wow
http://www.geocities.com/kurnalrawat/bombaysonic/bombaysonic.html
more info on the artist here
busy
funny. you spend time wishing for days that are full of work (good work i mean) and then when they come you can’t believe how difficult it is to stay mindful through it, to make good work that has depth.
but i’m not going to complain here. leela’s CD won a juno! as per my last post, i’m going to pretend that i won a juno too. congratulations leela….
compiling projects for calls to artists (they never seem to stop coming, and i never seem to stop sending them out, and they never seem to stop politely declining!), waiting on hearing a few competition results, etc. the artist’s way, i suppose.
out.
new project confirmed!
i just received word that my application for funding the first incarnation of the 24 hour project, he sat on the glittering precipice, was successful. this version will use the photos and audio i recorded over a 24 hour period in my father’s room a month before he passed away. an auspicious beginning to my shift in focus to new media art projects. thanks to the ontario arts council for granting funds.
on board are yesim tosuner, who will help me to compile the video and design the website, and the incredible david travers-smith who has agreed to help me with the more delicate end of audio matters.
in other good timing news, previews start tonight for theatre gargantua’s ambitious show e-dentity, presented by the mirvishes at the beautiful royal alexandra theatre. the show runs to may 20 and i will playing most of them—from home. i will be monitoring the show via online chat, and playing beats in a number of scenes and streaming the audio to them to play in the theatre. i always wanted to do a theatre show, and this is a good way to do it! you can get more info and tix at the link above. its quite a spectacle, and worth seeing. and hearing.
as an aside, the internet business end of this show was a huge hassle. how come stuff never works like the marketing guys say when they sell you the stuff?
finally, i have been listening to the soundtracks to salaam-e-ishq and kabhi alvida naa kehna. they are awesome!!!!!!! i can’t wait to get my hands on some more bollywood stuff, i have to say.
well. over and out.
more news
well.
i guess i am not as good as i thought keeping this updated.
mostly because the work life these days is kind of in limbo. i am making some sketches for an upcoming tv doc, waiting on a few grants to see if i got them….the same old thing i suppose, for those of you not familiar with the life.
some nice things, though: leela gilday was nominated for a juno for her album sedzé. since i was the drummer on the whole record, is it ok to say i was nominated too? i’m going to assume yes. so there: i was nominated for a juno! 3rd time lucky maybe. its a great CD.
also i am going to be providing music over the internet for the mirvish production of theatre gargantua’s production of e-dentity. very fun. i can do it in my pajamas if i want. oh, wait, i can’t. there’s going to be a webcam.
wish there was more music to share, but its all project based at the moment, so no peeking.
happy spring.
work
figures. time is short and i am getting going. just took my first pung lesson today, with members of anjika, priti patel’s manipuri company. sideways drumming is hard. also going to check out sudharshan chakraborty’s company sapphire as well as trying to find time to see a few shows and do family stuff. i have to get back here…..
old/new
a hectic last minute train shuffle brought us back to kolkata from varanasi, where we did the puja to immerse my father’s ashes into the ganga on new year’s eve.
i am overwhelmed. i can’t write about it now, much less even think about making audio from this experience. there was so much sound i wanted to capture but i am beginning to realize that now i think i am going to have to let it go. to filter it and remake it for others to hear somehow.
going there made me realize the ganga is indeed a goddess. every night we were there we watched the aarathi from a boat on the water. never have i felt so thankful to…what? be alive? fulfill my father’s last wishes? be in varanasi? not sure. there is a lot i am not sure about. but thankful nonetheless.
chhau drummers
hungry tide
“But at the same time, who would have thought that it would be so intensely satisfying to have your future resolved, to know what you were going to be doing next year and the year after that and so on and so on, until who knows when?…It would be enough; as an alibi for a life, it would do; she would not need to apologize for how she had spent her time on this earth.” Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide
the british museum is holding a huge exhibition of bengali culture until jan 7th. i know so little about what that is. it feels so huge to even begin to understand. even to go to kalighat to ask about dhak lessons feels like a huge undertaking—to be fair i suppose it is, which anyone who has been there would know.
arrival
i made it. still jetlagged but happy to be back. everything is as i remember it, but way more prosperous. it is obvious that the middle class is growing and has a lot more money. more noise than i remember as well.
yesterday there was a concert of folk music from various regions of bengal. it was really quite amazing, unfortunately i didn’t quite get where everything was from—the bengali was too formal for me to catch everything. further details available as they come to light. of particular interest was the chhauu dancing—unbelieveable costumes, music. backflips. really. looking forward to seeing more.