Month: January 2011

Record store finds

NikkiLeave a comment

Last weekend our local record store Freakbeat Records had a massive sale, and I picked up some serious goods. For $5 I got the film Shine A Light (AWESOME live footage of the Rolling Stones, directed by Martin Scorsese), and for another $5 I got an LP of Ustad Vilayat Khan-Sahib and Imrat Khan-Sahib, circa 1967:


Brief(?) explanation of why this is so important to me: Vilayat Khan is one of the greatest sitarists in history, part of a musical dynasty that dates back to the 16th century (he is also my sitar teacher’s father, so in a way I am a very small branch of this incredible gharana whose members I have nothing but the greatest respect for). Vilayat Khan-Sahib’s brother Imrat Khan is one of the last great masters of surbahar, or bass sitar, an instrument that has largely died out in the past few decades. It’s already hard to find decent recordings of surbahar, which is a fascinating instrument to me…but it’s even harder to find recordings of Vilayat and Imrat Khan playing together, because they had a huge falling out and didn’t speak to each other for years. So not only is it a rare recording, it’s even more rare on vinyl (I’ve looked it up and found a few CD versions and downloads, but only two LPs on eBay, selling for about $50). Thanks to Freakbeat, I got it for 5 bucks, and who knows if I ever would have found it again!

Some videos:


Vilayat Khan (center) and Hidayat Khan performing Rageshree. So fun to watch Vijay Ghate, I love his expressions! Also, this is the rag I’m currently learning, so I was really excited to find this. :)

Imrat Khan, surbahar. Video quality isn’t that great, but a beautiful performance!

2010 in Music Videos

NikkiLeave a comment

A little bit late, but I started putting this list together at the end of last month and still wanted to share. Cool videos/songs from 2010:

Yolanda Be Cool & D Cup ft. Cleary & Harding – We No Speak Americano. Love the song, love the video! Would love to learn this, haha.

.

Arcade Fire – We Used To Wait. Really awesome interactive video using GoogleMaps and your hometown!

Janelle Monae – Tightrope. I already hyped on this one so wanted to avoid the double video post, but seriously. It belongs in the top videos (and songs) of 2010, for sure.

Honorable mentions:
Kanye West – Runaway. Not just because Alex told me to. :P I mean, it’s a full-length FILM. Pretty outrageous and cool, if you ask me. For a shorter and even catchier snippet, watch Power.

Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce – Telephone. C’mon, what Lady Gaga video isn’t great to watch (especially for the first time)? It was almost as cool as my first time watching Bad Romance (projected onto the ceiling at Mt. Washington as we all laid on the floor in amazement, haha).

Videos I didn’t like but still have to give credit to:
M.I.A. – Born Free. I could barely watch this video, it was so gruesome. But if innovation is crossing boundaries and getting people riled up, then M.I.A. certainly did that. For the record, I’ll probably never watch this again…

Katy Perry – California Gurls. What do cotton candy clouds and cupcake boobs even have to do with California?? (Well, maybe a little, but…) I am really not a fan of Katy Perry videos. The songs too are incredibly shallow/superficial, but my god they’re catchy. This, “Teenage Dream”, and “Firework” will stay stuck in my head for days on end.

That being said, 2010 was a pretty awesome year for music videos overall. I can pretty much pinpoint the exact times and places I saw each one of these, which means they must’ve had at least some sort of lasting impact. Looking forward to what 2011 has to offer!