Geek of All Trades

Värttinä

Last Friday night David and I heard a fabulous concert by the Finnish band Värttinä.  They have a unique and fascinating sound and they put on a great show.

Värttinä includes an acoustic folk band - fiddle, bouzouki, accordion, and other instruments - fronted by three powerful, energetic singers.  Their music draws on Finnish folk sounds and lyric poetry, but the sound is decidedly contemporary.  To put it concisely, Värttinä rocks.

The pulse of Värttinä is its astonishing drummer, Jaako Lukkarinen.  At about the halfway point in the show, as a song was concluding, David turned to me and said, "That drummer is from another planet."  Moments later the band exited the stage to take a break - all except Lukkarinen, who treated us to the most fascinating and far-ranging 15-minute drum solo one can imagine.  He started by drawing a drumstick along the edge of his cymbals, using it like a bow to set up the most eerie wailing vibrations.  He created crisp rhythms with strings of shells.  And, eventually, he just plain hit the crap out of the drums in a driving rock-and-roll beat. 

But if Lukkarinen is the band's pulse, its soul is shaped by the clever, folksy style of its singers, Susan Aho, Johanna Virtanen, and founding member and anchor Mari Kaasinen.  They writhe and stomp as they act out the themes of their lyrics - everything from the enchantments of forest witches to what it feels like to be unable to get to sleep at the end of a long day.  They create tight, close harmonies and impossibly complex rhythms, all while putting on a show that is engaging, fun, and delightful. 

It was simply a great show.  I only have one Värttinä album, a 15-year old endeavor called Seleniko.  That was much more of folksy album - it didn't rock the way they did on Friday night.  So I'm going to have to pick up something more recent - something after Lukkarinen joined the band.  Oh, and Värttinä have also collaborated with one of my favorite Bollywood composers, A.R. Rahman, on a giant musical production of Lord of the Rings set to open in London this spring.  I am looking forward to hearing the music from that - A.R. Rahman is a master of fusion, and I can't even imagine what he could do with sounds like Värttinä's.

On hero-worship and the irresistible pull of gossip

I've been digging into old gossip about someone I admire very much, gossip that is about a quarter of a century old.

I'm not sure why I am compelled to turn over these rocks, but I am drawn to them, irresistibly and obsessively.  It isn't exactly changing my opinion of the object of my admiration.  Though she may have said and done some things that look hypocritical when compared against the stances she takes quite publicly today, I am not inclined to hold her hostage to decisions made and actions taken so very long ago.  This stuff is ancient history, long forgiven by the people involved and by the people who were scandalized by it, or not, at the time. 

But if it's not bothering me - if it's not making me think less of her, as I insist - why am I worrying it like a loose tooth?  The attraction is perhaps driven partly by the sheer tastiness of it; it's human nature to be titillated by a salacious story.  But there's more to it.  I think I am drawn to the history of a more vulnerable youth of this woman who stands today so thoroughly powerful and above reproach.  If there is a touch of arrogance about her today, she has earned it.   In her past, though, she was less sure of herself, and less consistent; these scandals I have been investigating occurred at a time when she was struggling mightily with the very same issues that I, at the same age she was then, struggle with today:  issues of personal and professional identity.   She sorted them out in time - and how! - and  became a better and stronger person for the experience.  If she can do this, than perhaps so can I.

And so, perhaps, I study the fragility of her youth in order to give baseline and context to the magnificence of her present. 

Two facts about me:  I have always been drawn to women older than myself, and I have always longed to be older than I am.  When I was in my 20s I longed for my 30th birthday.  Now that I am well into my 30s I eagerly anticipate the arrival of 40, so dreaded by so many others.  The reason for this, I think, is that I have always hoped that with age will come resolution, a sense of togetherness and purpose, and end to the persistent confusion that seems to define my life.  This hero I so admire (neither  "heroine" nor "heroin," I say, with a warm nod to an old friend who once called me on that particular bit of linguistic serendipity) is a woman more than 20 years my senior, and as grounded and accomplished as a person can be.  If I just look at her as she is today, I see a state of grace and confidence that I can never attain.  But if I look at her in the light of missteps she took when she was my age, and see how beautifully and completely she has recovered from them and learned from them, perhaps I can take a little comfort for my own future.

To you, whatever readers have stuck with me this far, I apologize for being so cryptic.  The fact is that I don't want to be responsible for dredging up these old scandals, for leaving them, attached to my name, in a place where Google searches can find them.  And so I am not naming names or being specific about the events in question.  Some of you will know what I am talking about, some will not; and that will have to do for today. 

थोड़े-से शब्द हिन्दी में (A few words in Hindi)

देर से मैंने हिन्दी में कुछ नहीं लिखा है ।  खैर,  छोटा  झूठ है - "बालीवट"  वेब्साइट पर मैंने हिन्दी में लिखा है, लेकिन यहाँ नहीं ।  तो आज मैं लिखती हूँ ।

जनवरी के अन्त को हिन्दी का "इंटर्मीडियट" क्लास शुरू होगा ।  इस समय में हिन्दी के अभ्यास के लिए मैं उषा जैन की किताब नाम का "इंटर्मीडियट हिन्दी रीडर"  पढ़ रही हूँ ।  काफ़ी अच्छी लगती है ।  बहुत-सी विभिन्न कहानियाँ शामिल हैं - रामायण से, महाभारत से, कुछ कविता (हिनदी और उर्दू भी), और हाल के लेखन भी हैं ।  किताब में पुरा शब्दकोश भी है, तो नए शब्द सिखना काफ़ी आसान है ।  मैंने "राम का वनवास" के बारे में पढ़ा, दो कहानियाँ कार्व चौथ के व्रत के बारे में, और कुछ रूपक-कहानियाँ जानवारों के बारे में भी ।  इस किताब को पढ़ना बहुत मज़ेदार है ।

मैं हिन्दी फ़िल्मों को देखने से भी अभ्यास पाती हूँ । लेकिन मुझे तो बोलने का अभ्यास चाहिए ।  मुझे आशा है कि "इंटर्मीडियट" क्लास में इतना अभ्यास मिलेगा । उस समय तक मैं खुद से ही बात करूँगी !   और मैं फ़िल्में देखती रहूँगी - और हिन्दी पोस्टिंग लिखना की कोशिश करती रहूँगी ।

पोस्टिंग हिन्दी भाषा के बारे में लिखना अच्छा लगता है - पोस्टिंग हिन्दी में ही नहीं ।  पहले से मैंने "compound verbs" के बारे में लिखा । अलगे से मैं "-वाला" के प्रयोग  के बारे में लिखूँगी ।  हिन्दी की व्याकरण मुझे बहुत दिलचस्प लगती है ।  आशा है कि  ब्लोग के पढ़ने वालों को भी ऐसी लगती है !

अचछा, आज के लिय बस - फिर मिलेंगे, और पढ़ने ले लिए धन्यवाद ।

It's been a while since I have written anything in Hindi.  Well, that's a lie - I have written in Hindi on the "BollyWHAT" website, but not here.  So today, I'm writing.

At the end of January the intermediate Hindi class will begin.  In the meantime, for Hindi practice I have been reading Usha Jain's book called "Intermediate Hindi Reader".  It's quite good.  It includes a variety of stories - from the Ramayan, from the Mahabharata, some poetry (Hindi and Urdu both), and modern writings as well.  There is also a thorough glossary in the book, so learning new words is fairly easy.  I have read about Ram's exile in the forest, two stories about the fast of Karva Chauth, and some allegorical stories about animals.  Reading the book is a lot of fun.

I also get practice by watching Hindi films.  But I really need practice speaking.  I hope that in the intermediate class I will get such practice.  Until then, I'll just talk to myself!  And I will keep watching movies - and I will keep trying to write Hindi postings. 

I like to write postings about the Hindi language - not just postings in Hindi.  Previously I wrote about "compound verbs".  Next, I will write about the use of "-vaalaa".   Hindi grammar is very interesting to me - I hope it is as interesting to the readers of this blog! 

All right, that's enough for today - see you soon, and thanks for reading. 

More international note for Filmi Geek

I mentioned almost two months ago now that my Hindi movie blog Filmi Geek was a highlighted as a "Featured Blog" by my bloghost Typepad. 

Now it has also been featured here, in Typepad's German version of the "Featured Blogs" blog. 

My German isn't quite as good as my Hindi, so I had to rely on Google's translator to get the gist of what this feature says about me:

Bollywood cinema - who thinks there only of heart pain strips for hours and handpainted film posters, is exactly correct with Carla Levy: in its English-language Blog Filmi Geek shows it, what hides itself still in such a way everything behind this term. Films for Bollywood Einsteiger, classical authors and English-language productions are presented; five decades Hindi film, crime film classical author such as Don, Arthouse trips such as park Avenue and films from other regions such as Ghare Baire pass revue. Listings after star and alphabet round Filmi Geek off to the purposeful search.

This is quite nice.  I particularly like the phrase "Arthouse trips."   

There seem to be quite a few Bollywood fans in Germany - I have discovered an entire webring of German language Bollywood blogs (does anyone still use the term "webring"?  It sounds so 1999 to me and evokes memories of flagrant abuse of the HTML 1.0 "flash" tag), and I am lucky to count many of their authors among Filmi Geek's readership.