What's Up With J-Pop?

So I confess, I like Puffy Ami Yumi, that ever-so-cute J-pop duo that owns the charts in Japan and has a host of adoring fans in North and South America as well. I mean, everybody’s got a cartoon these days, right? And a video game. What’s up with that music video that features the pair singing to an image of Jimmy Hendrix? I totally don’t understand it, but I want it. Here's a sample of their music.

Perhaps the most famous of recent J-pop divas, Hikki Utada, has sold over 35,000,000 albums worldwide, according to her bio on Wikipedia. Fluent in both Japanese and English, she released her very first album, Cubic U, in the U.S. Other, J-pop girl bands of note include Morning Musume, SPEED and Perfume. Solo artists of note include Kyary Pamu Pamu and Namie Amuro, a Japanese R&B singer.  On my Jpop Youtube playlist, I've got some great examples of Jpop stars & groups. I'm also very fond of Shiina Ringo and the time she spent with Tokyo Jihen. She's my personal favorite, but alas, has just retired. This is her best tune with the band. Also been listening to a bunch of "Capsule" tunes, what I'd classify as Jpop "electronica." 

Regular listeners to J-pop begin, over time, to recognize a certain similarity to a lot of the tunes. The players also seem to be regularly refreshed. I think Morning Musume has had six or seven different line-ups. It’s what my favorite Japanese pop-culture blogging maven Neomarxisme calls “the template.” Though producing mega-Dollars (actually, mega-Yen) in Japan, the world’s second largest consumer of retail music to (you guessed it) the U.S., actual sales of new music in Japan have been trending down. That’s the logical product of digital music sharing and the highest CD prices on the planet. But in the U.S., musical explorers, gamers who love Japanese graphics and anime fans are driving a modest, but reliable market for J-pop.

I really admire the “whatever” confidence and the unbridled creativity of J-pop cute. Even if there is some “templating” involved. Though I can’t quite put my finger on the magic, it works. As the sales of gazillions of dollars of merchandise will attest. But there’s more to J-pop than cute. And more ways to explore and appreciate the sub-culture than music. Fashionistas will second that.

If you’ve got NetFlix or a Blockbuster account with a good foreign section close by, dial-up Kamikaze Girls, a contemporary Japanese “chick flick” that features an irresistibly cute heroine who is absolutely obsessed with Rococo fashion. That’s Rococo. Think Marie Antoinette. Our protagonist is completely oblivious to everything and everybody around her until she accidentally hooks-up with a biker chick with tats on a café racer. That’s what I’m talking about: cute with attitude. Here's the IMDB page.

For a serious dose of J-pop attitude, check out Fruits and Fresh Fruits by Shoichi Aoki, two volumes that explore the colorful, multi-layered teen fashion of Tokyo's Harajuku district in its heyday. No text, just image-after-image of creatively dressed teens pushing all the limits.

(First posted in 2007. Edited with updates and new links in 9/14)

Uncontacted Uncontaminated

This video really touched me on so many levels. Did you see Avatar? We can go to the movies and cheer for the pure, indigenous natives while at the same time our own real-world drama is unfolding in the Brazilian rain forest. What you'll see, if you chose to watch, is important in the overall scheme of things. I'm confident that you'll see that too, in spite of all the noise from the pop culture world. Via Jenn at Sealegs. Thanks, Jenn... for posting this video.

Bolivia's Fighting Cholitas - Lucha Libre

During a serious channel-surfing fest a few nights ago, I chanced upon Chef Zimmerman on the Travel Channel seeking out "bizarre foods" in Bolivia.

In the midst of Llama brains and chiles, he devoted a few minutes of video to Bolivia's fighting cholitas - a new brand of indigenous, female wrestler that is taking the country by storm. That's right, local ladies in their big skirts, colorful peasant blouses and hats in the ring executing throws and full-body slams. Awesome. Lucha Libre for the masses. The story hit the BBC today. Check out their vid here. These women are way serious, as are the crowds who cheer them on. Male wrestlers often "open" for the much more popular ladies. Just to be clear, we're not talking about spandex body suits and cleavage here. No, these women compete in their full Andean indiginous attire - which makes the spectacle even more unusual. Check it out for yourself.


Bolivia
Cholitas
Lucha Libre

Uzbekistan - Jewel of Central Asia

I've always been fascinated by the beauty of Asian carpets and the skill necessary to weave such treasures. I remember seeing a large, Persian silk carpet that took five generations of one family's life to produce. That is old-world dedication to tradition and quality, a favorite subject on this blog. The ancient Silk Road that introduced Asian treasures to Europe and the west runs through Central Asia, for years shrouded in the haze of the Russian communist revolution and territorial expansion. With the demise of the old Soviet Union, Central Asia is coming into its own again and opening up to the west.

The jewel of Central Asia, its biggest country, is Uzbekistan. Home to Tamerlane, the 14 century military genius and conquerer, Uzbekistan has some of the most exotic and picturesque cities in the region: Samarkand, Tashkent, Khiva and Bukhara. Even the names are exotic, and the architecture is simply stunning.

Blogging has opened many doors for the author and delivered countless new friends and opportunities. In that regard, I have discovered a really wonderful photoblog that is a chronicle of the travels of a very interesting Romanian accountant. His photos of the cities along the Silk Road, especially those in Uzbekistan, are great and very much worth browsing. I had hoped to use some of his fine pics in this post, but alas, he has not given me permission to do so and thus I am relying (as usual) on Wikipedia's comprehensive collection of public domain images. You'll just have to surf on over to Hoinarescu's blog, Creaga Pe Coclauri, and take a look at his images - which are more numerous and much better than Wikipedia's offerings. Make sure and click on his November "archive" for images of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan is also home to one of my favorite new world-beat artists, Sevara Nazarkhan. A recipient of the BBC's Best Asian Artist award, Sevara has literally put Uzbek folk and popular music on the map. And she's very beautiful, in an exotic sort of way. I've always thought that Uzbeks actually look a combination of their Mongol, Turkic and Persian ancestors. Nazarkhan has a number of really excellent music videos, that are often featured on LINK TV (for those of you with Satellite).

Celtic Culture on Cape Breton

Nova Scotia, one of Canada's Maritime Provinces on the Atlantic coast, is an authentically Scottish outpost in North America. Nova Scotia means "new Scotland," and early settlers included a number of Highland Clans that emmigrated from their homeland due to religious, political and economic realities of the era. Called the Higland Clearances, it was, at the time, the largest single ethnic emmigration in the history of the planet, with the possible exception of the original exodus of the Gypsies from Rajastan.

Cape Breton Island, on Nova Scotia's northern coast, is very much like Scotland's many islands. The Mackenzies, MacLeods, MacIssacs, MacDonalds, Beatons and Rankins settled there in large numbers - replicating the Clan structure, and agriculture and fishing industries that existed in their previous villages. They brought their language, their religion, their rivalries and their love of family and music. It is possible to get deep into the underlying cultural and demographic patterns in this small piece of paradise. For insight, check out Frank MacDonald's wonderful novel: A Forest for Calum.

Cape Breton Island has villages of Scottish Catholics, descendents of Jacobites who were loyal to the Stuarts and to Rome; and villages of Scottish Presbyterians and Calvinists with a somewhat different take. The Island also has an Acadian coast, with a Francophone population that shares religious tradition with the Scottish Jacobites. And of course there are also Irish and even a town that is largely English. But this much is true, the lifestyle and culture is largely Scottish.

Scots' Gaelic is widely spoken on the Island. Even some street and city signs are in both English and Gaelic. The locals talk of "Fairy Hills" and are all talented storytellers. Storytelling is part of the culture. It connects the young and the old; it captures significant events and individuals in the community; and in some cases, records the drunken exploits of particularly unlucky teenage boys. That's right. If you screw up big time in Cape Breton, somebody's likely to write a song about it and it'll get sung at every party for twenty years.

Though all the province's universities boast Celtic Studies programs, including a notable one at St. Francis Xavier, St. Ann's Gaelic College on Cape Breton is the continent's only Gaelic institution of higher learning. In addition to its fine Gaelic language and history programs, including a traditional craft program; the school is a principal partner in the Celtic Colours festival and the site of the festival club - which runs every night of the event from 11:00 p.m. until, well, sometime the next day. There are even shuttles for attendees that have had a few too many Whiskies. Now that's service. (Image: Gaelic College)




Speaking of service, an army of about 1,000 volunteers keeps the festival running like greased lightening (though some of the venues could have used better signage). Drivers, sound techs, stage hands, managers and ushers are everywhere. They've even got uniformed parking attendants to help negotiate the many fields that fill with cars. We saw concerts at venues like a 160 year old church that still used oil lamps; a town volunteer fire hall, and a community center. Our final concert was on the covered basketball court floor of the Inverness Academy.

So what did we hear? A lot of Gaelic songs, fiddle playing, reels & jigs. And some fine singing from the likes of Fiona MacGillivray and Joy Dunlap. There was an outstanding young piper named Kenneth MacKenzie from Mabou that lit up the hall and more than one a capella group. Guests from Scotland, including a vocal group we saw called the Sangsters, rounded out the musical fare. Big name acts that we did not see included: The Chieftans and Dougie MacLean. We saw entire families of Cape Breton fiddlers, but our very favorite was a fresh-faced, energetic 17 year old named Chrissy Crowley. Be sure to check her out, she's already wicked hot and emotional. And she'll only get better.

The concerts were crafted to show off talent in multiple ways. One of our concerts was called Kinsfolk, and featured brother-sister acts. Another was called "The Young & The Restless," featuring the next generation of Cape Breton musicians doing their thing. Another was titled: The Troubadours, and featured a more folk-oriented playbill - including a rousing maritime pirate song. The most interesting concert was a "milling frolic" that we attended on Christmas Island in the Fire Hall. All in Gaelic, no instruments in the building. Working songs.

Here's how it works. A milling frolic is used to "finish" off freshly loomed wool fabric before it is made into clothing and blankets. A group of ten or twelve family members sit around a table with a long piece of wool and sing while they "beat the wool." The wool is passed through twelve pairs of hands as it rotates around the table and is finished and fined. Each member of the family will take the lead in a song, so that songs are passed along and rotate around the table as well. The unique rhythms of Gaelic song add yet another dimension to the experience. All-in-all, it felt like an authentically historic ritual that evoked a simple, earlier age. The senior singer at the concert was a 95 year old gentleman with a twinkle in his eye and a stong voice. I should do so well, LOL.

Celtic music is unique for a number of reasons, none more important than the way the music captures and communicates the rhythms of life and the land. In Gaelic song, each note is a word - and the rhythm of the mouth music is often more important than the content of the words. Somehow it all works to cast an ancient rhythmic trance that can't help but involve the listener in deep and unexpected ways.

Then there were the Sangsters. Directly from Fife and proud of their lowland Scots heritage and traditions. No, they weren't going to be singing in Gaelic. There's some controversy right now in Scotland, they correctly noted, around just what constitutes "traditional" music. And with that, the group launched into a wonderful "Old-Scots" language version of Bobbie Burns' "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose." I guess they made their point. They were so funny, and irreverant. Their Scots accent was so thick it was, at times, hard to understand. But their harmony was exquisite and they did some great old standards. And one notable new one. One of the group members had received a songwriter's grant which he used to fund an effort to collect and organize village insults from the truly aged - whom he uncovered in nursing homes throughout the region. We're talking about regional insults here, one town dissing another down-the-road. Yo mama. And we all thought they were so proper 80 years ago. Uh-huh, not happening. They were badmouthing each other's turnips at the very least. Great song, the parts I could understand. And particularly appropriate for a Clan- and religion-based region like Cape Breton Island.

Delirium at La Scala

I don't often post about opera, though I enjoy a great tenor as much as the next fan. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that opera fans can bring the house down. And they did just that last Tuesday after a performance by Tenor sensation Juan Diego Florez, heir apparent to the throne of Caruso and Pavorotti, according to reports in The London Times. The delirious La Scala audience forced the conductor to break a long-standing house rule and play the first encore offered a performer on that hallowed stage in 74 years. Not even Pavorotti himself was ever afforded such an opportunity and honor. Florez, a Peruvian, earned the spontaneous demonstration and acclaim following his performance of Ah! Mes Ami, from Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment. Italian critics were predictably scandalized by the breach in La Scala etiquette, though all allowed the performance was exceptional and the star's stage presence commanding. Not bad for a guy trained in Philadelphia. Time to update my holiday favorites playlist.

Joe Bonamassa - Teaching the Blues

Joe Bonamassa was born in 1977 on Robert Johnson's 66th birthday. His dad owned a guitar store in New York City, so young Joe picked up his first guitar at 4 years old. After being mentored by the likes of guitar great Danny Gatton, Bonamassa was "discovered" at 12 by B.B. King - and the rest, as they say, is history. Since that time he has toured with King and Johnny Lang, and garnered the attention of Guitar Player Magazine. He even performed a rare duet with Ted Nugent at a recent gig.

I am personally impressed with Joe's bringing the Blues to the schools program that has him appearing, playing and lecturing at high school campuses across the country. In addition to being a musical genius, he's a prince. Gotta love this guy. His 2006 solo album "You & Me" is quite simply a breakthrough disc. Virtuoso, guitar-driven blues. The inevitable comparisons to Stevie Ray have already begun. If you like the Blues, buy it now.

Cuban Surf Rock Band

Just when I thought I'd heard it all, my friend Jeff Angus sends me this link to the MySpace page of a Cuban Surf Rock Band. Yea, uh huh. Dick Dale & Los Habaneros? Turns out, I was impressed. The Cuban Cowboys are smart, and you've gotta love the fluid, Costa Mesa Beach-style guitar. I'm talking the Rendezvous Ballroom here. In my personal version of music history, that's where surf guitar was invented. Now set that all to a background Mambo, and you've got something going on. Check out their official website. And as Jeff would say, Vaya con Carne.

The Quest for Authenticity

By now, we've all heard Jessica Simpson utter what arguably is becoming her most famous line: "I totally don't understand it, but I want it." That's the way most consumers feel about authenticity. Don't know exactly how to define it, but will expend large amounts of energy and juice to own it.

So what is really authentic, anyway? That's a big, burning question. In William Gibson's riveting novel, Pattern Recognition, the protagonist Cayce Pollard's vocation is "coolhunter," an authenticity seeker with a keen eye for trends. In a global marketplace, early identification of the authentic is a profound competitive edge.

I backed into my personal analysis of the issue by looking at what authenticity isn't. It is most assuredly not a constant, at least mass perceptions of what is authentic are fluid - changing direction in unexpected and unpredictable ways. But the notion of authenticity is a constant. That which is genuine.

Authenticity is also not spin or affectation, it is not designed by committee, manufactured from focus group data or influenced by polls. Authenticity is not bestowed from external sources, it radiates from a perfect set of internal markers. Over the years, we've charted some of those markers, including: the obvious pride of craftsmanship; quality components; measured, thoughtful construction; and, meaningful impact, to name a few.

Authenticity is also reflected in proper naming and categorization. A tree farm is not an authentic forest. Knock-offs are knock-offs, no matter how you cut it. Categorizing a primitive, but mass-produced piece as "folk art" doesn't make it so.

The perception of authenticity would seem to require some Limbic System activity. That's the region of the human brain that ascribes meaning to situations, symbols, interactions and is the source of emotions. I could be overstating the issue, but for me, authenticity has a "feel," a sense of rightness, value and meaning that makes the moment and all of its attendant associations genuine. After all, one of the dictionary definitions of authenticity is: correctness. I believe that correctness can be perceived and measured, in all its shades of gray. I use those benchmarks in my choices of music, fashion, art and even politics.

I have a former friend who has spent his adult life building an authentic gentleman's estate. A complete eccentric with the taste of a Scottish Earl, he spent several years and some 40,000 paintbrush strokes re-creating a hand-painted highlands clan motif on the ceiling of his small kitchen.

I have other friends and acquaintances that take the quest for authenticity into serious role-playing and re-enactment spaces. Two serious techie friends of mine are members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group of medieval history fanatics that get together in the country with their horses, drink a lot of highly alcoholic Meade and tilt with wooden lances in full body armour. Don't laugh, they're a very serious and dedicated bunch. A physician friend is a prominent member of a national "mountain man" organization that stages an annual backwoods rendezvous attended by unshaven individuals in buckskin with muzzle-loaders in tow. They are all looking to re-create an authentic experience.

Authenticity is inexorably intertwined with history and nostalgia. If it's old, it must be authentic. But, of course, every generation has had its knock-offs. Still, it is accurate to assert that basic traditional products, well-made for everyday people with regular jobs, are quite likely to viewed as the real deal, genuine goods - authentic. Like Filson luggage; Carhart, Pendleton and Daspu fashion; Ebbets Field Flannels sports apparel, African Trader Beads and Irish woolens.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, specialty items made in small numbers for select purchasers have an aura of authenticity. Like handmade bamboo fly-fishing rods; fine Ghanian Kinte cloth; late 60s psychedelic posters, hand-blown glass and single-estate Assam tea.

Cost is not necessarily an issue, value and creativity are. An utterly authentic "look" can consist entirely of thrift-store purchases. The goal is to avoid sameness, formulaic uniformity, mind-numbing mediocrity -- all the sense-stifling emanations of uninspired, mass produced goods.

Ribbon of Dreams

Orson Wells said: "A film is like a ribbon of dreams..." Personally, I've always liked dreamy flicks. Dreams, after all, can have hard edges, convoluted twists of plot and unexpected drama. That's unless you're talking about standard Hollywood fare, which is ever so predictable and formulaic. Prequels, sequels, endless variations on tired plots, recreations of tired characters. It's all so pedestrian. So edgy independent films, foreign titles and cult-classics have become my standard fare. Along with a dose of good science fiction or fantasy to punctuate the action.

If you haven't perused the titles at Zeitgeist Films recently, you're missing some great cinema. Nowhere in Africa; James' Journey to Jerusalem; Prom Night in Kansas City and movies about Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller and Ram Dass - Zeitgeist's catalogue is full of unusual treasures.

Since the Bush Administration appears to be considering an attack on Iran, I thought I'd pass along some recommended Iranian (Persian) films. Yes, the "evil doers" make movies just like we do. Well almost. As one might imagine in a conservative theocracy, film makers in Iran are very constrained about the subject matter they are permitted to showcase and the attire, language and behavior of actors involved in their productions. That has led to some pretty creative filmmaking, with titles often featuring lush color and texture - or stark grey half-tones. Persian films tell traditional stories, focus on the hardships of third-world life, or showcase the traditional themes of familial love, hard work and creative problem solving. I found these films to be interesting in my recent exploration of Farsi-language Cinema: Gabbeh, Baran, The color of Paradise and Children of Heaven. All are available in the "Foreign Films" section of NetFlix or from Blockbuster.

Debashish Battacharaya Plays Slide

Latino Baseball Swag

New Colors from Classic Leagues

Baseball may by the US "national pastime," but in Cuba, the game is a passionate, national obsession. Always has been.

Both US & Cuban pro leagues were formed in the mid-1800's. The American leagues were formed in 1869, with the emergence of the Cincinnati Red Stockings team. Cuban professional leagues followed in the 1880's.

Cuba learned of the game from Cuban students sent to the US and American sailors who brought the game to Cuba, where it quickly became wildly popular. So popular, in fact, that early Cuban teams pioneered branding and merchandising techniques that would take their US counterparts decades to discover and employ.

For example, each of the four major Cuban teams - the Alamendares; Habana; Cienfuegos; and the Mantanzas clubs - had an established team color, slogan, and mascot. As a result, fans became even more attached to their teams and strident in their support. Families were sometimes separated and estranged due to conflicting club loyalties.

According to Jerry Cohen, owner of vintage baseball apparel manufacturer Ebbets Field Flannels, "Cuban professional teams always paid special attention to the appearance of their uniforms and gear including the use of vibrant colors, fancy-script fonts, beautiful women and animal mascots so cute they would make teenage girls squeal with delight."

Ebbets Field Flannels, for example, features a line of T-shirts emblazoned with Cuba's version of "the girls of baseball." Cuban artist Andre Garcia, often compared to Playboy Magazine's Vargas, produced a series of highly stylized images of team pinup girls, barely clad in revealing team jerseys and an early version of hot pants. "Each team had its own look, and Garcia successfully melded graphics and sex appeal to create some truly memorable images," says Cohen.

Baseball history makes it clear that in addition to memorable images, Cuban teams played a lot of memorable ball games - even holding their own against some US major league clubs.

According to a Wikipedia article on the subject: "Beginning in 1908, Cuban teams scored a number of successes in competition against major league baseball teams, behind outstanding players such as pitcher José Méndez and outfielder Cristóbal Torriente. By the 1920s, the level of play in the Cuban League was superb, as Negro League stars like Oscar Charleston and John Henry Lloyd spent their winters playing in Cuba."

There are many connections between the early American Negro Leagues and Cuban Pro teams. Since the Minor Leagues including the Negro League played in the Summer like the Majors, and Cuban pros played Winter ball, players were sometimes shared between teams. Negro League greats like Josh Gibson and Sam Bankhead joined Charleston and Lloyd along with a host of their contemporaries to play ball in Cuba. Just imagine some of those games, featuring teams comprised of the best Cuban pros along side the very best of the Negro Leagues. It was probably some of the greatest baseball ever played.

Cuba, of course, has a large Afro-Caribbean population and prejudice there is muted at worst and non-existent at best. That fact served to facilitate the exchange of players between leagues.

A little-known story including the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey and barrier-breaking player Jackie Robinson involves the first season after Rickey had stunned baseball by signing Robinson to play for the Dodgers. Like today, the team conducted Spring Training in Florida - which was still practicing segregation in 1947 when Robinson joined the Dodgers. To avoid the prejudice sure to dog practice and the segregated society that would not even permit Black players to set foot legally on a field occupied by Whites, the Dodgers moved their Spring Training to Havana. After his brief but illustrious career in the Negro Leagues, Robinson must have felt right at home in the Cuban capital.

Today, there are 30 Negro League players and five league executives in Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame. The recent deaths of two of the league's oldest surviving players, Buck O'Neill (94) and Silas Simmons (101), has refocused attention on the important role that the Negro League teams played in the communities they represented and in the evolution of the Major Leagues.

As interest has grown, so has the line of vintage baseball apparel. Ebbets Field carries a full-line of historically-inspired Jerseys, T-shirts and hats from great Negro League teams like the Monarchs; the Homestead Grays, Birmingham Barons, Cleveland Buckeyes, Detroit Stars, and of course, the New York Cubans. This swag is unique, classy and way cool. Take it from me.

Ugly Betty and Love & Rockets

What do Ugly Betty and Love & Rockets Have in Common?

Salma Hayek doesn't mess around. When she brought the wildly popular international telenovela format to U.S. network television, she created a "state-of-the-art" showpiece that is attracting a substantial, cross-over audience.

Ugly Betty, Hayek's very successful weekly show on ABC, is breaking barriers and setting new standards. The show features a layered and complex cast of characters that we can all somehow recognize and relate to, superimposed over comic-book caricatures, in highly stylized, every-day settings. The images are real, rich and textured in a distinctively campy sort of way. The composite content seems to move seamlessly between real and surreal, while always maintaining the all-important street cred and authenticity that only really well designed and executed productions can create.

It as though Hayek has taken Hollywood by the neck and, looking the industry directly in their collective stupid, white male eyes, said: "Okay, you guys just don't get it. So here's what we're talking about." And she did it right, in spades. Touchstone Television was wise to give the accomplished Mexican diva her chance to produce and direct a prime-time show. There is just no doubt that Ugly Betty will change the way we make and appreciate prime-time television. In a word, that's "influence." Much like the ground-breaking comic series Love & Rockets had on alternative comics in the 80s.

Love & Rockets came out of the East L.A. Barrio in the early 80s, grabbed the comic industry by the neck and proceeded to change the face of comic art and content. The Hernandez brothers; Jaime, Gilbert and occasionally Mario, brought complex characters with engaging stories set in real life circumstances to the comic world - through spectacular art and hard-hitting street stories. Jaime's "Maggie the mechanic" and her side-kick Hopey are two of the most engaging characters in the comic world. And they're often worrying about such mundane conundrums as when the next beer will materialize. Gilbert's Luba, from his famous Palomar series set in a village in Latin America, is an equally tangible and engaging character. The point-of-view is decidedly Latin, as is the Zeitgeist of Ugly Betty.

Like Love & Rockets, Ugly Betty stars "real women," and comfortably accommodates characters that are gay and illegal immigrants. Plots acknowledge that sometimes even good people run afoul of the law. Sometimes even friends and neighbors fight and pull each other's hair. And, in a way, the content in both Ugly Betty and Love and Rockets affirm very basic family values - as they are understood in real life on barrio streets and in the villages of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the case of Novelas, be they telenovelas or comic novelas, the characters become our friends and companions. The subject of our conversations and finally, part of the family. They succeed, in part, because their creators make it easy for us to give-it-up and get involved. We relate. We laugh, we get angry, we want revenge. And thus, we are engaged. Each episode of Ugly Betty is a jewel , like each issue of the Love & Rockets series. But the real pleasure comes in getting to know the characters, their homes, families and personal pecadillos over time. Now that's entertainment.

Gypsy Music - Historic Improvisation

In 1859, noted Hungarian composer and musicologist Ferenc Liszt published a book in which he stated unequivocally that all Hungarian music had Gypsy roots. Though most of Hungarian traditional folk music features recognizable Gypsy violin melodies and ornamentation, the controversy he sparked continues today.

In reality, the influence of Gypsy music extends much further than Hungary, where the connection is clear and well documented.

The Gypsies, or Roma as they prefer to be called, are an ancient race that originated in Rajastan, India. Until the link between the Romani language and language of India was published in 1776 by Istvan Valyi, Europeans were unaware of these origins. In fact, the word Gypsy is derived from Egypt - where Europeans assumed the Gypsies originated.

Gypsy music is some of the oldest and most influential on the planet. Music and dance have always played a very special role in Roma society and culture. Every occasion has its musical accompaniment, every ceremony its special song or dance. The making of music is a thread that is woven throughout the Gypsy migration.

Today, there are Roma communities in most central Asian and European countries. Some Rom families have emigrated to the U.S. and Canada. In many cases, it is music and dance that unites these diverse and far-flung communities.

As the Roma migrated from India across central Asia, through the Middle East and Turkic countries up into the Balkans, Europe, and finally the British Isles, their music touched every ethnic group that they encountered. It left lasting impressions and influenced a broad spectrum of musical styles across multiple cultural traditions and continents.

At the same time, the Roma co-opted and incorporated musical instruments and melodic elements that they encountered in their westward migration into their own traditions. Thus, they carried memorable bits-and-pieces that they heard around them throughout their travels. Both of these practices combine to produce a powerful Gypsy influence on the development of contemporary musical styles.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Russian and Hungarian nobles maintained Gypsy Orchestras and choruses to provide musical entertainment for royalty and major national events. That influence forever changed the music of both nations.

The Gypsies arrived in Wales in the 1700's. They introduced the violin to Celtic music and added the Welsh harp to their own repertoire.

Full of passion and exotic melodies, Gypsy music slides easily in and out of major and minor scales. It is their pension for using the minor scale, called the "Gypsy scale" by Europeans, that characterizes Roma musicians. And Romany music always contains fluid, imaginative improvisations - whether on violin, guitar, or tuba in a Balkan Gypsy brass band.

We can hear the influences of this compelling and engaging music in bands and tunes from Turkey; Armenia; the Balkans; Russia; Eastern Europe; Spain and Portugal. Gypsy music has influenced multiple folk music traditions as well as a whole generation of classical composers including Liszt, Moeller, Rodrigo and Albinez.

One of the strongest influences Gypsy music has had is in Spain, where most Flamenco artists are Roma. Flamenco, perhaps the most passionate music in the world, owes its unique sound and exotic dance to strong Gypsy roots. Bands like the Gypsy Kings - masters of Spanish Flamenco (though they are from southern France) - are well known in "world music" circles.

The Portuguese "Fado," a traditional style of song with many forms, owes part of its haunting melodies and stunning guitar work to Gypsy influences. Street Fado performers, often the engine of musical creativity in Portugal, are frequently Roma.

The Manouche clan of French Gypsies has had a heavy influence on Jazz. Django Reinhardt, the best-known Manouche, was one of the most influential jazz guitarists and musical innovators of the thirties and forties. Playing with violinist Stephan Grapelli in the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, he helped shape the entire universe of jazz guitar . Django's unique jazz leads, fluid improvisations and exotic ornamentation are still influencing popular new bands like 8 1/2 Souvenirs.

It can be argued that, in addition to bringing the guitar and violin into a number of Gadje (non-Gypsy) musical vocabularies, the Roma were the first musicians to practice improvisation. In fact, there are references in the literature to Gypsy musical improvisations as early as 1500. It is likely, however, that the Roma have been improvising as long as they have been making music.

That makes sense, as the Gypsies have always disdained written composition, musical tablature and all of the accoutrements of formal musicology. There is no evidence that any attempt has ever been made by the Roma to formalize or standardize their music. That's not their style.

Every time a Gypsy song, or any other for that matter, is performed by Roma musicians it is entirely unique. This is consistent with the lack of a written Gypsy literary record. And with a linguistic tradition that emphasizes social interaction over the exchange of facts. Life, love, music and performance are very much "of the moment" for the Roma.

The Gypsies carry their disdain for external structure and standardization in their daily lives into their music and literary traditions. At the same time, the Roma prize individuality, cleverness, assertiveness and personal creativity. That leads to uniquely personal musical interpretations and promotes technical experimentation.

So in that sense, it is my personal conviction that we owe at least part of the credit for modern jazz and improvisational lead rock guitar to the Roma culture and early Gypsy musical innovation.