Canadian Music Icon Gord Downie Is No More

Gord Downie speaks at the Assembly of the First Nations (AFN) Special Chiefs' Assembly at Gatineau, Quebec, on December 6, 2016. He was honoured there for his support of the indigenous peoples of Canada. 

Photo courtesy of  Camera Press via cbc.ca/

Gord Downie, a highly esteemed Canadian musician, lyricist and activist for indigenous peoples, died in Kingston, Ontario, on October 17 suffering from an incurable brain cancer, known as 'glioblastoma.'  He was 53. 

He was the frontman for the rock band Tragically Hip that enjoyed Canada's love and popularity. 

Also known as Gordon Edgar Downie or Gordon Downie, he was born at Amhertview near Kingston, Ontario, on February 6, 1964. 

To know more on him, please read the following:

• Tragically Hip's Gord Downie dead at 53 (Oct. 18, 2017)
• [Analysis] Gord Downie's muse: 4 topics that influenced his songs (Oct. 19, 2017)
• Gord Downie dies at 53: The Tragically Hip frontman was more than just a rock star (Oct. 18, 2017)
• Gord Downie made us want to fix Canada: Menon (Oct. 18, 2017)
• Gord Downie taught us about ourselves (Oct. 19, 2017)
• Tributes pour in for Gord Downie: 'We already miss Gord the music fan' (Oct. 18, 2017)

The Quotation of the Week (August 16 - 22, 2015)

A quotation of Confucius on 'a job one loves,' compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Photo (A village marriage band playing its tunes in Savar of Dhaka District, Bangladesh: January 8, 2012) © Jerome D'Costa

TTC Troubadours Entertain the Public in Toronto -- 2

Here are more photos of TTC troubadours 

for you to enjoy:

Photos (in TTC Stations in Toronto: 2009 - 2010) © Jerome D'Costa

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[To go to the beginning of this write-up, please click here]

TTC Troubadours Entertain the Public in Toronto -- 1

The Toronto Transit Commission, popularly known as the TTC, is presently at its lowest end of reputation. This public company, that runs subway (underground) trains, street cars (trams) and buses in Toronto, is mired by public bashing for ever increasing price of tickets, sex and financial scandals, nepotism and irresponsible and immature behaviour of some of its staff. When the air is afoul with verbal and written punches from the public and counter-punches from certain TTC workers, I like to circulate a breath of fresh air with a good news.

This good news is about the musicians, whom I want to call "The TTC Troubadours." These men and women, coming from different ethnic groups, entertain transit passengers every day at various subway stations. Carrying permits from the TTC, these minstrels take their positions in designated areas of subway stations and sing and play on their instruments. Some instruments are commonly known, others are quite foreign to many.

Some passengers stand and keenly observe the musicians at their work, others do some jig in tune with the music. Some onlookers, in appreciation of the music, throw in money in the form of coins and bills inside the covers of instruments laid on the ground.

These troubadours are like refreshing raindrops in the arid and hectic life of the daily passengers.

Photos (in TTC Stations in Toronto: 2009 - 2010) © Jerome D'Costa

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A Silverman Impersonates Elvis Presley, Entertains the Public

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Elvis Presley impersonation at the Scarborough Town Centre
Photos (Toronto: January 10, 2010) © Jerome D'Costa

The real Elvis Presley with his typical musical pose
Photo courtesy: http://wallpapers.free-review.net/

A Silverman impersonates Elvis Presley and entertains the public at the Scarborough Town Centre. It is one of the busiest malls in Toronto. In the weekends, thousands of shoppers and window-shoppers descend on to this mall.

It was Sunday, January 10, 2010. In front of the Sears store, Elvis Presley songs were blaring from a cassette player. Dozens of onlookers, young and old, transfixed their gaze on a single figure on a small pedestal. The person is bathed in silver colour from his hair to his shoes. Because of his silvery colour, I call him "Silverman." He calls himself "Silver Elvis" -- large silver letterings done in metal stand on the floor around the pedestal. Several metal containers are also placed there for the public's monetary contribution.

Some of those who see the silvery figure for the first time, mutter among themselves, "It's a statue!", but others who know the trick say, "No, it's a man, it's a man!"

This confusion arises at what point of time you look at the silvery figure. At one time, you see it with a Presley-like statuesque pose, at another time he is shifting to his next pose!

Most of the onlookers shake their bodies in consonant with the beat of Presley's songs. This is a good example of public amusement through impersonation. This is one of the ways the Elvis Presley legend lives on from one generation to the other.

The Real Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley (1935-1977), popularly known as "Elvis Presley," was an American pop singer of international repute. His music was influenced by American country, Christian gospel and black R&B music. His singing style and acrobatic body postures were unprecedented and unique.

The young and the old of the day were attracted to his music like bees to flower nectar. Teenage girls would be "delirious" and were mad after him. Throngs of groupies would follow him from one singing venue to the other.

Elvis Presley also acted in films -- 33 in all. His music is still popular worldwide. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, he died of overdose of medicines in his home in Memphis, Tennessee.

Elvis Presley is dead, but he still lives on in the hearts of millions.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan: One of the Greatest Bangali Musicians Dies

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Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (1922 - 2009) playing his world-famous sarod

Photo Courtesy: http://davidbaptistechirot.blogspot.com

One of the greatest Bangali (Bengali) musicians and one of the greatest virtuosos of Indian classical music died of kidney failure on June 18 at his home at San Anselmo, near San Francisco, USA. He was 87 years old. He popularized the Indian classical music in the Western countries. He had founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Kolkata (Calcutta) with branches in San Francisco and Switzerland. World renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin had once termed him "an absolute genius" and "the greatest musician in the world." His brilliant compositions and mastery of the 25-string musical instrument, called sarod, made him famous all over the world.

Life-sketch

Born on April 14, 1922 at the village of Shibpur in Comilla District of East Bengal in the then British-ruled India, he was the only son of another great Bangali musician Ustad Alauddin Khan. Originally, his ancestors come from a Hindu Brahmin family.

He began to learn music under his father's tutelage from the age of three. After his birth the family moved to Maihar in Uttar Pradesh, where his father was the court musician of the maharaja (great king -- ruler of the princely state). His sister Annapurna Devi, who later married famous sitarist Ravi Shankar, was an accomplished surbahar -- a plucked string instrument -- player, but she could not perform in public due to conservative customs of placing restrictions on women.

Among his achievements are:

• At the age of 13 in 1936, he publicly performed for the first time in Allahabad, India. From then on he began to draw attention of music lovers.
• By his early 20s, he became the music director of All-India Radio in Lucknow.
  
• His first grammophone recording was done in Lucknow, India, in his early 20s.
• In 1943, the Maharaja of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India, made him the court musician. He served there until the plane-crash death of the maharaja in 1948.
• Then he moved to Bombay against his father's wish and began to write music scores for films. He also contributed in film director Chetan Anand's Aandhiyan (1952), Satyajit Ray's Devi (1960), and Tapan Sinha's Hungry Stones ((1960). Later he composed music for Ismail Merchant-James Ivory's film The Householder (1963), and Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha (1993). While in Bombay, once he also won the "Best Musician of the Year" award.
  
• Yehudi Menuhin was eager to introduce Indian classical music to the Western audience. At his invitation, Ali Akbar Khan came to the USA and successfully performed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955.
• In 1956, he founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta. In 1967, he opened a branch of this college in California, USA. In 1985, another branch was opened in Basel, Switzerland.
  
• On August 1, 1971, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was one of the performers of the "Concert for Bangladesh", organized by singer George Harrison and sitarist Ravi Shankar at the Madison Square Gardens in New York. This concert raised funds for East Pakistani (Bangladeshi) refugees in India during the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971. Among important performers were: Ravi Shankar, Ustad Alla Rakha Khan, Kamala Chakravorty, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and others.
• He was the first to have his long-play record of Indian classical music in the USA.
• Between 1970 and 1998, he was nominated several times for the Grammy Award in the USA for his music.
• The government of India granted him the Padma Bhushan as well as Padma Vibhushan awards for his lasting contribution to Indian classical music spanning 50 years.
• The MacArthur Foundation in the USA granted him, the first Indian, its fellowship ('genius grant') in 1991. The National Endowment for the Arts in the USA also granted him a National Heritage Fellowship in 1997.
• In 1997, he performed at the United Nations headquarters in New York and also at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the independence of India.
  

At his death, the great Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who was in Russia at the time, in a message praised him as "undoubtedly the greatest musician of the twentieth century."

Thrice married, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan has seven sons and four daughters. His last wife, Mary, is an American. For the last four decades, he was living in the USA.

One of his famous quotes is: "If you practise for ten years, you may begin to please yourself, after twenty years you may become a performer and please the audience, after thirty years you may please even your guru, but you must practise for many more years before you finally become a true artist -- then you may please even God."

My Doodles Series -- 12: More Titled Doodles

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 Doodles © Jerome D'Costa

Here are more titled doodles for your enjoyment. Some titles are in English, others in Bangla (Bengali).

Top row (L - R): Shoe, teeth, the poorest of the poor.

Middle row: House, Dhaka City, Kutubdia Island lighthouse in Bangladesh.

Bottom row: Gossip, sunshine, music.

I hope that you will find them interesting.

(Continued)

'The Priests': A New & Hot Trio Musical Group

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The Priests trio: Father Eugene O'Hagan, Father Martin O'Hagan and Father Delargy

Photo Credit: Catholic News Agency

The Priests -- a musical group comprising three Northern Ireland Roman Catholic priests -- has already got its debut album a place in the Guinness World Records by being the "fastest-selling UK debut for a classical act."

The album, produced in last November by Sony BMG Music Entertainment, is now one of the hottest albums in the world.

Early in 2008, the trio -- comprising Father Eugene O'Hagan (48), his brother Father Martin O'Hagan (45) and their school friend Father Delargy (44) -- had signed a recording contract of one million British pounds (nearly US $ 2 million) with the musci giant Sony BMG.

Their album has parts of the Latin Mass, traditional hymns like Ave Maria and Panis Angelicus, and a selection of opera classics.

The priests continue to perform their regular priestly duties in their parishes in the Diocese of Down and Connor in addition to their new singing and limited promotional tours.

They can be heard both at The Priests website and the YouTube.