Mar 25, 2016 Climate Change is Real!, Daily Life, Ramblings and Musings
Climate Change is Real: Day 7 of My Lone Vigil
©March 25th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I awoke at an early hour, emerging sluggishly from a swamp-like sleep, in which I could not detect any dreams. As I got ready, put the dog out, heated up old coffee, and dressed, I was feeling pretty detached.
Still, I looked forward to going out there to battle the elements with my trusty sword, or rather, Warren’s trusty sign, “Climate Change is Real.”
Today, I was better prepared. More layers, thick gloves, the same scarlet and orange scarf as yesterday, two pairs of pants, moon-boots, hat – all that good New England preparedness which it took me years to learn. My phone and i-Pod were charged, and ready to go. Holly took her time coming back in. I was briefly frustrated, then shrugged it off. Whatever. She’s a dog, and has her business to attend to. It must be hard being so dependent on her humans who let her in and out, and decide when she can be taken for a walk. I felt bad for her, then shrugged, again. She has a very good life. We each pay the price for safety and shelter. What we do get is boundless love in the case of our dogs, though.
Holly was as good as gold when I left. She always is.
I was there at 7:54 a.m. sharp. Pah, again! Well, there’s always Monday to look forward to, and two days of blessed rest on Saturday and Sunday (of course, “rest” is a relative term)!
The air was rich with March moisture. While it cheered me to see the fog (I like fog), the fine, misty rain, which is more insidious than an outright downpour chilled me to the bone, despite it being about 40 degrees or so. I don’t like the cold of rain – I prefer the cold of snow. In any case, it got much warmer as the day wore on, just not in the hour that I stood there, fingers numb despite warm, thick gloves.
It being Friday, the traffic was somewhat sparser at the beginning, but grew denser as the hour unrolled. I sang Raga Bhatiyar moodily, my mind on other things, such as how awful old coffee tasted, and what possessed me get to bed so late all of this week, and did we have a future on this bleak planet, and why couldn’t I focus on Bhatiyar?
It didn’t matter. I sang, and my voice got stronger, and clearer, but the foggy air did not.
Listening to our Guruji’s voice, I re-focused my efforts. More taans and meandering aakars, gamaks and then, this very philosophical song (which I believe our teacher, Pandit Shreeram G. Devasthali wrote. Correct me if I’m mistaken in this memory, Warren):
Kahe Dekhata Mukha Chandra
Asthai: Kahe dekhata mukha chandra (why do you look at my moon-face? Note: It doesn’t sound so silly in our language, because chandra is not just moon; it signifies radiant, shining, effulgent beauty, and such-like concepts.)
Dekho na, dekho na mukha chandra (do not look at my moon-face)
Nahi dekho mora mukha chandra (same thing)
Prati dina yaha cheena hota (Every day, it [the moon, and my beauty] wanes)
(“This beauty is ultimately going to perish,” said our teacher at this point)
Antara: Athi chanchala jobana roopa (“The form/beauty of youth is fleeting, flickering, transitory”)
Ghadi pala yaha ghatata jaata (“Every moment, it gets diminished, goes away”)
Mohe nahi isape ghuman (“I don’t have any pride in this, because every moment it’s going away, it is so fleeting, I know for certain that it is not going to last …” so explained our Guruji.)
I love our teacher’s philosophical, exhortatory songs!
The cold seeped into my fingers and feet, but I didn’t mind so much anymore. There is something lovely about March rain. I admired the deep browns and grays behind me, where the Fells began (or ended), and stretched into the unseen distance. I was grateful for stereo vision (as I am every day). A few brown-yellow leaves from last fall stood out, brightly three-dimensional, against a background of dark brown tree-branches, and the pearl-gray gleam of water behind them made me glimmer in response. I admired the reflection of the golden headlights of the cars on the tarmac, moving steadily towards me in the dim rain. I looked up at the sky, and admired it for being the sky. Now, as I write this, my favorite Beatles song Because sneaks, unwittingly, into my head.
Because the world is round
It turns me on
Because the world is round
Ah Ah
Because the wind is high
It blows my mind
Because the wind is high
Ah Ah
Love is old, Love is new,
Love is all, Love is You.
Because the sky is blue
It makes me cry
Because the sky is blue oo
I know exactly how John Lennon felt. I resonate with all of his lyrics, and all of his music. The sky can make me cry. The wind does blow my mind. The convexity of the earth does turn me on. Where the cars appear on the slope beyond my vision, and heave into view, the earth is curved and sexy (the cars aren’t).
Okay, I’m rambling again.
Today, there were a few smiles, a few waves, one thumbs-up, no negative head-shakings, except for one woman. I saw a couple of bicyclists, one of whom waved to me, as he does every day. All of these, plus muted birdsong and birds, and the moody fog … all of these images, visual and sonic, just hung around me like a dream.
I thought of the head-shakers, as I picked up my effects, preparing to head on home. I think I know why they do that. We’ve all done that at some point in our lives, perhaps more than once. When we don’t understand something or someone, we feel superior. It’s easy to put down someone, much easier than trying to understand them.
I will try not to do that in my life with things and people I don’t understand. It’s a cheap and easy cop-out, and a loss of opportunity to learn and love the world around us, flawed though we are, and frail and foolish though we might be. We are still beautiful and worth saving.
Have a good day or night. Thank you for reading. Happy weekend!
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Tags: #Because, #ClimateChangeisReal, #ClimateVigil, #John Lennon, #PanditShreeramG.Devasthali, #The Beatles, #Warren Senders
Sep 25, 2015 Writing 101
“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
- Tell us about a time when a piece of music moved you.
- Do you have an all-time favorite song? Why is it significant?
- Compile a playlist of 10 tracks that represent you.
While I’m not sure whether Nietzsche wrote those actual words, and had to check (since I’m not a reader of Nietzsche), I did find out this from good old Wikipedia:
Nietzsche wrote a fragment titled “On Music and Words”.[106] In it he asserted the Schopenhauerian judgment that music is a primary expression of the essence of everything.
In any case, I agree with this statement.
How can I write about my breath, my cells, my skin? How can I write about why my eyes are the way they are, or my feet, or my thoughts? How can I write about why music moves me to the very roots of my being, and without it, I would be a desiccated planet?
My mother says she sang while I was in her womb, and told me that I could sing difficult Carnatic (South Indian classical) songs in tune along with her, at the age of two and a half (alas, I don’t sing Carnatic any more, for I went on to Hindustani classical music, as well as western rock, folk and jazz songs all along the way).
Inspired by my mother’s story I did the same for my daughter while I was pregnant (sang to her while she was in utero, that is). And it turned out that my daughter, too, could sing in tune by the time she was about two and a half years old. Now ten years old, she’s intensely musical, sings all the time, and plays guitar (as do my husband and I).
Music is the blood in which I swam, and breathed. All through my life, I’ve listened and played and sung, and tapped my hands and feet. I got myself a guitar when I was about ten or eleven, and taught myself to play in Chennai at a time when I knew NOBODY else around me who had a guitar, leave alone played it — of course, I was influenced by The Beatles (who wasn’t?). Filled to the brim with it, I was still always thirsty for music, or, perhaps greedy for it, a glutton, really.
While many songs and pieces have made me weep from a strange unnameable emotion (music produces its own emotion, one that will remain nameless, irreducible), certain Indian ragas, like Darbari Kannada or Vibhas have made me weep when I’ve heard them sung. Certain songs have also moved me deeply, but they’ve faded into the mist of memory. All I can remember from my most recent emotional reaction to a song is when I wept over “Julia” by John Lennon, which is about his mother, Julia Lennon. “My Favorite Plum” and “Small Blue Thing” by Suzanne Vega also did that for me — though I didn’t weep. I just felt very moved.
I won’t go into a long description of all the kinds of experiences I’ve had musically, but I will say I have performed the following on stage, and at various stages in my life (zeugma!):
Voice and guitar: My own songs, folk songs, rock songs, jazz standards. Here’s a song from my (not very prolific) YouTube link: Bird Over The Water
Hindustani (North Indian) classical music: Sitar and classical vocal music
Vocal Ensemble music: With “Goddess Gospel” (an all-women vocal group that lasted many years, no longer active); Mandala (for a brief while in their vocal ensemble; they are also no longer active)
At the Ig-Nobel 2015 (see link to understand what this prize is about) awards this year as a member of the operatic chorus in the hilarious mock-opera “Best Life” based on Aida by Verdi and The High Executioner by Gilbert and Sullivan.
I’ve performed on stage in Chennai, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi, India (this was quite a while back — no videos), the UK (back in 2004 and 2005), and the US (mostly in Cambridge and Boston, MA). I’ve performed in the subways in Cambridge and Boston, and on the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Some Music for You Today – September 24th, 2015
Mauritanian singer Dimi Mint Abba:
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Zimbabwean master musicians of the Shona tradition –Dumisani Maraire and Ephat Mujuru
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Beautiful singer from Mali, Oumou Sangare:
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Music from Bali, Indonesia:
Legong (Tobatelou) – Sanour Village
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Music from the Sunda Straits, Indonesia (Sunda Javanese Gamelan music):
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(The one and only Miles Davis on trumpet playing his exquisite version of Bye Bye Blackbird):
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Here’s the incomparable Chet Baker playing the same tune on his trumpet (I believe, but I’m not sure, that this was recorded in 1964, and the lineup of musicians goes as follows: Chet Baker on the horn,Jacques Pelzer- sax, Franco Manzecchi- drums, Luigi Trussardi- bass and Rene Urtreger- piano):
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Yulduz Usmanova is a well-known Uzbeki singer. I thought you’d enjoy listening to her beautiful singing.
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Sabah Habas Mustapha (of The 3 Mustaphas 3) sings this Indonesian-music-inspired piece:
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Eddie Jefferson sings “Sister Sadie.” I love Mr. Jefferson’s warm, fuzzy vocals. There’s humor and great musicality in all his singing. He generally makes me smile. (Although, I must say this song isn’t funny).
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When jazz icon Billie Holiday sings, she always makes me want to cry:
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The above piece is a composition by Warren Senders, who put Baul songs to music. The lead singer in this live concert recording from 1993 song is me (yes, I used to be a part of a group of women singers known as “Goddess Gospel” — founded and led by Louise Cloutier, formerly of Cambridge, now in Chicago). Hope you enjoy Three Baul Songs!
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One of my favorite pieces of guitar playing: Bach Cello Suite #1 in G, played by Andres Segovia.
Bach: Cello Suite #1 In G, BWV 1007 – Prelude
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D.V. Paluskar (Hindustani Classical vocalist), whose voice is mesmerizing:
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The exquisite and ecstatic singing of Mallikarjun Mansur:
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And here’s Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, and her soulful, lovely singing:
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Prabha Atre (Very soulful Hindustani vocalist):
Kalavati: Tana mana dhana tope varun
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Pete Seeger — America’s folk music Muse:
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“Julia” by The Beatles (John Lennon)
This, too, makes me want to cry.
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps by The Beatles (George Harrison)
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Song from the movie “Alaipayuthey” — music by that genius of current Indian film music A.R. Rahman:
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One of my absolute favorite songs from the same movie:
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“Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” is one of my favorite pieces by Charles Mingus. I used to sing a version of it (lovely lyrics!).
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The brilliant poet-folksinger-rockster Bob Dylan:
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And finally, my very favorite Suzanne Vega:
That’s all for now, folks! Hope you enjoyed the music! I went WAY beyond ten tracks, but I enjoyed going back to some of my favorite music — and have been shaped by all of these, and more through the course of my life.
There’s plenty more where this came from, so if you like this, I’ll start a new weekly post of my favorite music from around the world!
Thanks for reading and listening!
Love,
~Dreamer of Dreams
Tags: #Suzanne Vega, #The Beatles, A.R.Rahman, Andres Segovia, Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Charles Mingus, Chet Baker, D.V. Paluskar, Eddie Jefferson, Indonesian music, jazz, Mallikarjun Mansur, Miles Davis, music from around the world, music from the African continent, music is life, North Indian Classical Music, Pete Seeger, Prabha Atre, Sabah Habas Mustapha, Without music life would be a mistake- Friedrich Nietzsche quote, Yulduz Usmanova