Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Happy Pongal!
Happy Pongal everybody!
A few things of note:
Tonight is the opening of an exhibition of Natesh's drawings, when this key sketch gets real tongue is fork hen is cock, at the Madras Terrace House at 7 pm. Besides the awesome art there will be gun-shaped cookies (Natesh says, "If you can't solve a problem, eat it") and koothu music. Address and more info here.
SANGAMAM: If you're in Chennai and you haven't been to a Chennai Sangamam show yet, you're missing out. Last night in Kodambakkam there was an amazing string of performances by two phenomenal Thappattam groups... I am not sure of most names, as the Sangamam program seems to bear little relation to what actually goes on stage, but one was P. Raja's group from Panayur, and another was from Andhra... man were they good. Full acrobatics and human pyramids while dancing and pounding beats. There was also Dollu Kunitha from Karnataka (loud and wild with heavy bass drums), a very interesting Thavil - Nadhaswaram - Urumi - Bembi group from Thirunelveli (mighty strange grooves), a fabulous Villu Pattu performance, a 5-year-old Silambattam expert, fire-eaters, and finally--live and direct from Thanjavur--"கிராமிய இசைப்புயல்" (the village-music cyclone) Chinnaponnu Kumar, who was in full voice and awesomeness.
On FRIDAY a lot of the same people are (according to the schedule--I hope it's reliable this time) performing in Perumbur at the Corporation School Play Ground, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar. After Chinnaponnu, Grace Karunas will be singing. Terrific line-up and not to be missed.
A few things of note:
Tonight is the opening of an exhibition of Natesh's drawings, when this key sketch gets real tongue is fork hen is cock, at the Madras Terrace House at 7 pm. Besides the awesome art there will be gun-shaped cookies (Natesh says, "If you can't solve a problem, eat it") and koothu music. Address and more info here.
SANGAMAM: If you're in Chennai and you haven't been to a Chennai Sangamam show yet, you're missing out. Last night in Kodambakkam there was an amazing string of performances by two phenomenal Thappattam groups... I am not sure of most names, as the Sangamam program seems to bear little relation to what actually goes on stage, but one was P. Raja's group from Panayur, and another was from Andhra... man were they good. Full acrobatics and human pyramids while dancing and pounding beats. There was also Dollu Kunitha from Karnataka (loud and wild with heavy bass drums), a very interesting Thavil - Nadhaswaram - Urumi - Bembi group from Thirunelveli (mighty strange grooves), a fabulous Villu Pattu performance, a 5-year-old Silambattam expert, fire-eaters, and finally--live and direct from Thanjavur--"கிராமிய இசைப்புயல்" (the village-music cyclone) Chinnaponnu Kumar, who was in full voice and awesomeness.
P. Raja Panayur Thappattam Troupe
at Corporation Ground, Kodambakkam, Chennai
On FRIDAY a lot of the same people are (according to the schedule--I hope it's reliable this time) performing in Perumbur at the Corporation School Play Ground, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar. After Chinnaponnu, Grace Karunas will be singing. Terrific line-up and not to be missed.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Sat-Isabgol
by Rakesh
We had a house guest recently who was suffering from some, uh, personal plumbing problems, and I had occasion to remark at the sheer genius of the Sat-Isabgol box.
I mean, look at those fonts! Look at that telephone! Have you ever seen such a beautiful package design in your life?
Here it is again in Hindi from the other side of the box:
Wow.
Friday, January 1, 2010
"Vocal Chanting" from the next Tamil Nadu Superstar
From his relatively low Youtube view counts, it seems that not nearly enough people are hip to the infectious dance grooves of Tamil Nadu's very own Wilbur Sargunaraj. Please dig the following videos, then go forth and spread the word.
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