[Reader-list] [Urbanstudy] Article from the Washington Post: an experiment in context, perception, priorities

[Vishal Rawlley]

this is turning out to be an interesting discussion...

i am from bombay and there are a lot of musicians on the local trains...
most of them are really bad, completely off tune and really annoying. you
want to pay them to stop singing or playing their instrument. specially the
little kids with shreeky voices, they are hilarious. but often a real nice
musician or a genuine talent would come along... i know a friend who has a
small music label, who is sending two talented kids for classical music
lessons to train their voices a bit and then wants to put out a record with
them. the *bhajan mandalis* on bombay trains are quite controversial, but
some of them are really good... delicate aalaps and long taans, mesmerising
stuff... in full rush hour.

these days i am in montreal and the metro here has a real nice system. they
have allocated spots in the stations for musicians. these spots are
competetive, one has to audition for it. it is reasonably lucrative to get a
spot on the metro station as begging is otherwise illegal. so these spots
are taken up by people with some amount of talent and they can be very good.
i saw a white guy playing a sitar, a bunch of brazilians playing drums, a
karaoke guy singing soulful love songs, acoustic guitarists etc. etc. people
do not stop to listen always but do drop some change as they hurry past,
carrying the tune on their lips or whistling out as they leave.

metro stations in montreal are also often the venue for art installations,
performances etc. after the trains stop at 1.30am, there have been hip hop
acts and open house parties.... all this is well regulated of course...

so here is a role model for arts in the metro.

-vishal
www.bombay-arts.com




On 4/20/07, Fahad Mustafa <balthassar at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> First of all, I am not even sure whether this would even be possible.
> > The Delhi Metro seems to aggressively control the space, and even the
> > soundscape within the environs of the Metro.
>
>
>
> Around 10 pm, a few days ago, at the New Delhi Metro Station, I was
> waiting for a train towards Delhi University, when old Hindi tunes- Hero,
> Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh, Musafir Hoon Yaaron- played on the flute, caught my
> attention. A thin man, in a kurta-pyjama, standing next to a dustbin was
> playing a bamboo flute, impromptu. Not quiet the virtuoso mentioned in the
> Washington post, but he played beautifully. People crowded around, curious,
> yet maintaining a respectful distance. Nobody stopped him, nobody offered
> him money; nor was he asking. He played for 6-8 minutes, till the metro
> arrived (frequency is lesser at that hour). Some people broke into an
> applause- bahut badhiya, bahut badhiya-and others offered to buy him dinner
> at Chandni Chowk. He took his bows, and accepted the dinner treat.
>
>
> On 4/20/07, Gora Mohanty <gora at sarai.net> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, 2007-04-19 at 16:20 +0100, Priyasha Kaul wrote:
> > > and what do you think of the reactions of the people, especially if
> > > the musican was a woman? the jumble of gender, power, expression and
> > > space in the interstices of a city like delhi, indeed a worthy
> > > experiment !
> > [...]
> >
> > First of all, I am not even sure whether this would even be possible.
> > The Delhi Metro seems to aggressively control the space, and even the
> > soundscape within the environs of the Metro. For example, at the Dwarka
> > station where I disembark, they have managed to force the line of
> > rickshaw-pullers some distance away from the exit, even though this is
> > on a public road.
> >
> >   Even should one manage to convince the powers-that-be in the Delhi
> > Metro, this would be a different kind of an experiment, as there is no
> > history of beggars, or street musicians within the Metro premises. So,
> > the event would probably garner attention because of its novelty, and
> > because people would assume that it was organised by the Metro
> > authorities themselves.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Gora
> >
> > _________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
> Fahad Mustafa
> 26 Narmada Apartments
> Alaknanda
> New Delhi, 110019
> Phone:+91-9818893784
>           ****
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>
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