| (no subject) |
[May. 12th, 2009|11:19 pm] |
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I haven't listened to bluegrass in a long time and it brings back memories of a few years ago, maybe five or six. I bought a Kentucky Colonels CD and it really changed my life for two years. I went on a Clarence White, Doc Watson and Bill Monroe binge. This was post Dave Matthews and even somewhat post Grateful Dead. When I found out Jerry Garcia played the banjo I had to hear. That led me to David Grisman and then to Bill Monroe. Now I am listening to the Bill Monroe and Doc Watson and am delighted. I have never enjoyed listening to country music but bluegrass is a different story. Once I asked this great bluegrass/jazz violinist to perform bluegrass with me. He agreed and we met at a practice room. I think we played "Soldier's Joy." I remember almost being able to play that song at a fast tempo and being embarrassed that I couldn't nail it like he could. I also remember driving out to East Lansing to play music with this guy who played the bluegrass guitar nicely. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 5th, 2009|04:09 am] |
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I keep getting way over my head. I would like to study Urdu, Persian, Hindi, Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Sinhala and Divehi for 10 years each and their literary histories and then write a massive dissertation on the relationship of literary history and music history. We have to do an interdisciplinary project. Instead of going towards postcolonial studies or cultural studies I've chosen to go for literary history. The literary histories of North India are so different from the South. The problem studying Karnatak music is that I've learned so many compositons before I knew any Sanskrit or Telugu and only now am I catching up. I also do not know how to set limits for myself. |
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| Slavoj Zizek from How to Read Lacan pg 38 |
[Jan. 13th, 2009|03:58 am] |
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"In today's market, we find a whole series of products deprived of their damaging properties: coffee without caffeine, crema without fat, beer without alcohol...so it goes on. What about virtual sex as sex without sex, the Colin Powell doctrine of warfare with no casualties (on our side, of course) as warfare without warfare, the contemporary redefinition of politics as the art of expert administration as politics without politics, up to today's tolerant liberal multiculturalism as an experience of Other deprived of its Otherness (the idealized Other who dances fascinating dances and has an ecologically sound holistic approach to reality, while features like wife-beating remain out of sight)? Virtual reality simply generalizes this procedure of offering a product divested of its substance: it provides reality itself divesed of its substance, of the resisting hard kernel of the Real - in the same way the decaffeinated coffee smells and tastes like real coffee without being the real thing, Virtual Reality is experienced as reality without being so. Everything is permitted, you can enjoy everything - on condition that it is stripped of the substance that makes it dangerous" |
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| theory |
[Jan. 2nd, 2009|02:13 am] |
I have been talking to my brother about Harold Bloom, who, it seems to me, denies any political interpretation of people like Shakespeare in favor of a "pure aesthetic" viewpoint. I am completely against this. It reminds me of the statement: “I don’t want to impose theory on to the subject.” There is many ways to interpret this statement. The first thought that comes to mind is that it is the wish and fear of someone to know theory so well as to use it to dominate and distort any issue that they are interested in. But this is much harder than it looks. If you are worried of distorting the truth with some "crazy Freudian" theory, I think you should try and do it. You might see that it is remarkably a creative process and Freud has given you a whole new way to look at the subject. The “simple facts” which many scholars might resort to in their writing is another type of distortion. It is certainly the easiest, safest and most agreeable ground. The “common sense” that you posses is way more influenced by the ideologies of the nation, ethnic group, class, race, gender, sexuality, in which you live in, than you'd like to believe. Perhaps many times saying “I don’t want to impose theory” can mean, “I don’t want to delve into these issues because I’m afraid,” or "I am lazy." For many “theory” comes to stand in for the idea that thoughts obscure an issue more and more, pushing the "real" farther and father away. But where was the "real" to begin with? Who has it? Who really knows? If theory distorts that issue, that implies that the issue was more “real” before you started to apply “Freudian” theories, or “Marxist” theories. In my opinion, the "real" Marxist theory is something like a signifier that can be used and stuffed with an infinite amount of meaning if given enough thought. It is not fixed. If you are trying to describe something, I think you should try and impose theory.
This is also involved with the idea of "giving someone a voice" which came from anthropology when the pendulum swung back from the racist "We must speak for them because they can't represent themselves" to "We should speak on behalf of them and it should be authentic." They are basically the same. The extreme example is the reality t.v shows you see today. The one where the millionaire gives away their money to some unsuspecting poor person, like the deux ex machina. For most who watch, this is "kindness." Or let's say you are an "ethnomusicologist" and you take your job seriously in the sense that you want to "give your subject their voice," this is from the very start, I think, horribly flawed and deeply influenced by ideologies of the country in which you live. Who is the "ethno" and who is the "non-ethno" in ethnomusicology? Its the whole power knowledge thing being replayed over and over. If ethnomusicologists really cared about these issues the discipline's name (how about "critical music studies") and icon would have changed long ago. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 26th, 2008|09:30 pm] |
Please don't mind my politically correct rant:
"I have always found it difficult to accept that Indian Music, particularly Carnatic music, is classified under 'Ethnic' music" -Aruna Sairam
Exactly! If we take Edward Said seriously, we should wonder why ethnomusicology is called "ethno"musicology. It really should be changed. As long as studies persist under that title, the whole imbalance of Europe/America and "the rest" persists. It is too obvious.
The word says, "I am white man, you are ALL ethno' I will study all your musics and dominate the world with my Foucaultian knowledge/power. But I am cool, because my knowledge power isn't just statistics, its about music, which, hey! everyone loves and which could never, ever be called political! Quite the contrary. Studying musics of the world celebrates the cultures of the world!!""
PSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH Yeah right.
I shouldn't complain though. Ethnomusicology has given me space and patronage to study South Indian classical music, cultural studies, Tamil, Telugu...etc.
THey should still change the name though, just to "Music Studies" or something like that. And definitely the logo has got to go. |
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| :) |
[Apr. 4th, 2008|09:32 am] |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 25th, 2008|10:26 pm] |
on an auspicious night
as the night deepens
the Ustad sings on.
the men shake their heads in disbelief.
it is my lucky day, one thinks
staring out of the window into the dark sky. |
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| yeah |
[Mar. 11th, 2008|10:58 pm] |
I feel like saying something. I'm not sure what exactly but it is definitely something to do with American culture. I mean the fact that I am writing this public "note" on "facebook" (What the freak is facebook except our way to cope with the takeover of the computer, our dwelling in isolation, our desire to project a fantasy image of ourselves, reconnect with people who we never talk to and best of all, advertise our concerts) says something about the culture I live in. And the funniest thing is when I first joined facebook, I "friended" all these people I didn't know. Then I'd see them on campus after seeing their updated "status" says, "I want to kill myself!" and then I see them on campus and its like "i'm sorry, we have never spoken before but I feel bad."
In general American culture is a big confusion to me. Yes, there is not really a homogenous American culture but in general there are a few things, values, attitudes that "we" have. We are excessive. Maybe not everyone, but yes we are excessive. the most excessive in the world. When I see a hummer on the road I want to throwup. We throw away paper napkins like they are nothing and kleenex like it is nothing. What a waste! What a tragedy. And the water in the toilet!! It is a tragedy. And you know the next wars are going to be fought over water. We should conserve water. So anyway, when I live by myself next year I am never going to flush the toilet after I pee. Ok I will but not after each time. This will make me very happy.
I think America is on the extreme end of many things. Like for instance: relationships. The steriotypical American conceptions about relationships seems to involve dating. What is dating? "Dating" doesn't exist in many cultures. The idea of going to a bar to meet a girl seems like the most rediculous idea ever to me. Maybe its just me or maybe its not. Or the idea of "interracial dating." What is "interacial dating"? Why does it have to be framed like this? If there is interracial dating, there should be "same race" dating. No?
Today as I was driving home I saw this tall high school kid walking back from a sports event at the freeman arts center. His hand was around his girlfriend and they were happily walking. Something about seeing them made me laugh. It was like looking at one of those cartoons drawn by that racist cartoonist who portrayed the "American experience" drawing white people eating corn flakes in the kitchen, or something like that.
Anyways back to my complaints about America: We are also very proud of our freedom to date but who knows if it actually anything worth being proud about. Maybe, just maybe, there is some wisdom in dating.
On a totally different note I was recently thinking that if was not headed in the academic and musician direction I am heading I might have studied American politics more and issues of race and gender. I don't know where this came from but it came to mind. I think it was after watching Melissa Harris-Lacewell speak on the democracy now show. She was very inspiring.
As I was driving home today, I was also obsessing about the fact that I have a car and the ways that I didn't realize how big of a deal a car is when I was growing up because the circle of people I hung out with all had cars and the community I lived in was wealthy and I didn't think twice. Man, a car speeds up things sooo much and thus it is a sign of social mobility. I was having computer problems and dell shipped my laptop to the wrong place and then again to the wrong place and then I finally got it but it was still broke. So I ran around today from the ITS to the computer store like three times. Each time I drove, feeling a bit guilty. Having a car to move from short distances like this is utterly rediculous, but I still indulge.
I'm feeling happy that i got accepted into this phd program. I feel like I've gotten some court patronage for a few years to become a good musician and knowledgeable in cultural studies and anthro. The university is the equivalent of the courts in the feudal days. Is it not? What would I have done if I wasn't accepted? I have no idea. It was all hinging on this. I read this great article by Regula Qureshi that interpreted Hindustani classical music's mode of production in a marxist fashion. It took me awhile to understand but was enlightening in many aspects. Because I never studied economics, studying Marx is always exciting for me. Those people, Walter Benjamin, Theodore Adorno, etc. I need to study them. Its like a whole world of thinking abotu things that i am jsut discovering. Theorizing about musics deeper aspects that go unnoticed. Music as a mode of production. Lastly, have you ever been to supermarket and noticed how everyone represents their socio economic status with their dress? I was noticing that yesterday.
Listen to Ajoy Chakrabarthy's Kamaj. SOoooo good |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 11th, 2008|12:00 am] |
Hearing Melissa Harris Lacewell speak was inspiring.
God, where have I been. I went away from the presidential race for a bit.
I don't know why I am more interested in Tamil non-Brahmin politics of the late 20th century than in current American politics. It's because South Indian politics are safer. Anyway, Steinem couldn't respond to Lacewell's points and instead was defending herself. She said that she thought Barack was going to win though. Hilary was totally proIraq invasion. That is scary. Lacewell as right on point. She spoke about the ways that feminism has ignored the black women's experience, trying to silence the black woman's voice. She also said that black men have tried to silence the black woman's voice. What is the relationship with "white man" and the "black woman"? It isn't pretty. The black woman and the white man. Steriotypically, like two poles on one spectrum of humanity though united in many ways, i.e. citizens of America. On the most horrible and steriotypical level, we have the white man who has historically been the "powerful" one, (yes I know power is not that simple) while on the other hand we have the black woman who has been subject to all kinds of torment and has continued to rise above it all. Though things are waaaaaaaaaay more complicated than that. And someday, hopefully for my kids (if i have them) they won't even be aware of this idea.
I liked how she said we should "deepen the bench." And her points that Clinton tries to both be the independant woman but then clings to the fact that she is "Bill's wife." Lacewell spoke about the way Clinton started to cry and get the sympathy of the people who couldn't relate to Barack, who is getting death threats.
When Steinem is shown listening to Lacewell, she has this horrible smurk on her face.
Race is the big elephant in America's room. |
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| musical creativity is |
[Jan. 21st, 2008|09:09 pm] |
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the process of figuring out how to be creative, playing musical games with yourself and also being more aware of what you are playing, and it is memorizing pieces of information to manipulate |
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| I love it when |
[Dec. 16th, 2007|09:00 am] |
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Barack Obama says, "you have tell the American people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear." That's right. No more Hummers aloud on the road! Go Barack! |
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