Well, seems my blog-entries are now more of an annual thing then a weekly or monthly. ;) Anyway, from march 2014 ’till last december I had an awesome job working with (street) kids as some kind of social worker in a borough just outside of antwerp. Our current city-governance and to be more precise the right-wing mayor of this town, ruled that the kind of job, the sort that I was doing, should seize to be! According to him and his rightwing idiot friends this kind of work(ers) should be made obsolete and in change they want more police-patrols. In other words…more repression – less prevention! Add some para-military presence in our town center (since the Charlie Hebdo affair) and fear and angst sells like sweet cake (or rather; waffle) again to the narrow minded belgian fools.
Nevertheless, I’ve been keeping myself busy with various other pleasantries. Working on some of me tunes…organising 45 hours of film footage shot in India into a nice neat “library” for future video-making. And decided (and already commenced) to write a book. It’s once again due to (non-belgian) friends who thought it’d be a splendid idea that I’d write down some of my “travel-memoirs”. But I reckon that after living nearly twenty years out of a backpack…one should have a bold tale or two to tell. ;)
In the meanwhile…enjoy the occasional tune that I’ll drop on here. luv & peace. (-°-)
For some reason I’ve had the chance or luck (or karma) to meet several of my musical influences. Mainly those who had a profound role in the -Asian Underground/Massive- music movement. Short meetings nevertheless, but they were all very spontaneous and a nice memory.
It was end nineties when a mate (through another mate) gave me a copy (on TAPE) of Karsh Kale’s “Classical Science Fiction from India”. It was this piece of music and Talvin Singh’s Grammy winning “O.K.” that started to influence me heavily and changed the way I wanted to play music. Along with the almighty Zakir Hussain they became my major inspiration to fondle and fiddle away on that magical instrument called “Tabla”. Of course since 95% of my “tutoring” is DIY, I ain’t too fab on it. Nevertheless, it was never my intention to play Indian Classical music but rather to use it (tabla) in semi-electronic sets and more as a “groove-instrument” rather than becoming a virtuoso on it.
First weekend of April 2009…for me, the last weekend of a 9-month stay in India & Nepal before I took off back to Europistan. My flight was leaving from Mumbai and had one last weekend to kill. Which is easy for me since Bombay (Mumbai) is so far my most favourite city in India and elsewhere. (There’s tons of shtuff to do, to see, to explore, to eat, to find, to discover, to listen, etc. And there’s this amazing venue in Lower Parel called “The Blue Frog” where they have artists on stage from around the globe! Check this place out when in Bombay!) While reading through “Time Out – Mumbai” under the cool breeze, created by the ceiling fan, my eye wandered off to an ad for the New CD release of the Midival-Punditz starring (their frequent collaborator) Karsh Kale and all this was happening at the blue frog…two nights in a row that very same weekend. My “last” weekend in India was going to be a musical one!
At the Blue Frog later that night… Although, through the help of my (then) girlfriend, I was able to hang out with Karsh and the Punditz for a few memorable moments, the real treat and surprise, however short-lived it was, came afterwards. While standing outside (the blue frog) for a cigarette (yep, I know, filthy habit) some guy asked me for a light. Since we were the only two standing there, we had a brief conversation. Can’t remember exactly what the guy’s role was but I think he might have been from Karsh’s or the Punditz’s management. All of a sudden there was this gorgeous lady walking up to us and introduced herself to me and greeted the dude I was standing with. Clearly they knew each other well. I got her name right though, Anoushka… We had a brief conversation about where I was from and about music. And then it hit me, I was standing there talking with the amazing Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Sitar-Maestro; Ravi Shankar. (-°-)
Enjoy the beautiful playing of Anoushka Shankar in this amazing performance!
Seems that someone, somewhere used a wee bit of his/hers common sense and let couchsurfing off the hook. Then again, I think this matter (letting Couch-hosts pay) will re-surface eventually. But for now….it seems okay again…
Realized a few days ago that it’s nearly been a year since my last post… Sorry 4 that folks.
Anyway, lots of stuff has been happening over the last year, moved to another flat, new job, etc. Most of it not really worth writing about though. But a while ago ;) I wrote about missing me travellin’ mates sometimes. Well, only yesterday I had the pleasure to welcome one of my good mates Craig, whom I’ve met whilst living in England somewhere late nineties. We only see each other every 5 to 6 years, so far each time on a different continent, but we seem to pick up as if we’d seen each other yesterday. So far, he’s one of my (travel) mates who has the most awesome job though! Making movies! Check out the footage below!
I’m a pretty empathic person and don’t want to see other people hurt or in pain…but this got me in stitches. Please, note the amount of times he runs into other cars and bikes before ending up in that great big hole. (Tip: full screen) Enjoy. (-°-)
Jeremy Clarkson had it right; “Belgians: they’ll bore you to death!”
Roaming around and living out of a backpack for over a decade and a half…not the easiest task to adjust to this place! I’ve never seen narrow-mindedness and ignorance being wielded like it does here…
Should you ever wonna visit however…DON’T! Save your money and go somewhere nice. ;)
But thank goodness for my mates across the channel who have a much better sense of humor (well, come to think of it…everyone has a better sense of humor than the Belgians)…Weep, cry, enjoy! ;)
Came across this dude a few months ago. He nails it regarding certain issues in India. Issues that a lot of my fellow India-travellers seem to be blind for. Perhaps mostly through overdosing on (fake) spiritual crap. Anyway, Wilbur Sargunaraj…hope this man’s videos will spread a bit more. Enjoy and learn. (-°-)
Alienated from my country of origin (Belgium) - due to extensive travelling and residing long periods in the Mother land (India) - I decided (4 various reasons) to (re)settle in my native land.
My blog will contain some travel stories, music/film-sharing and occasionally some politics. Oh...sometimes I seem to suffer from a light touch of "La Tourette". Be warned. (-°-)
naVgatih 