After all the holiday bustle, how about something that begins slowly, quietly?
Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986), sitar (with Zakir Hussain [1951-; tabla], et al.), Raag Shyam Kedar, Raag Pilu, live, San Francisco, 1985
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Agnes Martin (1912-2004), Untitled #12 (detail), 1977
sounds of India
Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986), sitar, Raag Darbari (Alap), Raag Hemant (Gat), live (Dover Lane Music Conference), India (Kolkata), 1986
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
sounds of India
I don’t understand a single word. No matter. Rapport, spontaneity, immediacy—these I grasp.
Bhimsen Joshi (right) & Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna (left)
Rag Yaman Kalyan, live
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, New York (Central Park)
sounds of India and New York
Here’s one of the performers at this year’s Ragas Live Festival, which begins at noon, at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, and goes until noon tomorrow. It’s being streamed—all 24 hours—on WKCR (Columbia University).
Pandit Krishna Bhatt (sitar) with Pandit Anindo Chatterjee (tabla), Margherita Marincola (tanpura); Raga Kafi, live, New York, 2014
sounds of India
If I could sing like this, I’d never close my mouth.
Shankar Mahadevan (vocals) & Zakir Hussain (percussion), live, India, 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
spreading wide my narrow Hands / To gather Paradise –
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #466 (Franklin)
sounds of India
Hariprasad Chaurasia (bansuri) and Zakir Hussain (tabla), Raga Chandrakauns, live, India (Pune), 1992
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lagniappe
road to the World Series
There’s times I tell myself, ‘Shut up and just watch what’s going on and observe what’s going on and really appreciate a moment.’ Because we have a tendency in our lives to go through a moment quickly.
sounds of India
day three
Shivkumar [AKA Shiv Kumar] Sharma (1938-), santoor
Raag Hamsadhwani, live
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Indian music calls for surrender. Of what? Busyness. Distractability. Impatience.
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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
sounds of India
day two
Feel like floating?
Hariprasad Chaurasia (1938-), bansuri (bamboo flute), Raag Durga, live
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lagniappe
random thoughts
What would it be like to live there—a world with no sky?
sounds of India
day one
Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986), sitar, Raag Jaijaiwanti, live recording
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lagniappe
reading table
Everything only connected by “and” and “and.”
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), “Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance”
sounds of joy
This I could listen to all day.
Hariprasad Chaurasia (1938-; bansuri [bamboo flute]) & Vijay Ghate (1964-; tabla), Raag Jog, live, Italy (Cabella), 2007
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music offers an escape from the swamp of the self.
