MassKara Festival

Wish I'd known about this earlier, yet it is always fun to discover something new to share.

This, from the flickr blog:

"The MassKara Festival is a week-long festival held each year in Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental province in the Philippines every third weekend of October nearest October 19, the city's Charter Anniversary.

The festival first began in 1980 during a period of crisis. The province relied on sugar cane as its primary agricultural crop, and the price of sugar was at an all-time low due to the introduction of sugar substitutes like high fructose corn syrup in the United States. It was also a time of tragedy; on April 22 of that year, the inter-island vessel Don Juan carrying many Negrenses, including those belonging to prominent families in Bacolod City, collided with the tanker Tacloban City and sank. An estimated 700 lives were lost in the tragedy.

In the midst of these tragic events, the city's artists, local government and civic groups decided to hold a festival of smiles, because the city at that time was also known as the City of Smiles. They reasoned that a festival was also a good opportunity to pull the residents out of the pervasive gloomy atmosphere. The initial festival was therefore, a declaration by the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were, Bacolod City is going to pull through, survive, and in the end, triumph."

from wikipedia

BAITHAK presents - Shehnaai Recital and Vocal Recital

Phil Scarff performs with shehnai maestro Shailesh Bhagwat
Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010 at 6:00PM

125 prospect street

Framingham, MA01071

Indian Classical concert part of LearnQuest Baithak series

Saxophonist Phil Scarff of the world-jazz ensemble Natraj performs with shehnai
maestro Pandit Shailesh Bhagwat in an Indian classical concert as part of
LearnQuest's Baithak series. The program takes place at 125 Prospect St.,
Framingham, MA 01701. This concert begins with a segment featuring shehnai
master Pandit Shailesh Bhagwat. Then Phil Scarff joins for a collaborative
performance ("jugalbandi") with Bhagwat. Finally, Hindustani vocalist Ram
Deshpande performs.

Tickets are $25 general admission, free for Biathak members

Pandit Shailesh Bhagwat is the most well known disciple of shehnai icon
Bismillah Khan, with whom he worked for 37 years. Pt. Bhagwat's spiritual and
scientific approach to shehnai gives his music an astounding depth and range.

Vocalist Ram Deshpande has risen to great heights under the guidance of Pt.
Yashwantbua Joshi and Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar and has emerged as a leading vocalist
of the Gwalior and Jaipur traditions.

Phil Scarff performs Indian classical music and jazz, and leads the acclaimed
world-jazz ensemble, Natraj. Appearances include India's JazzYatra and Prayojana
International Music Festival; PANAFEST, Ghana's major international festival
(West Africa); and the legendary Gayan Samaj Deval Club in Kolhapur, India. Phil
has performed with icons of Indian classical music, including Kadri Gopalnath,
Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Trichy Sankaran, Chitravina N. Ravikiran, Ronu
Majumdar, and Shashank.

"Performance by saxophonist Phil Scarff left the audience spellbound...
Virtuosic performance... a true rendition of Indian music... He drew thunderous
applause from the connoisseurs... An exceptional presentation of Raga Rageshri."
- Sakal, Solapur, India

Shailesh Bhagwat - shehnai
Phil Scarff - soprano saxophone
Ram Deshpande - voice
Anil Khare - tabla
Harshad Kanetkar - tabla
Kedar Naphde - harmonium
Ramshandra Joshi - harmonium

for more information, please check out the Facebook event page at:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=160938130599974&index=1

We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes -
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us while
        We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
       We wear the mask!

~ Paul Laurence Dunbar

yogurt

Mulla Nasruddin's wife sent him to the store to get some yogurt. Since he was known to forget things, she told him to keep repeating it to himself till he got to the store. Mulla was rushing and saying at each step "yogurt! yogurt! yogurt!"

He jumped over a small stream and when he got to the other side, he forgot what he had been saying.

"Aye!" He screamed out. "I lost something in the stream!"

There were some people around him who thought he had dropped something by the stream and stopped what they were doing to come help him look for what it was he had lost. Some time passed and they could not get from him what it was he lost and could not find anything that could have dropped.

So a woman who had come to help said, "This is a waste of time! I need to get some yogurt and finish setting up dinner!"

At this the Mulla said, "AHA! I found it!"

Then he went on his way saying to himself at each step "yogurt! yogurt! yogurt!" leaving behind a very perplexed group of people!

Hoja and the Dispute

Hoja was often called upon to settle disputes. One day, three men quarreled over the division of a bag of walnuts, and came to ask Hoja to make the division.
"Divide with absolute justice," one of them said.
"Justice is not enough," said the second.
And the third said, agreeing, "Yes - divide as Allah would divide!"
And they all chorused: "Yes, yes, as Allah would divide!"
So Hoja shrugged. He dug his hand into the bag, tossed a single walnut into the first man's lap, pouring a handful into the second man's hands, and then gave all the remainder - almost the whole bag - to the third man. They were appalled, and protested.
"This isn't what we wanted? Where is our equal division?"
"Fools!" said Hoja. "Since when did Allah divide anything equally among men? As He would have divided, so have I done."

I'm not sure where this story comes from and am trying to track it down in order to give credit.
Discover more Hoja Mulla Nasreddin tales: