Experiments in World Music

OK so in my last post I said I'd wait for my brother to do this but then I realized that I had some input of my own to get started anyway so I'm going to go ahead and take this on my own.

So for me, child of the the late 80s, the popular (or more correctly, 'pop') concept of world music was framed by 1985's We Are the World choir of stars. Luckily my father a product of the Woodstock area and older jazz influences, and my mother who was born with travelling feet ensured that I was also raised on Etta James, Frank Sinatra, the Stones and some African beats and Indian sitar. And while my horizons have been definitely broadened I am always being introduced World Music as an ever-changing and highly interpretative concept, that is today's small, small global world a hybrid not only of cultural instruments but of more daily sounds as interpreted and reimagined by new artists and imaginaries of the day.

Below is a list of some music 'projects' completed and ongoing that are looking to capture the essence of our world in various interpretations of harmony.  

1. Laya Project - captures music from the "coastal and surrounding communities in the 2004 tsunami-affected regions of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar and India"

2. Playing For Change - (So  I first heard about this through my brother). Playing for Change is a project compiled by a small group of documentary filmmakers who set out to capture the music of the streets on a global scale. The music features artists of 'every level of renown and has resulted in a foundation that works to "ensure that anyone with the desire to receive a music education would have the opportunity to do so."

3. World Remix - This 'remix' is by artist Pogo (Nick Bertke) from Perth Australia and was funded via Kickstarter. He is travelling to various locations (Jo'burg and Tibet completed) capturing a variety of sounds (musical and mundane) and mixing them together to create a mixes such as the one linked to. Pogo's site is down but his music, which includes some amazing Disney remixes can be found on his Youtube channel and Last Fm.

4. Putumayo - "Putumayo World Music was established in 1993 to introduce people to the music of the world’s cultures. The label grew out of the Putumayo clothing company [and over the past 18 years]the record label has become known primarily for its upbeat and melodic compilations of great international music." Sample of all their compilations can be found on the site.

At Present Listening to, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - 40 Day Dream  Wishing I was, sleeping. Seriously. ( and it's only 6 pm so I'm started to wonder if I'm sick...)

Driveway deer, marshmallow sweet potatoes and sunset by the beach..Happy Thanksgiving!

I am spending thanksgiving in Watch Hill, RI, approx. 30 mins out via train (to Westerly) from Providence,by the beach with some of my favorite company that include 14 year old twins extraordinaire (let's call them A&A) who design shoes, cars (via computer design programs), and write some pretty great poetry amongst other skills. Its nice to be in a homey atmosphere over a holiday like this even when your own family is far away, because like Christmas I feel Thanksgiving is a very 'home for the holidays' kind of celebration and so I am grateful to have always found myself welcomed by different families and friends over my 5 thanksgivings so far. 

Anyway thanksgiving in Watch Hill was warm, with a crackling fire running through the evenings (its keeping my toes warm as I type this), filling and extremely picturesque for following our apple and pumpkin pie desert we strolled to the nearby beach to watch a sunset that essentially looked like a picture of a sunset, perfectly painted across the sky with one lone star hanging over lighthouse infront of us. I don't think this photo (via iphone) will do the scenery justice but imagine the sky more firey at the base and the yellowing as it moved up to give way to a dominant blue. Perfect.

Before the sunset walk however I got to eat my first tasting of sweet potato pie topped with roasted marshmallows, a sweet sweet concoction that found its place in on my topped up plate. It was strange, super sweet, concept in my head, but once it touched my tongue it made much more sense. I'm having trouble importing the visual so here's someone else's example of what this dish looks like.

Finally, my highlight for the day was look out an the driveway to see a very handsome buck walk calmly across it and head into the woods. An unexpected and beautiful sight, at least for someone whose primarily been city bound for the past few months, I took it as a good sign. 

Anyway my thanksgiving's been pretty great. Yeah I got some homework to get to but I'm cozy enough to do it happily. Also I've found time to get back to re-reading Philip Gourevitch's We Wish to Inform you that Tomorrow We  Will Be Killed with Our Families, which may not sound to you like a thanksgiving read, but is such an essential book for understanding the concept of humanity that I think that whenever it can be picked up it should.

By the way, I'm working on world music compilation post because you may or may not have noticed that I like to include links to what I am listening to at the end of my posts. I might wait on my brother, who has abandoned me to roam Costa Rica, to compile it because this is more his forte, or so he claims. Till then as always...

At Present: Listening to, Matt and Kim - Daylight  Wishing I was, right here but with no homework impending. Oh well.. 

Take an International Journey

So ever since I've been a Clarkie I've also been a member of the International Students Association, a 'extracurricular' student organization that took over (I asked for it) much of my life for the past four years (I am now in retirement as the club's advisor). The mission of ISA is to unite and represent multiculturalism and diversity in all its forms via educational and entertainment events for the Clark community (and beyond).

 

 

One such event is our fall centerpiece - International Journey. International Journey, as I new it as an undergraduate was essentially a one day cultural bazaar hosted in Tilton Hall. Students would gather to represent their nations and regions by hosting a table which often featured souvenirs, informational materials, slideshows/videos, photographs, flags, and of course, food. Representatives will often wear their national costumes and be on hand to give you a quick introduction to their motherland/regional culture, and would often join with fellow students to give performances as well. The students were hosted within a space that was transformed into whatever theme was chosen for that year,  be it 'Around the world in 80 bites', 'Where in the World is Sigmund Freud', 'Indiana Jones', 'airports' and so forth. Last year's centerpiece saw a very "Up"- inspired hot air balloon being created with a collection of 150 helium balloons.

This year however, while that international bazaar still stands, International Journey has expanded exponentially to feature four days of events that started this Sunday (Nov.13th) with the 2nd annual ISA and Visual and Performing  Arts Department sponsored student art show titled "Youth in the Current". The show was followed by a forum overseen by the South Asian Students Association and Hillel which  discovered the varied cultural connotations of the swastika. As was discussed while the swastika is seen as a sign of Nazism and anti-semitism in the west, in the east,especially in Hinudism, it is actually a longstanding symbol of good luck (to be noted is that the two swastikas do vary slightly too). The even ended with a lesson in harmony through music courtesy of the Clark's all-female accapella team 'The Counterpoints'.

The days to follow Monday 11/4 -Wednesday 11/6 will see a myriad of discussion forums and activities being led by Clark Professors and other student groups and leaders. Forums such as a Professor Jeffrey Arnett's  'Adolescent Development and Emerging Adulthood in a Cross Cultural view", Bahai prayer practice, and the Black Student Union's forum on African-American representation in the 21st century will be open to all who wish to attend.

For a full list of events and participating clubs check out the Facebook page "International Journey Diversity Conference and Bazaar" or the find the schedule posted up on the first floor of the University Center 

At Present: Listening to, Pogo - Upular(Pixar Remix)  Wishing I was, working from my house (unfortuantely my laptop crashed and I'm library bound)

Global Citizen...?

So even though I've been somewhat stationery in Worcester the past week, I've been tiring myself out working on some arm chair travelling and trying to make some real travel happen. The December break is all too soon approaching and I luckily have tohe option to get out of the snow, or at least out of Worcester (sometimes a change of scenery can kill the winter blues of a rather empty campus). Still the more and more efforts I have made, especially with visa offices, since my island passport is definitely a free pass to almost nowhere, I have found that the term 'Global Citizen' to be quite the worst kind of punch line. Its funny, but whatever your life record says - mine I un-cooly squeaky clean and staying that way - your country of origin is your make or break. And while I am always proud to be where I'm from, its frustrating to know that as exotic and one of a kind travel writers think Sri Lanka is, apparently having the islanders want to venture off the island is a little less of an exciting concept.

(Attribute to isolatedinternationals.com)

 I understand that this is a big picture converstaion, affecting a nation's balance of payment bottom line concerns and  anarchic international system dynamics, but its tough to bite down and accept that when you can vouch that you, like that person ahead of you from 'better-passport-land', are not there to no harm. In the end I guess its inevitable to do some profiling to ensure that each nation does its national security dues by some citizen but then don't try too hard after to sell me on the fact that I am a global citizen. Instead perhaps we should rebrand it "Think Global, Travel Local".

(Attribute to surfaidschools.org)

At Present: Listening to, Avicii - Fade into Darkness  Wishing I was, outside. It is the most beautiful, sunny and WARM, November day in New England

Mother Nature Dressed Up for Halloween

So the snow came in on Saturday... and given that it was still October (29th to be exact) I figured it would cease at some point. It did not.Instead it continued to come down as myself and countless other college students braved through the falling flakes and stirring winds to make it, in our wintered-down Halloween costume, to a spooky celebration of our choice.

The next morning however, the sun back out, I surveyed my white college campus grounds and realized that I and fellow trick-o'-partiers had been quite lucky. Countless trees had cracked at their branches and come down in the middle of roads and on the sidewalks, fortunately there was no college kid, making his/her way through, caught underneath.

 Given that all were safe (though some cars were less fortunate and power outages were experienced in surrounding areas) I could look around and appreciate how strangely beatuiful this snow and tree strewn new playground looked. And man oh man did I wish I had a camera on me.  Specifically a digital one, batteried up, rather than my film roll-less manual. Luckily that's where Levi (featured on drums in Fall Freestyle) stepped in.  Here are some of his photos of Mother Nature dressed up as Father Christmas for Halloween:

 

The tree trunk above looked cozy and large enough for a squirrel and myself to curl up in.

Anyway the snow's slowing melting now and I've gone back to a lighter fall jacket again...Here's hoping, as pretty as it is, this is the last snowfall I see atleast till mid-Dec.

At Present: Listening to, Beyonce - Love on Top Wishing I was, eating a bag of Miss Vickie's Jalapeno chips (I was too lazy to stand in line)

Fall Freestyle

October in New England, is both beautiful and kinda sad, because while autumn is possibly one of the most aesthetically pleasing seasons as it goes on the coloring leaves that gave the season so much color start to fall, and along with it, so does the temperature.

Having been through four falls already I now know to appreciate the good days while there around and so a few days ago, when the fall wind and sunshine were at their finest I headed outside with Levi's (he's in the video) camera and managed to catch some fall footage that not only reminds me of how perfect somedays can be, but also how the best things always happen with a 'little help from your friends'.

That said here's some fall freestyle live from Stonehenge  - forgive the rough edit.. I was limited to windows movie maker (which is another reason why mac+imovie  is better than pc)

Thanks and love to this B-town+Downing mash-up crew that assembled to make this happen.

At Present: Listening to, Jay-Z and Kanye West - Gotta Have It Wishing I was, going to "Watch the Throne"

Mac's Got Bugs

So I thing the strongest point in the mac vs. pc argument is that mac's are more resistant to viruses (though a guy at the IT desk recently in informed me otherwise).

Which I why found this little vistor to this macbook keypad an image worth snapping.

Also, if you look back to my '...Bees' post you will, like am I starting to, realize the I have a possible subconcious attraction to bugs. Great.

At Present: Listening to, Tom Hangs ft. Shermanology (Avicii edit) - Blessed Wishing I was, without work to do.

Chasing the Sun to Mt. Wachusett

I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to 'Porch Adventures' or something along those lines because apparently everything good comes out of hanging out on porches, including my Saturday afternooon hike up Mt. Wachusett in Princeton, MA.

The trip up to Mountain Road didn't start out to promising, the sun that had been out earlier on in the day, contradictory to reports from the weather gurus, started to disappear behind a steadily approaching group of clouds, the directions we had on us didn't seem to be doing much good, and 10 minutes or so in a freak streak of lightning followed by a growl of thunder came directly our way. Yet our leader and driver would not be deterred and I was psyching myself to do my first hike up this mountain soaked to the bone in cold autumn rain. 

We saw brighter skies in the horizon and realized after while that even though we seemed to be going in away from it we wound up on the right path for chasing the sun. As we parked and got off at the bottom of Mountain House trail the sunshine found us, and as it broke through the yellowing leaves our hike became, unintentionally, perfectly timed.  (If you need a trail map check it out here)

We hiked all the way to the top, me straggling behind throughout and kept company by "Mr. Maksymowicz" though everyone was kind enough to wait and play catch up as well. We took Mountain House all the way up  and then switched to Harrington, Jack Frost on the way down and as a result got to do some climbing, walking over bridges, trudging through mud, slipping and sliding, and even made time to dip our hands in some extra cool river shallow stream water.

All pics from via camera phone (Thanks Phil!)

The overall hike was great, though for myself, the journey up and down was a great deal more scenic than the view at the top which, due to some construction and wire fencing is unfortunately not all that it could be. I think the folks on the ski life (which by the way you can only get on at the bottom) probably got a great view up top but my lack of fondness for heights made me happy not to be on it.

Anyway here's a thanks to the residents of B-Stone 207 for letting me tag along for your adventure Saturday.  And today's what I'm listening to is courtesy of their first selection for our ride up.

At Present: Listening to, LCD Soundsystem -Someone Great Wishing I was, right where I am now -blogging on a perfect, sunny autumn day in the space between the library and B-Town known as Stonehenge (Check it out on your next Clark University tour) 

Pie,Harleys,Cheese...and the Company of Bees

Over the fall break I finally, after 5 years in New England,  made it to Vermont. See the thing is, I graduate this year and since I don't know exactly what I will do, or where I will be next, I've made a small bucket list of things to do before I possibly move to another coast or country and my 'to-do's' just happened to experiencing fall in the Green Mountain State.

So this past Sunday a few friends and I drove into Brattleboro, VT  to catch Annual Dummerston Apple Pie Festival (click to view some of this year's pies in the making). We also ended  up stumbling upon a Harley Davidson convention which had converged at the same location, which together left me with quite an interesting first impression of the state.

Afterwards also had time to grab a tasting of Graton Village Cheese  (I recommend the jalapeno cheese, the cheese that tasted like bacon-you'll know when you eat it - and the spinach and arthicoke dip) and find our way through a 10 clue (or 'cornundrum) corn maze. Yet my photo for today is of none of these moments.

During our downtime chilling in our Vermontian (?) host's garden I had time get up close and personal with some bees, butterflies and grasshoppers.

Obviously I pay attention to the little things in life... sometimes....

At Present: Listening to, New Yorker's at Occupy Wall Street on Chirpbug Wishing I was, also eating dinner 

My James Dean

Post a summer's hike up Worcester's Newton Hill, which I discover also doubles as a disc golf playground, me and my best friends return to our porch, cold beers in hand. We went up for  photo adventure, and despite my ol' school manual packing a limited reel of 400 film  I find I still have a few shots left. So as we wind down I snap this one of the 'Greek'.

 Yes, I know smoking is bad for you, I'm on board... but sometimes bad looks pretty good. Just ask James Dean.

At Present: Listening to Benny Bennassi ft. Gary Go - Cinema,  Wishing I was asleep

What dreams may come...

Print Work: Posters for Gala '12

Yeah magnetic tool, clipping masks and cloning :)

Final Website: Photo Gallery Page

Final Website: About and Team ISA Page Animated

International Gala'12 Website: Welcome Sequence

Logo Options for Final Proj:Gala

Option 1: Logo Conveying Gala '12 as the 10th Anniversary of Gala

Option2: Gala(actica)

Option 3: Of this world

I will be working with the third which after a lot of trial and error is the best reflection of what I wanted in the first place.

When one window is closed.. Open two.

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Layering,selecting (rectangular marquee and even magic wand) , pasting into selection, drag copying into selection and a little bit of healing brush work.

Photoshop Animates!