Final Days of ISP

There are 2 days remaining of ISP and only 4 left until my entire project is due. My paper is halfway completed. I've examined the presence of Orientalism in the following albums: Passages by Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass, Atlantis Nath by Terry Riley, 10,000 Days by Tool, In Search of the Lost Chord by The Moody Blues, and a select number of George Harrison songs. My own recording project is coming along nicely. I'm going to finish with a three song EP which features me on guitar, sitar, tabla, vocals, and hand percussion. I'll post a link to download the EP for free when it's finished.

These last weeks in Delhi have been difficult. I'm finding myself more and more ready to return home as each day goes by. 19 days and counting until I'm back stateside.

India is funny

This is the button on the dashboard the calls Jesus to get you out of a traffic jam
This is the Bowser toilet paper I had in a hotel

Band pictures!

Apparently this guy was from a local Delhi TV station. Cool!

I joined an Indian classic rock cover band?

Yes. Really nutty. Really weird. I’m playing keyboard with a drummer, bassist, and two guitar players. Everyone is a thirty-something old guy with long hair save the one Indian emo kid. Then there’s me. Token white dude. We just had a show last night at “World of Wonders”. It’s an amusement park that got built halfway then opened for business. Even on a Saturday night it was a pretty sparse crowd. But we had a few moments where some people gathered to listen. With a set list comprised mostly of Dire Straights and CCR, (all delivered by our lead singer/bassist, oldish Japanese guy whose name I don’t know) we played for about two and a half hours. A few of my friends of the program came to the show which ended up making it worthwhile. Although, it was kind of depressing to play bland versions of Men at Work to disinterested looking audience members. Although, on the up-side, there was a man with a video camera moving about the stage and apparently he works for a local TV network. So, I may have unknowingly given my first televised performance. Weird thought.

Pictures and video to follow. For now, I have to get ready for a return trip to Rishikesh. Ganges River bathing and Beatles ashram take two. Action.

ISP

Independent Study Project. It’s here. It’s finally here. This is officially day 2 of ISP time. Every day from here on out is entirely mine. In these two days I have actually been far more productive than I imagined. I’ve begun some archival sonic research for fusion music by Philip Glass and Terry Riley that incorporates Indian influence. I’m studying Passages, a collaboration between Glass and Ravi Shankar, and Atlantis Nath an album by Terry Riley featuring some loops from India and various Indian musical themes. Both albums will be prove to be fruitful for my paper as well as inspiration for my own recording.

Aside from listening to these albums, I’ve begun the process of contacting several fusion, classical, and rock/pop musicians in Delhi for interviews. Hopefully by next week I’ll be able to meet with a few of them and see what I can learn.

On my on creative front, I’ve begun the recording of my fusion album. I have one track “completed”. Especially with this ambient music that has such thick texture, I’ll never really be “done” with a track. I’ll simply have to stop myself from fiddling with it and abandon it onto the album. But, I think I am starting to find the sound that I wanted and this, in itself, is encouraging. The recording equipment that I’ve rented, will sufficient, is unable to effectively capture guitar, sitar, and other instruments with light timbres. So, I’ll either have to find a condenser mic somewhere in New Delhi or, more likely, rent some studio space where I can use their equipment and finish off the album in a few studio dates. Although, I’ll sketch all the tracks out out with my meager equipment before venturing into a studio to re-record parts that I was unable to capture with justice to the instruments.

That’s all for now. More updates to come in the coming days.

Broken Record? Rishikesh Picture.

Longer update is on the way. As soon as my independent study period starts I'll have some more to write about. For now it's just the final grind until classes end. One paper to go between me and a month of bliss...

One More Rishikesh Picture