Ideas & Views

while listening to the album "Impressions" , i could not avoid pondering over the recent explosion of fusion albums ventured by carnatic musicians. the hindustani instrumentalists had taken the shastreeya sangeet abroad to the Western listerners long back and also performed jugalbandhis with Western performers. though carnatic music had been known to the Western world through individual performances by vocalists and instrumentalists, a joint performance or collaboration by carnatic musicians with western performers was not much in the game apart from one or two like L.Subramaniam. then came 'Sangamam' of maharajapuram santhanam and m.s.viswanathan. the songs rendered were untainted carnatic krithis on an apt background of MSV's orchestral talents. needless to say, we have not heard anything like this before. when the fusion comes from two rich musical minds, the outcome is nothing but a masterpiece. slowly and unconsiously, a craze for fusion music has taken roo...

J.K.Rowling seems to have been blessed ( or charmed , to say) with a knack of telling youthful tales that the world has never heard before. Long ago, when Disney took the wand for cartoons and animation, the writer's block for children's books died. Over a period of decades, the very need for children's books was pushed to the last in the list of entertainment for children. Rowling has given a spirited life to children's books that was badly needed and hardly realized. In the process, she has also given a wizarding world the world will cherish for centuries. The Half blood prince volume of Harry Potter series, to me, seems the best of all the six volumes. The plot as well as the narration, is thrilling, gripping and finally moving, more than just compensating for the let down of the Order of the Phoenix. I was not at all satisfied after reading Order of the Phoenix. With the adrenaline rush of the Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire, there were hu...

The raga Yamankalyani, over the recent times, has become the standard raga for bhajans. Be it hindustani vocal, carnatic vocal or instrumental, the artists, invariably many of them, have caught the Yaman fever. To the not-so-khayal-liking minds, Yaman brings the cheer of listening after an hour long rtp!! Though initially, the raga used to soothe me , repeated rendition of bhajans by many artists in Yaman left me thinking. Its not that I have developed a dislike for the raga. But there is definitely a concern. Aren't there other ragas suited for bhajans? Can only Yaman convey the romance of krishna?? Cannot the artists impress the audience with other ragas? Why Yamankalyani? The old timers like M.S, Balamurali, etc have tried bhajans and concluding pieces in a plethora of ragas. They have not restricted to Yamankalyani, Behag, Desh, Mandu, Darbarikanada and the like. Bhajans are so synonymous with meera bhai and tulsidas that a hindustani raag seems befitting. At the same time, ...

Recognize this poem ? ---------------------------- Scintillate, scintillate Globule vivific Fain would I fathom Thy nature specific Loftily perched In the ether capacious Strongly resembling A gem carbonaceous. ????Guessed it ???

I recently read an article in IEEE Spectrum. the article talks about implanting transducers (plain 'sensors' for the non-techy normal man) in the stomach. the sensors make the obese person feel stomach-full for a longer time and makes him crave less for food. after few years over which the obese person really becomes trim, the implants are removed. now, what is the reaction of the stomach? does it crave for more food or does it retain the full-feeling after a few-mouthfuls? i suppose, the technologists playing with obesity can answer this question only after some guinea pigs are sacrificed. playing poker with the brain signals is not a joke. there could be serious side effects of implanting as well as removing the sensors from the stomach. human physiology is a marvel. it is one of the highly complicated systems which has and still mystifies man. there are many diseases which do not have a cure yet. obesity is the concern of the hour. but, can technology provide solution for ev...

"Art makes a man a better human being" once when chatting with my friends after a vijayadasami day, the discussion somehow led to the latest trends in kutcheris and finally about performers. one of the seniors commented that " Art maketh a man a better human being". all of us unanimously agreed with some disagreements. there was an M.S.Subbulakshmi, who donated liberally for charities. we can quote many others too in similar lines.(but, to be honest, does any other name really strike you immediately ?) . there is also a Michael Jackson, whose court trial never seems to end. it is a different story to wonder if his music background is saving him from severe penalty or if the juries are trying to save the art from him. the real goal of art is art itself. only when art is pursued with pure dedication for the art, does it make the person a better person. today's scenario seems to be far from this. though hard to digest, it is a fact that art is seen as a means to ...

the sight of the dead and the plight of the injured in london blasts was pathetic. it gives a sick feeling even to read the news from websites and watch the aftermath in TV. its hard to imagine how the people there faced it. but there is lot to think on how to avoid such incidents in the first place. for petty business interests, the fanatics of a particular religion have been infuriated. and they want a revenge on the whole world. looks like a possible war against the planet.am i watching star trek??!! though there was technology and man power to dig Saddam out of his hole, huge batallion of soldiers have been landed in iraq and millions of innocents killed in the process. the retalliation in terms of london blasts only goes to prove that there is an inevitable need to refine the defense methods and devise clever strategy for fighting terrorism. the innocents,again, bear the brunt of war, no matter which side they belong to. the argument just seems to prolong with injustice on either ...