I've most certainly blogged about this before. My preferred means of waking up is to a radio alarm. I love to wake up with music. I'm the deep sleeping kind of species, so the music first seems like a dream, then ever so slowly my senses kind of wake up to the tune first, the beat next and finally the language. Even when I'm fully awake, lyrics don't get to seep through, somehow. Of late, I've been hearing music with vague time signatures - you know, the kinds that aren't normal 4/4 beats but 10/8 like some of Yanni's pieces, or this Finnish band called Varttina that seems to specialize in 7/4 beats.
Radio stations in Bangalore have definitely changed since I left Bangalore earlier in the decade. Now there are no solely English speaking RJs - they all speak a blend of English and Kannada - more Kannada than English. Most of the FM stations are dedicated totally to Kannada. I think prioritizing your regional language to preserve culture/heritage etc is all fine and important, but you can't coerce an entire city that's fairly multi-cultured to hear nothing but Kannada. There has to be some kind of balance. These glib Kannada speaking RJs alternately seem to play Hindi, Kannada and English songs as interchangeably as they speak different languages. Bangalore as I remember it during 2000-2002 was definitely not this way.
The saving grace is that I set my alarm for 6 AM, which is before these RJs come on air so I get to hear music - eclectic as you might guess, but still passable. This morning I heard some Ram bhajan which was nice, and then it was followed by the unmistakable sound of Rock, in a pentatonic scale. I'm ok with that unannounced switch to Rock from Hindustani classical - anything seems better than an RJ that speaks three languages, all three of them severely accented.
With due respect to regional cultures and languages, I think we need to respect the fact that other cultures too have developed music worth hearing. I don't at all think its a slur to our culture to agree that Jazz or The Blues are heavenly forms of music. So why can't the city have just one station dedicated to playing rock, or jazz or blues? We can have 5 FM channels belting out the latest Kannada hits.
There's space for all.
Radio stations in Bangalore have definitely changed since I left Bangalore earlier in the decade. Now there are no solely English speaking RJs - they all speak a blend of English and Kannada - more Kannada than English. Most of the FM stations are dedicated totally to Kannada. I think prioritizing your regional language to preserve culture/heritage etc is all fine and important, but you can't coerce an entire city that's fairly multi-cultured to hear nothing but Kannada. There has to be some kind of balance. These glib Kannada speaking RJs alternately seem to play Hindi, Kannada and English songs as interchangeably as they speak different languages. Bangalore as I remember it during 2000-2002 was definitely not this way.
The saving grace is that I set my alarm for 6 AM, which is before these RJs come on air so I get to hear music - eclectic as you might guess, but still passable. This morning I heard some Ram bhajan which was nice, and then it was followed by the unmistakable sound of Rock, in a pentatonic scale. I'm ok with that unannounced switch to Rock from Hindustani classical - anything seems better than an RJ that speaks three languages, all three of them severely accented.
With due respect to regional cultures and languages, I think we need to respect the fact that other cultures too have developed music worth hearing. I don't at all think its a slur to our culture to agree that Jazz or The Blues are heavenly forms of music. So why can't the city have just one station dedicated to playing rock, or jazz or blues? We can have 5 FM channels belting out the latest Kannada hits.
There's space for all.
5 comments:
hey hey hey!!!
it's been pretty long! I am glad you're back to writing!
Wow! somehow I've never heard of radio alarms before!! Yes I am not an 'alarm' person. Not at all infact!
But get worldspace radio?? I belive they have dedicated channels for each genre?
HI ...!!I wonder how you get up without alarms...do you mean you just wake up everyday with no external push? I tried worldspace when I was in Delhi - it had some very good channels (Upcountry was one of my favorites for country music).The point is I'm lazy...I need to get the time to go and renew my subscription. I will manage it one of these days.
Wassup with you? A month and more and no posts.
hey hi! how have you been?
and yes, world space is the way to go.
i cant deal with alarms first thing in the morning,for everything else i rely on it.. for cooking, to remember small lil things around the house etc.
but i have to wake up on my own or the entire day ahead gets runied.. but then i am not so fond of sleeping either
anyway, how goes life? work? do u still play the guitar late nights in the balcony? :)
Hey!! An alarm first thing in the morning is very annoying. Yes I wake up on my own but that is also because I have come to accept the fact that I am not an early morning person and I do not push myself to wake up at 6am or 7am. You can also blame the fact that I have the luxury to be a little late at work.
And yes I should post soon. Very soon.
Scribble - Hi!!! Ages of lull, and here you are. Yes :-), I'm still playing in the balcony...scales are the latest flavor. I was in Delhi recently for a week (end Sep) and went to my guitar teacher for 2 classes I could squeeze in. He's given enough to practice till I go there again in December. The good thing here is that it rains ever so frequently and the balcony is fairly well covered (the awning stretches well beyond the balcony so you don't get wet). Playing in that kind of atmosphere feels almost sublime.
....I know, the comforts of sauntering into office at 11 AM or so. I used to have those luxuries in Delhi. Of all the things in Delhi I'd never thought I'd miss, I'm missing the masala chai. I was that Englishman kind of species in Delhi, drinking mild Twinings..and now I'm pining for the local stuff when its off bounds! C'est la vie.
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