Music of the World - Part 1

Around the world, I had the opportunity to get familiar with many different types of music styles. This is a very rich aspect of different societies and one way to distinguish them. Take Brazil, for instance: The country was heavily influenced by a mix of African and European styles plus a little something of what Native Americans previously had. The fusion produced incredible results and among them is the well known Bossa Nova song called The Girl from Ipanema composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim (or simply Tom Jobim).

More than that, Samba, Choro, and MPB (Brazilian Popular Music) are among the most traditional genres and the Wikipedia article about the country’s music covers all of them with great detail and richness.

One Brazilian music style that is missing there, though, is called Pife, named after the instrument, a kind of flute. It has a controversial origin often attributed to Native Americans of Brazil. Carlos Malta (Official web site in Portuguese) is a singer that is doing a remarkable work of bringing back the Pife under the label of “Modern Pife”. His compositions include famous Brazilian songs performed almost solely with the instrument. His style is very unique and very creative; his concert is a must-see if the opportunity comes.

Going up from Brazil to Mexico, Lila Downs is the name that comes to my mind. I went to her concert in Washington DC last year and I simply have no words to describe what I felt there. Her music is powerful and yet touches the heart with the rich Mexican culture.

She is well-known in Brazil because of the Academy Award winner song Burn it Blue for the movie Frida, performed with Caetano Veloso, a prestigious Brazilian MPB composer and singer.

Back to Bossa Nova, it is necessary to highlight the work of the American jazz musician Stan Getz. He is responsible for the recording of the English version of The Girl from Ipanema with Tom Jobim, João Gilberto and his wife, Astrud Gilberto - the song that won a Grammy Award.

The box-set called The Girl From Ipanema: The Bossa Nova Years is beautifully performed during what is probably one of the best moments of his career. It includes many of the classical Brazilian Bossa Nova songs and provides endless enjoyment.

In the US, the mix of genres is perhaps best shown nowadays through the distinctive voice of the leading vocal of Pink Martini, China Forbes. The band’s songs include genres of music as Latin, lounge, classical, and jazz.


Sympathique music clip

My favorite is Sympathique from their debut album with the same name. The song with French lyrics is original, erudite, soft, and passionate. Truly one of the best songs I’ve heard.

Speaking of the French, the Amélie soundtrack composer, Yann Tiensen, also deserves mention here. He is a multi-instrumentalist very versatile and intense. His songs follow a running heart beat.


Monochrome by Yann Tiersen (playing the piano)

In Europe, beyond explanations are the rock bands U2, Keane, and Scorpions to name a few that range from pop to hard rock. HIM, a Finnish alternative rock band, is also doing a good job and is the first and only rock band in Finland to sell Gold in the United States.

I know I’m in India right now but I can’t really recommend anything yet. If you go through the YouTube video clips of Indian bands, you’ll find very weird and funny stuff – clearly not what I am looking for.

I’ve already seen some dance presentations and they all include traditional music that I still don’t know how to classify. Again, the Wikipedia article about Indian Music is very rich and detailed – a good starting point.

I will cover the Asian Pacific music with more detail in a later post. I know I’ve missed a lot of great songs and artists but this is the resemblance of my experience and feelings towards the music I’ve been living with.

Short Story: Where was You last night?

Where was You last night? You didn’t know how to answer.

Tired of the long day that burdened him, he was reluctant. He didn’t want to share yet what he was going through. It is true, he knew how to answer that question, he simply didn’t want to. You’s face was pouting when the question was reinforced and kept echoing in his head. For a moment he thought about shouting back an argument for everyone across the globe to hear, satisfying him and the present people, setting free his friend who was supposed to answer the question in the first place.

- We were mowing the grass – said You at last, trying to end the situation as quick and as painless as possible. Nevertheless, after saying that, his voice trembled and weakened by the stress, he wished he could disappear. It was a stupid excuse for a very delicate situation. The whole scenario seemed like an interrogatory now and the surrounding people were also murmuring oddly and suspicious looks. You was wobbling. All he wanted was to relax and sleep and dream about last night and keep last night only for himself and his friend.

“Mowing the grass” wasn’t exactly going to help and his friend now crying and screaming nonsense words were enough for You to understand that. He knew that the truth had to be said. And he looked at his friend again. Even stared at her for a moment; maybe their last moment together. She was on the big wooden chair of her father, almost in the middle of that ample and bright room on the back side of the house, next to the others, howling.

He got, then, all the courage he had left, raised his head again and started to tell the story, word by word, gently looking at each and everyone’s flabbergasted face. Story told, there was nothing else to do. His friend wiped the tears away…

Multiple mice in a single computer: Simple and innovative idea to help disadvantaged schools

I've just finished reading an article about the use of multiple mice plugged in the same computer to help children in disadvantaged schools.

The idea is to give the opportunity to all the students sharing a computer to interact with it instead of being passive while only one had the mouse control. This is done plugging in as many as necessary mice in the USB port and using a specific designed software to let all the students interact with the computer. In the authors field work, there were a maximum of 5 students using one mouse each but in lab tests they had tested up to 15 mice simultaneously.

The software - an educational prototype - has two modes of work: a racing mode where the students had to compete to click on the correct answer first; and a collaborative mode where all the students had to click on the same answer for the software to evaluate it as right or wrong.

Their findings, although slightly limited, show benefits in the learning process using the practice above.

For me, this is one of those ideas that make you think: "Why didn't I come up with that first?" When I was a kid, I had to share a computer at school and later, during a time when I worked as a teacher, I saw my students facing the same problems when they had to share a computer and one or two had to be passive while the other was actively following my instructions...

As of today, the article is available online here (PDF file), if you are interested. More publications of the TIER Project (Technology and Infrastructure for Emerging Regions) can be found at the official web site.

Photos of my hometown in Brazil

I just remembered that I had uploaded to Picasa some photos of my hometown, Vitoria, in Brazil. The city is located in the coastline, 600km north of Rio de Janeiro, and its going to be 456 years old this September 8.

What I miss most about it right now? My girlfriend, friends and family, our traditional fish dish called "Moqueca Capixaba", and the beach.

You can see my pictures here. Also, take a look at the city's official English Portal for more touristic information.

India's social contrasts

Take a look at the picture below:


Now take a closer look at the amplified version:

This is a construction site in Electronics City, Bangalore, located between Siemens and IIIT-B (An Information Technology Institute). Although all the buildings in this region are really sumptuous, the same cannot be applied to the ones under construction.

Some of the workers actually live in these aluminum houses behind the construction. They have no hygienic conditions and the dirt floor looks like a swamp to me. Besides, the workers have almost no protection; some of them wear helmets but they don't have proper shoes (they wear sandals) and they don't have any cables to support them while working in the higher floors.

And guess how much they get paid... I can't confirm this yet but some fellow students here where I'm living told me that they earn an average of Rs. 40 / day. That's about US$ 1 /day!!! And of course with that daily amount they need to work even during weekends and holidays to get at least US$30 at the end of the month...

I have no more to say about this...