Flamenco in New York

FLAMENCO FESTIVAL

AT THE 

MECCA TEMPLE

aka

NEW YORK CITY CENTER

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasirgondal/sets/72157642131701433/

Ever since I had seen the dome from the room in Hilton NY during an APPNA Meeting I had an interest to know about the building and go inside it.

Mecca Temple

It is a fascinating story. Build by the The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, later simply called Shriners, build it in early 1900. This was an offshoot of Freemasons, who felt inspired by the Middle Eastern and Moorish art and customs.

Two Americans Walter Flemming, a physican, and William Florence, an actor, wanted to create a branch of Masons with more fun and purpose in mind and less of rituals. Florence, on a tour to England was invited to a party arranged by an Arab diplomat. He got inspiration from that and on coming back floated this idea.
Today the most obvious contribution of the Shriners are the Hospitals. They are headquartered in Tempa Florida.

There is a story that they used to have their events in Carnegie Hall but were evicted as they smoked cigars too much. They later bought this piece of land, just south of the Carnegie Hall. The Muslim influence reflected in the Shriner rites and dresses. Fez is their head gear. Similar influence is heavily reflected in the architecture. You see Andalusian horseshoe arches, and various Islamic Motifs in the inside. The auditorium was built to earn extra money for concerts and shows. 

The Center Stage

ES SELAM ELEIKUM

اسلام عیلکم

Later during the Depression, they were unable to pay the mortgage and the Bank foreclosed on them. Later the City took over the building as a lot of back taxes were owed.  

The rumor is that the building was to be demolished but the mayor, F LaGuardia came up with the plan of converting it into NY City Center. Now it is a major venue for dance performances.

Then came the information in the mail for the Flamenco Festival. This is an annual event, held in this center for the last decade or so.

I watched Flamenco for the first time during our trip to Seville in 2012. More on that  at http://ghareebkhana.blogspot.com/2012/10/seville-alshabilah-of-andalucia.html

There I learned about the Roma people. Believed to be originally from Punjab or Rajistan in India they eventually found their way to Spain and rest of Europe. These Gypsies, as they are called, developed this unique form of art which is reminiscent of Indian and Middle Eastern music. 

This was a four day event, and Sunday was the last day. It was good to be out on a nice day after a long wintery and snowy spell.

 

Zoha and I attended the performance by Eva Yerbabuena. 

The show was titled Lluvia ie Rain. It is the story of a person born on a gray day of pure melancholy. She explores isolation, loneliness, heartbreak, ignorance and acceptance. It was a Ballet Flamenco, and had all what flamenco has to offer: the long dirges reminding of either aazan or a lonely song of a desert-man, the dance, the guitar, the drums, the hand clapping, the castanets and the quintessential stomping of the feet. 

A video clip  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn3hzMx_88Y

As mentioned by Barclay.

Created by Yerbabuena, a choreographer as well as the virtuoso dancer most people know, Lluvia, meaning Rain, is a full-evening flamenco drama featuring a cast of five dancers and an ensemble of superb musicians and singers.

Like flamenco itself, the production of Rain traverses an intense range of emotions. It begins with a somber street scene in which Yerbabuena and her dancers thread their way through an unseeing crowd conveying a mood of melancholy and isolation. It concludes with a blindingly passionate signature Soleá and an audience jolted into awareness of the great La Yerbabuena’s magisterial qualities.

I wished I had known the language; it would have added a lot to the experience. Still the rhythm, the movements and the music made my day. I can now understand why many non-Urdu-knowing people can enjoy the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali

------------------------------

References:

• http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/MeccaTemple.html
• http://www.shrinersinternational.org/Shriners/History/Beginnings
• http://www.thebarclay.org/events-details.asp?n=explore-events&n1=&n2=&refId=466B6716-3029-4479-A839-08C48A399E68
• http://ghareebkhana.blogspot.com/2012/10/seville-alshabilah-of-andalucia.html

TRACES OF YOU, ANUOSHKA SHANKAR at NYU

TRACES OF YOU, ANUOSHKA SHANKAR

I am not a fan of the popularly know fusion music. My default opinion is that fusion creates noise and confusion. Mixing of music is hard for me to appreciate even when it includes some of the work by Late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

In the last few weeks I had a chance to attend two performances. Both were experiments of fusion music between East and West. The names of performers were too tempting to resist.

First was Anuoskha Shankar, the daughter of legendary Ravi Shankar. I had heard her before when she accompanied her father years back in Carnegie Hall. Over the years she had developed her own style and has been experimenting with western music for a while. For the fans of Spanish flamenco it is a treat listening to her album Traveller, for which she earned one of her three Grammy nominations.

She performed at NYU Skirball Center of Performing Arts on November 16th, 2013. The concert was in conjunction of new 2013 release Traces of You.

It was a sold out performance, with an eclectic mixture of instruments, both eastern and western. The interesting exception was absence of tabla. The percussionist Pirashanna Thevarajah used the supposedly less sophisticated dhol which was on his lap all the times. He made good use of if and the sounded just as great.

Another percussion instrument was the Hang. It is a steel drum, a recent invention out of Switzerland,  looks like a UFO and played by hand.  It could be used both sides, he had three of them and turned upside down when needed. Gave a dull note but was interesting to watch and hear. The player was Manu Delago and when I looked up the Hand in Wikipedia, he is featured  there. Perhaps he is considered a master of this instrument and he is on her team. 

  

One very emotional piece is In Jyoti's Name. Jyoti is the name of the girl who was assaulted in a gang rape and ultimately died. It is very disturbing and the accelerated escalations of notes depict the distress, anger and despair experienced in such a horrible experience.

All her pieces were a mix of sitar along with Shehnai, dhol, tanpura, cello, keyboard, Hang and drums. It got fast and loud too much and too soon. Some items had lyrics in it. they were all in English. Supposedly the actual album would have Nora Jones, (her half sister) but in the concert it was Ayanna Witter-Johnson. She has a great voice,  but some lyrics seem out of meter.

Perhaps I did not understand this music that well. Perhaps I am a generation removed to enjoy this kind of mix. It was a bit loud for me, but still there were many enjoyable moments in the performance.


I kept on waiting to hear something purely classical. It did happen, after the concert was almost over. After taking the collective bow, she returned to the stage to play a classical piece, in memory of her father. It was no fusion, just pure sitar, and it was fantastic.

I think of all her work, the Traveller is the best. It is a fusion with the Spanish flamenco music, which some say originated from the folk tunes of gypsy Roma people, whom many consider of Indian origin.

A week later, Sachal Jazz at Lincoln Center-----

Seville- Alshabilah of Andalucia.

"Sevilla does not have ambiance, it is ambiance." James Michener

Click here for the album.

Saying goes in Andalusia, "Cordoba has the Mezquita, Granada has Alhambra, but Sevilla has the soul".

You will not know that unless you experience that.

Monuments and historical buildings have their value, but what makes a lively experience is a living city. Nothing gives you more of that in Southern Spain than Seville. Its old city is perhaps the largest of Andalusia. It takes to to a different time zone, to a far away place back in time. A place where the  atmosphere is laid back, nobody is in rush. People are everywhere, even in the hot summer nights, walking on the paseos,  sitting on the sidewalks, on the outside extensions of the restaurants and eating places, music being played at every corner; you think that the time has no intention to rush. 

The best place I liked was on the German Street (Calle Alemondes) outside the back of the mosque's door.  It is like sitting outside the Jamia Masjid, with the restaurants bustling with both tourists and city dwellers, and night is ever young.

Nobody seems to be in a hurry to leave and you may lounge way past midnight on a weekday.

When we reached Seville (called Sevilla locally, pronounced se-vee-aa) in the middle of the day from Madrid,  we had it all chalked out. We will have evening on our own, have a full day trip to Cordoba the next day, rent a car the day after and go to Granada, spend a night there and drive back the next day via Gibraltar   

But when we checked in the hotel, which was a bit far from the city, AC Cuidat Marriott, Allejandro at the front desk had a message for us. Due to an event in the Cordoba Mosque, the trip was cancelled, and the trip company had taken the liberty for booking us on the next day ie Thursday for the trip. That was very nice, but it was a problem. We had already bought tickets for Alhambra Palace, which are bought way in advance for a specific half hour slot to enter the Palace, and cannot be changed, The ideal thing was to go to Cordoba the day after that ie Friday. That also meant to change the rent a car arrangements. It all may sound easy, but not so in a foreign land with a different language where you do not know a single person. 

The next two hours were quite tense, with back and forth emails, calls overseas and a lot of heartburn. The local tour company did not answer phones as they were out to lunch till 5 pm. That is where the availability and readiness of Tipu was a blessing, He was available on the phone,  in Indianapolis, guided  us the right way and eventually we were to able to secure a new trip to Cordoba on Friday, got a new car rental for three days locally and cancelled the Avis rental which was booked ahead of time.

While all this was being executed, we hired a cab to go to old town. It was already too late to visit Cathedral or Alcazar. We had lunch in a pizza place where the gruesome bullfight was being shown on the TV. It is being slowly banned in all over the Spian, it is pretty brutal, and contrary to what I thought it is, the bull is eventually killed by the sword if the fighter has to win. Although it was still hot, one of the hottest days of the year, but the atmosphere in the central area was quite festive.  And then we went to see a flamenco dance show.

Besides a gallop up the Giralda Minar of the destroyed mosque,  covered in a later posting, what will remain with one after leaving Seville are  the  streets of  old jewish quarters, and watching a flamenco dance.

Flamenco:

I had heard that the Roma people of Spain and the rest of Europe have Indian roots, but one cannot be convinced more after viewing flamenco. Claimed to leave India in 14th century or so, perhaps from Rajhistan or Punjab, these nomads, found their way in the Muslim empire ultimately into the Iberian peninsula. One genetic research have linked them closer to my ancestry, they share the same gene pool as the jats of Punjab!!! click here

The art initially started as a combination of voice and dance, later guitar was added, and the latest addition is the stomping of feet. The best place to watch is were you have active participation of the audience. We watched it in a dinner place, which is primarily filled with tourists, and the response from the audience is rather tepid, but it was still good. It was recommended by Allejandro and later found out to be one of the most famous places in Seville, Tablao El Arenal
We got a seat next to the side of the stage, as we were not having dinner and did not get the front seats, but it turned out good. The long dredging sounds of the vocalists, which some say is reminiscent of the azaan,  reminded me of the desert voices like Reshman. Zoha whispered in my ear that this music sounds like what is being played in my car all the times. She was right. It is like the songs of Rohi with a beat of feet thumbing on the wooden floor and hand clapping, enriched by the music of guitar and the moves of the dancers.

Getting lost in the streets: Barrio Santa Cruz

It may have been a desperate place for Jews in the times of Christian conquests, and they were crammed into these quarters, but after their expulsion the area was occupied by their looters, and soon it became the heart of the city. This is now the most prized area of the old city. It became prime real estate. With its small winding streets and open gardens it is the real heart of the city. Plenty to wander and enjoy during the day, and the whole area becomes an open dining arcade after the sunsets. 

The Remains of the Mosque:

The best of Seville was the remains of the Almoravid's mosque. As I had not heard about it at all before we left for Spain, this was a most understated place in my mind. It turned out to be the place which left the deepest impression.

The mehrab, the minar, the sehn and the dar-o-dewaar. mostly retained as original for various reasons.

More on that  later.