WHATS ON MY IPOD? | The Buzz | Music

Living on the go by air, sea, rail, pedal, road and foot for the last two years can be exhausting. My playlist is an aural catalogue of the faces and places I've encountered, a soundtrack to the shifting landscape and a handheld escape to someplace else like home.

Disko Cirkus – Dva
Picked up in Prague, the sibling duo sings in a made-up language for a make-believe world and produces albums from their 'kitchen' studio, a do-it-yourself (DIY) production.

Hatoa – Bonobo
The first three minutes of this Triphop instrumental voyage is perfect for peering through vistas from a slow-moving train at a pace comparable to a Mr. Roger's visual doc segment.

American Haikus - Jack Kerouac
There's nothing more real and wry like vintage Kerouac in a live recording.

Manhã de Carnaval - Luis Bonfá
The theme song of Black Orpheus (1959) is a classic composition on the Brazilian guitar.

Bomb - Inara George
People travel for many reasons. More often than not there's heart involved and an attempt at forging anew. But when certain songs play, like this LA singer's heart song, it's simply impossible to forget.

There is no There – Books
A modicum of absurdity is just as good as a page-turner to get me through the cramped, daylong bus rides.

Sitar and Violin Duet - Ravi Shankar
Typical trade among South Asian drifters, Shankar and his finger work in this extraordinary marriage of strings make me forget why clichés are overrated.

Mrs. Morris - Charles Spearin
Jazz bits and casual interviews meld into a sound experiment that makes me feel happy.

Hurt - Johnny Cash
Cash covers this Nine Inch Nails single in an indelible rendition.

Bratislava – Beirut
Because I love gypsies and brass.

Marcus, the rhubarb farmer at the Äppelfabriken,an organic farm outside of Stockholm, Sweden. (Verena Göbel)

RIP Amy Winehouse

When the news of Amy Winehouse's untimely but expected death news hit the headlines all over the world in, everyone thought drug overdose was to blame. Though the official cause of her death has been termed 'inconclusive', Amy's parents believe a sudden abstinence from alcohol might have been what led to her untimely passing last Saturday at age 27. While the debate will continue whether she'll be remembered more for her music or her personal life all, we can do is to pray for her soul to rest in peace.

Seven and one more!
It seems like the Beckhams are certainly not in mood to stop extending their family any time soon, even after the birth of their fourth child. With the arrival of their first daughter, on July 10, the celebrity couple have sent a clear message that they 'would love one more', before calling it a day. What more? The newest member of this stylish family has her own great wardrobe already. Sounds familiar? Here comes the almost princess in making- Harper Seven.

"Don't go chasing waterfalls. Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to."

That was the day hip hop found me but now if arrogance had a name, it wouldn't be mine. I do not know who leads the hip hop music chart or name any upcoming artistes. I was never like this. I knew each and every word to a song. I spoke Ebonics. I could even 'Baby Freeze'. Not many realized how important hip hop was for me. They could not understand why a Nepali girl would listen to hardcore music talking about killing cops or women being degraded to hoes. The music helped me to bond with my friends. The only argument we probably had was about who was better- Tupac or Notorious Big. We wore throwback jerseys and even tied bandanas around our heads. To us, that was not a statement. That was who we were.

Music is subjective and it is all opinion. Three issues you would not want to touch on are religion, politics and hip hop but is hip hop dead? Even if it is not, it is gradually dying. When 50 Cent first came into the scene with 'In da club' and his survival story on still living after nine bullets, it was tolerable. After that, hip hop was no longer about words or wordplays but club banging tracks and materialism with wacky rappers like P.Diddy, Souljah Boy (Tell 'em) and the whole Dirty South, coming up with lyrics even a four year old could write. Let us not forget T-Pain producing auto-tune infused music. Even though hip hop is not what it used to be back in the days, I'm still not an anti hip hopper. My iPod is full of old school hip hop from A Tribe called Quest, Naughty by Nature and N.W.A.

If you type "Nepali girls rap" in Youtube, you will come across a poorly edited video by Nepali female rappers. The lyrics are just as nasty and funny (just stating the fact) as the comments posted are but I respect those ladies. At least they made an effort and had the guts to go ahead with the video. Though Rappaz Union might not have rapped 'Converse jutta mero khutta ma', they were equally atrocious but that was alright. What I am trying to put across is that hip hop is ruled by influential male rappers and often, female emcees are overlooked. Those who were not, used sex to sell their music like Lil Kim, Foxy Brown and Trina. True female emcees, in my opinion, are Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill and MC Lyte. They wrote their own lyrics and demanded respect from the beginning.

Gone are the days when hip hop groups from Nepal were thrown bottles and rocks on the stage when they performed. There were others before Nepsydaz but they took Nephop to a whole new level. Youths recognize their 'Chudeinna' and sing along to it. Rap battles are organized to gather Nepali hip hop groups and solo rappers. Their songs are not just about love. Political situations and the state the country is in right now are getting on their nerves so they write about it. There is no need to be surprised if more of them pop out in the Nephop scene in the future.

Tupac and Biggie Smalls must be turning in their graves in disbelief at how hip hop has changed. Criticism of hip-hop is certainly nothing new — it is as much a part of the culture as the beats and rhymes. It is criticized for teaching young kids devaluation of women, the use of profanity and vulgarity and that it is cool to call someone the 'N' word when none of those are okay. It is how you take it and make of it. Summing up, this is hip hop.

"What happened to those good old days?
When hip-hop was so much fun
House parties in the summer y'all
And no one, came through with a gun
It was all about the music y'all
It helped to relieve some stress
we was under one groove y'all
So much love between North and West"
Back in the days by Missy 'Misdemeanor' Elliot

Architect of Music

Coleton Paskert

If you run into Coleton Paskert in any of the musically happening places in the capital, you might very well mistake him for an ordinary tourist from the US. But it won't take you long to notice the thoughtfully artistic personality of this tall 29 year old man from the city of Des Moines in Iowa state, after you see him taking music recording and mixing class at day time in Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory at Jhamsikhel and mastering studio and live performance gigs by night in Kathmandu.

Paskert got into program production and audio recording management much before he turned a professional in this field, when he was still a teenager in high school. It was during this time that he won awards and recognition for his work at the regional level. Since then, he has been continually involved in music and audio engineering in one way or another. Having graduated from the prestigious Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Arizona, Paskert has worked since 2001, in different fields of multimedia industry like recording, mixing and mastering for musical acts, live sound reproduction, editing and post production for radio and television, and sound design and field recording for movies including a stint at the ABC news Network in US. "If you don't actively pursue your work you will find yourself without it", he contemplates about him working in so many different places and not just sticking to one. But the most satisfying amongst all, according to this audio engineer, has to be working for live stage performances and recording artists.

The one thing that drew him towards this artistic cum technical field was his undying love for music and deep interest in sound engineering from the very beginning. "For me, nothing is more satisfying than listening to great music on stage while I manage sound and everything and seeing people enjoying themselves, " Paskert says about his passion for music and his work. "The world certainly is a better place with music for life would be soulless without music and my own life - unimaginable in the absence of music".

A freelancing audio engineer and producer by profession in Chicago, Paskert readily agreed to come to Nepal to take classes in master recording and audio engineering for a year and to instruct Nepali music engineering enthusiasts for a year, on the request of Mariano E. Abello, the Director of Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory. When asked about the reason for agreeing to come to Nepal, a country where people know little about audio engineering, he answers, "That is exactly why I came because Nepalis rarely have the opportunity to get firsthand knowledge on master recording and audio engineering. The idea of teaching music recording enthusiasts from the ground level excited me as in Chicago, where I work; I go to work with people who are already experts in the field."

Besides, the thought of traveling to a completely different country, exploring new places, meeting new people and having fun, was another reason why Paskert consented to come to Nepal. In his own words, while he was a bit worried in the first few days regarding adjusting in a new place, all that vanished soon and his stay in Nepal so far has been adventurous, fun, and outrageously beautiful.

Paskert feels many things are not taken into consideration here as most people take music and the huge amount of work behind its creation for granted. "This small country has a long way to go when it comes to meeting international standards of in-depth knowledge and availability of musical equipment for recordings and mixing but things are getting better gradually. That's what I want to change here. Besides learning the technical aspects from my recording and mixing classes, I want my students to learn to be more professional, knowledgeable and capable of providing the best service to their clients wherever they go,"states Colten. Paskert, who has worked with some influential artists like The Blue Imperials, Sandip Burman, Bill Dickens, Koko Taylor, The Mambo Zombies, Sugar Blue of the Rolling Stones, Steven Gillis of Filter, Nicholas Tremulis, Three Doors Down, Slipknot, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Jurassic 5, Nash Kato of Urge Overkill, Funkadesi, OK GO, Nile, Lucky Boys Confusion, Ghosthouse and Robbie Fulks to name just a few, feels that Nepal is a burgeoning musical area with a lot of scope for upcoming and new musicians.

Paskert has already conducted a workshop on microphone techniques and technology at Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory. His first level audio classes started from the 27 July at Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory and would be running for three months followed by the second level classes right after. Having initially decided to stay in Nepal for a year to take classes, Paskert already wants to stay a bit longer than that, overwhelmed by the warmth and love that people have bestowed upon him.