Archive for the 'Video' Category
Sunday, March 16th, 2008
crazy beat.
i remember seeing this video on television during a visit to pakistan, in 2005 i think. it came up during a late-night/early-morning IM session, and led to this performance by pappu saeen at shah jamal’s shrine in lahore.
besides the amazing dhol-playing , it reminds me of this article i read about, what the writer called, ‘all-male sonic gatherings’ in northern pakistan. i have to say it’s a part of pakistani culture that i’ve never experienced, and it seems pretty awesome to be a part of, although slightly scary to watch. almost as scary as this. fortunately, i don’t think shah jamal’s shrine won’t see that anytime soon.
while i’m on the subject of the dhol, do you know what dhamaal is all about?
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
Punk-d
saw the three videos and rather improbably, the sajjad ali one wasn’t the worst of the lot. (good call on salman ahmad as borat btw). anyways, you raise a very good question on why punk never really took hold in Pakistan.
my guess is that by the time the ‘underground’ music scene became established in pakistan, punk rock had already morphed into pop-punk, which doesn’t really lend itself to protest music. green day’s dookie was released in 1993 - since then with bands like blink 182 the term punk has lost almost all meaning.
my guess is this might have resulted in a lot of people being drawn towards grunge and metal instead of punk.
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This long, long, long, piece on Radiohead is either brilliant or bs or both.
In any case, this rebuttal definitely takes it down a few notches.
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I chanced upon a John Lee Hooker concert on tv a couple of days ago. WOW! - absolutely stunning!!! There was a duet he did with Ry Cooder (who also collaborated with Ali Farka Toure and is an incredible guitarist), which was stunning. Unfortunately youtube has let me down on this occasion, so I’ve posted another video instead.
Saturday, March 8th, 2008
think of the musicians!
in the course of my weekly [okay, daily] youtube browsing [okay, okay, hourly], i came across these three by-products of a decade of corruption, political violence, and general unruliness.
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
consumption vs creation
al-tahafut, you’re analysis of tourism as a consumer industry is spot on. i think visiting historical sites is particularly overrated unless you use it as an excuse to actually read up on some history. i think nature sight seeing is ok as long as its not marketed as ‘eco-tourism’, which is just a horrible, horrible word.
first of all, cities are just as fascinating if you are trying to understand the human condition. secondly, pursuing a better understanding of nature is fine, but you should acknowledge that you are satisfying your curiosity in a way which might be harmful to the planet rather than spinning it to give yourself a sense of moral righteousness.
anyways, i think our discussions of music, films and tourism go the heart of what it means to be a consumer in the modern world. for instance, do we watch films because it is a shared cultural reference point with our friends, because it simply gives us pleasure or because we gain a deeper understanding of the human condition and thus lead more satisfying lives?
while i was pondering these questions, i fortuitously came across this brilliant lecture by Larry Lessig. definitely must-watch.
Also check out this interesting write up on Prof Lessig. I think it would be great if he made it Congress/Supreme Court.
Monday, February 25th, 2008
the new or the old?
first things first, amanat ali is awesome. coming from someone who doesn’t really listen to hindi film songs, i really, really, like his performances.
on novelty, the bacon quote is very interesting albeit slightly extreme. Al, I’d be interested to know how much you think artists who are influenced by those who come before them add value to that work, if at all.
i have to be careful with my current line of thinking, which is more along the lines of the bacon quote, that we are more likely to find value by delving into the archives and listening/watching classic albums and movies. this is because you can pretty easily reach the conclusion that there’s no point producing new culture as its unlikely to be good as that which has already produced.
of course, i don’t think that that’s true and what i’m probably arguing for is changing the ratio of how we consume new and old information. for instance, i think it would be great if cineplexes showed classics on a couple of their endless number of screens, instead of the crummiest of the new releases.
funnily enough we see this in theatre, which i actually think goes too far the other way by having too much shakespeare. i used to be more strongly against this, but have tempered my position somewhat. shakespeare is obviously a source of great insight into the human condition and has more to say than most contemporary playwrights.
I’ll end by linking to one of my favourite songs right now. “I won’t back down” by Tom Petty, covered by Johnny Cash.
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
return to motown.
digging through motown music from the 60s, it’s amazing how great an influence it’s had on musicians since. take, for instance, “please mister postman”, by the marvelettes, from 1961:
this was, of course, covered by those beatles on with the beatles in 1963, which, i’ll admit, is where i heard it first.
Monday, February 4th, 2008
sorry to lower the tone, but i couldn’t resist
Via Sepia Mutiny, I couldn’t help linking to this (video below).
There is a serious point though. Given the increasing purchasing power of the Indian middle class, both in India and in the diaspora, and the fact that almost all songs are voiced over, is it unrealistic to think that in the not too distant future Bollywood will feature a significant number of caucasian actors and actresses?
I appreciate that there is a strong Bollywood tradition of indigenous actors and actresses and people like Shahrukh Khan and Aishwariya Rai are huge stars. However given the general Indian obsession with fair skin and blonde hair, the fact that Bollywood is becoming more explicit and the increasing impact of American culture on India, I don’t think that this is that outlandish.
Carrying on with this thought I do think that it is more likely too see western actresses being wooed by Amir Khan rather than Bipasha Basu being serenaded by Tom Cruise. Having said that, given that Brett Lee is almost certain to get leading Bollywood parts when he retires, maybe this isn’t that implausible.
Anyways, without further delay watch this and weep.
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
that rock ‘n’ roll music
so i’ve been thinking about buying myself a guitar. specifically this beauty, but i can’t bring myself to dish out the hundreds of dollars. the casino has a rich history, especially since john, paul, and george bought one each in the mid-60s.
and it’s actually cheap for a top-end guitar, the more expensive of which run into the thousands of dollars.
i’ve also been looking into bass guitars, thanks to which i came across this video, which is hilarious for two reasons related to the instructor: his spectacles, and his virtuosity.
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
is this an inspired connection or not??
Firstly, I have to agree with Atomsmasher about Aitebar being my favourite Vital Signs song. However I was flicking through my ipod and suddenly thought of the similarities between VS and a-ha.
Am I completely off-base here or have i hit on something?
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
Hmmm, Ketchup
I have to confess, somewhere in my teens I stopped eating ketchup. I don’t have a particularly sophisticated palate, but I think it was a mix of contrarianism, anti-consumerism and the fact that I liked the taste of samosas and pakoras without artificial condiments.
I can say that I now enjoy ketchup in small but regular doses. I don’t think its a coincidence that I’ve also started drinking diet coke and occasionally regular coke as well.
Reading this brilliant article by Malcolm Gladwell is affirmation that there is a reason people like ketchup and there is no need to deny one’s self of it, despite what almost all chefs have to say.
Having said that I still think that Mitchell’s chilli, chilli-garlic sauce is much better than their ketchup. Btw, do you guys remember that abysmal ad where a school boy brings a bottle of ketchup from home as his lunch and then eats it with a spoon? Unfortunately I couldn’t find it on youtube.