o re piya

when people ask me what makes me so happy i usually smile and say things like "sunshine" and "flowers"... but i think people ask because they think i'm a perpetually, boundlessly happy person.

let me dispel this myth and then share a little secret.

life is never easy. truthfully, it's tough to appreciate happiness without comparing it to its opposite, so i'm grateful even for sadness (there's a little hint in here by the way...).

now, onto the secret!

averaged out, i grew up in a happy home. and of all the reasons, i can point to one very musical one: every morning, without fail, my dad sang. you'd hear him in the kitchen making our lunch and just singing. like no one was listening.

(thankfully he has a great voice)

in fact, when we kids were little, he and my mom would pile us into the car like kittens at the crack of dawn and the requisite sing-along would promptly begin. unless my mom was driving, you'd never hear duran duran or tears for fears in our car, no. it was always the same: we'd clear the driveway and devotional songs from the mosque would fill the crisp morning air. wishing i was still in pyjamas, nodding off like a bobblehead toy stuck to the dashboard, with voice barely there, i'd have to sing. how annoying. how uncool.

truth is, i catch myself doing it now... on my own, in the shower, in the car driving to work, without prompting. and guess what? i believe it keeps me happy. so there's the secret: sing. pick something melodic, something sweet, lovely, uplifting. sing your heart out! do it first thing in the morning. wake up with music filling you up inside so much that you just gotta let it out.

so for you dad, i'm posting some indian soundtrack-ghazal music. the best. rahat fateh ali khan, nephew of ustad nusrat fateh ali khan, legendary qawwali singers. let it warm up, because i just know you will sing along and do your finger tapping thing at the wheel!

rahat fateh ali khan - o re piya:


related:

• ghalla gurian - punjabi mc
  
• shiva lounge
  
• live qawwali at fatehpur sikri mughal castle

get this at amazon.com

ghalla gurian

the track opens with the quiet confidence of a woman singing almost acapella... almost to herself. we listen as if watching her from a distance. too afraid to draw attention to ourselves, too afraid to scare her off.

and as her opening verse echoes off, a guitar and dholak (a north indian drum) draw us in. the addition of the flute and then the harmonium (imagine an accordion played lying down) round out the sound beautifully. and it's done. we're caught, unable to resist.

what she sings of, who knows? the mystery makes it all the more interesting.

uk's panjabi mc (aka rajinder rai) included this song on "the album", almost a 'greatest hits' record, which fuses hip-hop with bhangra. this track may seem out of place but there is a common thread - the showcase of traditional instruments like the dholak and thumbi, fundamentals of rai's ancestral punjabi folk music, which he fuses with hip-hop and guitar rhythms to give birth to very infectious sounds.

one bite we're reeled in. his music was bootlegged in europe, smuggled to north america where jay-z blew it up, causing it to resurface again in europe as 'bhangra-hop'. today, panjabi mc is a household name.

the addition of the guitar on this track opens it up for many who would not normally listen to punjabi folk music. all the instruments he brings together here are brilliant, especially the voice. it's the debut for UK vocalist, hema sharma, who was rumoured to have been only 14 years old at the time of recording... a sweet, innocent, and strong sound. i hope to hear more from her.

ready to get reeled in?
panjabi mc - ghalla gurian:


related to this:

• shiva's lounge
  
• gigi shibabaw
  
• live qawwali at fatehpur sikri
  

live qawwali at fatehpur sikri

ahhh if only i'd gone there on this day...
i might have taken a better qawwality video
(sorry guys couldn't help the pun!)
enjoy....

live qawwali at fatehpur sikri - mughal castle:

shiva's lounge

tony estrada - shiva lounge mix

i sometimes wonder how different life would have been if i was born in east africa like my parents or in india like my grandparents. i may have had a completely different musical palate, for one thing.

i've grown to appreciate the incredible vocal ranges, sophisticated scales and intricate instrumentation that are all part of classical indian music. but the pop stuff only made sense to me when i travelled to india the first time last year.

indian electronica, though, has been a great bridge for me. similar to indian cuisine, where spices are simmered together at the exact right time, indian music and electronica must be carefully combined to elicit an undeniable yet dramatic flavour. sometimes the results are disastrous. and at other times the results are incredible - and very addictive.

today's post features a podcast by chicago-based progressive house/trance producer and dj, tony estrada. this came to me courtesy of qasim virjee - also known in dj circles as abdul smooth, and his baby: www.indianelectronica.com.

the set starts off a bit bland. with track names like "lost in reflection" and "pink elephant" i wondered if tony's track selection resulted from too many india pale ales... but halfway through the mix i heard it: nomadix's beautiful remix of asha bhosle's cinematic classic 'chura liya'. this was immediately followed by meme's 2001 nights mix of shakira's 'ojos asi'.

seriously.

these were followed by some infectious electric-cairo-disco, including a must-hear version of "walk like an egyptian' by cleopatra + hakim, and tony's own rhythmic remix of dead can dance's 'saldek', topped by 'haram aleyk' by the yalla-chant queen herself, natacha atlas... some great hip shaking tunes.

i suddenly want to jet to mumbai... and if i did, i'd be lucky to check out qasim's mumbai instalment of the indian electronica music festival.

in the meantime, tony estrada's 2006 shiva lounge mix:


related to this:

• gigi shibabaw - gela