Raghav has fared quite well on the mainstream British charts thus far. His first single ‘So Confused’ featuring dj/producer 2 Play went as high as number 4 on the British charts and his debut solo single ‘Can’t Get Enough’ entered the British charts at number 8, the same spot as the last collaboration single with 2Play ‘It Can’t Be Right’, featuring Naila Boss.
Well, not really, but they did find the recently created Sikh contribution to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.
Part art history, part anthropology, it provides an opportunity to view 19th-century miniatures alongside contemporary pictures. Much of the 20th-century work, particularly Arpana Caur’s self-taught oils, is heartfelt schlock overly indebted to Western kitsch. But the English tag team of Amrita and Rabindra Kaur Singh achieves a pungent synthesis of East and West, old and new. The twins’ gold-dusted 1998 gouache “Nineteen Eighty-Four (The Storming of the Golden Temple),” which commemorates the slaying of hundreds of Sikh nationalists by Indian troops that year, melds Punjabi traditions of detail and decoration with the significant gesture of Giotto and the satirical intent of British wartime realism.
For those of you interested in the election, life in Washington D.C., and the politics of the White House, not only should DC blog (and gawker family blog) Wonkette be on your blog radar, Dan Froomkin’s White House Briefing should be a regular on your internet explorer’s history bar.
Froomkin’s most recent commentary has focused on the “Ask President Bush” events conducted by the White House and has pointed to two quite interesting pieces (among various others) on what appears to be quite misleading events. The first is from Yesterdays Times by Elisabeth Bumiller and another article by the Associated Press’s Scott Lindlaw.
Budge Travel has run an interesting travelogue piece (reprinted on MSNBC.com) on Five trips that can change your life. Installment 1: India.
“I had not come to India on any kind of Mission Enlightenment, but the funny thing about change is how it creeps up on you when you are busy acting like a brat. As soon as we left Delhi, the little kindnesses started: When I fell sick in the Lawrence of Arabia worthy desert town of Jaisalmer, a restaurant owner named Rama became my temporary mother, easing my stomach pain with desert cures and my loneliness with long, intimate talks.”
click here to read the full story
Even though many have speculated that the Bollywood-influenced Braodway show Bombay Dreams is standing on its last legs, Republican National Convention delegates will at least have an opportunity to check out the Desi marvel.
Apparently eight Broadway shows have been approved for viewing by the host committee depending on where the delegation is from.
Every delegate, alternate, party official and elected official will receive a ticket based on where they are from to a show on Broadway. So will it be the Edison delegation or the Silicon Valley delegation that will have the pleasure to view the Bollywood drama?
Only half of the shows that wanted to be on RNC’s list were selected. Emanuel Azenberg, producer of one of the rejected shows, Movin’ Out, a Tony Award-winner set to music by Billy Joel, complained it was passed over because it deals with the unpopular Vietnam War. Hmmm. I wonder if the host committee has seen BD–why would they allow a show that shows the Poor overcoming the Rich—very un-Republican!
British Asian pop-star in the making Jay Sean will be one of the two opening acts for American Hip Hop Producer/Musician extraordinaires, N.E.R.D. for their upcoming fans only London show reports nme.com.
Sean, whose latest single “Eyes on You,” entered the British charts at number six, is one of the many rising British Asian stars “making tings happen” for desi music in the UK. Others to look out for are, Jay’s record label mate and fellow Rishi Rich project member Juggy D and Indo-Canadian phenom Raghav (V2 Records), among others. Continue reading