August 26, 2004
paul hamm
should give back the gold..it was clerical administrative error that gave him the gold..from some research on the web; this has happened before; irina karavaeva learned that a judging error had wrongly given her the title at the 2001 trampoline world championships, she asked that it be given to the rightful winner, anna dogonadze
he should be gracious to give it to the korean who really won it in the true spirit of sportsmanship...
do it paul...
Posted by ananth at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2004
myth of a united democratic iraq
give the sunni's, shias and kurds their own fully autonomous regions..there is no point in creating a unified democratic iraq since there was none to start with & that which could survive without the brute force of a dictator..post marshall tito at what was the erstwhile yugoslavia provides ample clues~
one dictator
two regions with oil
three ethnicities that hate each other
four neighbours waiting to get in;
five imperialist council permanent members,
six neocons
..mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
some good reads with contradicting viewpoints below:
Divide Iraq into three states
Iraq's Slide Toward Separation
Division of Iraq Would Likely Breed Regional Instability
Posted by ananth at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2004
natalie merchant at the marymoor
what a enthralling concert from natalie today (aug 21st, 2004, 7pm at marymoor park, redmond, wa).
maymoor park is a huge expansive park east of seattle in a suburb called redmond..very very close to where microsoft is headquarted. it has a velodrome, soccer fields, baseball fields, dog park and much more. the sammamish river trail starts here going parallel to the river along chateau ste michelle winery, red hook brewery and meets up with the famous burke gilman trail up in kenmore which leads through the university of washington campus and further on to fremont close to downtown seattle;a 27 mile trail to bike, rollerblade, walk, run.
natalie started slow and pensive with weeping pilgrim and poor wayfaring stranger, kicked it up a gear for which side are you on and sally ann, a creepy but powerful rendition of diver boy and fast ending with down on penny's farm with brilliant fiddle work from judy hyman and richie stearns. her tigerlily and maniacs songs were pure nirvana.
one song that stood out was 'which side are you on' with a very powerful rendition from natalie..written in the early 1930's by florence reece; a wife of a labor organizer in coal mines in kentucky.. natalie's voice is very suited to this union anthem and very relevant to these divisive times we live in..
it was raining pretty hard here in redmond before the concert but the powers decided that they will take a break for a couple of hours. the outdoor venue was super nice with threatening clouds but very green and verdant. natalie was pretty chatty compared to her previous concerts..she commented on how this crowd was talking to her unlike some of the earlier venues where she was talked to; told to shut up and even told to go to iraq...ahem...she also talked about why the concert was delayed when she switched her hair spray and throat spray prior to coming to the stage and how she tasted hair spray.
she mentioned the nov 2nd date,also how people live in illusion about the present administration...the crowd was really supportive and she remarked that she was preaching to the choir..she held a peace sign flag in front of her face for the last stanza of gulf of araby and was given a standing ovation for it.
the featured charity was northwest child! and their representatives were given a couple of minutes to talk about what they do. natalie remarked how she voluntered for a charity back when she was 15 with autistic and down syndrome kids.
it seemed like quite a bit of the crowd didn't realise the way she does her encores and they left...people whats the hurry?..slow down..it is a saturday night..mmmm..the crowd that stayed were quite loud..on the second encore natalie remarked that people didnt want her singing too long..and that bruce springsteen has three hours concerts! wished she had sung some more..
here's her setlist...
1: weeping pilgrim
2: poor wayfaring stranger
3: owensboro
4: cowboy romance
5: which side are you on?
6: sally ann
7: diver boy
8: san andreas fault
9: break your heart
10: wonder
11: carnival
12: this house is on fire
13: gulf of araby
1st encore
14: hey jack kerouac
15: every day is like sunday
16: kind & generous
2nd encore
17: motherland
18: down on penny's farm
Posted by ananth at 09:48 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2004
aryeh frankfurter
aryeh frankfurter is a instrumentalist from the san francisco bay area. i have been listening to his music for the last three years online and just recently purchased his double cd titled Harp Chronicles 94-96. it is a compilation of three of earlier his albums.
his music combines harp and fiddle in beautiful medleys..some of the standout tunes in this particular album are ..
the selchie
o'carolan's cottage
planxty burke
these tunes are complete stress busters. early night to late night brings the best moods with a nice bottle of reisling!
Posted by ananth at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2004
arundhati roy at town hall
had a chance to hear arundhati roy and david barsamian today (aug 18th,2004,7pm) at town hall in the first hill neighbourhood of seattle.
because of a beautiful sunny day; the place was like a sauna and arundhati seemed a bit tired; but she was at her passionate and articulate best.
arundhati bashes india way too much..the majority of india with so much diversity is united with a vibrant democracy..yes there are glaring problems but the way you make it sound; its like disaster every day....i also didnt hear a single mention of china or saudi arabia or womens enpowerment in islamic societies..
i really dont agree with some of your india views and for you to make some dramatic statements like that is bladderdash...i am also not sure of what you mean by iraqi resistance being the frontline of this war against this empire. i am not sure if i would support what sadr is doing~
however your talk about terrorism was pretty good as well...one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. suppression, oppression and lack of any form of justice are some of the root causes as you eloquently put it.
if you come across this site..here are couple of thoughts for you to ponder...
who helps the people under a brutal dictatorship? do we say that its their karma and they deal with it..let one or group of them rise up against their ruler or do we help from outside...i didnt hear this viewpoint other than the usual position of antiwar or leave them alone
hydro and nuclear power are some of the cleanest sources of energy along with solar energy. so i am curious to hear your points here. yes, nuclear disposal is a big problem but it is the cleanest; the best to combat the rapid global warming effects.
i sympathize with the people who get displaced with the huge dams and i sincerely believe that due to corruption and beaurocracy(sp); they don't get a fair deal which is plain wrong. but at some point; we have to balance our goal of development against conservation and water offers a better choice vs coal or gas.
to conclude; i dont think socialism is the answer nor is capitalism american style is the answer....what we need in my opinion is compassionate capitalism. capitalism with a moral compass guiding it. capitalism with a human face or with a social consience..
Posted by ananth at 06:43 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2004
gorakh kalyan
some renditions of gorakh kalyan are below:
Ustad Sultan Khan & Raghunath Seth
sarangi & flute
ok
Pandit Jasraj - Preet Mori Lag Rahi Tum Sang Mohan
vocal
classic maestro with mellow emotions
Veena Sahasrasbuddhe - Dhan Dhana Bhag
vocal
brilliant; starts slow but fiery ending
there is some dispute to what exactly is the carnatic equivalent to this raag. ragam Nagavali is supposedly the exact match while Andholika and Narayani are similar. couldnt find any Nagavalli compositions but here is one in Narayani and Andholika respectively.
Kunnagudi Vaidyanathan – Rama Neeve – Thyagaraja
violin
fast & beautiful
N. Ramani - Sevikka Vendum Iyya
flute
Posted by ananth at 06:07 PM | Comments (0)
hameer/hamir/amir kalyani
an article here that explains it in a bit more detail...
Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan - Thillana
vocal
Sudha Ragunathan – Thiruppavai-Thoomani Maadaththu (Day 9)
vocal
R Vedavalli – Edo Theriyamal
vocal
Mysore Doraiswamy Iyengar – Venkatasaila Vihara
veena
Swati Tirunal's compositions in Hamir Kalyani on an extremely slow server :)
Ananthalakshmi Venkatarama – Amuna Bhoomidevena
vocal
Sreevatsan J. Menon – Gaangeya Vasana
vocal
kedar is the hindustani equivalent.
here's a beautiful write up from some google archives on the history of the raag.
some renditions in kedar:
T.N.Krishnan & Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
sarod & violin jugalbandhi
sarod drowns the violin~
Posted by ananth at 05:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2004
raaga research
so these are couple of raagas to start that i want to research. i am utterly fascinated by raags/ragams and the interlinks between hindustani (H) and carnatic (C) music. i love both styles! it evokes emotions, the climate and the rain and the moods! ah! what would i do without either...
hameer kalyani(C) also known as hamir kalyani. place/times i grew up; we used to have tiruppavai at our place in december/jan with a bunch of mom's friends and this one tune stood out distinctly from all the other thirty or so ragams and i was fascinated with it. it is interesting that maratha influenced in thanjavur supposedly brought this rag south.
gorakh kalyan(H)
just happened to surf on the web and came to this rendition by veena sahasrabuddhe at musicindiaonline and it just happened to stick with me for a while...definitely not a night raag as some sites claim...or atlest how ms. sahasrabuddhe renders it. more an afternoon raag for me!
a disclaimer~
am not a trained singer nor am i expert in either systems...my formal teaching was till the first varnam (mohanam) in veena long time ago...:) so i apologize if i make any mistakes...all my research is online and i am just avid fan of these music..~
more details to come on those two ragams...
Posted by ananth at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)