Saturday, December 20th
sounds of Siberia
Chyskyyrai (aka Valentina Romanova, vocals), “Khara Tuun,” 2005
**********
langiappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: Asia
2017
Monday, September 25th
Ever heard this instrument before? (Me neither.)
Kazue Sawai (1941-), bass koto, live, Tokyo, 2009
**********
lagniappe
reading table
All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
—Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), “Worstword Ho” (1983)
2015
Wednesday, July 8th
sounds of India
day three
Shivkumar [AKA Shiv Kumar] Sharma (1938-), santoor
Raag Hamsadhwani, live
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Indian music calls for surrender. Of what? Busyness. Distractability. Impatience.
*****
reading table
[S]ince we do float on an unknown sea, I think we should examine the other floating things that come our way carefully; who knows what might depend on it?
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), letter to Robert Lowell
2015
Tuesday, July 7th
sounds of India
day two
Feel like floating?
Hariprasad Chaurasia (1938-), bansuri (bamboo flute), Raag Durga, live
**********
lagniappe
random thoughts
What would it be like to live there—a world with no sky?
2015
Monday, July 6th
sounds of India
day one
Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986), sitar, Raag Jaijaiwanti, live recording
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Everything only connected by “and” and “and.”
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), “Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance”
2015
Tuesday, May 5th
sounds of Cambodia
Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll, 2014
2015
Friday, April 3rd
There are all kinds of grooves.
Dengue Fever, “Ghost Voice,” “Tokay,” “Girl from the North,” “No Sudden Moves,” live (studio performance), Seattle, 2/10/15
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Life is full of uncertainties and evil, but sometimes a good meal is enough to get you through even the worst of it.
—Melanie Rehak, Bookforum, April-May, 2015 (reviewing Mystery Writers of America Cookbook: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die for)
2013
Thursday, November 21st
spellbinding
Hariprasad Chaurasia (bansuri [bamboo flute]), Raga Bhimpalasi, 1991
#1
#2
**********
lagniappe
radio
Today, celebrating the jazz saxophonist’s birthday, WKCR-FM (Columbia University) is Coleman Hawkins Radio.
*****
reading table
The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.
—Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Rambler (#2), 1750
2013
Monday, April 29th
serendipity
Every so often, like, for instance, last night, when I was listening to the radio* while working on a brief for a client who’s serving a 20-year sentence for attempted murder, I find myself being totally swept away by something that, a minute earlier, I didn’t even know existed.
Pannalal Ghosh (1911-1960), bansuri (Indian flute), Raga Darbari
**********
lagniappe
random thoughts
One thing we can be sure of, in an otherwise uncertain world, is that each of us is a child of a God who may or may not exist.
*Raag Aur Taal, WKCR-FM (Columbia University).
2013
Thursday, April 11th
sounds of India
Vilayat Khan (1928-2004), sitar, with Kishan Maharaj (1923-2008), tabla, Raga Bhairavi, live, London, 2002
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Sun and moon, sun and moon, time goes.
—John Updike, Rabbit, Run
music clip of the day 