I'm wearing a rather striking shirt, one that makes me feel like a clown fooling around in a graveyard. Roving eyes latch on to me and make me too conscious of myself. Checkered in red, grey, black and maroon, I've excused myself into donning it and looking silly for two reasons. It's Friday and…more importantly, the last working day of the year. Tailored half-a-year back, I never had the courage to wear it, not until today. It's that time of the year when it's time to reflect on the events that transpired. Last year ended on the worst possible note. Dad had expired and I was numb with shock. The repercussions rippled halfway thought this year. Things were so abysmal initially that I had lost the will to live. Acrid in everything I did, I was immensely angered by time phlegmatically flowing through its cadence. It was as if Dad meant nothing to anybody. What right did people have to live the way they always had when Dad was no more? Why was much of the world still ...
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So you like Jazz.
Debashish Bhattacharya
Jayanta Banerjee
Joydeep Ghosh
Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta
Pandit Nikhil Banerjee
Pandit Pannalal Ghosh
and i think it will be Shame on your part now if you don't know any one of the greats..being a bengali and coming from a state and city where which is known for it's music...
Jazzzzz .. Huhhhh
I've been a Classical, Jazz & Country aficionado since the day I was born. I listened to whatever appealed to my heart...irrespective of the regional pedigree of the music. Bengali, yes, I surely am; but that in no way dictates my aural tastes & inclinations.
As far as Hindustani Classical is concerned, well, I do listen to it (Amjad Ali Khan, Bismillah Khan & a few others), albeit rarely. I hate Carnatic Classical though.
You people see why we call him 'Kabil'.
And Deep, are you under the illusion that the blogger fraternity is a group of omniscient beings? Wake up man!!
Many like you are complete dingbats who have nothing better to do so they scribble some gibberish and use some names like this jazz musician here to impress their readers.
Just one more thing Deep, first learn to respect your own nation, it's people and their culture before you peep over the fence in anticipation of discovering paradise and angels on the other side, cause the grass only appears greener to you. Haven't you heard the nursery rhyme: - 'The bear climbed up the mountain.'
If it's a shame that we don't know Willis Conover, then you ought to be thrown a CHAPPAL at for not knowing your own country and deserting it's rich cultural heritage.
Deepu again crossed the line of decency in this post, but anyway, its HIS blog and anyway, as he himself said, its open for comments.
Like it or not, I believe Indian society is way too entropic for its own good, something that has lead to its steady degeneration...or at least a present not commensurate with its glorious past, thanks to our sardonic disposition to foreign culture.
What's wrong about loving a 'foreign' genre? We hail when a foreigner comes to India to learn our oriental ways...as if it's conclusive proof of our superiority. Yet, we scorn when one of us decides to leave for foreign shores to learn their ways! Hypocrisy to the hilt!
It's really a shame that all our Gods & Goddesses, Vedas & The Upanishads, Gayatri mantra and all that Jazz(!) could not teach us the virtues of humility and appreciation.
1) This guy claims that he loves "these textual duels!"
2) And then talks abt humility and appreciation.
What objective? Only he would be able to tell us.
Anyway, Rob has decided that he has had enough of this junk.
Deep, this Willis Conover guy ... even I dunno 'bout him. But I think it's a matter of personal choice. You like Jazz & stuff, so you know about the people involved with it.
It's the same with me .... I'm into stuff like hip-hop, bling culture, street racing & car mods & even I can drop stuff like Titanium rockers (that's a car part) & things like 50 Cent surviving 5 bullet shots .... which would be gibberish to people who're not interested.
I think so is everybody has some interest or the other .... so saying that it's a shame just 'cause the guy in front doesn't have an idea about what you like, is pretty myopic.
As for the comments, Amartya Sen says that Indians are argumentative people & I agree. Besides, debate is the basis for a mature democracy & I think we're just reenforcing the line of thought here.
So guys, everybody is entitled to their own opinions & we should respect that. Keep debating, keep arguing .... it's pretty cool a timepass.
That's great Rob ..
and Deepu this should make u dormant for the momnet, or r u ready again to errupt.
For e.g.: - As has been observed in other mammals, the male is just interested in copulation and leaves as soon as that is done. He isn’t the least bit interested in tending to the female that has given birth to its progeny. Human tendency is in no way different from that of the other mammals. And this is exactly what happens in the west. What keeps us (Indians) together under one roof as a family are the teachings of our forefathers. This is just one of the many inherent flaws that their society possesses.
We do have a sardonic view of their society but then that is not the reason for the decline of our society. On the contrary, that is what is keeping it from steadily deteriorating. Our society and its principles are not in sync with the human nature hence it’s fate is its doom cause as we get more and more educated and aware, we become conscious where our comfort and fun lies. But then, we fail to see that comfort and fun should not be the only parameters used to make a decision. You yourself had eloquently said after the distressing happenings on our group that, “a pack of hounds ought to be kept under a tight leash.”
Another thing is that you seem to have confused what I said with religion. I am not evangelizing our religion. I didn’t make any comments about it. I am not a very religious being.
We, Indians have this inferiority complex when we compare ourselves with people from the west probably due to our colonial past under the British. I too suffer from it and so do you. We hail the foreigner who comes to India to learn our oriental ways but not because we look at this as a proof of our superiority rather we consider it as our honour to interact with these super humans. They too come here to learn our oriental ways but not out of blind fascination that we have for their ways but rather with a sense of amusement that they have for our backward customs. Wouldn’t we be interested in watching the traditional dance of some African tribe and to come back and tell our friends how funny you found them to be wearing leaves around their waist.
There is absolutely nothing wrong in following a foreign genre but isn’t it funny that you seem to enjoy almost every damn thing of their’s (jazz music just being one such thing) while I haven’t heard you say the same about anything Indian. Just goes on to show that it is not jazz music that you enjoy and Indian Classical that you don’t, rather it is the fact about jazz music that it originated from the foreign shores that you rejoice when you hear it.
My allusion to religion wasn't an oblique dig at anyone in this forum (yeah, my blog has morphed into a forum...& I love it!). I agree 85% with what Sameer has said in his epic comment.
It's a shame is a figure of speech in English, that, I have reason to believe, has been grossly misinterpreted in my post. If only innocuous posts wouldn't get people worked up so easily! But whatever be the reason, I like the idea of people putting on their thinking caps & discussing ideas fervently.
2) What 15% do you not agree to??
Please respond.
Sam, U fail to understand my orientation towards culture...& I don't mind that. I'm too deep an enigma!
Veil of anonymity explained: I didn't want to be in the ring of suspicion. I thus clarified my posting policy.
I guess we veered off the track with the 3rd & 4th comments. Let's bury the hatchet.
As the first original art form to emerge from the United States of America, jazz has been described as "America's Classical Music".