to me Dil To Aakhir Dil Hai Na, Meethi Si Mushkil Hai Na. Now only if they made more music like this, I would be more inclined to listen to the stuff that comes out of Bollywood.

Look Familiar?

George & Dhani

Freaky is it not? Talk about like father like son.
I do have high expectations from Dhani though... (ummm, unlike a certain Sean Lenon). And the bar is set high. George is my absolute fave Beatle. By far. I don't think I am capable of explaining why George and not Paul or John. There was just something real and true about him.....

I even like My Sweet Lord. Almost everyone I know has an active dislike for that song.
Sigh, I need to go look at my folder of Harrison photos and indulge in nostalgia. You can go hear some Dhani.

Turk-O-Pop

I have been meaning to write about Turkish pop. But every time I start thinking of what to write I reach a road block. Hmmm, Turkish pop – it is good. What more is there to add? When it comes to music that’s all that matters. As long as it sounds good, I will listen to it.

Other than that, well I might as well admit it; I started following Turkish pop because of Tarkan. Omfg, he is totally not my type but he is so pretty, it’s a crime. And duh, I’m not the only one who thinks so. Roswitha once blogged “Ooof. This man reminds me of how heterosexual I am.” Not to mention Panacea who is prone to making declarations like “Once Tarkan figures out his sexuality, I'll be his slave for life regardless of what he decides.”

Of course it helps that he can actually sing. Yes I like his Simarik number (do not gag!!) and no, that is not his best song. (I am partial to Sikidim and Kuzu Kuzu - don’t ask). And don’t even get me started on that absolutely god awful Holly Valence Kiss Kiss version of Simarik, the song is so, so, so much better in Turkish.

Oh, and did I mention the man can dance belly dance? I kid you not. I think it’s the video of Hüp where at one point he lifts up his tank top and does a dance that would shame even the best belly dancer in the Middle East. There went all doubt about him being straight. I think I was sitting with my jaw on the floor and wondering how to react; it was hilarious. In any case, in my book Tarkan wins over Justin Timberlake any day. No contest. Tarkan’s latest album Bounce is in English and I was amazed by how fluently he sings in what is actually his third language. And though I think his Turkish songs are much better I am quite taken with his Start the Fire track. Tarkan is mind numbingly good dance pop. No two ways about it.

As good as Tarkan is, my two favourite Turkish songs haven't been sung by him. The first -Isyankar by Mustafa Sandal. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that it would rank as one of my favourite songs in any language. The beats, rhythms and I love the flute in the background. It’s fabulous. Oh, and it says something about the song that I like it even after TPF trashed Mustafa Sandal on one of my comments page. Not to mention, ruined the experience of listening to another Sandal song I like, Araba. Now every time it comes on on my iPod all I can imagine is Mustafa Sandal singing “Car, Car, Automobile!!” (Because Araba means car in Turkish and the song is about how Mustafa's rival has a great car but not a great heart and how Mustafa will get the girl in the end because he' has a good soul even if he’s not rich). Well Isyankar doesn’t have inane lyrics. I checked, they are quite nice.

The other Turkish song I really adore is Aman Aman by the Turkish rock band Duman. It’s very grunge and Kaan Tangöze’s raspy voice adds great texture to the song. The funny thing is both songs (Isyankar & Aman Aman) have a very Indipop feel to them. In a way they remind me of what Indian pop could be but rarely is. No thanks to the remix cum semi porn brigade. And I don’t have anything against Himesh Reshammiya, but there is only so much nasal singing one can take.
Oh, and before I end. Çakkıdı by Kenan Doğulu. Because that is catchy music.

Raï

In my comments here I told TR that my next post would be on ‘turkopop’. Which I currently have a very unhealthy obsession for. Well I started by wanting to write a post on Turkish pop and raï, another genre of music I absolutely adore. I started with raï which I am more familiar with and have been listening to for quite a while now. And well, midway through writing the post I realised I had written enough to dedicate one long post to raï itself. So that’s what I will do. This post is about Raï. Turkish pop next.

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I think I have a thing for world music. I love new sounds and I love songs sung in languages that I don’t really understand. Fusion is cool. No surprise then that I love Norwegian Wood (the book also) and the Buddha Bar compilations (though they have been getting progressively worse, the first couple of albums still sound unbelievably fresh). As of now my world of music is revolving around Middle Eastern sounds. I now have an entire play list of just Turkish and Arabic songs. Good reason for it too, it’s great music.

So, raï. It would be quite impossible for someone not to have been exposed to raï. Remember the song Didi(by Khaled)? That’s when the genre made its big break. I remember visiting my cousin in Bombay over summer vacations and all the silly teenage boys singing “Didi, didi, didi…”after the girls. What with the double entendre Hindi – Arabic meaning and all. (If you don’t know already, didi in Arabic means darling. In Hindi it means sister.) Or even more recently Desert Rose by Sting?

I really became aware of raï music as a genre, sub culture and a complete way of life when I visited Paris. It’s strange the clichés that one has of Paris, because if you look a little beyond the tourist traps and French bistros, the Algerian subculture is all over. A wrong turn somewhere near the Sacré-Cœur at Montmartre and you will find yourself in lanes with Arabic graffiti on the walls, women wearing hijabs shopping at street markets and boys in loose jeans looking like the stereotypical misguided youth. I think I was probably more aware of it because my favourite area of Paris was Le Marais (no, not because it’s the gay/lesbian area of Paris). It has such great atmosphere. Great Museums, the Place des Vosges, the innumerous number of maghrebi food stalls. I spent a ridiculous amount of time there. And then some at the Institut du Monde Arabe and the Paris Mosque (which, by the way, serves amazing mint tea). In all these places you will hear raï. It’s everywhere.

It is very difficult for me to describe how raï sounds but the beats, the instruments, the entire feel of it affirms its origins. You can imagine people singing this kind of music in the dry lands of Algeria; you can smell the salty sea breeze and imagine the sapphire blue of the sea. Well I’ve never been to Oran, but I’ve seen pictures. And read Camus. And when I listen to raï that’s what I see. Maybe, I just have an over active imagination.

In 1998 Khaled, Rachid Taha and Faudel, the three great raï masters got together for a concert in Paris. The live album 1, 2, 3 Soleils is a classic example of what great live performance should be like. Check out the video of one of my favourites Abdel Kader (actually youtube doesn’t do justice to the instruments and the music, so do try and get the track).

Oh and don’t miss Rachid Taha (pictured above) in the red shirt being his usual badass self. He is übercool. No one who has heard his version of Rock el Casbah would ever doubt that. He transcends genre. His track Ida is the perfect example. It’s a terribly bouncy and happy and the background instruments sound just like the bands from those loud Punjabi Delhi weddings - I kid you not. And somehow it sounds fantastic. It makes me want to jump around and dance and that’s saying a lot because I never dance. OK, not never, but I can count on one hand the number of times I have danced in my life. Now if they actually played music like this I wouldn’t be embarrassed to be part of a wedding baarat.
Damn, I wish there was some way I could upload some of these songs.

By the by, Aicha is still the most played song on my iPod. I’m amazed by the fact that I’ve been hearing it for years and am still not sick of it. No wonder they call Khaled the King of Raï. I made C listen to it and she really liked it. Though when actual Arabic raï (Ya Rayah) came on she said, “It sounds vulgar!” Well, it does not. It is fab. Maybe it’s just easier for me to digest because I am Indian and some of the sounds are so familiar.

Oh, and coming back to what I mentioned earlier, Paris is also the hub of raï because almost all the great raï artists live there. Reason? The Islamic fundamentalists back in Algeria oppose raï because you know, it’s irreverent and the songs are about romantic love, drugs, alcohol etc. And it’s not all threats either. In 1994 they murdered Cheb Hasni, a great raï artist.
Now, why do fucks like that exist? Does music bring people anything other than happiness?

Update: I tried to upload some raï but for some reason the hyperlink didn’t work. Anyway, I was googling for sites where you could listen to raï music and stumbled across this one. You can listen and download! Definite must.
Highly recommended Ana Oualache by Cheb Mami. Just listen to it. Simply fantastic. Full of soul. And to think it took forever to download and it’s just so easily available on the net!
Khaled is almost always good. My favourites: Aicha (but of course) and N'ssi N'ssi. Also Taha’s Oh Cherie Cherie. There are also some tracks from the 1, 2, 3 Soleils concert including Abdel Kader.
Hear them out. Tell me if you liked.

An Update & A Tag

I finally stopped being a lazy arse and updated my blogger profile, added my email and made a blogroll! Considering this is midterm break and I have basically turned into a slob I am very pleased that I actually managed to get at least this much done.
Also, Edmund S. Phelps won this years Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Which is cool and freaky. He was my macro profs PhD advisor at Columbia and they collaborate on a gazillion papers. My one degree of separation from a Nobel Laureate. I still don’t think very highly of economics though.

Ok, moving on, I have been tagged by Panacea. The task is simple enough – to list the ten most played songs on my iTunes player. So here goes:

Aicha, by Khaled. I love raï music and I absolutely adore this song. It is a million times better than the rehashed version by Outlandish. French and Arabic make for a potent musical combination. Who’d have thunk?

Omkara, from the OST. It’s my favourite track and I loved the way it was used in the movie. Gulzars lyrics are fabulous (as always). He is hands down the best lyricist and poet in the country and he really outdid himself with the songs in Omkara. On the other hand we have Javed Akhtar who has taken to writing stuff like 'Where’s the party tonite?' *Cringe*

Sinnerman, by Nina Simone. I first heard this song (eons ago now) in a Nokia commercial. And that was how I discovered Nina Simone. Oh and I loved that scene in the Thomas Crown Affair where the entire song plays in the background and the police are trying to figure out which of the many, many, many men in bowler hats is Pierce Brosnan. I have always seen repeats of the movie to catch that scene and listen to this song. Fabulous.

The Rising, by Bruce Springsteen. The Boss. Nothing much to say. Except that I think The Rising is his best album and I still can’t believe they gave the grammy to Norah Jones that year!

Rang De Basanti, from the OST. Can A.R. Rahman do anything wrong when he’s in form??

Dicholo, The Constant Gardener OST. Ahh, one of my favourite movies of last year. And I cannot believe Fiennes wasn’t nominated for an Oscar. Though I really shouldn’t have been surprised. (I mean they gave Tommy Lee Jones an Oscar for The Fugitive over Fiennes for Schindlers List. I mean, COME ON!!)
Anyway, back to the song. It’s terribly catchy and was extremely difficult to get track off to download. So for a long time I kept playing it by fast forwarding the copy of the movie I have on my comp to the credits just to listen to it!

Govinda, by Kula Shaker. Hmm this is a bit of surprise. I used to find the song and the video terribly amusing but it slowly grew on me. I think I was listening to it a great deal before my macro exam. Perhaps a subconscious bid for good karma?

Moon River, by Henry Mancini. I know Mancini didn’t sing it. But every time I think Moon River I think Henry Mancini. And Breakfast at Tiffany’s. And Holly Golightly.

Thank You, by Dido. I quote J.D. from Scrubs: "If my heart could write songs they would sound like these".

J'y Suis Jamais Allé, Yann Tiersen from the OST of Amélie. If I ever feel sad or low, I watch Amélie. And I feel better and happier. The soundtrack of the movie reflects that. It’s wonderful and heart warming.

In turn I tag TR, MT, Roswitha and Cyberswami.