India

I am going to India from August 1 - 22 with my parents and brother, Neil. We haven't traveled together to India since 2002, and so I'm especially excited that this trip will be shared as a nearly complete family (Neetu will be greatly missed). I felt an especially deep calling to India this year, and I don't know why. I think being in Germany and therefore away from my two homelands has made me reflect even more on my identity and what it consists of. It's easy to hop from Indian to American culture and back and not even have to think about it...when I'm in India or America, that is. Germany is a bit different. I now live in a neutral third party where I can't cling to former identities. I had a hard time with this at first, but after thinking about it and sorting things out with Neetu (my brilliant sister whose main research deals with cultural/immigrant identity issues), I realized that 1). I don't have to define myself based on anyone else's definitions or expectations (aka "you speak broken Hindi and therefore you aren't Indian" - I say BS to that, and won't prescribe to what someone tells me about who I am) and 2). being Indian-American and therefore having a 'mixed idenitity' is beautiful for just that reason - it's not the former or the latter, but rather something that can be defined based on what values one chooses to preserve from both cultures. For example, my cousin in Germany is raising Ahren, my nephew, to speak Marwari and Marathi fluently. At the age of 4, he has a wonderful command of Marwari. Contras this with my Indian tongue, which is somewhat functional but is more or less a mess of three different languages awkwardly strung together. It's something that I will sort out via Hindi classes once I move back to the States, or rather, once my German is fluent enough to my liking. Didi, however, allows Ahren to eat meat, something that our Marwari culture does not support. I personally do not desire to ever eat meat nor will I raise children who do. The question here is not over who is wrong or right, but rather, which values we've both chosen to uphold. It's all relative from person to person, family to family. Being someone who is very interested in languages and cultures in the world at large, I'm sure that I'll always have identity issues. And in the end, they're good for us - they build character. Understanding comes, however, when I realize that I am who I am and that's all that matters.

Imagine

Hi! I know I've not written for awhile, and I will later when I have more time. However, I just listened to John Lennon's "Imagine" and as cliche as it is, I have to put the lyrics up because they really speak truth. Enjoy :) Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today... Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace... You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world... You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one

save the world? Hm.

...or at least the Fjords in Norway. A friend sent me an interesting email concerning a discussion she had with someone else. They were talking about the planet and its doom etc. etc. and this person said, "I think we need to work from a more love-based perspective rather than from a fear-driven one." I know, that sounds all yoga-y and New Age but that comment taps into something that underlies the basic reason for discord on the planet. Fear. I prefer to not define it as "good" or "bad" but rather a powerful emotion & instinct that influences everyone in some way or another. Fear has its place, but when problem solving in general, it's probably not the best stance to work from. I've never had kids, but from what I understand, the best parents work from love and not fear. The earth is like a child for all of us in that we have to take care of it and do the best we can to ensure for a safe future. I understand that not everyone can go out and afford a hybrid car, but such drastic changes aren't required on everyone's behalf (cracking down on overfishing in the oceans - see an earlier entry - = drastic change that should happen.). It's all about the greatness in small things. Since living in Europe, I feel as though my lifestyle is very different and much more aware. For example, I can't think of the last time I used a dryer for my clothes, I use candles all the time when serving dinner and in other instances in order to save electricity, and I take a shower for about 7 minutes during which most of the time the water is turned off. I have yet to see one garbage disposal in a sink here (everyone composts) and the German system of recycling is one of the most efficient and well organized I've ever come across. Europeans keep their heating on an absolute minimum, and while the chilly temperature does initially take some getting used to, there is much more sense in the end in putting on an extra sweater than upping the thermostat. Europeans have had to adapt to the conservationist lifestyle early on simply because their natural resources are so limited. It's as though America's greatest strength (our abundance of natural resources) fuels and provokes our greatest weakness (our need for excessive luxury and comfort - I mean, large Italian restaurants who require tomato paste aside, do we really need electronic can openers?). Our ability to change and innovate as a collective group is perhaps the most amazing aspect of human civilization. It has gotten us this far in our survival on this planet, and I don't see why it can't take us even further.

I have the memory of a goldfish...

...meaning I forget everything every 5 minutes. Please read this and help accordingly. Pass it along to anyone who can contribute something. Thanks! Dear Friends and Collective Wisdom, Most of you know me from my stream of press releases and information about the artists I represent. Today, I'm writing to ask for your help in connection with a unique event: the Iraq Summer Performing Arts Academy in Erbil, Northern Iraq, July 14 - 22, 2007. American Voices (http://www.americanvoices.org/), a not-for-profit organization based in Houston, is partnering with the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraqi Ministries of Culture in Baghdad and Kurdistan to create a Summer study program for Iraq's young musicians and dancers and its established cultural institutions. including the School of Music and Dance in Baghdad, the Iraq National Symphony Orchestras and the Orchestras of Erbil and Suleimaniya, the Iraq National Folk Dancing Ensemble and the Institutes of Fine Arts of Erbil, Kirkuk and Suleimaniya. This will reach approximately 250 Iraqis, with the emphasis on young people aged 14 to 25. A faculty of ten cultural specialists from the U.S. will introduce music and dance students from throughout the country to Jazz, Broadway, Hip Hop and other uniquely American performing arts. In addition to the educational elements of this program, three gala concert evenings on July 17, 21 and 22 will culminate in all of Iraq’s three orchestras united for the first time on one stage. This is where I'm asking for your help. Would any of you be able to donate or give us some ideas of where we could get donations of the following scores and parts for Mozart, Schubert or Haydn quartets and any standard rep quintets or trios (especially Haydn & Mozart)? If you can help with any of these items, please contact me at jamesarts@worldnet.att.net. Your help is greatly appreciated and will be a tremendous gesture of good will toward the people of Iraq. Many thanks and all good wishes, Jeffrey James -- Jeffrey James Arts Consulting 45 Grant Avenue Farmingdale, NY 11735 USA Tel: 516-586-3433 E-mail: jamesarts@worldnet.att.net Website: http://www.jamesarts.com

Oh yeah!

I forgot: I am going to Finland this summer from July 13-31 for the Kuhmo Music Festival! Scandinavia! Yay! I will be in the States afterwards from August 1 or so until mid September, so for 4-5 weeks. Let me know if you'll be in Chicago at some point...I am also hoping to possibly visit Bostonians & New Yorkers for a week.

Gig

I haven't written in a long time. I've thought about writing, but nothing has struck me as terribly exciting or unusual. I've been very busy with rehearsals, lessons, and some gigs, but it's all just part of the daily grind. I did a gig this past weekend for Pfingsten, or Whit Sunday - the seventh Sunday after Easter. I don't really know why it's important, but it's a national holiday nevertheless in all of Germany, and everything is also closed on Monday, or Pfingsten/Whit Monday. We played in a town called Rheda-Wiedenbrueck. It's 1.5 hours from Detmold so we stayed overnight at church choir members' houses. I stayed with a very nice couple - middle-aged with three daughters in their early 20s. They were very suburban, "All-American" types; it sounds strange to describe Germans as All-American, but I can't find a better description for people who are all about the 2.5 kids + a dog deal. The mother has been practicing yoga for the last 10 years, which I found way cool. I've met too many people who are very Christian and actively attend church, and claim that yoga is something from the Devil, so this was a breath of fresh air. Christians in Europe tend to be a lot more liberal than Christians in the States. On Saturday night after the mass, a choir member and her husband hosted a church potluck dinner/BBQ in a barn on their pig farm. We even visited a Mama sow who had just given birth to 13 adorable piglets. I felt like I was in Aledo again (a tiny town of 3,000 in the rural Midwest where I grew up until the age of eight). During the mass, I observed that one of the priests in the church (which was a massive old baroque-styled cathedral...quite beautiful) was Indian. I didn't speak with him, but just heard him reciting liturgical texts in German with a strong Indian accent. It was interesting because I've never met/seen an Indian Catholic priest in India or America, let alone in Europe. I would have liked to meet and talk to him in person, but I didn't think it'd be a good idea to walk up to the altar in the middle of Mass! Sadly, I have nothing more to report. I have been reading The Onion, though, lately, and that's got a great deal of humorous things to report. Check it out: www.theonion.com xo

Pain & Bach

We are currently rehearsing and eventually performing (this weekend) Bach's Mass in b minor. By we, I mean the school's baroque academy, so we're playing with baroque bows. Like every other musician, I have always held Bach as a sort of god on Earth, but besides the Ciaconna for violin (the piece that made me want to play the instrument), I've not felt as moved by Bach's work as this Mass. It deals with existential questions of "Who are we?", "What is life?" and so on. For me, however, it also addresses a big part of life on Earth - pain. I'm reminded of a quotation I read: "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." If you listen to Bach's b minor Mass, you will hear, in the more anguished movements (particularly "Qui tollis peccata mundi" or "Who takes away the sins of the world"), something reaching out and continuing. From this dark and deep point of the Mass, the music and motifs come forth and are actually reborn. Rebirth and rejuvenation are not ideas only from the east - they're found everywhere in Bach's music. And you find these ideas most often in the desperate and forlorn works. I think this idea indescribably beautiful. And hopeful. You don't have to suffer with pain. You just have to learn from it and channel the energy towards creating something new.