Carlos Santana - Shaman

album : Shaman (2002)
song  : Aye Aye Aye
written by  : Michael Shrieve,Carlos Santana,Karl Perazzo & Raul Rekow
produced by : Michael Shrieve & Carlos Santana
lead vocals : Andy Vargas
background vocals : Carlos Santana,Karl Perazzo & Raul Rekow
acoustic & electric guitar : Carlos Santana
keyboard : Chester Thompson
bass  : Benny Rietveld
percussion & drums : Karl Perazzo
congas : Raul Rekow

All the details of this song, I got from my own copy of this album, which I bought about 10-years ago.Santana's Shaman came out in 2002 after his multi-Grammy winning album Supernatural(1999). I thought Shaman was as good as Supernatural though it didn't win any grammy. Those who have regularly watched MTV back then will be familiar with its songs.   

When the word 'Carlos' and 'shaman' combines, one may think about Carlos Castaneda and his neo-shamanism. Surely Santana must be familiar with teaching of his fellow Latin-American celebrity of the hippie-era. Santana was always interested in spirituality and mysticism (like many other musicians, including me). He explored Eastern religions in the 70s and was a one time disciple of Sri Chinmoy . His later albums such as Supernatural and Shaman marks the journey to  re-discover his roots. In the elaborate & colorful album-cover of Shaman features typical Mexican art and some brilliant pictures of Santana, posing with his guitar, in a desert with cactus in the background. 

In a caption Santana says, " Shaman is a spiritual healer who brings balance to mind, body, heart and spirit with colors, sound, herbs and song, creating unity and harmony in the world."

Blowin' in the wind (chords & lyrics)

by  Bob Dylan


[C]How many[F]roads must a [C]man walk [Am]down

[C]Before you [F]call him a [G7]man ?

[C]How many[F] seas must a [C]white dove [Am]sail

[C]Before she [F] sleeps in the [G7]sand ?

[C]How many [F]times must the [C]cannon balls [Am]fly

[C]Before they're [F]forever [G7]banned ?

The[F] answer my [G7]friend is [C]blowin' [E7]in the [Am]wind

The [F]answer is [G7]blowin' in the [C]wind.



[C]How many [F]years can a [C]mountain [Am] exist

[C]Before it's [F]washed to the [G7]sea ?

Yes,[C] how many [F]years can some [C]people [Am] exist

[C] Before they're [F]allowed to be [G7]free ?

Yes,[C] how many [F]times can a [C]man turn his [Am]head

[C]Pretending he [F]just doesn't [G7]see ?

The[F] answer my [G7]friend is [C]blowin' [E7]in the [Am]wind

The [F]answer is [G7]blowin' in the [C]wind.



[C]How many [F]times must a [C] man look[Am] up

[C]Before he can [F]see the [G7]sky ?

[C]How many [F] ears must one[C] man [G7]have

[C]Before he can [F]hear people [G7]cry ?

Yes,[C] how many [F]deaths will it take [C]till he [Am]knows

That [C]too many [F]people have [G7]died ?

The[F] answer my [G7]friend is [C]blowin' [E7]in the [Am]wind

The [F]answer is [G7]blowin' in the [C]wind.

R.I.P Michael Winner !

Michael Winner

 The renowned English filmmaker Michael Winner passed away at the age of 77 in London. He is one of my favourite Hollywood filmmakers of action/thriller genre and I grew up watching his movies.  The name Michael Winner may not be as familiar as say, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg or James Cameron. Yet if you go through the list of his movies, many movie-fans could recognise them - esp. if you are a Charles Bronson fan. His famous movies include The Mechanic(1972) Chatos Land (1972) Law Man (1971) The Stone Killer (1973) Scorpio(1973) The Sentinel(1977)Fire Power(1979) and of course, Death Wish- 1,2 & 3. As a hardcore Charles Bronson fan, I've watched most of these movies (esp. during the VHS-era of late 80s and early 90s) over a dozen times!  

Like most action/thriller movies of 1970s, Michael Winner's movies too depicted brutal and graphic violence. Keeping with rebellious spirit of that era, his movies had the existentialist/nihilistic hero - a sort of American Raskolnikov - out to finish off the baddies who had wronged him. Despite its dark and gloomy themes, Michael Winner could often create poetry out of his frames. The brilliant cinematography and music-score (often by Jerry Fielding) came as a bonus.

Winner was a prolific filmmaker who also dwelled into other genres like comedy and drama. But it was his action/thriller movies that achieved greater success. His action sequences were innovative, spectacular and even bizzare. For instance - the (in)famous final scene of Death Wish 3 - the villain (head of street punk gang) was advancing agressively towards Bronson and the only weapon Bronson could lay his hands was a rocket-launcher! The brutal annihilation of that cruel and loathsome villain was exactly the audience wanted to see so badly !

Like some other prominent filmmakers of his era, Michael Winner clearly understood the audience psychology well and often played with it. Even his non-action sequences  had a calm and soothing effect - as if to give viewers a respite from the big bad world of crime & punishment. Just as Fyodor Dostoevsky did with his novels, Michael Winner (and some other film-makers of the 70s) did not glorify violence, but portrayed its ugly side, where there are no permanent winners and losers. The graphic and brutal depiction of violence was used infact to promote the concept of an alternative world - an utopia where there is no crime, no violence and no exploitation.

Guru Dutt : A Life In Cinema

Excerpts from Guru Dutt's biography by eminent film scholar Nasreen Munni Kabir 

Guru Dutt won a five-year scholarship of Rs.75 a month to study at the Uday Shankar India Culture Centre in Almora. Uday Shankar's father was a diwan (minister) in the service of the Maharajah of Jhalawar. When he retired, a pension permitted the family to live in Benaras while Uday Shankar moved to London with his father who practiced law but also staged musical productions in the mid-twenties. Uday Shankar had initially wanted to be a painter, and studied at the Royal College of Arts in London; but soon his passion for dance overtook his other interests. He lived in London for ten years, during which period he worked for a while with the celebrated Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. In 1929, Uday Shankar returned to India to form a troupe of dancers and musicians whom he took back to Europe to live and perform in Paris. The troupe included his younger brother, Ravi Shankar.

In 1938, Uday Shankar  returned to India to stay, and realised his

dream of opening a cultural centre forperforming arts. Uday Shankar's Centre attracted many talented musicians such as the great Ustad Allaudin Khan together with two promising disciples : his own son, Ali Akbar Khan, and Ravi Shankar, who both spent a short time at Almora. Many talented dancers also worked at the Centre, including Simke from France and Uday Shankar's wife, Amala. Madame Simkie is wellknown in Bombay for havingchoreographed the magnificent dream sequence in Raj Kapoor's Awaara(1951). The style of dancing in this dream sequence is clearly inspired by Uday Shankar's own choreography in his film Kalpana(1948). In Ravi Shankar's autobiography titled My Music, My Life (1969) Ravi Shankar describes his brother's Centre :

Uday Shankar

Uday started this culture center on almost twenty acres of land, and he constructed modern studios for dance, drama and music, with built-in stages, costume rooms, workshops and rehearsal halls. He brought in  the best known gurus of India, among them Shankaran Namboodri, the great Kathakali dancer, from whom Dada (Uday Shankar) received his own dancing training and the only real guru Dada ever had in his life. There were also Kandappan Pillai, one of the notable Bharatanatyam teachers, Manipuri guru Amobi Sinha, and even Allaudin Khan to supervise instrumental music. The center was an ideal combination of the old ashram type of school plus the modern workshop atmosphere one finds in some of the open-air institutions in the West. The teachers and the students were all very close, and Uday , with his magnetism and strong personality. kept the entire complex funtioning.

The Culture Centre attracted students from all over India, and Uday Shankar made sure that it was also possible for students of modest means like Guru Dutt to join. Uday Shankar's main criterion of selection was that a student should be genuinely interested in dance. Many students at Almora became well-known in their own right, and not only in dance but also in other disciplines. 

book : Guru Dutt : A Life In Cinema  by Nasreen Munni Kabir

Lonestar - by Norah Jones (lyrics)

Lonestar

where are you out tonight?

This feeling

I'm trying to fight

It's dark and I think that I would

Give anything

For you to shine down on me


 How far you are

I just don't know

The distance

I'm willing to go

I pick up a stone that I cast to the sky

Hoping for some kind of sign


Lonestar

where are you out tonight?

This feeling

I'm trying to fight

It's dark and I think that I would

Give anything

For you to shine down on me

For you to shine down on me

Pandit Ravi Shankar (1920-2012)

The great sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar passed away on Dec.11th at the age of 92. His name is synonymous with the Indian classical instrument sitar. It was Ravi Shankar who put Indian classical music in the world map. He was the first Indian musician to regularly perform at the world stage. His collaborations with other great musicians are legendary - esp.  association with The Beatles and his friendship with George Harrison. He also have won three Grammy awards.

Apart from being a great sitar solo performer, Ravi Shankar was also a reputed composer. His famous works include Satyajit Ray's debut film Pather Panchali(1955) and Richard Attenborough'sGandhi(1982). His daughter Anoushka Shankar also achieved fame as a sitar player. Another daughter (by American wife) is none other than the renowned jazz singer Nora Jones (of Come away with me fame.) Like many famous artists and musicians of  India, Pandit Ravi Shankar also belongs to the land rich in arts & culture - Bengal.

Shreya Ghoshal - tribute to Salilda : ni sa ga ma pa ni sa re ga ..

ga ga re pakhi ga..[2006 Bengali]
(sing sing o' bird sing...)
singer : Shreya Ghoshal 
music  : Salil Chowdhury 
lyrics   : Salil Chowdhury
 

This is the kind of song only a classicaly trained singer can sing correctly. The prodigy-turned-diva Shreya Ghoshal sings it with ease and perfection - even better than the original! If only Salilda was alive to hear this brilliant tribute !  

I am a big fan the cute & talented Shreya but I've not been a big fan of cover-versions. Yet after listening to Shreya's cover of various old-hits, I've changed my mind. Indeed, if the singers and musicians can do full justice to the original, then cover-versions are delight to hear.

Just imagine Shreya Ghoshal covering all those Golden-hits of yesteryears - mostly sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt and others - I'm sure they will sell like hot-cakes ! Alas, nothing much can be expected from the current crop of music-makers to fully utilize the talent of Shreya. So she often had to content with songs like Oh la la...You are my fantasy !

In this time of 'mass production' of singers & musicians (due to the onslaught of Realty music-shows) there are still a few precious gems in the vast sea of mediocrity. Certainly, Shreya Ghoshal is currently one of the best female singers in the world ! While listening to her divine, God-gifted talent, you feel as if ever since she's born, she did nothing else but sing, sing and sing !