Arts & Recommendations

Mahratta’s Picks

Music for the Chapel Royal

2009 marks the anniversary of the death of George Frederic Handel, the first true cosmopolitan composer of the Western tradition.  Handel’s name is synonymous with his brilliant Baroque compositions ranging from oratarios to operas to concerti.  However, the most enduring and popular (by far) of his works is the magnificent Messiah, the first of Handel’s works that cemented his name as the common-man’s composer.  This was a far cry from the religiously inspired music of Bach or the courtly compositions of Purcell – Handel can arguably be seen as the first pop musician.  However, Messiah’s incredible popularity caused some other (in my opinion equally brilliant) works to not receieve the recognition that they deserve.  Handel’s oratarios were always overshadowed by Messiah, which caused works like Music for the Chapel Royal to go down in relative obscurity.

 

Arts: Recommendations

Mahratta’s Picks

Kraftwerk

For too long, the culture of the German Democratic Republic has been associated with monolithic Stalinist edifices and neo-Prussian social discipline – a distorted view of a dynamic society.  One of the rare glimpses available into this lost culture is gained through the music of one of pop culture’s most innovative and truly brilliant ensembles – Kraftwerk.  Although the band hails from Dusseldorf, their instrumental role in the creation of an avant-garde German musical culture has not only given Germans an artistic voice from a tumultuous time but has also captured the essence and attitudes of both East and West Germany.    

 

the Model, from Kraftwerk’s 1978 release the Man Machine

 

Arts: November recommendations

Another installment!

Mahratta’s Picks

Cover art by Neil Fujita

While it may not be a new listen for me, one of my all-time favourite (and popular, to bat) jazz albums is the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s marvelous breakthrough Time Out. After their first few “Jazz”-name albums (Jazz Goes to College, Jazz at Oberlin, etc.), all excellent in their own right, the Quartet released their most well-known album.  The album entirely reflects the work of the Quartet.  The cool jazz airiness of Paul Desmond’s alto saxophone and Joe Morello’s immaculately timed drum lines contrasts brilliantly with Eugene Wright’s sometimes minimalist, sometimes walking, but never overpowering basslines and Dave Brubeck’s heavy-set, contrapuntal piano undertones. The album is almost entirely not written in common (4/4) time, another hallmark of the third-stream personifying Quartet.

 

Arts & Recommendations

Mahratta’s Picks

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading into the various philosophies and movements in continental Europe (mainly the Germanosphere) that led to the racial theories of Nazi Germany in Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke’s detailed and informative The Occult Roots of Nazism.  The book is slightly demanding when it comes to previous knowledge of 19th and 20th century German history and occult philosophy, however, this allows the author to delve into the topic and gives the book incredible depth.  The reader should have a basic knowledge of the religious / mystical movements of Gnosticism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and their social counterparts like Social Darwinism, Ariosophy, Freemasonry, and the writings of Mme. Blatavsky, among others, since the summary of these above works is painfully brief and advanced for someone who has no basic knowledge of the subject.  However, if the reader ventures into the aforementioned territory and looks into it, then this book will prove to be a real gem to the history buff and the philosophy lover alike.

 

Arts: July recommendations

Well, we’ve decided to continue with our monthly recommendations of various media:

Mahratta’s Picks

As I like to be up-to-date on events in both my home countries, I try to find reliable sources for both Indian and Canadian news.  I subscribe to a periodical on South Asian affairs called Pragati, undoubtedly the most thought-provoking periodical on Indian issues that is available on the web.  The periodical discusses affairs that affect not only the socioeconomic, military and other development of India, but also discusses issues that are global problems, like the continuation of Islamist terrorism in South Asia.  For anyone that is interesting on gaining new perspectives on global affairs and enjoys a style of writing that is similar to publications like the Economist, this periodical is ideal.

 

Arts: We recommend…

I’m sure that you are all wondering what we’ve been up to for the last month, since this blog doesn’t cover our daily lives.  Actually, I doubt you’ve been wondering, so let’s not discuss our individual exploits and acheivements (it would take decades to list) and jump to a particular new section.  We spend a great deal of time reading and checking out new sounds and sights – so we’ll let you in on our recommended reads and tunes for the month.

 

Musings: Art music – attitudes and future

It seems that the forms of music collectively known as art music, be it Western, Hindustani, Carnatic or otherwise, have now come to be known as ‘classical’ – in a niche seperate from mainstream music.  Is this good, or bad?

The growing association of art music with musical archaism, and in many cases, snobbery, has left the various forms of this art music out of the main musical stream.  In fact, it has now come to the point that art music is considered completely distinct from mainstream music so that mainstream music is considered ‘pop’ while art music remains out of this spectrum altogether.