atheism humor India: blasphemy Jesus Raleigh coupons
by Warren
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Smoking Ganesh Bidis Isn’t Blasphemous, Is It?
This news item is fascinating.
The government in the Indian state of Meghalaya has confiscated textbooks showing pictures of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette and a can of beer.
Presumably someone just grabbed a Jesus picture off the web and stuck it in the textbook without noticing that He was holding a cigarette and a can of beer.
This is excellent news, because it provides me with an opportunity to tell my Smoking Jesus joke, which I learned from Dee Wood about twenty-nine years ago.
Jesus is walking down the road, carrying his cross. It’s a hot day and he’s thirsty.
He walks by a Hovel.
Guy standing in front of the Hovel: “Hey, man, ain’t you Jesus Christ?”
Jesus: “Yeah, that’s me, man.”
Guy: “Hey, that cross looks real heavy.”
Jesus: “Yeah, man, it’s a real pain in the ass. Hey, you got some water?”
Guy: “Sure,” (gets a dipperful of water and hands it to Jesus)
Jesus: (leans his cross against the wall of the hovel, drinks the water) “Thanks, man.”
Guy: “No problem, Jesus. Hey, you want a cigarette?”
Jesus: “Sure, man, a cigarette would hit the spot right about now.”
Guy: (pulls out a packet of Raleighs, takes two out, hands one to Jesus, puts the other in his mouth. Strikes a match, lights Jesus up, then himself. They smoke for a minute.)
Jesus: “Yeaaaaah, man. That’s a good smoke. Love that wonderful Raleigh taste. Say, man, do you save the coupons?”
Guy: “You want the coupon? Sure, Jesus, that’s cool.” (Takes the coupon out of the pack, hands it to Jesus, who puts it in his pocket)
Guy: “Say, Jesus, I didn’t know you saved Raleigh coupons.”
Jesus: “Of course I save the coupons! How the hell do you think I got the cross?”
This joke only makes sense if you remember this:
India Indian music music: 78s old masters Ramakrishnabua Vaze
by Warren
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More Music from Ramakrishnabua Vaze
Here are three more of the classic 78 rpm discs recorded by Pandit Ramakrishna Vaze (1871 – 1945). At some point soon I will post the long version of his Miyan ki Malhar, a classic recording from the AIR archives; it’s longer than the maximum allowed by YouTube, so I’ll be using Vimeo for that one.
The complex compound raga Khat
Deodhar tells some amusing stories of Vazebua’s eccentricity:
“In 1927 I requested Buwasaheb to pay a visit to my music school. He appeared in a loose shirt and haphazardly torn cap…Some of our boys and girls sang for him. After this I requested him to say a few words to the students. He started his address with these words, ‘I am a simple person. I do not like to dress up. I have a jacket — I even wear it sometimes. I say, Mr. Deodhar, come to my house and I shall show you my jacket. Very beautiful material. One cannot acquire learning by putting on fine clothes — can one now?’ Some of our girls could not help laughing at this. They put their hankies to their lips and giggled. I felt embarrassed. IN an attempt to change the subject I told Buwasaheb that our students were anxious to hear him sing…He duly appeared at the school as promised, and sang beautifully for our students.
(snip)
“Shri Korgavkar…decided to start a harmonium class in Belgaum…he sent a most courteous invitation to Vazebuwa to preside over the inauguration function. Vazebuwa agreed….Buwasaheb was requested to give his presidential address. Buwasaheb stood up. The audience was all attention. Buwasaheb started, ‘Friends…friends.’ But he was at a loss to find anything more to say. After an embarrassingly long silence he said, ‘Nothing…nothing,’ and sat down. After repeated clamour from the audience and entreaties from the organizers, Buwasaheb once again stood up and continued his speech, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen! Today we are inaugurating this harmonium class. This instrument is known as a harmonium. We call it bend-baja (a derogatory term usually associated with a mouth-organ). So from today anyone who wants to learn to play bend-baja can do so.’
B.R. Deodhar: “Pillars of Hindustani Music,” pp. 128-130
India photoblogging: funny Indian signs
by Warren
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While we wait, more India photoblogging
I’m writing some more detailed stuff about practice strategies, but it’s still under construction.
Meanwhile, here are some pictures of signs in India.
Patent medicine. Unfortunately, you can’t see the “after” picture. Take it from me that the guy is smiling.
Bombay travel agents.
India Indian music music: Amir Khan genius
by Warren
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Ustad Amir Khan
Because everybody should fall in love with a voice, and Amir Khan’s has filled my ears for over three decades now.
Raga Malkauns
Raga Todi
Raga Yaman
India Indian music music photoblogging: Amjad Ali Khan Hindustani instrumentalists Shahid Parvez Shivkumar Sharma Sultan Khan Zakir Hussain Zarin Daruwalla
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Hindustani Instrumental Photoblogging
As part of my continuing drive to provide visual, auditory and intellectual content, here is an assortment of the photographs I took of Hindustani instrumentalists during the 1980s. Zakir was performing a great deal in Pune during that time, and I got many good images of him.
Amjad Ali Khan and Zakir Hussain. Sawai Gandharva Mahotsaav, Pune, 1985
India Indian music music: genius Jaipur Gharana Kesarbai Kerkar khyal
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Kesarbai Kerkar’s Music Is, In Fact, Out Of This World.
One of the greatest voices of the twentieth century belonged to Kesarbai Kerkar, the legendary singer of Jaipur-Atrauli tradition, who bestrode the narrow concert platforms of India like a colossus until a few years before her death in 1977. To listen to Kesarbai is to experience intellectual, emotional and artistic depth in a way that can hardly be matched anywhere else.
Nat Kamod
India Indian music music photoblogging: Dagar brothers dhrupad
by Warren
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Dagar Photoblogging: Pune, 1985
These photographs were taken at a Dhrupad Sammelan in Pune, late in 1985. These are Zahiruddin and Faiyazuddin Dagar, the “Younger Dagar Brothers.”
Zahiruddin (L) and Faiyazuddin Dagar.
Education India Indian music music: drone gesture R. Murray Schafer silence Singing Imagination tamboura texture
by Warren
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Some Thoughts on the Drone
The drone lives at the center of Hindustani music, and yet I think its significance has rarely been stated completely. To say that it affirms or creates the tonality is to state the obvious; rather, think of the number of musical systems in the world in which the drone is implicit or only occasionally stated. Why then is the tamboura so essential in Hindustani music? In concerts, a singer often gestures to the tamboura players, indicating “more force, more volume!” — why?
R. Murray Schafer, that marvelously creative Canadian composer and educator, offers us a complementary pair of terms, gesture and texture. Hindustani melody is gesture refined and elaborated; gesture with fractal sub-gestures endlessly revealing themselves to careful listening. The complement to a gesture is a texture, where elements are sustained with enough consistency that they form a ground, a backdrop — a context within which isolated ideas can be heard and appreciated.
India Photoblogging: Benares, 1986
I was in Varanasi in early 1986, and I greatly enjoyed it. Here are a few random scenes and images from that trip. At another point I’ll put up the photos I took on the “Sunrise-on-the-Ganges” boat tour, which is an important tourist activity. These, however, are simply the things that happened when I pointed my Minolta and pressed the button. Remember, taking fascinating pictures is very easy in India.
India Photoblogging: Pune, 1985-1991
I took a lot of pictures while wandering around Pune in the mid-1980s and early 90s. I was using a Minolta SLR which I still have somewhere in a box; digital cameras have now taken over completely, so I haven’t looked through the lens of my 35mm camera in a very long time. Getting interesting results when you’re photographing scenes on an Indian street is not difficult; Indian streets are inherently interesting. Here are some of my favorites.
Somewhere in City section; I have a vague recollection this was in the vicinity of Appa Balwant Chowk, but that’s probably just my senility kicking in.
Shukrawar Peth, most likely. Probably somewhere close to Phule Market.
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