Was not Paul McCartney in concert last year and it was not when this hot babe told me last week that she would kiss me if I figured out how to play a song. No, it was a "concert" of Indian music. I mean, like in India, not like Geronimo. Although, I would like that, too, I'm sure.

This Indian stuff... I made friends with some people here and one of the family members plays several instruments. He's not Indian, he's Asian, so, I'm not sure how he got in. He played guitar for this deal.

So, they had this guru come over from India. They played at the Indian cultural center here. This guru, I'm not sure what his purpose in life is. Maybe it's to go around teaching people to appreciate Indian drumming.

Lemme tell ya... I've never seen African musicians drumming, just on tv. But man, this was something else and I can't imagine any culture having faster drumming. It was about 1.5 hours and I was never bored in the least. They played some songs (guitar, mandolin, two drummers) together. But they also had the guru do his thing by himself and also with the other drummer. The other drummer was sensational. He's a local Indian guy. But the guru, now, he's on another level up in the ozone somewhere.

I have never in my life even comprehended human beings moving their hands/fingers as fast as they do. It is simply amazing. This is the kind of thing you say that everyone on the planet should see but they won't because it's art.

The guru and the other drummer played a drum, I don't know what you call it. It looks like a conga but they squat and set it in their lap. Then they bang on each end. Occasionally, both hands on one end but 99% of the time, one hand on each end.

The guru also plays a hand drum. It looks like a small bowl with a lizard skin stretched over it. Maybe six inches in diameter. You cannot imagine how so much sound can come out of something so simple. Amazing.

The guru also played what I call a jew's harp. They called it something else. He would twang this thing with rhythm and also with incredible speed but also he would utter sounds over it. Also amazing.

Another cool thing, the guru did a kind of chanting thing. We're talking about taking speaking in tongues to another level. He used his tongue to make very fast sounds. He made all kinds of noises but they were very fast and he also would use a two-note utterance and it gave it kind of a sing song effect. Bobby McFerren has nothing on this guru. His "chant" lasted many minutes. It was like ancient rapping, kinda.

I highly recommend Indian music like this. Super cool. Last year, they had ethnic dancing along with it. I wish I could have seen that.

They were very reverent. It was somewhat of a spiritual effect. Incense burning. Bowing, reverence. Very cool.

Hi,
Can I take this to mean that you heard percussive sounds that I can't quite emulate on my PSR540?

Sounds like a great time. Even in this digital age, nothing beats real music played by great musicians on real instruments who really know what they're doing. I'm sure I would have enjoyed being there very much.

Reading your account, I paused to wonder how all our new technology will change our understanding of what music is, just as Edison and the phonograph turned music into a consumer commodity- something one could "own" as opposed to being only performed or experienced... I wonder if an event such as you described is in danger of disappearing just as, for example, blacksmithing became more or less a lost art with the arrival of the automobile?

But I won't rant. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Michael