My tunes - what the world is singing

A sick day turned out to be a day of great discoveries. Tucked in bed and tired of sleeping, I turned to my trusted friend - my laptop - for company and together we found our way to the National Geographic Music homepage. So staggered was I by the treasure trove of music and music videos, that I felt like a child in a candy shop! Should I listen to the Nigerian singer, Asa's thought provoking "Fire on the mountain" ( and watch the slick music video) or put on my dancing shoes for the French/Algerian trio of Khaled, Faudel and Rachid Taha singing "Abdul Kader"....a sparkling melody that tingles the 'soul' of my feet..Or lose myself in the hauntingly beautiful numbers from the Idan Raichel Project - a collaboration between an Isreali composer and Ethiopian musicians? The choices are infinite. How could I have lived oblivious to such a great resource of music from all over the world - places as distant as Cape Verde and as familiar as Bollywood but reinvented by Brits, Andrew McKay and Gary Hughes - with a delightful music video to go with it ( "Mumtaz"). Now there is just not enough time to search, sample and savor!

http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/home

All this started with a conversation I had with my brother about our mutual disappointment in Coldplay's new album, Viva la Vida which was released in the US yesterday and which, we both agreed, for all its hype fell short of our expectations but I am hoping it will grow on me with time. This was in contrast to "Flavors of Entanglement" Alanis Morissette's new album, which has delightful new flavors - mature lyrics, superb arrangements and each song with a peek into the depths of the song writer's soul - clearly a notch above her work so far. Though "Jagged Little Pill" will always be in a class of its own, this album is also something to reckon with. As a long time fan of Alanis's powerful and gut wrenching work, I was greatly moved to see a distinct mellowness in her new songs that is rich and tempered with true ( and hard earned) insight.

However, for all the hype and attention that main stream popular artists from America and Western Europe receive, and for all the public media time that they occupy, I feel that more often than not they fail to voice the collective concerns of our planet. In startling contrast, the music I listened to on the Nat Geo website was anything but sincere. Grouped together under the extremely broad classification of "World Music", these musicians - some very well known in their respective regions and within their own distinct genres - collectively tapped into the pulse of the world today and each voice rang loud and clear to bring the message home that we are all citizens of one planet. Each un self conscious voice singing about all the things that matter to us no matter what corner of the earth we are sitting in - war, love, loss, having a good time...and revelling in this our different approaches to the very same things, some issues closer home than others, was refreshing and reassuring.

So I will end to day's blog with some prophetic lines from a song by an Indian band called Karma 6 who did a song for Nat Geo India...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN9Yngs9Tuc

Auron ki jo hai mushkilein, kal apni ho jayegi,
Pal bhar me honge fanaa, sassein bhi ruk jaengi,
Waqt ki hai awaaz, Kalko tum badlo aaj....

( The problems that others face, will be ours tomorrow..
In a moment our world could be destroyed,
This is time's prophecy for us..
Let us make better choices today to save our collective future)