Noiseman433

Video and interview

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:45:25 GMT

We (il Troubadore) had the pleasure of being interviewed by Dave Lindquist of the Indianapolis Star. The interview was videotaped as were several of our tunes though only one, "Sacred Land" (written by Robert and me), is a part of the video. Here's the link to it:

www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article

Enjoy!

blog

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:42:38 GMT

I'm blogging over here now:
http://blog.silpayamanant.com

long time

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:56:34 GMT

no post

:D

Wedding Photos

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 09:35:48 GMT

freshly veiled:

under the chuppah:

learning some Eastern European Dances from the Louisville Ethnic Dancers while trying to not trip over the kiddies (right):

playing some world music:

more later

another Noiseman433 interview

Mon, 21 May 2007 05:21:59 GMT

So Jonathon of Brazil wanted to interview me as "Noiseman433." Here is that interview (my answers in bold):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is there any sort of singular philosophy or manifesto across the board as to why noise exists as a movement? Or do some people just like to be obnoxiously loud.

I guess there's as much of a singular philosophy for noise as there is for any other genre of music. Meaning that some people think there is one and others don't and still others don't really care. And there seems to have been a shift that corresponded (as i does in other musical genres) to shift in technologies like the availability of home recording due to magnetic tapes in the 80s, and now digital distribution through the web.

There are purists in any genre, noise included, but that seems to be a age related divide (again just like any genre) with the older artists wanting some measure of "quality control" and the younger artists [often] just wanting to be "obnoxiously loud."

What was your first exposure to avant-garde composition and performance art?

I remember when I was twelve and first listened to my father's records of Bartok's string quartets. It took me all of 10 seconds of listening before I said to myself "that's just a bunch of noise" and pulled the needle off the record (now the Bartok string quartets are some of my favorite pieces of music, and not for the same reasons).

Otherwise, playing classical music often gives people a chance to perform at least some modern or avant-garde composition. That would have been in the early 90's for me. By the mid 90's I had pretty much decided not to play classical music anymore (for various reasons) and moved off into "experimental land" to play around with any object that would mak a sound or see what kinds of strange things I could do with my voice.

By '97 I finally heard a Merzbow recording and that was the end of "experimenting with sounds" and the beginning of experimenting with noise.

Was that when you decided to change your life and pick up a circular saw?

Yeah, pretty much. Up until 2003 I tried to see how much racket I could make with effects, circuit bent toys, pieces of metal, etc.

I never really did the power tools thing, and unlike Yamatsuka Eye, I value my limbs enough to not want to fool around with a circular saw in live performances (though I have broken fingers while beating on sheet metal with my fists).

Has anyone ever walked out/get visually angry/etc during one of your noise performances? Perhaps they didn't quite know what they were getting into?

Oh yes--one of my favorite shows to play was in St' Louis where it was a multi-genre thing. Most of the people there were fans of some goth band so didn't really know anything about the noise acts hat were there (I was one of two that night).

My set lasted all of a minute and a half, during which a large group of the goth chicks ran out of the venue (for their troubles they got mugged at gunpoint right outside the door of the venue). I walked away from that with bleeding and swollen hands to someone yelling "encore" above the wild applause.

Your educational background would make C3PO look like Rain Man in comparison. Do you incorporate those concepts (i.e. neurolinguistics, etc) into your work?

In my performance art pieces and more subtle experimental music performances, yes. In noise, no.

Well, a healthy knowledge of how some frequencies affect people psychologically can be good if I wanted to use subharmonic frequencies (like a noise artist called SICKNESS) in my work to cause the audience to get nauseous, for example. But eh, that's too much trouble--I'm usually focused on listening to the sound that's coming out to see how I can manipulate it in real time to bother with that.

Germany and Japan seem to have had their noise heyday over the last 20 years or so (Einsturzende, Merzbow, etc). Where are the good noise artists coming from these days?

There have actually always been some great noise artists in the states. The Japanese folks just tend to a bit, um, "over-represented" I guess. Granted, some of that is just because of the kinds of personality cults that seem to follow some of the more flashy acts like the [aforementioned] Yamatsuka Eye and Masonna.

But some good acts are coming out from all over the world now, really. And the types of live performances have shifted away from the dangerous and [sometimes] self-destructive ones to things that seem to border on perfomance art or simply lap-top (some noise people call it "crap-top") live shows.

But as to where to look now--well, Northern Europe, especially Scandinavia, has been churning out some interesting acts over the past few years, and recently China has been showing a growing scene--I'd keep an eye there for sure for future good noise acts.

In the 80s, it seemed like a hefty percentage of a noise artist's audience would be from the punk/transgressive crowd. Is this the same today?

In the US that was never really the case. And in Britain, well, Whitehouse's power electronics was more the fad, in keeping with the overall feel of the "post-Throbbing Gristle" scene. I don't think the punk and noise crowd ever really overlapped in Anglo audiences (with the exception of some midwestern acts). And it's still really like that now.

In Japan and Germany, however, there's a relatively healthy interaction of all kinds of underground musicians though with the latter it was more the Industrial scene rather than "pure" noise acts. I think that's even truer today.

I mean really--how often have you seen any noise acts performing with (at either the local or national level) punks, goths, or other transgressive sub-cultures?

Is there any relation between the noise scene and the ambient drone movement that seems to have gained popularity over the last two years?

Sure--alot of artists from both scenes often perform together, and are sometimes influenced by each other. In Japan one writer has even noted that the "fourth generation" of noise artists are doing the minimalist drone type sound (he referenced Sachiko M and Otomo Yoshihide).

That divisiveness I mentioned in US scenes, however, has kept one particular group relatively separate despite how often they might work together in, say, Japan--the experimental IDM which obviously overlaps the dance communities like that goths and rave scenes. Need I mention the goth crowd that swarmed out of my performance in St. Louis again? ;)

What's the most bone-crushing sound you've discovered during your tenure as a noise artist?

That I've heard or made? The former might have to be hearing the tear gas bombs that the Eugenics Council is fond of using during live shows. At least for the brief microsecond that it sounds.

Myself--well, that's dependant on how many effects I decide to link together--I usually use linear chains, personally, but there seems to be a middle ground between too many effects and too few effects that creates a maximal wall of sound. If I can feel the bass frequencies vibrating my body and the high frequencies hurting my ears just on this side of damaging them then I'm usually happy.

How much further down can the noise genre be subclassified? (i.e. power electronics, etc)

Oh sweet Buddha--it can go down as far as, or as little as you want. I think the same thing applies here with regards to the age of the artist. But most noise people, just as in any other genre, just use the "good noise" and "bad noise" classifications.

I don't think there is much practical use in going beyond the noise sub-genres like power electronics and dark ambient, myself.

For someone just getting into the noise phenomena, which records would you recommend as starting points for the aurally uninitiated?

I gave this list in another interview years ago, but I still pretty much stand by it as a good stating point for people just getting into noise:

1) Merzbow 1930
Tzadik Records
http://www.tzadik.com/CDSections/NewJapan/merzbow.html

2) Masonna Frequency LSD
Alien8 Recordings
http://www.alien8recordings.com/frequency.php3

3) SICKNESS I Have Become the Disease that Made Me
Groundfault Recordings
http://www.groundfault.net/gf020.htm

4) TEF/Prurient/Richard Ramirez Magnified Healing
TEF/Hospital Productions split label release
http://hospitalproductions.com/hos-069/

5) Stimbox Lupus Tuberculoso
Tabula Rasa Dermatology Series
TABULA RASA, c/o Antonio Fernández, Avda. Constitución, nº 8, 28280 - El Escorial, Madrid - Spain
tabularasabar@hotmail.com

6) Kazumoto Endo While You Were Out
BOXmedia and Philosophy Shop split label release
http://www.boxmedia.com/catalog/productdetail.asp?prodID=BOXCD011

7) Incapacitants As Loud As Possible
Info here: http://www.japanimprov.com/incapa/disco/possible.html
Zabriskie Point, USA, POINT 13

8) Whitehouse Great White Death
Susan Lawly
http://www.susanlawly.freeuk.com/textfiles/gwdreview.html

9) Japanese/American Noise Treaty
Release Entertainment (sub label of Relapse Records)
http://www.releaseentertainment.com

10) Merzbow Merzbox
Extreme Records
http://xtr.com/merzbox/

Do you have any mainstream pop guilty pleasures?

Sure, plenty.

Top record of 07 so far?

I haven't listened to a single noise album that was released this year yet. I'm still kinda "on hiatus" from that scene.

How was it that Thai culture discovered the orgasmic taste combination of peanut, rice noodle, and lime?

It has to do with Thai culinary theory, which comes from its ancient roots in Chinese culture (the Thais are said to have been a southern Chinese tribe that migrated south out of China--it's still reflected in the numerous Chinese loan words in the Thai language, which like most Chinese dialects, is a tonal language). Basically it's due to the ideal of a "harmonious blending of the five flavors."

Or, I guess you could also say, "ancient Chinese secret." :P

il Troubadore Asia tour 2008

Mon, 21 May 2007 01:12:39 GMT

next September

We've got preliminary dates for the Taiwan Asian Tribal Belly Dance festival and possibly the Kuta Karnival in Bali. We're hoping to hit Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, mainland China, and possibly Singapore. I'll probably arrange it so that Thailand is the last show of the tour so I can just stay there for a bit afterwards and visit with my mother and family.

Why belly dancers, anyway? (part 2) "...from high art to folk art to martial art"

Sat, 19 May 2007 19:09:22 GMT

here's part 2 (continued from part one here: part 1 link )
photo above: il Troubadore with the Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre ( www.gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org ) by Loudermilk Studios (August 4, 2006) inside Precious Mettles ( www.preciousmettlesart.com/ ) after an impromptu street performance.

So my personal interest in working with belly dancers, as I said in the previous post, began in 1999. But going back to the third section of that post--I won't go into any great detail of some of my experiences since I can't even count the number of recitals and full scale productions I've either been to or participated in (the latter being something more appropriate for my CV--which is woefully incomplete: www.troubadore.com/silpayamanant/cv/ ). But here are some highlights (with spare details since I'm still in the process of archiving some of these experiences):

* "Giselle" (January 1995) French Ballet by Adolphe Adam. This was the first full scale ballet production I got to see. It was during an off day in London while I was on tour in the UK. Basically I was walking the streets and someone offered his tickets to me for a dress rehearsal of the production at Covent Gardens. Who was I to turn down free tickets to a professional Ballet, eh? It was a spectacular experience, to say the least.

* "African Dance" workshop and performance (ca. 1995). So yeah, this was probably my first public dance performance. Prince Julius Adeniyi ( www.indyarts.org/artist_detail.aspx ), the artistic director of "Drums of West Africa" came to DePauw fairly regularly to do performances and workshops. This year I decided to do the African dance workshop. After the workshop was a performance with the "Drums of West Africa"--and I am eternally grateful that there is no video of this (well, I hope there isn't, anyway). :P

* "Performance Art, Culture, and Pedagogy" Symposium ( www.sova.psu.edu/arted/pro...96perf.htm ) at Penn State (November 1996) Workshops. This was a four day Symposium I attended in '96. Four days of lectures, presentations, performances, and workshops--it was quite intense. Ironically, despite having taken both Jeff McMahon ( www.jeffmcmahonprojects.net/perf....html ) and Tim Miller's ( hometown.aol.com/millertal...erbio.html ) workshops--both of whom are dancers--it was in the workshops with Rachel Rosenthal ( www.rachelrosenthal.org/r2career.html ) that I got to do anything closely relating to dance (I also attended the William Pope L and Robbie McCauley workshops). This was probably my first real formal introduction to modern and experimental dance in any form from a performer's standpoint.

* "Einstein at the Hub" (ca. 1997) a production with music composed by my friend, Jeff Radcliffe ( www.tinctoris.com ); and "lyrics" by Jeff and Colin Leary. Basically a parody of Philip Glass' multi-media staged production "Einstein on the Beach" that I had the pleasure of performing in for the DePauw student playwright's festival. Eric Lamb, a classically trained dancer, was the "hub fairy" for the first two performances of the production until an "accident" left him unable to finish the last two. I cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of the young lady that filled in for him for the last two shows. I was one of the three "speakers" in the piece. The speakers read from a text that was just a collection of quotes recorded at the Hub--the campus food court--and "prices" (e.g. "$3.49", "$1.20", etc.).

* "Future Imperfect" (March 1999) This was a multi-media production that I had a hand in organizing while I was the Performance-Artist-in-Residence at the (now defunct) "Art Loft" in Indianapolis. My friend, Lynda Arnold ( www.divasonic.com/ ), was the featured dancer (and also the gallery director/owner of the Art Loft) and did interpretive dance to the live music of Brian Paulson while I was otherwise engaged in "activities" that didn't include stepping on fortune cookies and eating the fortunes like the premiere production we did at the opening of the gallery. It's a looong story for another time, so I'll leave you with that imagery for now.

* "Performative Sites: Intersecting Art, Technology and the Body" Symposium (October 2000) at Penn State ( www.outreach.psu.edu/news/ma...ive.html ) Workshops and impromptu performances. This was the second of what was going to be a continual series of Symposiums at Penn State, but it ended up being the last. I participated in the workshops by Sarah East Johnson of the acrobatic/dance/theatre group LAVA ( www.lavalove.org/about.html ) and by Goat Island ( www.goatislandperformance.org/goa....htm ). I also participated in a couple of performances with Tomas Mulready (the director of the now defunct Cleveland Performance Art Festival) and with performance artists Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Roberto Sifuentes, Juan Ybarra during their "Aztechnology" ( www.pochanostra.com/antes/ja...page2.htm ) performance (check out some of the photos I took from that show here: troubadore.com/gallery/28-October-2000 especially the after performance photo of us: troubadore.com/gallery/28...-2000/img01 ). Other than hanging out with Guillermo, Roberto, and Juan for those four days I think the biggest highlight was seeing Osseus Labyrint's ( www.osseuslabyrint.net ) performance. Osseus Labyrint is an experimental movement based duo (and Hannah and Mark are probably two of the nicest and least pretentious people I know) that took their queue from Japanese Butoh when it was the rage on the West Coast back in the 80's. They do things with their bodies that are even more inhuman than anything Rachel Brice does... ;)

* "Capoeira Workshop" (ca. spring 2001) I cannot, for the life of me, even remember the name of the group that did this workshop--or if this is even the correct year (it was probably much earlier), but after this I knew I was hooked. It was a workshop in Capoeira Angola, which is incredibly difficult to do as it requires tons of leg endurance--this isn't the fast flashy stuff most people associate with the Brazilian martial arts form--but the very slow, almost meditative for that spends alot of time low to the ground style. The warm up alone took nearly 45 minutes and wore me out. I still occasionally practice when I feel motivated--and more than anything I want to play the instruments (especially the berimbau) and learn more songs--and not just because that means il Troubadore will be performing any--really not... :P!! Once I get settled in N'Albany--I will be looking for a Roda to "play" in...

This is hardly exhaustive--and I may never completely remember all my dance related experiences/performances. For example, during the period between '96-'98 I likely did well over a hundred performance art type performances in various settings. A number of them included either pieces that I wrote and choreographed (some of which may forever be lost) and some of which I performed from others' "scores" (the Fluxus art "movement", for example, produced hundreds of "event scores" which were sets of directions of actions an artist is to perform).

There are also some odd experiences that il Troubadore has had, like the time a very tipsy modern dancer came up to Robert while we were performing "Abraham" at Deano's Vino to ask him if she could dance. We were afraid that she was going to fall on her ass several times as she did half-cartwheels and other odd movement choreography that's sometimes typical of modern dance.

I guess I've now outlined enough of the "pre-belly dance period" for you all, and can get on with the "now" part, eh?

Well, you'll just have to wait for "part 3"! ;)

Why belly dancers, anyway? (part 1)

Sat, 19 May 2007 05:30:23 GMT

This is a question we get asked on occasion--and it seems to have popped up more recently than it had before.

Rather than give the same "origin" story of how we hooked up with Zweena bint Asya and Troupe Taleeba ( taleeba.tribe.net/ ) back in December of 2004, I'll give y'all some of my background, which may (I hope) show that this history of collaboration isn't just something that happened out of the blue.

~~~~~Firstly:
As some of you know, I (this is Jon the cellist, btw) was born in Thailand and am a Thai citizen (I still haven't bothered with getting US citizenship) and came to the states with my mum when I was a wee little lad. I grew up here in the states and spent the first several years of my life in a relatively bi-lingual environment. The first songs I learned how to sing were Thai songs--alot of the first music I heard (discounting the music I heard in Thailand) was Thai pop and folk music (I've since come to the realization of how much Indian filmi music, especially from Bollywood music, has influenced Thai pop music from the 60s and 70s).

But I'm talking about dance, not music, right? Well, my mae ("mae" is a transliteration--terrible one since Thai is also a tonal language--of "mom") would also show me what traditional Thai folk dances, especially Lakhon, looked like. Of course, Thais, just as Arabs and Arab-Americans have their own style of dancing to their indigenous music (I'm sure many of you have been to Arabic music concerts and seen this). So I grew up seeing this, too.

Here's a youtube clip of traditional Thai dance style: youtube.com/watch
**note the prominent usage of hand gestures (called "jeeb" in Thai) that shows traditional Thai dance's roots in traditional Indian dance hand gestures (called "hastamudra" or simply "mudra"). Thai Khon (a classical court dance for men) shows the Indian influence even more. Oh--the song is in "maw lam" style (not that the person who posted it noted that) which is a folk song/music style of the Isan region in Northeast Thailand and Laos (where I was born--this is the first music my ears ever heard). The photo above is Kristi Renee dancing with Thai fingernails used in the traditional Thai dance, Fawn Lob, and me singing in Thai Classical Chant style to lyrics that my mae wrote called "Ter Jaak Pai" (January 13, 2007 at Kira's Oasis).

~~~~~Secondly:
As most of you know, or have guessed, I am a classically trained musician. I started playing violin at the age of six, and then cello at seven.

Again, this isn't about music, but about dance. Having the classical music background means that as is usually the case (especially at and after the secondary education level) you get some knowledge of classical dance (otherwise known as "Ballet"). While I never got the chance (in high school, at least) to work with ballet dancers, after my father remarried, I spent my junior high and high school years getting to know ballet relatively well as both my step-sisters and step-mom were all classically trained ballet dancers (my youngest step-sister eventually went on to intern with the Louisville ballet, and presumably--though I haven't been in touch with her lately--is dancing professionally now). Of course, part of the classical music repertoire includes concert suite arrangements of ballet pieces (probably a good third of most classical music that is normally heard in live performance is ballet suites--even without the dancers).

**Interestingly, and probably ironically, Kjell Skyllstad has proposed a hypothesis ( www.intermusiccenter.com/Artic...es.htm ) tracing French ballet (note that all ballet terms are in French, where the dance solidified as an art form) to South East Asia (especially Thailand) since Monsieur de La Loubère recounts his trip (in 1687) to Thailand (known then as Siam) with the young André Destouches (15 at the time) who was later to introduce Opera-Ballet to the French stage. It's not really all that strange a thesis, really--recall also that the French martial art, Savate (also known as "French Kickboxing" or "French Footfighting"), purportedly has its history in French sailor foot games--the French have had a long history of colonialism in South East Asia (hence French Indochina) and who better to experience the native South East Asian martial arts--which coincidentally is sometimes called "kickboxing" (because of the prominence of attacks involving the legs and knees)--than French sailors who have tons of leisure time when not actually sailing.

~~~~~Thirdly:
By the time I was studying music at the university, I had the chance to formally work with dancers of many types in either performance or in workshop settings. Well, I suppose that I had that opportunity as early as junior high school, since I've played in a number of musicals (pit orchestras) where many of the musical numbers were for choreographed dance, but that wasn't as intensely focused an experience as it was by the time I was in college.

So I've played for, or worked with, ballet dancers, modern dancers, show-tune dancers; I've taken workshops in traditional African Dance, Brazilian Capoeira, Modern and experimental dance. I've even danced in live performances (yeah--me), especially in mid to late 90's. more about some of this in "part 2," however. You'll just have to be patient-- :P

~~~~~Fourthly:
I first saw a "real" belly dance performance (albeit, on DVD) in 1999 (outside of most of the cheesy, and often inaccurate depictions in the cinema, of course). It was a dual release (CD and DVD) by cellist, Erik Friedlander ( www.erikfriedlander.com ), and his world jazz quartet, Topaz--a release titled "Skin" ( movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movi...ovie.html ) on (ironically, another South East Asian reference) the now defunct label SIAM records.

The dual release included an instrumental jazz cover of Iranian pop diva, Googoosh's, "Sahel Va Darya" (Incorrectly titled "Sahel Va Danya" on both the CD and DVD release). On the DVD belly dancer, Amira Mor, performs. So, back in 1999, I knew it was my destiny to work with belly dancers. And yes, il Troubadore will eventually be covering that Googoosh song. It will be neat to have a tune in Farsi, to add to our other two dozen langauges, after all, eh? :D

more to follow in "part 2"...

Chinese belly dance fusion

Sun, 13 May 2007 19:38:13 GMT

I dig Kiki's work, and after having finally played for a Tai Chi instructor (one of our Chinese songs) I am really stoked to do more related stuffs...

Watch these vids of a couple of Kiki's performances in Taiwan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEdD03ki9yk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfknypBTxaQ

Kiki's profile:
http://people.tribe.net/3db3527f-5a3e-4912-8b50-f961a8490219

Kiki's "Tribal belly dance in Taiwan" tribe:
http://tribes.tribe.net/tribalsky

Kor Ərəbin Mahnısı

Tue, 08 May 2007 12:43:12 GMT

So I finally found the lyrics to the Azeri song, "Kor Arab" (The Blind Arab):

Nə eşq olaydı, nə aşiq, nə nazlı afət olaydı,
Nə xəlq olaydı, nə xaliq, nə əşki-həsrət olaydı.
Nə dərd olaydı, nə dərman, nə sur olaydı, nə matəm,
Nə aşiyaneyi-vüslət, nə bari-firqət olaydı.
Könüldə nuri-məhəbbət, gözümdə pərdeyi-zülmət...
Nə nur olaydı, nə zülmət, nə böylə xilqət olaydı.
Nədir bu xilqəti-bimərhəmət, bu pərdəli hikmət?
Bu zülmə qarşı nolur bir də bir ədalət olaydı.
Tükəndi taqətü səbrim, ədalət! Ah, ədalət!
Nə öncə öylə səadət, nə böylə zillət olaydı.

http://www.cavid.gen.az/page.php?file=seyx_senan&page=1000

As well as another audio version at Fikret Amirov's website (click on the Əsərləri link and under the "Mahni" category to the right, click on the "Kor Ərəbin Mahnısı" mp3).

I don't know if we will have this ready for this Friday's World Music and Dance Night--well, I could have it ready, so may do a solo version (maybe). It wouldn't be completely out of style, since mugham songs are traditionally sung by a singer who accompanies himself with daf (I would probably have to borrow one from Dale). We'll see, I suppose.

This past weekend was more hectic than usual.

I had to leave work early on Friday to play reception at the Oak Hill Mansion in Carmel, Indiana for the Online Users Group. Then Mel and I had dinner at Carrie's in Indy. She's a DePauw alumna and is studying belly dance with local legend, Judy Hanna (who, I'm still tickled knowing, is a cousin of Belly Dance Superstar drummer, Issam Houshan).

Saturday morning found me playing for the mini-marathon in Indy. From 7 to 9 am we played for hundreds of runners/walkers who only got to hear, at most, 30 seconds of any particular tune. Mel then went to Fort Wayne to meet with friends to organize the service for our wedding while I went home to nap. Then we met on 74 to head to northern Kentucky where I played at NKU (Northern Kentucky University's Greaves Hall) for the "Dancing the Tarot" show. It was a three hour long production with dancers' interpretation of Tarot o benefit Highland Heights in northern Kentucky. I saw lots of friends, both old and new, and had many congrats about the nuptuals (word seems to travel fast in the belly dance community--kinda scary--5555). It had been years since I was anywhere near the Cincy/northern Kentucky area (I played a show in Newport at the Southgate House back in 2003), and even longer since I was at Northern Kentucky University. It had changed somewhat.

We stayed at a hotel in Florence Kentucky with Mel's sister and husband and son since Mel and her sister were walking the half marathon in Cincy on Sunday. Brunch at Bob Evans (sorry folks, no photos! :P) and then back home...a tiring weekend...

il Troubadore No. 1 World Music Band in Indianapolis

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 19:19:20 GMT

according to the NUVO:
http://nuvo.net/articles/nightlife_guide__top_5_world_music_bands

Nightlife Guide: Top 5 World Music bands
by Nora Spitznogle Apr 18, 2007

Best live venue for world music

Festivals and fairs
1. il Troubadore
Indy’s 16th century rock band plays music from over 20 countries and sings in 13 languages. It has a strong Middle Eastern influence and is often accompanied by belly dancers.

Home cooked Thai Cuisine

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 06:00:49 GMT

Had this earlier "tonight" (here at home):

Gang nua (beef curry):

Kao neaw (sticky rice):

Hard Boiled Eggs in nam pla (fish sauce):

Traditional Lebanese

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 20:52:56 GMT

also from last Saturday at Zorba's:

Googoosh Goldmine!

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 04:08:25 GMT

http://www.googoosh.tv/mp3.html

thoughts from a Thai maechi

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:27:32 GMT

In the temple, I realized that this particular kind of life required an odd bravery--the kind of whole-life commitment I'd previously associated only with social activism. Before, like many Westerners, I thought that Buddhism encouraged us to ignore worldly problems. I imagined the goal of meditation was to avoid our emotions, perhaps depositing them in the subconscious to fester. Now I began to see I was wrong. Buddhism tells us we must deal with the pains of the world in order to conquer them, a lesson I'd long embraced in political work. I'd known since childhood that ignoring evil only prolongs its reign. And now spiritually, my would-be escape from both society's and my own ills was teaching the same lesson.

The lesson was not about Buddhism, or about any particular religion, or in fact about religion at all. It was about how commitment transforms us. At any moment we can choose to surprise ourselves and rise to meet a challenge that seems impossibly large. We can do it if we learn to listen for the quiet answers around us, committing to commitment, surrendering to faith.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_12_34/ai_114368687

Bi-culturality in the US

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 07:29:36 GMT

Bi-culturality in the US a couple of excerpts from David Mura's (Japanese-American) essay, "Strangers in the Village":

"Although generalizations like this can sometimes be misused - more about this later - American culture defines white middle-class culture as the norm. As a result, Blacks and other colored minorities, must generally know two cultures to survive - the culture of middle-class whites and their own minority culture. Middle-class whites need only to know one culture. For them, knowledge of a minority culture is a seeming - and I use the word "seeming" here purposely - luxury; they can survive without it."

and (excerpted from his diary into his essay):

"...what I am now trying to do in both my writing and my life is to replace self-hatred and self-negation with anger and grief over my lost selves, over the ways my cultural heritage has been denied to me, over the ways that people in America would assume either that I am not American or, conversely, that I am just like them; over the ways my education and the values of European culture have denied that other cultures exist. I know more about Europe at the time when my grandfather came to America than I know about Meiji Japan. I know Shakespeare and Donne, Sophocles and Homer better than I know Zeami, Basho or Lady Murasaki. This is not to regret what I know, but I do regret what I don't know. And the argument that the culture of America is derived from Europe will no wipe away this regret."

Buddhism and the Blues

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:38:10 GMT

Buddhism and the Blues
Buddhist psychology's core techniques of meditation and awareness may have much to offer ordinary Westerners.

By:Hara Estroff Marano

To most people Buddhism is an ancient Eastern religion, although a very special one. It has no god, it has no central creed or dogma and its primary goal is the expansion of consciousness, or awareness.

But to the Dalai Lama, it's a highly refined tradition, perfected over the course of 2,500 years, of analyzing and investigating the inner world of the mind in order to transform mental states and promote happiness. "Whether you are a believer or not in the faith," the Dalai Lama recently told a conference of Buddhists and scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, you can use its time-honored techniques to voluntarily control your emotional state.

more here:
http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20031030-000001.html

Reema Joseph Samaha

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:36:58 GMT

Belly dancer, Reema Joseph Samaha, who was killed in Virginia Tech shootings:

my wedding outfit (possibly)

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:44:49 GMT

or something similar:

a new "band"

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 19:35:51 GMT

or two. I can't manage to not find other projects to be involved with. After my move down south, I will be playing in an Arabic ensemble with Denise (Oud, vocals), and Taletha (flute, nay). I hope to have a saw sam sai by the time we do our first performance, but who can say. I'll play cello until then.

I've also been invited to play with a klezmer group (friends of Mel)--THAT will be too fun--bwahahahaha!!!

Our house

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 01:24:57 GMT

Side view. The little cottage behind (to the left) is also ours--that is where my mae will be staying until we take her back to Thailand where we will have a second Buddhist wedding ceremony.

George Wakim in Louisville

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 01:04:05 GMT

So Mel and I went to see George Wakim again in Louisville this weekend. He's a Lebanese American musician based in Lexington, Kentucky. Self taught on the Oud, Arabic violin, and Arabic percussion. He and his Egyptian Tabla player, Firas, played a number of traditional Middle Eastern tunes at the Cafe Classico this past Saturday (March 31). The interesting surprise (especially since a number of the local belly dancers were, ironically, in Lexington to see Rachel Brice perform that night) was seeing Hawaiin belly dancer, Sasha, dance for George. I have no idea if she was just in town visiting and decided to find some Arabic music or belly dance event to go to, or if she actually knows George and offered to dance for him while she was in town. Anyway, click the link below this photo to see a few others.

George Wakim (Oud, vocals), Firas (Egyptian tabla),
and Sasha (belly dance) @ Cafe Classico, Saturday, March 31, 2007

more photos here

International Cuisine Weekend (Mexican, Mediterranean, and Thai)

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:30:20 GMT

La Rosita Grill: Chili Relleno & Chicken Enchiladas

cross-posted here

Friday, March 23, 2007 (lunch)
It was a fabulous weekend for international cuisine for me. To celebrate a "co-worker's" (really my fiancée's co-worker) new job/life/wife in Baltimore we all went out to La Rosita Grill (in New Albany, IN) for lunch. I ordered the "#8 Special" which was Chili Relleno and Enchiladas (I chose chicken--and yes there are two enchiladas under that pile of chicken on the right side of the plate in the above photo). I haven't really had "authentic" Mexican (or very much Southwestern) cuisine, so I can't say how this compares, but it was quite tasty, and surprisingly subtle. Being Thai, I have no problems with "hot-n-spicy" but nothing on this platter was and it was kinda refreshing.

What really caught my eye was G's "sandwich" (and she did tell me what it was, but I couldn't tell you for the life of me): a vegetarian dish that looks like the following:

La Rosita Grill: "Mexican Sandwich" (for lack of more informed title)

G let me have a bite, and again, this was also quite tasty!!

Friday, March 23, 2007 (dinner)
After work, I drove up to Indy to a "meeting" at The Egyptian Café & Hookah Bar. The president of ISAMETD (Indiana State Association of Middle Eastern Teachers and Dancers), Gerie Shearrow, had invited me, Dale Langdon (one of the Midwest's finest Egyptian Tabla and Arabic drummers), and my bandmate in il Troubadore to go see a local Brazilian belly dancer, Ana Lucia, dance.

I ended up having the Beef Shawarma sandwich with "Egyptian Fries" (which were actually quite good) which was nothing to write home about (nor photograph either, since I neglected to do that anyway). I was advised by Katya Faris (after chiding me for not going to see her dance the following Saturday) that I should try the butter chicken I did, however, manage to have Robert take some photos of Dale and me drumming for Ana (see my lj post here for one of them).

Saturday, March 24, 2007 (dinner)
Robert and I started playing regularly at Zorba's Greek and Middle Eastern Restaurant about two years ago. Even after we'd cut down on our regular greater Indianapolis area (Zorba's is in Zionsville, IN--just north of Indy) shows, we decided to keep this one. Part of that is our friendship with the owner, Issah Mustaklem, and his family as well as what few employees still work there since we started. Even Carenza bint Asya, the belly dancer who first got us the gig and with whom we had worked with regularly for almost a year there no longer dances there (she makes occasional "guest appearances" on special occasions).

The other part of the is that we know that at least once a month (and sometimes more often as the chance arises) we will get a nice Mediterranean dinner (for free--even my fiancée has benefited from this arrangement on occasion!).

Normally I would get a "Greek Salad" rather than a soup (though the lentil soup is quite tasty there):

Zorba's Greek and Middle Eastern Restaurant: Greek Salad

as I usually follow that up with something heavier like the Lamb-kebob dinner. Last Saturday I decided to go with the "Magic Chicken":

Zorba's Greek and Middle Eastern Restaurant: "Magic Chicken"

--from the menu

One half chicken marinated and broiled with out blend of 14 spices and tomato sauce. Served with Greek fries and garlic sauce.

The first time I had this it was succulent--heaven--I couldn't get enough. Eventually Issah hired a new cook and the "Magic" was gone. It's still good eatings, but I think I'll go back to the kebob dinner next month.

Sunday, March 25, 2007 (lunch)
home cooked Thai meal

Technically, the above wasn't "freshly home cooked"--I nuked and steamed some leftovers from last week. But this is what I grew up eating here in the states. My mae pretty much taught me everything I know about making Thai cuisine (except for panang curry--she never did like it and I had to learn to cook that myself). Brief descriptions follow individual photos.

clockwise: khao neow (sticky rice), steamed green beans, steamed broccoli,
tam som (spicy papaya salad), nam prik kapi, nam prik

khao neow (ข้าวเหนียว)- Thai sticky rice. And I do mean sticky! This is more of a Northeast Thai thing--people would sometimes roll up a chunk of fried beef, pork, or whatever in a huge ball of sticky rice and take it for lunch (back in my mae's day, that is). See below for description of how to eat with it as well as eat it.
steamed green beans, broccoli- pretty self explanatory, but almost all Thai meals include tons of steamed greens as a part of any meal (especially in Northeast Thailand and Laos--the area called "Isan").
tam som (ส้มตำ)- a spicy papaya "salad"--basically shredded fresh papaya, (sometiems) eggplant, and green beans, with nam pla (น้ำปลา) "fish sauce", garlic, and Thai chilies lightly ground with a mortar and pestle (well, if you're old school that is--I still use a mortar and pestle).
nam prik (น้ำพริก); nam prik kapi (น้ำพริกกะป)- nam prik is this sort of paste made with (often) fish, chilies, garlic, lime leaves, and freshly squeezed lime juice (or lemon juice)--all ground up into a mushy paste that can be used for dipping. The nam prik in the photo (left side, top) is made with pickled fish (or as my mae calls it, "bad fish"), nam prik kapi is just nam prik made with a shrimp paste rather than fish.

gang moo priao (sour pork curry), or gang naw mai priao (sour bamboo shoot curry)

gang naw mai priao (แกงหน่อไมเปรี้ยว)- Sour bamboo shoot curry. In this case made with pork shoulder meat (hence the alternative name, gang moo priao, "sour pork curry"). Ingredients include, but are not limited to, pickled bamboo shoots (of course), pork, galanga, lime leaves, lemongrass, lime juice, cilantro, vinegar, tamarind.

fried eggs with nam pla (fish sauce)

I think the above title is self-explanatory. But my mae's penchance for eggs of any sort (hard boiled, omelete, fried) drenched in nam pla may not be. I seem to have picked this up as I often, when in a hurry, will eat rice, fried eggs, and fish sauce for lunch.

Maybe it's a Thai thing, maybe not. I think Jhumpa Lahiri summed some of this up best:

"I like cooking and eating all different kinds of food. And I come from a very food-oriented family. Like most children of immigrants, I'm aware of how important food becomes for foreigners who are trying to deal with life in a new world. Food is a very deep part of people's lives and it has incredible meaning beyond the obvious nutritional aspects. My parents have given up so many basic things coming here from the life they once knew--family, love, connections--and food is one thing that they've really held onto."

Some of this is echoed by Bich Minh Nguyen when she talks about American junk food as a cultural metaphor for assimilation:

"It's also a nod to the American junk food that serves as a cultural metaphor. Nguyen recounts the way she thought she could eat her way to assimilation -- she was raised on her grandmother's traditional Vietnamese fare such as pho (a beef and noodle soup) and shrimp curry, but longed to eat the same Cracker Jacks and Ding Dongs her American classmates unpacked at the lunch table."

My more lengthy response to this kind of discussion may be found in my lj post, "What is American Culture?" and I think that my weekend experience(s) is a fine demonstration of what it was I was trying to say in the lj post--namely that this is all American Culture, and American cuisine, for the reasons I mentioned.

As for eating khao neow--you roll it up into a tiny ball like the following:

eating khao neow

And use it to dip into curries and nam prik or to use it, with your thumb, to pick up bits of pork, steamed veggies, or tam som by pressing the food into the rice (sometimes we even roll up bits into the hand-rolled ball). It is both food and eating utensil.

Ana Lucia

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 14:51:30 GMT

Dale and I drummed for Ana Lucia at The Egyptian in Broad Ripple last night.

Lack of updates...

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:55:30 GMT

For those of you who don't know, I'm basically mirroring this livejournal from my MySpace blog ( http://blog.myspace.com/silpayamanant )--which means that I sometimes don't get those blog posts posted here nearly as timely. I'll be adding a few that I've posted there the past week or so, so keep checking if you want, or just add me at MySpace, if you want: http://www.myspace.com/silpayamanant