something on the lines of ‘indian ocean has mostly used four instruments through their career. we urge you not to add yours’ flashes on screen. a message which elicits a smile and a quick glance to do a double check on my phone to see if its set on vibrate. its a small gathering at the cozy theater. maybe it’s the relatively early hour (6.30pm is early for a weekday) or it was purposely not publicized as much (as good humoredly admitted by the organizers - in a bid to make more people watch it by buying tickets in cinema halls). but then there aren’t as many people as you’d have expected, yet the theater is pleasantly filled up in a non-intrusive manner. and so it begins.
i don’t really need to say much about indian ocean, and their impact on the independent music scene in india. suffice to say, by far, their brand of music has been the most accessible kind to have been made in our country. steeped in modern western music grooves, yet rooted in rustic sounds from the deepest recesses of india’s soul. going down with equal ease with both an iphone toting, laptop carrying teen in delhi and a charming belle tucked away in benaras. an aging soul walking around hiranandani reminiscing his heyday and a long haired dude in adyar who has just picked his first guitar. a bearded skullcap in a hurry to attend to the call of prayer and a vermillioned forehead rising early to catch the first glimpse of morning. they have simply cut across everything, and made themselves, like i said earlier, the most accessible.
which makes it a reason good enough for someone to engage in an endeavor to put together the snippets of the band’s journey over the years. and that courageous someone is jaideep varma, who through a meticulous method of interviewing the band and all people associated with it over the years, has crafted together a non-fiction film titled ‘leaving home’, which provides quite a good insight into facets unknown to most fans. the film begins with sights and sounds which would be familiar to any living soul of delhi, and gradually reaches the courtyard of a house nestled in the lanes of karol bagh. a house which has been home to indian ocean over the past many years. the walls of which would contain within them echoes of the sounds created by the band for generations to come. chronicling the band’s coming of age, each band member shares their thoughts at various junctures in their timelines as they struggled for survival and then later, grappled with stardom. aiding the four protagonists (asheem chakravarty, rahul ram, susmit sen, amit kilam) are various family members, ex-band mates and numerous associates (anurag kashyap, sudhir mishra, rabbi shergill, shubha mudgal), each of whom help to provide a perspective which adds an unsurpassable element of honesty to the film. a liberal interspersion of live footage of some of their best known songs – both in concert, as well as during their jam sessions – provides that ubiquitous element which the band stands for.
mind you, this is not a feature film. nor is it a documentary. it’s a non-fiction film which documents the travails of the band. so don’t expect any fussy frills to excite you through your viewing. considering the fact that it would be a low budget independent film, the film has been made very well. the concept, though not exactly novel, has been executed in a very justifiable manner. though the editing could have been slightly slicker; post production could have smoothed out some of the rough edges. the sound, however, makes up for everything, picking up each subtleties of each nuance music and pronoucing it – something extremely essential to a film of this nature. despite all this, any indian ocean fan would relish the entire experience of reliving the band’s story. but then this is it. the film, in a certain way, may not really strike a major chord with people uninitiated into the blend of the band. a novice may not necessarily end up becoming a convert and try to delve deeper into exploration, if the movie is his maiden experience with the band. i may be wrong (and honestly, i’d love to be proven wrong), but i guess this is something that would be best left to time after the movie has seen a major release.
but above all, owing to the soft spot i have for the band and indian independent music as a whole, i feel that irrespective of anything else, the thought, feeling and effort which went into making this is definitely commendable. it makes me feel proud. and it makes me want to grab every lover of indian ocean and ask him to watch it.
its quite ironic that just a day after I put up my last blog post, I got a message from a musician which goes as below:
DEAR ALL
PLEASE STOP BUYING CD’S MUSIC OF PAKI SINGERS AND ANYTHING TO DO WITH PAKISTAN THE TRUTH IS THESE MORONS PAKI CRICKET PLAYERS SINGERS DANCER ETC (OR SO CALLED CULTURAL CONTACT IS CRAP ) THESE PEOPLE HATE INDIA AND WE SHOULD KNOW THAT THERE CAN BE NO PEACE WITH A COUNTRY WHO HAS PLANED AND IS PLANING TO KILL INDIANS BE MORE PROACTIVE BOYCOTT PAKI MUSIC ..JAI HIND
and like one of my good friends said on the band’s facebook page, since when did music start having a nationality? music, or any form of art, is probably the only thing mankind has known which transcends all – ALL – boundaries. race, religion, nations, creed, everything. what pains me even more is that this is a band which I’ve had close relations with, have had fun seeing them perform, spent some good times with them. the views of the band member in question maybe personal, but they are completely unwarranted and unprovoked. and they just don’t deserve to be discussed on a forum of music lovers who give you a listening ear. what should be remembered is that musicians are lent a listening ear for their music, which essentially conveys a feeling of love and peace. the listening ear is not meant to abused with immature and irrational personal views which have no standing. yes, music has been a vehicle for conveying feelings of hatred as well. but against oppression, against inhuman behavior. not against music itself.
I pray that better sense prevails, and people get out of the straitjacket they have constricted themselves into with feelings such as these. till then, I know one band whose music I’m going to stay away from.
courtesy taji and youtube, I have been fed with a lot of pakistani music the past couple of days. not that I’m complaining. pakistani music has always occupied a special chamber in my heart. as a kid, it used to be the disco flavored nazia hassan, who remains a favorite till now. recent years saw quite a few of the newer acts – aaroh, mekaal hasan, ep, etc etc - invading my listening hours. but then like the wise men say, what you learn in college takes you through life (certain wiser ones though ask you to make it a point to ‘un’learn everything once you are out of college – contrasting opinions. 8 years out of college and I am still figuring out the process of selective unlearning). during that time, it had to be junoon. there was no reason for anybody to have escaped the colossal marauding march with which they took over complete geographies.
cut to present, and the currently defunct junoon. the two faces which led junoon probably still don’t see eye to eye. both embarked on solo careers, and fairly successful ones. but out of the two, one face – which is now in fact just a face, with hair giving way to a glistening skinhead and eyes perpetually behind dark shades – still stands strong as the biggest rockstar to have emerged out of the subcontinent, arguably even south asia. quite a subjective view point, but ali azmat proved it with the chutzpah he displayed even after he distanced himself from junoon. the insane amount of energy, containing which is simply not possible within the confines of both of his albums – social circus and klashinfolk – is a befitting testimonial of this view. though I had heard them during the days the albums were released, the past couple of days were a process of rediscovery and analyzing them in conjunction with the days he spent with junoon, and the overall nature of work that came out during both phases in his life. junoon, after its initial success, trapped itself into a houdini’s cage of sufi music. ali broke away from that mould when he started on his own. music after all is a creative pursuit. and if you don’t create anything new, there isn’t much of a point, is there? listen to any of the compositions on both his albums, and you’ll immediately identify with the sudden rushes of blood in your system with what you define as the most basic spirit of rock n roll. listen to him talk on any of his interviews, and his I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude announces itself in capital letters. look at him walk, and that swagger in his gait gives it all away. even his looks proclaim r-o-c-k-s-t-a-r (though his looks do remind me of another rockstar on this side of the border, whom I do consider to be the biggest one around here. what is it with being a skinhead these days; whatever happened to the long haired ones?).
I may be sounding somewhat fixated, which I probably am. but then fixation it is, which allows me to delve in deeper. download his albums, buy them, check them on youtube. and all the best – if you get fixated, that is.
check out the garish imagery employed in the video of ‘na re na’, the supreme poetic quality of the lyrics, and the pain in his voice.
quite a few of you would know about my interest in photography, some of you would have seen my work too. for those who have lauded me for my work, I have some good news. for those who haven’t, this is an opportunity to form/re-form your opinion.
I am holding the first ever exhibit of my photographic works. yes, I am. it’s being held at mood indigo, the annual cultural festival of iit mumbai from the 21st to the 24th of december 2009. titled ’staring at the sun’, this is a micro collection of 16 images and would be on display around the performance area all day. see the attachments for info. I would be there on the 22nd and 23rd, so in case any of you folks are out there want to catch up, I’d love to. plus, in case you didn’t know already, porcupine tree and vishal-shekhar are supposed to perform during the fest too. which adds another good reason for you to be there.
pass this on to as many friends and friends of friends as you can. and more importantly, be there if you can. it would mean a lot to me.
and if you are there on 22nd or 23rd, and don’t see me around, do give me a buzz on my number. don’t worry, I am learning to handle criticism well enough too.
moby is out with his next album ‘wait for me’, in case you didn’t know that already. I am still giving the album a listen so the review might have to wait for a while. however, initial impressions given out make this sound like a very personal piece of work (both for the creator and the listener). some very eloquent pieces which are filled up with a good amount of melancholic value. visit his website for this fantastic interview.
animated in monochrome, and with things ranging from cats, chickens, dinosaurs, shooting stars as supporting cast, its uncannily funny! from the days of ‘hotel’, ‘play’ and ‘18′, this is most definitely upping the bar.
JYG have become as indie as it gets. Which to say the least is the best way to go about getting your music out. In a country where record deals are hard to find for musicians creating an alternative brand of music, JYG has been adopting music 2.0 techniques well. And successfully.
Following closely on the release of their album (independently, of course), they have just come out with a video of ‘It’s OK’. A perfect take on their indie nature, see them guys having fun, something which you so would have seen them having on stage between us and with us.
47 million years. Long time! Long enough for civilization to evolve in order to ascertain what a fossilized lemur had as a last meal before being buried underneath volcanic eruptions. Not long enough though for civilization (rather some of the more ‘civilized’ ones) to realize that some things are best left to themselves.
Missing links have never been missing.
The latest I read was this. A cannibal! Not surprising if a lemur is the missing link between apes and humans; could have been worse. After all, aren’t we composed of neutrons at the sub-atomic level as well? Now I know the cannibalistic pulsar is a neutron ’star’, not a neutron, technically; but it is composed of neutrons, nonetheless. Astronomers, paleontologists, anthropologists and physicists are welcome to prove me wrong. I don’t have any desire to be proved right anyway.
Missing links. Omnipresent.
Since the conception of human life to being bought into this world and leaving it: each passing moment, a link which was missing a moment ago. Each moment, an infinitesimal part of a stream of missing links. A stream, definite in its flow and direction in its completion of a life lived. Most importantly, a series of missing links which compose a life which acts as the missing link to the hereafter.
Right now, I am trying to search for the missing link which helps me get along with most of ‘civilization’.
Facebook does have its share of pleasures - most times, subtle; some times, astronomical. Tonight, was one of those rare moments when Facebook gave me exactly what I was looking for.
21st Century Breakdown – the latest (eighth, if I am correct) album to be released by the biggest punk bands to be around now – Green Day (though I know, quite a few purists may disagree on tagging them as punks now). Nonetheless, though originally scheduled for a 15th May release, Green Day has been liberal and loving for their fans and ‘leaked’ the album on various websites (mtv, vh1, rhapsody).
Image courtesy - wikipedia.org
Though I was initially unfazed after watching their lead single ‘Know Your Enemy’ (which has been getting considerable airplay on vh1 these days) – and I’m still not, after listening to the entire album – the full album does have considerable weight to throw around. Conceptualized as a narrative, this tells the story of Christian and Gloria (which naturally solves my curiousity regarding the relevance of the couple on the album’s cover), how they find themselves completely screwed up by the state of affairs in their homeland (America) now, how and who (no prizes for guessing, if anyone says W) did it, and how they think they could manage to find salvation. Traces of ‘American Idiot’ are obvious; though, this does send out a loud political message, which serves as a direct descendant of the preceding album, however maintaining a distinct voice for the message contained within at the same time.
Tuesday mornings. Not exactly very worthwhile in the course of a regular week. No morning madness like Monday, nothing like the midweek respite of Wednesday, nor the revelrous debauchery of Friday. Office goers would swear at the tremendous amount of inertia to be overcome in order to set aside Tuesday morning ennui.
That energy came my way in the form of a baldie, whose B/W image, seated with a brotha in an Afro. Initial impressions though were those of indifferent ridicule, which is usually the result of unfamiliarity. You can’t really blame one’s mindset after having heard an album full of average indie shit, expecting to hear better. A name like ‘Street Sweeper Social Club’ doesn’t have the potential of overcoming that feeling either. What did reverse the entire feeling was a roadrolling coaster of a bass groove, which immediately set motor neurons in involuntary motion. A groove which possessed the stamp of a master guitarist, which immediately betrayed his identity as Tom Morello. You can’t blame me for not recognizing him without the hallmark of his cap. Blame it on Tuesday if you want.
But Tuesday saw the release of ‘100 Little Curses’ as well. ‘Street Sweeper Social Club’, though sounds like an evening get together spot for khadi clad socialists, is what Morello has collaborated with Boots Riley (of ‘The Coup’, a politically vocal hip hop group – more on that maybe some other time) as another of his side project apart from ‘The Nightwatchman”. Currently having released 4 singles, all of which are up on their MySpace page (www.myspace.com/streetsweepersocialclub), the message is clear, crisp and uniform – that of a sardonic disdain for political and corporate systems alike. Much of this is visualized to an extremely fitting degree in their logo of gun barrels emerging out of the speakers of a retro hi-fi system. Not a stranger to such messages having worked with one of the most vocal bands we have known, Morello though has made a conscious effort to steer away from his earlier influence, yet stay close to it in a paradoxical way. While the guitar work reminds you of his earlier work with RATM, the angst which emerged from de la Rocha’s lungs is replaced by the sneering sarcasm of Boots’ word play.
Image - www.streetsweepersocialclub.com
Boots brings with him the qualities of a rapper possessing the finesse of a poet with a scathing incisiveness with words which conveys the message bang on spot, and leaves a sly smirk at the corner of your lips at the same time. In fact, ‘The Oath’ begins with his poetic ruminations which are full of vivid metaphors before progressing into a chorus which undeniably has the catchiest hook to have come out this year (alright muthafucka, fight muthafucka…), and fails to leave you even long after in the form of echoes in your head. Similar is the effect of ‘Clap for the Killers’, a biting diatribe which pokes fun at politicians and pseudos. ‘Fight, Smash, Win’ (which is currently streaming on their website www.streetsweepersocialclub.com) though does bring back memories of Morello’s time with Rage, though it would rather be better to say of his time with de la Rocha and his incendiary vocal attacks. No disrespect for Boots though. When one part of a historic group works in conjunction with someone out of the group, parallels are bound to be made. Its natural. The rousing anthem for the season though would remain ‘100 Little Curses’, which with its march band drumming and rousing choruses rebukes everything from Ferrari’s to their chauffeurs to champagne and marble stairs, much in the way we used to cast nonsensical curses as kids in childlike banter. The banter may sound like fun as Boots speaks, the larger issues he points out aren’t as childlike though.
The debut album is scheduled to be out on 16th June. Check their MySpace profile, become fans on Facebook, spread the word around in the meantime. Tuesday assumes a different dimension as well now: 16th June is a Tuesday.
By the grotesque manifesto of spreading hate for personal and political gains. By the ambiguity contained within statements made by political rookies and stalwarts alike. By the lack of adequate power in my voice and actions to do anything worthwhile.
Varun Gandhi may have made that acrimonious speech in Pilibhit as a grossly miscalculated move without imagining the magnitude of the repurcussions which would follow, or with complete calculation to launch his political career with sound advice by veterans. We would never find a definite answer for this, and I wouldn’t care for it either. What bothers is the fact that the deed is done, and even after all these years of independence and a democratic establishment, with incidents like Gujarat, Babri Masjid, 1984, Graham Staines, and many similar ones occupying tonnes of newsprint and facing huge public outcry, there is still one ace which politicians can’t seem to go wrong with. Who is to be blamed? The general public, which still doesn’t see through all this, and even now roots for such politicians, taking out rallies as they court arrest as if they were going to prison for a noble cause. Or the politicians, who rather than sensitizing the general masses to issues of a socio-economic nature which should occupy a larger interest in their minds, keep them confined to one sentiment which is closest to their purpose of existence.
Double entendre has always been the mainstay of politics; in India, it just assumes a bigger proportion. Varun Gandhi has been exemplifying this since the time he has been fumbling for excuses. First you deny, then you court arrest proclaiming to the world that you wouldn’t mind getting jailed for your ‘principles’. What principles would they be Varun?; it would be nice if you could kindly bring them out in front of the world. Clearly the case of a kid who sunk his teeth into a pie, biting off a piece so big, he doesn’t know whether to swallow (and how to?) or throw it away. The BJP, caught in a quagmire which seemed to have been spinning out of their control, initially steps back washing their hands off the incident having nothing to do with it (obvious reaction of a politically correct nature; after all, they have the garb of a broad based moderate now), then slowly backing Varun’s candidature, first by party spokesmen, and now even by their prime ministerial candidate, LK Advani – someone for whom the biggest achievement as part of a political career was the demolition of a mosque and the subsequent riots which consumed hundreds of lives. It shouldn’t be surprising if BJP shifts to retro gear and starts chanting its Hindutva manifesto once again as the race to the elections picks up; who knows, after all politics here is always a matter of speaking what the electorate wants to listen to. Once in power, governments have seldom been able to give anything anyway.
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