communist candy

Hubertus took some Russian candy from Magdeburg. It reminded me of the candy from behind the Iron curtain, I tasted when my parents visited Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, long long long before these countries ceased to excist. The taste of Ersatz made me think: "Is this the taste of socialism?"

everything has already been done

twice.

the charm of the unfamiliar

Fuelled by nostalgia and longing for their homeland, peasants from the inland, European immigrants and creoles shared poverty and disillusions about their golden dream of Argentina in the immigrant packed conventillo houses. They acted out in violent music and dance in the patios and brothels of Buenos Aires, accompanied by violin, guitar, flute and bandoneón. Thus, the genesis of the tango. To see this longing for the homeland emulated by those desperately longing for a faraway place (the essence of exotism) by the very inhabitants of the fatherland of the inventors of tango is a reversed “mise en abyme” to say the least. Think Malando, Joseph Schmidt, Pjotr Leschenkov and Olavi Virta.

karoshi

The country that gave us the term "Madogawazoku", literally seat by the window for marginalized business men presents us with "Karoshi", literally work til you drop. Apparently, Japanese children regularly pick their parents up from work to prevent them from working themselves to death. Reminds me of my grandfather who frequented local bars as a Good Templar back in the 20s, picking up alcoholics and taking them home on the back of his bicycle.

Two more

OP Nayyar classic "Yeh hai reshmi zulfonka andhera" interpreted by Asha Bhosle for Mere Sanam (1965). The original recording has no reverb effect. Asha Parekh is the star in this clip. The movie also features a duet with ASha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi.





"Chun chun ghunghroo bole" is the OP Nayyar song from Phagun (1958) in which Madhubala portrays a gypsie girl. Asha Bhosle's voice is enchanting. Ghungroos are the small bells tied to the legs of Indian dancers.

Bollywood oldies

As a little boy, on our family´s holidays to Spain, I would lie in my tent in the middle of the day tuning in to Moroccan or Algerian radio stations to listen to the strange and exotic music from across the Mediterranean. This knack for what is now called `world music´ (I guess as opposed to unworldly music, by Ligeti, Berio, Penderecki and the likes)has taken me from the Mahreb (Cheb Khaled) and Egypt (Um Khalsum) accross the Levant (Wadi al-Safi) and Pakistan (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) to India. It started with a compilation of Raj Kapoor's early work and it fanned out from there. By now the whole family can sing along tunes like "Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo" without knowing what the songs are all about. Much to my amazement, Youtube has recently seen a bunch of clips from Bollywood oldies. After decades, I finally get to see the faces that go with the music. Well, not actually, because the songs were performed by Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle.