Missed the sufi night, with Abida Parveen singing sufi kalaam of Amir Khusrau. But did hear a Romanian group that sounded something like this:
Here they were, the Romanians, the mirasis of Europe. Little did they know that they'd entered a city of jokers and clowns! (Interestingly, a French colleague said just the same thing to me over coffee on our rooftop cafe as I was listening to this:
"What surprised me here was just how non-serious everyone is, how they make fun of everything"
So, here they were, these funny Romanians, on a cold night in Lahore with a small-ish crowd comprised of some voluptuous girls in tight jeans, a few maulvis (incredibly), young brash kids, a number of farangis and Afghani girls and what appeared to be some druggies sitting on their haunches, their grey shawls wrapped nonchalantly around them.
A few comments like : they'd be a good in a circus or I'm sure they'd make a lot of money playing at marriages, but then the crowd just got up when the horn section got going and danced crazily like some sort of Romanian peasants! And this was, I thought, a great two fingers up to the maulivs or Americans or anyone else who think that this city of lazy pimps, bastards, poets and prostitutes will ever change. No, Lahore is Lahore. Eternal Lahore. Indestructible Lahore. Like a cockroach!
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The Baroque does not convey a state of present happiness, but a feeling of anticipation, of something yet to come, of dissatisfaction and restlessness rather than fulfillment. We have no sense of release, but rather of having been drawn into the tension of an emotional condition.
--Heinrich wolfflin, Renaissance and Barock, 1888.
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Addendum.
Well, the bastards did strike last night-as feared. Thankfully, no casualities... only a small bomb blast.
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7 comments:
Mmm, this is good b. I listen to the first while taking a test about language. And the second I just enjoyed. Larhore is Lahore. Eternal and indestructible. Mmm.
-fl
b, another beautiful quote on the baroque, ah you do take care of my soul :-P
the comments in the crowd made me laugh, especially this one: I'm sure they'd make a lot of money playing at marriages - because it is exactly what it would happen, yes, do you have also this custom of bands playing at marriages and earning a lot? but this band is too famous for that, they got so many international prizes. and they are a gipsy band, romanian music sounds differently. of course there are influences, a certain "balkan thing" common to all the countries in this area. I'm not sure what you mean by the "mirasis of europe", entertainers you mean? jesters? hmm I don't think anybody in europe would say this about romanians, not even about the romanian gypsies :-)
Roxana, good to hear from you ! I thought you had taken a vow of silence, or something like that!
Er..why don't you call the gypsies Romanian as well? Please don't tell me you're a nationalist!
'Mirasis'...hmm. Did I tell you how much I hate google? :-)
No, it wasn't this band, it was someone like them..fanfare Bachalie or something like that.
Gosh, it doesn't take much to 'take care of your soul'..just a bit of cut and paste! :-)
anyway, thanks for dropping by.
Hope all is well,
b.
fl, that was said half mockingly (whence: like a cockroach!)
language test? what is that?
best,
b.
nationalist? :-)
you know, romania is such an old mixture of people, we have hungarians, gypsies, ukrainians, russians, bulgarians, turks (these last 4 living since the 18th century in the Dobrudja, Danube Delta region), serbs, germans, jews, armenians, turks, friulans (italian origin) and maybe others that I forget. so I guess it is important for each of these nationalities to keep their traditions and be recognized as such. we don't have this american thing: "I am proud to be an american even if I am a pole" :-)
b. why would you mock roaches? They'll be here long after we're gone.
-fl
n, 'morning.
No, I'm not mocking them ! I'm mocking the grandiose terms like "eternal", "indestructible" ..as if Lahore , or any city was 'the thing' . Actually, it's about prasing-despicable though they are- the cockroach and the Lahoris for their sheer tenacity and resilience.
I love this word "shirking"!
of course, it has no meaning here! :-) A deep commitment to work-or anything really- just seems bad manners in these parts! :-)
oh yes, just wanted to say, n: i'm not mocking you in your hole at all. please excuse me if that's how it came across. Just joshing.
Take care,
b.
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