Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, SC
Photo unrelated to entry. As usual.
Each year in Shillong, the quirky hillside town I grew up in north east India, Bob Dylan's birthday is celebrated in grand style. He has never been there but when he is ready, I'll take him home and introduce him. My brother lives there still and he would have a grand welcome. I attended St. Mary's, the school mentioned in the article. How fun is this? Very fun.
Shillong singer keeps Dylan legacy blowin' in the wind
Published: May 23, 2009, 23:50
Shillong: The sunlit hall of the local St Mary's College for girls in this picture postcard capital of Meghalaya sways to the chants of Forever Young - a signature 1974 Bob Dylan track.
An aging musician with stained teeth, long hair and childlike smile strums his guitar and eggs on nearly 500 schoolgirls to join the chorus. Everyone carries placards proclaiming "Happy Birthday Dylan". It's a practice session for a Dylan's birthday concert today.
Meet Lou Majaw, the 62-year-old Dylan of northeastern India, who has been singing Bob Dylan's songs and improvising on them for the past 43 years.
Bob Dylan's Birthday Bash
Shillong: The birthday boy was missing but not the fanfare and the songs immortalized in the 60s were found still blowing in the wind. No other city, perhaps, has been celebrating Bob Dylan's birthday without a break for the past 38 years. And on Sunday, it was no different in Shillong.
Lou Majaw who sings not only Dylan's songs but also many other singers ,and also his own compositions has acquired a "larger than life" status.He commands attention with his long,white hair and micro-shorts (if he's not wearing jeans).On the stage he introduces himself as 60plus years young and regales the audience.
ReplyDeleteThe charm of Shillong is that its musical range and taste is not only limited tocountry and pop and rock but also the classical(western),spiritual(so evident on sundays in and outside churches)and last but not the least,the folk songs which are of the soil,its air ,its waters and its ethos.
Neil Nongkynrih and his young wards have enthralled audiences both in the country and abroad with their exalted tones vocalising tunes of the Western Classical Masters and some uncommon Christmas songs like the "O Holy Night",which once heard never leaves ones memory.
Then there are the Sunday School kid singers like the ones in the Presbyterian Church at Mawphlang where Basil Griffiths;a Welshman, heard them sing the Khasi Version of Cwym Rhondda(English version is "Lead me O Thou Great Jehovah,a pilgrim through this barren land')and was touched to the core hearing kids singing with a passion befitting elders.Youngsters as these have not only filled the church halls and auditoriums with their full-throated talent,some of their tunes have been transported into space.A few years ago when Astronaut Michael Fincke was in one of his Space Missions,some Khasi boys and girls sang the folk song "Ksing Lynti" in St.Anthony's College Auditorium for his ears.Fincke returned the pleasure of hearing with "Khublei".It was part of a live interaction done through the collaboration of FASS with NASA's .One may ask why for an Astronaut?The reason was sentimental.Michael Fincke is married to Renita Saikia(also of NASA).Renita's parents are from Assam and her father studied in St.Anthony's College before he left for the USA.
Nothing like music to bridge barriers including that of space! NAMRATA