Thursday, November 18, 2010
Monday, October 6, 2008
Johann Sebastian Bach: Master of Fugue music
The Asian Age, op-Ed, October 07, 2008
The art, science and beauty of Bach’s music
Jayati Ghosh
A fugue is a composition of western classical music that is based on several parts, or voices, singing simultaneously. The opening subject is introduced by one voice, and then taken up by others until each voice has expressed the theme. The music can then take any direction, with periodic entries of the theme or other strands depending on the composer’s choice. But the extraordinary thing about a successful fugue is that, even as individual voices proceed on their own often quite complex ways, the whole combination is continuously harmonised and internally consistent.
The word fugue comes from "fuga" (or "flight") possibly expressing the idea of one voice pursued by, or fleeing from, another. It could also express the greater freedom of form which is accorded to the fugue, compared to the canon (which means "rule") a much more strict version in which repetition of the theme by different voices is all that is permitted.
The great master of the fugue was of course Johann Sebastian Bach. In the two-and-a-half centuries since his death, it has proved impossible for anyone to even come close to his fugal output, which certainly marks the pinnacle of human creation in this area. It is impossible to describe the sheer perfection and completeness of his fugues in words, while a simple recounting of their numbers would leave anyone utterly exhausted.
read the full article
read the full article
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
There is no human touch, technology rules music: Jagjit Singh
New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) Legendary singer Jagjit Singh, who is known to have brought 'Ghazals' to the music collection of the common man is a bit uncomfortable with the tag and would rather like to be be known as one capable of singing all genres and styles. "Why do you call me a ghazal singer? I have done playback for Hindi and Pujabi films and also have sung Gurbani and bhajans.
So why restrict me to just ghazals. I am a trained singer," Singh replied to a question during a press conference here recently.
He believes that technology has taken over the music industry more than needed. Read more
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Michael Jackson: 'I Feel Very Young' at 50
(Kiyoshi Ota /Reuters)
Michael Jackson: 'I Feel Very Young' at 50
Speaks Exclusively to 'GMA' About His Past, His Future, His Dreams for His Children
By CHRIS CONNOLLY and MICHAEL S. JAMES
Aug. 28, 2008
He first became a star as a young boy, then endured superstardom, scandals and a legal prosecution, but as he turns 50, Michael Jackson told "Good Morning America" in an exclusive interview, he is "having a wonderful time."
Speaking by phone from his home in California, at times so softly he was barely audible, Jackson said he was listening to a little James Brown and preparing for his 50th birthday Friday, when he will have a little cake and watch cartoons with his children, and then get back to work.
Reflecting back, Jackson said the happiest time in his life was probably when he was recording his hit solo albums "Thriller" and "Off the Wall" –- which propelled him to the height of his stardom.
Asked to pick a single song as his greatest achievement, Jackson went back to the same period.
"Oh boy, that's a hard one," he said, before singling out "We Are the World," and "Billie Jean," adding that there were "so many others."
Read the full story
Monday, August 25, 2008
Music and Politics:Madonna, McCain and Hitler
The Associated Press
Even at 50, the queen of pop just can't stop courting controversy.
The singer's latest stage show pairs images of Sen. McCain and Adolf Hitler.
As Madonna kicked off her international "Sticky and Sweet" tour Saturday night, she took a none-too subtle swipe at the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president.
Amid a four-act show at Cardiff's packed Millennium Stadium, a video interlude carried images of destruction, global warming, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Zimbabwe's authoritarian President Robert Mugabe — and U.S. Senator John McCain. Another sequence, shown later, pictured slain Beatle John Lennon, followed by climate activist Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and finally McCain's Democratic rival Barack
More
Even at 50, the queen of pop just can't stop courting controversy.
The singer's latest stage show pairs images of Sen. McCain and Adolf Hitler.
As Madonna kicked off her international "Sticky and Sweet" tour Saturday night, she took a none-too subtle swipe at the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president.
Amid a four-act show at Cardiff's packed Millennium Stadium, a video interlude carried images of destruction, global warming, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Zimbabwe's authoritarian President Robert Mugabe — and U.S. Senator John McCain. Another sequence, shown later, pictured slain Beatle John Lennon, followed by climate activist Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and finally McCain's Democratic rival Barack
More
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Barenaked Ladies singer to fight US cocaine charge - Yahoo! India News
Barenaked Ladies singer to fight US cocaine charge - Yahoo! India News
Barenaked Ladies singer to fight US cocaine charge
Steven Page of the Canadian rock band the Bare Naked Ladies performs at E.P.C.O.T. Center... Enlarge Photo Steven Page of the Canadian rock band the Bare Naked Ladies performs at E.P.C.O.T. Center...
Thu, Jul 17 08:33 PM
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The lead singer of the popular Canadian band the Barenaked Ladies will fight a recent cocaine charge in the United States, the band said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday.
Steven Page was arrested last Friday in an apartment in Fayetteville, New York, and charged with possession of a controlled substance. Court documents show Page allegedly told police "Yeah, it's cocaine", when asked about a white powdery substance in his possession.
Page, 38, posted $10,000 bail and is due back in court late next month.
"Many of you have probably read or heard press accounts about Steven Page's recent arrest in New York state. Steven has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and the validity of the charges against Steven will be strongly contested," the band statement said.
The five-man group is best known for hit songs such as "One Week", "Pinch Me", and "If I Had a Million Dollars". It has just released an album of songs for youngsters and next month is due to play at a Long Island, New York, children's charity concert organized by Walt Disney Co.
"While this is happening, it's business as usual for Barenaked Ladies. We will continue to perform and look forward to heading into the studio later this year to record a new album. We want to thank our loyal fans for their continued support during this difficult time," the statement said.
Barenaked Ladies singer to fight US cocaine charge
Steven Page of the Canadian rock band the Bare Naked Ladies performs at E.P.C.O.T. Center... Enlarge Photo Steven Page of the Canadian rock band the Bare Naked Ladies performs at E.P.C.O.T. Center...
Thu, Jul 17 08:33 PM
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The lead singer of the popular Canadian band the Barenaked Ladies will fight a recent cocaine charge in the United States, the band said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday.
Steven Page was arrested last Friday in an apartment in Fayetteville, New York, and charged with possession of a controlled substance. Court documents show Page allegedly told police "Yeah, it's cocaine", when asked about a white powdery substance in his possession.
Page, 38, posted $10,000 bail and is due back in court late next month.
"Many of you have probably read or heard press accounts about Steven Page's recent arrest in New York state. Steven has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and the validity of the charges against Steven will be strongly contested," the band statement said.
The five-man group is best known for hit songs such as "One Week", "Pinch Me", and "If I Had a Million Dollars". It has just released an album of songs for youngsters and next month is due to play at a Long Island, New York, children's charity concert organized by Walt Disney Co.
"While this is happening, it's business as usual for Barenaked Ladies. We will continue to perform and look forward to heading into the studio later this year to record a new album. We want to thank our loyal fans for their continued support during this difficult time," the statement said.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Heidi Montag's Christian album
Heidi Montag Is Over 'The Hills' and the Drama
Her Eyes Are on Music, Marriage and Charity
By William Keck, USA TODAY
June 30, 2008
"The Hills" are alive with the sounds of Montag.
heidi montag
Heidi Montag, star of MTV's reality show 'The Hills,' is debuting a fashion line and a new single, aptly named 'Fashion.'
Depending on whom you ask, Heidi Montag is the villainess on the hit MTV reality show "The Hills". But ask Montag, and she'll sing a different tune: She's merely the outcast friend who is portrayed as the troublemaker by star Lauren Conrad.
Regardless, Montag, 21, has used the drama to her advantage. She is unveiling the fall collection of her fashion line, Heidiwood, which is sold at Kitson and Anchor Blue. And with the help of her manager/boyfriend, Spencer Pratt, she is releasing her first official single, appropriately titled "Fashion", after previous song "Higher" leaked online.
"The Hills" ended Season 3 (available on DVD July 29) in May with Pratt, 24, flying to Vegas to reclaim Montag after a broken engagement. (There was some ugliness involving a tacky pink ring he had given her.) Montag and company have been shooting Season 4 for more than four months in Los Angeles; the first of 19 episodes premieres Aug. 18. Montag reveals that viewers will meet her older sister, Holly, 24, an aspiring filmmaker who once lived with Montag and Conrad.
"Holly and Lauren were inseparable for a while," Montag says. "But they stopped being friends when Lauren and I stopped being friends."
Montag credits Pratt with saving "The Hills" from cancellation when he joined the series in Season 2 as the resident troublemaker. The two had met a year earlier off-camera. "I fell in love with him the second I saw him," she says. "He's the most amazing person to exist. Everything you could ever want in a best friend, soul mate and boyfriend."
Nonetheless, they broke up repeatedly, and Montag changed her number several times so he couldn't contact her. Asked whether they are engaged, Montag looks at Pratt and her naked ring finger and asks, "Where's my ring?"
He says he's saving up for a multimillion-dollar bauble to show how much he adores her.
Even though "The Hills" chronicles Conrad's life (it's the most watched TV show among women 18-24), it's her feud with Montag that's grabbing most of the attention. The falling-out began when Conrad expressed her dislike for Pratt. Montag blames Conrad for telling co-star Audrina Patridge to drop her as a friend, even though Montag introduced them. All hell broke loose this past season when Pratt and Montag revealed that Conrad had supposedly shot a sex tape with ex-beau Jason Wahler.
"I don't even want to talk about that," Montag says. "There were rumors about a sex tape, but I had nothing to do with that. God knows the truth in all of this, and at the end of the day, that is the only thing that matters. Jesus was persecuted, and I'm going to get persecuted, ya know? But it doesn't matter to me."
Little coverage in celebrity magazines, which seem to chronicle every movement of this reality troupe, is given to Montag's and Pratt's Christianity. Montag identifies herself as "kind of non-denominational Baptist" and hopes to release a Christian album one day. Both she and Pratt read the Bible conscientiously. Montag even planned on devoting her life to God as a missionary in Africa.
"I have been the most religious person since I was 2 years old. I always felt this crazy connection to God," says Montag, who grew up in Colorado with Holly, brother Sky, 15, and her since-divorced parents, Bill, a rancher, and Darlene, who runs a restaurant with Montag's stepfather.
This August, she and Pratt are headed to Africa to "feed children and help build things." Cameras will capture their trek, but not for The Hills. Pratt says it's possible they could adopt a baby while over there, but Montag laughs that idea off.
"Not right now," she insists. "I think we'd be married before we do that."
Montag likes to think she and the Jonas Brothers are part of a new wave of positive role models. "As a parent, I would not want my daughter looking up to someone throwing money away, on drugs or coming out of rehab," she says.
But while Jesus preached forgiveness, Montag says "Hills" fans should not hold their breaths for a big reunion for her and Conrad. "I don't think people are ever going to get that," she says emphatically. Even so, if Conrad offered an olive branch, Montag would accept. "She'll always have a place in my heart."
A more likely scenario: Montag and Pratt will wrap up their time on "The Hills" after this season and launch their own MTV reality series along the lines of "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica" — Montag's all-time favorite show.
Any concern such constant camera presence could lead her and Pratt down the same doomed path as the since-divorced Lachey and Simpson?
"I don't really feel that way," she says. "You're either going to make it as a couple or you're not. I love cameras, but the cameras aren't with us when we're falling asleep at night.
"The show's going to be about our lives, and it's such a blessing to be doing this."
Her Eyes Are on Music, Marriage and Charity
By William Keck, USA TODAY
June 30, 2008
"The Hills" are alive with the sounds of Montag.
heidi montag
Heidi Montag, star of MTV's reality show 'The Hills,' is debuting a fashion line and a new single, aptly named 'Fashion.'
Depending on whom you ask, Heidi Montag is the villainess on the hit MTV reality show "The Hills". But ask Montag, and she'll sing a different tune: She's merely the outcast friend who is portrayed as the troublemaker by star Lauren Conrad.
Regardless, Montag, 21, has used the drama to her advantage. She is unveiling the fall collection of her fashion line, Heidiwood, which is sold at Kitson and Anchor Blue. And with the help of her manager/boyfriend, Spencer Pratt, she is releasing her first official single, appropriately titled "Fashion", after previous song "Higher" leaked online.
"The Hills" ended Season 3 (available on DVD July 29) in May with Pratt, 24, flying to Vegas to reclaim Montag after a broken engagement. (There was some ugliness involving a tacky pink ring he had given her.) Montag and company have been shooting Season 4 for more than four months in Los Angeles; the first of 19 episodes premieres Aug. 18. Montag reveals that viewers will meet her older sister, Holly, 24, an aspiring filmmaker who once lived with Montag and Conrad.
"Holly and Lauren were inseparable for a while," Montag says. "But they stopped being friends when Lauren and I stopped being friends."
Montag credits Pratt with saving "The Hills" from cancellation when he joined the series in Season 2 as the resident troublemaker. The two had met a year earlier off-camera. "I fell in love with him the second I saw him," she says. "He's the most amazing person to exist. Everything you could ever want in a best friend, soul mate and boyfriend."
Nonetheless, they broke up repeatedly, and Montag changed her number several times so he couldn't contact her. Asked whether they are engaged, Montag looks at Pratt and her naked ring finger and asks, "Where's my ring?"
He says he's saving up for a multimillion-dollar bauble to show how much he adores her.
Even though "The Hills" chronicles Conrad's life (it's the most watched TV show among women 18-24), it's her feud with Montag that's grabbing most of the attention. The falling-out began when Conrad expressed her dislike for Pratt. Montag blames Conrad for telling co-star Audrina Patridge to drop her as a friend, even though Montag introduced them. All hell broke loose this past season when Pratt and Montag revealed that Conrad had supposedly shot a sex tape with ex-beau Jason Wahler.
"I don't even want to talk about that," Montag says. "There were rumors about a sex tape, but I had nothing to do with that. God knows the truth in all of this, and at the end of the day, that is the only thing that matters. Jesus was persecuted, and I'm going to get persecuted, ya know? But it doesn't matter to me."
Little coverage in celebrity magazines, which seem to chronicle every movement of this reality troupe, is given to Montag's and Pratt's Christianity. Montag identifies herself as "kind of non-denominational Baptist" and hopes to release a Christian album one day. Both she and Pratt read the Bible conscientiously. Montag even planned on devoting her life to God as a missionary in Africa.
"I have been the most religious person since I was 2 years old. I always felt this crazy connection to God," says Montag, who grew up in Colorado with Holly, brother Sky, 15, and her since-divorced parents, Bill, a rancher, and Darlene, who runs a restaurant with Montag's stepfather.
This August, she and Pratt are headed to Africa to "feed children and help build things." Cameras will capture their trek, but not for The Hills. Pratt says it's possible they could adopt a baby while over there, but Montag laughs that idea off.
"Not right now," she insists. "I think we'd be married before we do that."
Montag likes to think she and the Jonas Brothers are part of a new wave of positive role models. "As a parent, I would not want my daughter looking up to someone throwing money away, on drugs or coming out of rehab," she says.
But while Jesus preached forgiveness, Montag says "Hills" fans should not hold their breaths for a big reunion for her and Conrad. "I don't think people are ever going to get that," she says emphatically. Even so, if Conrad offered an olive branch, Montag would accept. "She'll always have a place in my heart."
A more likely scenario: Montag and Pratt will wrap up their time on "The Hills" after this season and launch their own MTV reality series along the lines of "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica" — Montag's all-time favorite show.
Any concern such constant camera presence could lead her and Pratt down the same doomed path as the since-divorced Lachey and Simpson?
"I don't really feel that way," she says. "You're either going to make it as a couple or you're not. I love cameras, but the cameras aren't with us when we're falling asleep at night.
"The show's going to be about our lives, and it's such a blessing to be doing this."
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