When I go out for dinner and entertainment, it usually involves fast food of some sort and music, something along the lines of Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Rolling Stones etc. So it was completely out of character for me to go to the Naga Charity Dinner on Saturday night. I went with family and friends knowing absolutely nothing about the event.
The event costed 500 bucks. For this, you're fed a buffet dinner and serenaded by a surprisingly adept choice of music.
Once we had been shown to our tables. My new friend from Hong Kong, Angela and I set out to explore the food and the smells. Warm, spiced lime tea was poured in one glass and strongly fermented rice beer in another. Rice, five pork dishes- roasted and rich gravy, one chicken dish, accompanied by a fermented soybean curry called ‘Akhuni’, chili chutney (made from the hottest chilies in the country) and chicken soup were served. The salad course had quite a presentation; it just didn’t find its way onto my plate. There was plenty of food to go around for each table, with seconds for the asking. Dessert was light yoghurt, mounded with all kinds of fruits. Prepared by the Nagas, the meal was quite excellent.
It's not at all surprising that in a show about women (The L Word) so much attention has been paid to women in music, especially those who fall into the category of ‘not all the rage’. The idea of featuring only female artists for a whole month came to me somewhat suddenly, perhaps as a response to the amazing artists I found with a little bit of digging around to fill the empty space left below each post. And while artists such as these will probably continue to endure their expected share of obligatory negative backlash, I’m hoping that my readers, you guys, will nevertheless appreciate these artists, as I have, as an overwhelming success, and perhaps more importantly, as a signal that there is so much more of their music to come. In the music world today, we have more than our fair share of representatives of the girls with vocals, attitude and the rhythm. The present phenomenon may be very unique because of the ratio of recent arrivals. And as more female artists come, so do their ideas, pulses and musical experiences which shape the creation of songs and the sound of a movement. And I’m hoping to find these singers a larger audience.
The songs posted this month will be songs that can stand alone acoustically, without a rhythm section -- if the song is the focus and not the music -- that's a big part of it. Also I think the lyrics should be able to survive on a piece of paper. If they speak to you, tell a story, they can lend insight and make you think then they can be considered poetry, really. And this is music that really just has to travel.
Kirsten Price is a Brit-born, Brooklyn-based singer and her album is definitely worth checking out. I guess I was being selfish. It hasn’t made it on any of my recent updates and I’ve avoided playing it around friends. It’s such a great piece of music that I wanted to keep it all to myself. That seems contradictory, I know, but who doesn’t have those few things they want to keep private, a secret only they know? But as I was listening to her the other day, I realized she’s just too good to keep to myself anymore. I’ve listened to the song ‘Magic Tree’ a thousand times, and I don’t think any amount of playing it can lessen the power of the track. This song sparks a return to classic American soul with modern pop that fans will appreciate. The beats on the track is toned perfectly to fit the mood, sounding clear and succinct. It’s so well executed that even the most conservative listener can’t help but love it. I very highly recommend adding the album to your collection tomorrow. You can hear it here below….. Happy listening.
