Balle Superman

Ni Shava Superman.
***


I've been swamped lately between law school classes and my CFP (Certified Financial Planner) classes. I figured I needed something else on my plate, so I started browsing Craigslist (one of my favorite sites - you can find a roomate, furniture, a job, and a one-night stand all in one place) in the musicians community section. As much as I love music, I've only ever let it out in mini-spurts - more toned down, I suppose. There was no way I could go holding it all in. I used to think I did that all because of a desire to not upset my parents' idea of how life is supposed to go. I've realized more and more lately that it was also maybe out of shyness or a lack of confidence on my part. I like my voice, but there's been something that's always made me feel that if I really just sang in front of people, just really letting myself go, that I would leave myself open and vulnerable, or maybe I didn't want to share that part of myself with them (or what if I just suck?). I don't know. So anyhow, I've been pushing myself to let it out, bit by bit, I suppose. That's why I was excited when I met up with DJ Pain1 of Extortion Entertainment. Being involved with the RKS project has made me want to put myself out there more. (Shout out to Pain! If you haven't yet, definitely check out RKS's Bollywood Ka Bacha.) So that's how I ended up browsing Craigslist, looking for some sort of outlet, some sort of gig. I came across an ad - some chick looking for a desi female singer. (For the non-South Asian folk, desi denotes "of the country".) Long story short, she's this singer, she sings in English/Punjabi/Hindi, and does a Bollywood-y, fusion type thing. (I won't give out too much info on her as yet because if nothing happens, I don't want her or my business out there. Yeah yeah I know I blog, but, believe it or not, I'm still a pretty private person. When I blog, I share some personal sentiments, but super personal info? Yeah, not so much.) Anyways, I'm meeting up with her tonight and we're supposed to "vibe it out". I'm assuming that means have a casual chat and sing and stuff. ::: shrug ::: I don't know how these things work. I'm just going to be studying all day and then meet up with her late tonight. I'm not making a big deal about it because you just can't assume shit. But, if anything, I'm excited at seeing me taking steps to make myself happier.

Today's object of:

Affection: Victoria's Secret's Semi-Annual sale. *Big Grin*.

Hateration: Aunties who tell me I need to lose weight. Yes, I know. We all got the memo. I'm working on it. Leave me alone. You're fatter than I am, and at least I'm thick and curvy (and Rubenesque, even?), and don't look like a barrel. Jerk.

Where's the beef?

I've been autonomous for the past 2 weeks - my family was all back in the motherland for a couple of weddings, and I actually had the house to myself! No, you didn't miss the party - there wasn't any. About half of the plans I'd made fell through, however, I had a lot of unexpected fun as well. I ended up reconnecting with a couple of people that I hadn't spent time with in quite a while, and it was.... it was nice. :)

Anyhow, I picked up Dad and brought him home early this evening. Mom's flight got in around 12:30 am and she's now in in bed fast asleep. In between, I was killing time chatting on the phone and "surfing the net", and decided to check out http://www.desitv.co.uk/ , a site I'd come across a while back and saved to my Favorites list. When I checked it out tonight, I realized that I had no idea why I'd saved the site at all. It's a nice site, don't get me wrong, but the majority of the videos and music available on it reminded me of all of the things that I can't stand about recent Punjabi music.

There's no soul in it. To be pop is one thing. To fuse styles together is one thing. To create your own style is one thing. The majority of Punjabi music coming out these days claims to be any one of these, but is in fact, none of the above. I come across songs that redo traditional lyrics, but maintain none of their spirit. (These are also the songs that will be singing gidha bolis, and have women with no talent/rhythm poorly swerving in a tacky outfit.) There are songs with crap lyrics sung by guys who hardly speak Punjabi, using no more than 2 or 3 chords, so you can't tell that the guy has no vocal range either. My general hating tends to focus more on the male singers because, frankly, there aren't many female Punjabi singers these days (to whom which I will now shift the focus of today's blog). The ones that are out there aren't very noteworthy. The majority of quality female Punjabi songstresses are in Punjab itself. Most of the ones I can think of off of the top of my head have been around for quite some time. There aren't many great newbies. The ones outside Punjab sing songs that don't reflect any aspect of the environment around them, and definitely lack in lyrical content.

Traditional Punjabi songs are a beautiful form of self-expression. Bolis are perfect examples of this. Pick a random old school boli, and see what it can tell you about the life of a Punjabi woman. Bolis are a way for the Punjabi woman to express her feelings about her family, her social standing, her friends, society, etc. in the context of the role imposed on her by Punjabi culture. But in the contemporary music scene, they've lost their value as a mode of expression. Societies change, and how we express ourselves changes as well. What do our songs tell us about ourselves now? There are people all over the world that can trace their roots back to Punjab. Our culture has changed, but our music doesn't fully reflect this. Pop songs are pop songs and will always be there. Punjabis still in Punjab maintain our roots, but what of the Punjabis outside Punjab? Family roles are changing, and so are gender roles. The music coming out of Punjab has not lost its value by any means, but I feel that it's time to expand. To think outside the box. Yes, new beats are used, and so are different musical influences. However, I see less women in Punjabi music now than before. How sad.

I frankly have a lot more to say on the subject, on women in Punjabi music, and the music itself. But it's 3:30 in the morning and I'm getting hungry very randomly. So let me finish up quickly and promise myself to pick up this discussion soon (with myself it seems, because who knows how many folks actually read my blog).

My current objects of:

Affection: Goat cheese. While I was on my own these past couple of weeks, I would randomly indulge myself by making scrambled eggs with goat cheese crumbles and kielbasa for breakfast. When you come across melted gobs of goat cheese, it's just *divine*.


Hateration: Mariah Carey. I miss "Emotions" Mariah. I can't stand her now. I wasn't too fond of her after her last album, but this recent one has sealed the deal. Ugh.

Happy New Year!! :D