An Artist's Borders?

I listened to the original of the "Aadat" song from Kalyug last evening. Opinion warning! The charm I sensed in the original was somehow lost in the more popular re-done version. The simple, non-extravagant orchestration in the 2004 production carried the emotion of the lyrics more effectively, in my opinion. The lyrics themselves were humble and inelaborate as reflected in fewer perfect rhymes, probably because they did not have to be part of a soundtrack of a Hindi movie. Atif Aslam, the Pakistani singer has performed both songs with the same ease and the unique scraggy feel he usually brings to the stage. I was enraptured by his rendition of "Woh Lamhe, Woh Raaten" from Zeher earlier. My only whine would be about his diction; when he says "mujhko", it sounds like "mudzko" (video here, around 0:35), or "jaane" becomes "dzaane", "juda", therefore, is "dzuda". That is probably ok to overlook as an accent or, more likely, my ignorance of the Urdu language. The raw quality of his voice has its own addictive charm. Individuality of voice is a so true a characteristic of quite a few other singers from Pakistan that have made a name in India. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Nazia Hassan, Adnan Sami, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali Khan, even Noor Jehan from ages ago have enthralled the Indian audience with their style and peculiar (sorry for that word) voice. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's songs have recently been refreshed in my mind by singers who emulated him in Sa Re Ga Ma and Amul Voice of India programmes on Zee TV and Star TV respectively. Two of his non-qawwali songs that are in my all-time favorites list are "Ankhiyan Nu Chain" (video looks suspicious, music is the right one) and "Piya Re". Who can deny the voice that took over the Indian pop scene in the 80s? Nazia Hassan with Biddu's music made some very memorable numbers - Aap Jaisa Koi Mere (original, remix), Boom Boom (original, remix), Disco Deewane, etc. Shafqat Amanat Ali has a more mainstream voice as demonstrated in Mitwa from KANK. Adnan Sami sings hit songs in Tamil and Telugu these days along side the other cross-over regulars - Shreya Ghoshal, Sadhana Sargam, Lucky Ali, Sunidhi Chauhan and Udit Narayan. Asha Bhonsle collaborates with Adnan Sami. I will desist from commenting about Ghulam Ali Khan or Mehdi Hasan as I know next to nothing in ghazals. Jagjit Singh is about the limit of my knowledge in that area. When we listen to these singers deliver hits after hits in the music styles of our choices, what comes to our minds first is not the nationality. Am I right? For most, it is our ability to embrace and appreciate the tune of the song that gets us first, after which we start pondering about the lyrics which were served to us so aesthetically by the song, which movie that song appears in followed by the people behind it...mmm...usually the singer, then the music composer, the lyricist, etc. On the other hand, when it is not appealing art, the "offender's" nationality suddenly jumps out. Since love or hatred is so subjective, is it even fair for us to judge anything? In a debate, it is common to pick talking points selectively to win the argument. How about art? Can we judge art fairly? How come the boundaries, regional or national, become significantly important factors for the same people recognizing talent? Restricting ourselves to even a single sample in fine arts i.e. music is sufficient to prove us negative. Hypocrisy's residual is that fine talent becomes a matter of opinion and the mighty usually have their way in using media to promote what suits their agenda. Ok ok ...when I begin to gloss over like a million topics in one blog, I realize it is time to stop. I urge the readers, nevertheless, to think about nationalism, parochialism, and media hype/marketing when it concerns art forms - music, dance in particular.

Early attempts....

Checkout my article from 1995 at

http://essessblogs.sulekha.com/

Any first impressions?

Hmmm..we are good at some sport

Read and revel in pride.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/06/stories/2007100655521900.htm

Chess was invented in India says Wikipedia. That was ages ago. Presently, for a sports star starved country (think Olympics), it may be worthwhile raising a new breed and increasing the media focus on chess to build a stronger tradition like in eastern Europe and Russia. Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Shirov, Khalifman, Topalov, Ivanchuk...the list goes on. Intellectual ability and simplicity have a special place in the minds of Indians. Not to trivialize issues, but the glamor of chess is therefore relatively easy to cultivate with media's help. Corporate sponsorship (i.e.money and publicity) always goes a long way in bolstering sports. Chess is not the only sport waiting to be "glamorized". While this can degenerate into a discussion of long-term strategy for fostering and sustaining all the different sports, the point to take away to ponder is how best to motivate youngsters to choose the less popular sports; in other words, any sport but cricket. Any thoughts?

Sony BMG rants...

Check this posting out on Slashdot, and read some comments to see where people (readers of slashdot) think this is going.