Just Add Some Drums
The weather is better today. Mostly cumulus clouds and just some small snow areas up around Stok Kangri. It's still cold, though, and I think everyone here appreciates the sunny mornings. I sit in the garden and warm up slowly with a coffee before breakfast.
Met with Ghulam Hussain at Skarchen again this morning to talk about Balti music. Together with the organization KASCO in Kargil they have produced 10 music cassettes with Balti ghazals (secular songs). Each cassette contains four old ghazals, for with lyrics by famous contemporary Balti poets, and four with lyrics written by aspiring poets. The idea is to create an awareness about the music among the Balti people and to give aspiring Balti poets a platform (and make some money too, I guess). Some songs have become local hits and these cassettes have sold around 5 000 copies. Now they are moving into music videos. The music sounds basically Balti but have been changed to fit a 4/4 drum beat and shortened to the length of pop songs. This is essential to reach young people, says Ghulam Hussain.
In a few minutes I will be meeting Sonam Joldan at the Unemployed Youth's Cafe. It is perhaps fitting since he has not yet found a job after getting his PhD. He wants to help out with my transport arrangements to Kargil but I think I have made a decent deal with my guest house. It's not exactly high season here. I want to keep the car with me in Kargil and they don't charge extra for that. It's a big, comfortable Toyota Qualis driven by Stanzin whom I know from last year's visit. I'll see what he says about it.
The cats peaked out again. The kittens are too small to play yet but they readily eat whatever the guests offer them if you leave them alone. I told the cat rescue squad that Alice thought it would be a better idea for the cats to live across the road. But they said it is dangerous since they would have to cross the road all the time when looking for food.
I finally finished the brick sized "short history of almost everything" (that I didn't really want to know). Now I'm reading Tom Wolfe's "The Bonfire of Vanities" (?), a novel about the social disintegration in New York in the 80's. I'm also trying to read an introduction to Islam.
Met with Ghulam Hussain at Skarchen again this morning to talk about Balti music. Together with the organization KASCO in Kargil they have produced 10 music cassettes with Balti ghazals (secular songs). Each cassette contains four old ghazals, for with lyrics by famous contemporary Balti poets, and four with lyrics written by aspiring poets. The idea is to create an awareness about the music among the Balti people and to give aspiring Balti poets a platform (and make some money too, I guess). Some songs have become local hits and these cassettes have sold around 5 000 copies. Now they are moving into music videos. The music sounds basically Balti but have been changed to fit a 4/4 drum beat and shortened to the length of pop songs. This is essential to reach young people, says Ghulam Hussain.
In a few minutes I will be meeting Sonam Joldan at the Unemployed Youth's Cafe. It is perhaps fitting since he has not yet found a job after getting his PhD. He wants to help out with my transport arrangements to Kargil but I think I have made a decent deal with my guest house. It's not exactly high season here. I want to keep the car with me in Kargil and they don't charge extra for that. It's a big, comfortable Toyota Qualis driven by Stanzin whom I know from last year's visit. I'll see what he says about it.
The cats peaked out again. The kittens are too small to play yet but they readily eat whatever the guests offer them if you leave them alone. I told the cat rescue squad that Alice thought it would be a better idea for the cats to live across the road. But they said it is dangerous since they would have to cross the road all the time when looking for food.
I finally finished the brick sized "short history of almost everything" (that I didn't really want to know). Now I'm reading Tom Wolfe's "The Bonfire of Vanities" (?), a novel about the social disintegration in New York in the 80's. I'm also trying to read an introduction to Islam.
posted by JM at 1:14 AM
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