Cerati last night in music

Cerati son had his trial by fire last night in music

Benito (17), the eldest son of former Soda Stereo, teloneó Pacific Group yesterday! in Buenos Aires. His sister Lisa joined in the chorus.

"It's very happy to be in the land of musician who always recommended our music, Gustavo Cerati" . With those words, the leader of the Swedish Pacific! , Synneby Bjorn, unleashed a standing ovation last night at the club Niceto Buenos Aires in the first presentation of the whole electropop in Argentina's capital. But the mention of the former Soda Stereo, one of the fans of the band's most illustrious Scandinavian, was not the only nod to the concert last night was for the trans-Andean musician, since May 2010 is in a coma after a stroke sufir Caracas. In fact, the clan Cerati starred in the concert yesterday. This is because prior to the performance of the Swedes came Benito Cerati, the eldest son of singer Argentine Chilean Cecilia Amenabar. According to some specialized areas of the neighboring country, the 17 year old spent half an hour on stage , and although at first there was talk that would go with his group, Entre parentheses finally it was his solo debut. In show, Benito Cerati sang six songs, mostly English lyrics, accompanied by keyboardist Leandro Fresco , a member of the band of his father. But also joined by his younger sister, Lisa Cerati , who represented him in the chorus of the topics Everything is tell, I'm dying, I have left and Nobody is. All this, according to media reviews argntinos, under the watchful look Cecilia Amenabar's own and other family members who were in the audience, besides the musician Fabián "Tweety" Gonzalez (former keyboardist for Soda Stereo) and Ale Sergi, Miranda vocalist!. The latter recorded his impressions in a brief "tweeted": "Good opening of Pacific! Led by Benito Cerati. What joy!" . The closure of the show Benedict was in the company of the singer and collaborator Gustavo Cerati-Anita Alvarez de Toledo, the song I Want You, which was followed by an instrumental composition. Although Benito Cerati what the music is not yet consolidated their parents have been the main drivers of his artistic side. Young collaborated on lyrics and music in the last two albums that brought his father before suffering the stroke in 2010, here we go (2006) and natural force (2009).

Kashmiri film harud

HARUD: Multiple themes in one narrative A Kashmiri film-maker’s perspective of Valley’s endless autumn

Harud (autumn), a film by debutante Kashmiri director Aamir Bashir was screened here at a hotel on Monday evening for a select audience. The film is set in contemporary Kashmir, in the period when mobile phones made inroads into Jammu and Kashmir, and with that as a backdrop it focuses on the life of a youth Rafiq whose brother, a photographer, disappears in custody and how the family tries in vain to grapple with the bitter reality, the atmosphere of insecurity and violence and complete militarisation.

The film, as actor turned director Aamir Bashir maintained before the screening, is only one of the thousands of narratives in Kashmir’s history of conflict. It is not a documentary but a fiction, a fiction very close to reality, knitting in several of the multiple themes into one narrative, offering as it does a very realistic glimpse into phenomenon like disappearances, grenade attacks, youth enamoured by the gun and willing to cross the border, the humiliation at the hands of security forces, the enormously sized bunkers and gun totting uniformed personnel always forming a part of the landscape with the autumn’s fallen Chinar leaves. The culture of barbed wire that the entire Valley has been gripped with is very beautifully and aptly portrayed without being overbearing.

The awesome aspect of the film is that it brings you a sense of Kashmir not only through story telling and characters but also the art of photography with an attempt to not just capture scenes from contemporary Kashmir but enlivening them through natural sounds and lights. Shankar Raman, who is also the co-producer and co-screen play-writer along with Aamir Bashir, has done a splendid job, especially in view of the fact that Shankar is neither very well versed with Kashmiri culture and had never visited the Valley in the period that is being dealt with. Whether it is sound of the rattling buses, the jack boots of the military men, the sounds of birds, the rippling waters or the screeching bicycle, every visual has its own story to reveal and sounds that are so intrinsically Kashmiri in essence.

How did both Shankar and Aamir get drawn into the film? Aamir was inspired some six year ago with this idea and it took him four years to simply put out a script in place, upon which both of them began work thereafter. The film, with a shoe string budget, was shot over a period of one month in the autumn of 2009. It was an arduous journey simply shooting the film with a paltry budget and very less logistical support in a place like Kashmir where huge cameras and crews often invite lot of suspicion and skepticism from both officials and civilians.

Despite all the odds, the end result has been purely aesthetic, though painful through its very subtle portrayal of people caught in a very hopeless situation of conflict amid some lives that move on with hope. It is about the despair of a family, having lost their son in custody, about a young boy’s aimless life till he stumbles upon his missing brother’s camera and finds a new reason to move on. It is about the hopelessness of a father, a man in police himself, unable to protect himself, his family or others from the onslaught of violence. The story is mainly told through these two alternating perceptions of the father-son duo, beautifully portrayed by well acclaimed Iranian actor Raza Neji and local artist Shahnawaz Bhat, who made his debut appearance before the camera. Bhat is fresh and his expressive eyes haunt you long after you’ve seen the film. The other cast of the film includes Shamim Basaharat, Salma Ashai and Mudassir Khan.

The film is slow paced but one that is engaging, for its aesthetic appeal and its story line, and one that makes you want to both know what follows next and also enjoy and take in every moment of the film. All this involvement without the jarring melodrama and added props of music et al.

“The film is a work of fiction. I have tried to go beyond what you see in the news: beyond the politics, to look at the human cost of the conflict,” says Aamir. And that is just one of the strong points. A must watch for serious cine-goers whenever it hits the theatres.

Dogri translation of Dido Jamwal

Dogri translation of 1934 Punjabi play ‘Dido Jamwal’ released

Lala Kirpa Sagar’s original Punajbi drama titled ‘Dido Jamwal’, written in 1934, appeared in its new avatar as ‘Mian Dido’, the Dogri translation by Yashpal Nirmal.

The play that paints the folk hero of Duggar in a new light was released in a function organised by Duggar Manch in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, at Abhinav Theatre, here today.

Mohan Singh, president, Duggar Manch, highlighted the historic importance of the work. He said that Kripa Sagar was a major figure of Punjabi literature in the late nineteenth century and the play ‘Dido Jamwal’ forms second part of the trilogy ‘Maharaja Ranjit Singh’ that was written by Punjabi poet before he died in 1939 at Lahore.

Speaking on the occasion, the young translator, Yashpal Nirmal said that while he was working as a resource person in Dogri at Northern Regional Language Centre, Patiala and Mohan Singh during a lecture had mentioned about the rare Punjabi play on Mian Dido by Kirpa Sagar and the need to trace it. He said that after lot of research, a very fragile copy of the play was found and the present translation is finally in your hands.

N D Jamwal, chief guest of the function, reiterated that Mian Dido sacrificed his life for the freedom of his mother land. He warned about mixing the fiction with facts. He said there is a need to tread cautiously while considering the historic merit of literary works and the contemporary interpretation and representation of such facts for public consumption and reference.

Padamshree Jatinder Udhampuri, guest of honour, said that there is need to evaluate the play so as to sift the facts from the fiction. Savita Bakshi, Additional Secretary, Cultural Academy, earlier read the welcome addressd. The programme was conducted by Dr Gyan Singh.

The prominent personalities present on the occasion included Prof Lalit Magotra, President Dogri Sanstha, Udhay Chand, Nirmal Vinod and number of poets and writers of different languages.