Spring Snow

Come May and the elm trees in Amsterdam disperse clumps of their seeds into the air. A thin, pale-white veneer of these seeds settles down on the streets and in the canals. The phenomena is fondly known here as “spring snow”.

It’s been an unseasonably cold May in Western Europe. When we were in Munich early last month, the weather forecast said that it would snow in the Bavarian alps; a mere hour’s train ride from Munich. Naturally, We took the train next morning and were treated to an unusual landscape. All signs pointed to it being spring - the green trees, the cherry blossoms, and yet everything was covered in several inches of snow.

A short trek into the mountains and the snow at least didn’t look completely out of place.

We sat in a cafe by the lake and enjoyed a leisurely lunch while real spring snow fell from the sky.

June 23, 2019

Spring

April 28, 2019

A visit to the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid

We were in Madrid last week. It’s a 2½ hour flight from Amsterdam. The wife and I mused that it’s the same duration as the Delhi-Bangalore flight that we used to take many times in India¹. And it’s the same north-south direction as well, just that here it gets you to another country.

The evening we landed in Madrid, was warm and sunny. This lulled us into stepping out of our hotel next morning in less than requisite layers of clothing. In our minds, any place 2½ hour flight south of Amsterdam has to be warm and sunny - especially when it’s almost April. Madrid was a nippy 12ºC that morning.

Since our hotel² was a mere 10 minutes walking distance from the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, that’s where we started our morning. This being spring, may trees and plants in the botanical gardens were in full bloom. I spent a good deal of time under the trees mesmerised by newly sprouted green leaves.

A few minutes later it started to drizzle. We didn’t want to pile being wet on top of being under-dressed for the nippy morning, so we promptly took refuge in the botanical garden’s exhibition area³. An exposition of works by the British artist Mat Collishaw was on. Since our entry ticket prices included access to the exposition, we decided to take a look. While I wasn’t quite enthused by some of the photographic works at the exhibition, it was hard not to be impressed by the sheer size and complexity of the 3-D zoetropes⁴ on display:

April 7, 2019

A day in Pisa

After a couple of leisurely days in Florence, we¹ started looking for nearby places we could visit. Pisa stood out - not only for a chance to see the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, but also for the direct, 49 minute train ride to Pisa central station at an affordable 17.20 € for the both of us.

We reached Pisa around noon. We had plenty of time to visit the famous tower so we took a route that would allow us to see as much of the city as possible². This being Italy, we first stopped at a local café for an espresso and some cookies.

Our route took us past narrow streets and small local churches whose outside walls were often adorned with brilliant murals of Mary and baby Jesus.

A mural of Mary and Baby Jesus

The river Arno bisects Pisa into southern and northern halves. It is roughly half-way between the train station and the Leaning Tower. Moderately busy roads and rows of squat buildings line both sides of the river. The sun-beaten facades of the buildings were painted in shades of ochre, mustard, vermilion, orange and maroon that resplendently reflected in the still water of the river.

We approached the Leaning Tower of Pisa through an unpretentious, residential street. There were cars parked along the approach to the tower’s entrance and for some reason they seemed to be banking in a direction opposite to the tilt of the tower; as if trying to compensate for its tilt.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Tourists were posing for pictures that’d make them look like they were trying to correct the inclination of the tower. The tower has a kind of delicate beauty to it. It isn’t its grandeur that draws millions of visitors to it each year³, but its tilt. The attempts to correct the tilt have been going on for years. Once they straightened it up a little and checked against its further deterioration, they might’ve deliberately stopped short of restoring it to its erstwhile erectness. The Leaning Tower of Pisa sans the Leaning, just wouldn’t draw as many tourists.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is part of a larger complex of historical buildings that includes a cathedral, a baptistry and monumental cemetery. The entry to the complex is free but if you want to climb the tower, you need to buy a ticket. A separate 8 € “4-in-one” ticket will grant you entry into the cathedral, baptistry, the monumental cemetery and a museum (Sinopie Museum) next to the complex.

When we entered the monumental cemetery (Campo Santo), the sun was beginning to shine weakly from behind the clouds. The traceries of the Gothic windows that lined the cemetery’s large inner hall, cast soft shadows on the wall opposite.

The wall was covered in frescos that were faded or erased in parts. One hopes they’ll be restored one day⁴. The ones you could make out, depicted familiar Biblical themes of saints, Judgement Day, and diabolical visions of hell.

A Mural depicting Judgment Day

A Mural depicting hell

The room was lined with sarcophagi and bits of ancient masonry. The walls, just like the frescos above them, looked in dire need of a fresh coat of paint.

A Sarcophagus

The Baptistry of St. John is an impressive cylindrical, domed structure with a marble facade and a delicately adorned entrance. Save for the bright stained glass windows, its interiors are relatively austere⁵.

The Baptistry of St. John

The Baptistry of St. John

The cathedral, like many hundreds of years old churches in Europe, is still in active service. The intricate, golden ceiling above the entrance glowed in the sunlight streaming in from windows carved into the upper levels of the cathedral.

The wife drew my attention to the fact that the traditional tallow votive candles inside this church had been replaced with electric ones⁶. You’d put a coin into a slot, and a random candle (basically, a light bulb mounted on candle-length white rod) would come on. I failed to check the minimum denomination of the coin the slot would take.

Electronic votive candles

We lunched at a small local pizzeria we had bookmarked on our way to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. They were also selling a crisp, savoury pancake of chickpea flour⁷, sandwiched between two slices of focaccia. We ordered a portion minus the focaccia. It was delicious.

We took another meandering route to the station. We came across a local cathedral,

A small local church

a park with a statue of Pietro Leopoldo I

A park with a statue of Pietro Leopoldo I

and these gorgeous buildings at the campus of University of Pisa that looked surreal in the evening light.

We approached river Arno slightly west of where we were in the morning. This was fortuitous because we were able to visit the Santa Maria della Spina - a tiny gothic church with a beautiful marble facade⁸.

It was a lot windier now than in the morning, the river no longer a placid mirror. Sun was illuminating the buildings on the northern side and creating a breathtaking interplay between light, colours, shadow and contrast.

Another short walk through a quaint residential neighbourhood (complete with a merry-go-round) got us back to the Pisa station.

We almost got into the wrong train that would’ve taken over two hours to get us back to Florence. The right one was a few minutes later and, as it turned out, a few minutes late. After the kind of day we had had, we didn’t mind.

February 17, 2019

The bathroom drain

The tiles around our bathroom drain are asymmetric:

The misaligned bathroom drain

I am severely myopic but I don’t bathe with my glasses on. So even though the edges are considerably smoothened out…

The misaligned bathroom drain to my eyes

…I see enough to annoy me every day.

These days I mentally rotate this patch of drain cover and the tiles 90º counter clockwise, and imagine Base II from Contra overlaid¹.

January 12, 2019

2018: My year in music

Montage

When I shared a list of my favourite songs from 2016, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a one-off exercise or if I’d be able to repeat it every year. Fortunately there has been no dearth of good music and this year’s selection, like the years before, spans multiple genres and languages.

Just like in 2017, I heard music exclusively over streaming. In October this year, I switched to Apple Music. I still prefer Spotify, especially on macOS¹ but in the end a streaming service is only as good as the size of its catalog and Spotify has been falling behind - especially when it comes to music from India.²

Back in the day when cassettes were the dominant format, my biggest anxiety was discovering that the quality of sound has deteriorated due to the tape wearing down. My personal equivalent in the streaming world is songs disappearing because the licensing deal with the record label expired in your country. You wake up one morning with a tune stuck in your head only to find the song is no longer playable. Both Apple Music and Spotify at least still show the song in your playlist. There’d be nothing more sinister than for it to disappear from your library without a trace.

The other thing that bothers me about streaming services is artists being available exclusively on one platform. This hasn’t affected me personally yet as only mainstream music sees this kind of deal-making and eventually everything does come on all major platforms, but I fear that it’s only a matter of time before streaming services also become record labels and start signing artists up and restrict them to only their platform. This already happens today with video content exclusive to Netflix, Amazon Prime etc.³

These are minor drawbacks compared to the sheer variety of music I’ve been able to enjoy each day. It’s exhilarating to have instant access to nearly entire musical output of human race.

Finally, a reminder that these are tracks that I discovered and enjoyed in 2018. The date of their release has no bearing on their inclusion in this list.

Here is the playlist:

• Apple Music link
• Spotify Link

Colour of Water: Rose Elinor Dougall
YouTube	The electric guitar opening draws you in, the synths, the baseline, the drums, Rose Elinor’s voice and just the overall energy and dynamism of the song keeps you hooked.
Calma: Las Migas
YouTube	Love the feeling of ebb and flow the guitars create in the beginning - like being adrift in a calm river. Plus the powerful vocals and fiddle ending.
Nobakitani: Kikagaku Moyo
YouTube	A Japanese psychedelic rock number that incorporates Sitar rather beautifully.
Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons: Spring 1: By Max Richter - Max Richter, Daniel Hope, Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin & Andre de Ridder
YouTube	A fine example of how to make something that’s already close to perfect even better. Max Richter’s take on Vivaldi sounds very familiar and very new at the same time.
Are You Serious: Andrew Bird
YouTube	Earlier this year, I left my cushy corporate job for a new gig at a startup. “Are you serious?” was therefore my personal refrain for quite some time this year.
Bucket & the Rag: You Raskal You
YouTube	Poignant lyrics. Quirky music video. An unexpectedly cheerful jazzy ending.
Misterioso: Laurent de Wilde
YouTube	Some fine jazz piano playing. The central theme (around 0:26 mark) has the player moving up and down the scale which for some reason reminds me of boss-level in a video game - think stage 4 in any of the worlds in Super Mario Bros.
Love Me or Leave Me: Nina Simone
YouTube	Initially I had come across a remix of this track that caused me to look up the original, which to my ears sounds a lot better. It’s remarkable how contemporary Nina Simone sounds, especially given that this track is from her 1958 debut album. That said, the original source material that Nina drew from dates back to 1928!
Neige: Airelle Besson & Nelson Veras
YouTube	I have a soft spot for pieces that keep thing simple. This one features some inspired trumpet playing to a guitar accompaniment.
Manha de Carnaval / Eyridice: Elizete Cardoso & Luis Bonfá
YouTube	A hauntingly beautiful song.
Claudio Villa a mezza voce (Stornelli amorosi - Parte I): Claudio Villa
YouTube	Claudio Villa’s voice is uplifiting. This is one of the four songs on this album in this style. The other two are sung in a fuller voice.
I Do: Susie Suh
YouTube	Intentionally left blank as an exercise for the listener.
Love Is Strange (2018 Remaster): Paul McCartney & Wings
YouTube	More than a third of this song is a long instrumental intro. Paul McCartney, when we do hear him, is instantly recognisable and at the time of this 1971 recording, still very much on top of his game.
Les enfants du pirée: Dominique A
YouTube	The opening of this song sounded very familiar. I realised that a cookware company in India had used the opening bars for their jingle. This one is a cover of the original from a 1960 Greek film.
Me Mueve el Aire: Las Migas
YouTube	A mí me mueve el aire, el aire me mueve a mí A mí, a mí, a mí me mueve el aire The air moves me, the air moves me Me, the air moves me It’s hard to not interpret these lyrics literally when you are on a bike with wind on your back. Jokes aside, it’s incredible how much energy this song exudes. You have to see them perform this live to appreciate how much it must take from them.
By My Demon Eye (First Go): This Is the Kit
YouTube	Intentionally left blank as an exercise for the listener.
Ya Shaifin al Malih: Awa
YouTube	Three-sister band from Israel that blends Yemenite traditional music with modern sounds.
John Henry: Cécile McLorin Salvant
YouTube	I am featuring a track from this album for the third time in a row. This is one of the more playful song on the album but it still showcases Cécile McLorin Salvant’s impressive vocal range. Aaron Diehl’s staccato piano playing provides the perfect accompaniment.
Sambolero: Luiz Bonfá
YouTube	Just a guitar and Luiz Bonfá humming.
Isa Lei: Ry Cooder & Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
YouTube	Back in 1993 when Vishwa Mohan Bhatt won the Grammy, I heard about it in news in India. However, it wasn’t very clear what exactly he had been awarded the Grammy for. I assumed it was some kind of ‘Lifetime achievement’ award for his invention of Mohan Veena. It sounds ridiculous to think how much effort it took back then (before Internet and Wikipedia) to look up things like these, especially after they had drifted out of the news cycle. It was only when I heard the Mohan Veena interlude in a Tamil song some 4 or 5 years later, did I realise what it sounded like. It made me very happy to have stumbled upon the album that got him the Grammy. This is my favourite track from the album. Ry Cooder’s slide guitar and Mohan veena blend beautifuly to create a calm atmosphere.
Le grand amour: Albin de la Simone
YouTube	Included for Albin de la Simone’s warm, soothing voice.
Oyfn Veg: Elina Duni
YouTube	A beautiful, minimalist rendition of a yiddish lullaby about a boy who wants to become a bird to give company to a leafless wintry tree because all the other birds have fled to warmer climes leaving it alone.
Malaika: Lyambiko
YouTube	I sometimes wonder if composers in India had nobler intentions for lifting tunes so blatantly - such as exposing the Indian masses to music from all over the world. Perhaps, in there minds they were merely recording a cover. Anyway, I heard Malaika first in its Hindi avatar. The original Swahili version’s authorship is a bit murky and dates back to 1945. It became popular in the West in the 1980s thanks to the German band Boney M. This particular cover of Maliaka couldn’t be more distant from the disco days of Boney M and exudes refinement.
O Cessate Di Piagarmi (Arr. Voice & Electric Guitar): By Alessandro Scarlatti - Nora Fischer & Marnix Dorrestein
YouTube	I love modern reinterpretations of classical works, especially when they are done this well. This is what the original material would typically sound like. This one uses electric guitar in place of a piano. Both the vocals and the electric guitar are brilliant.
Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds (feat. Anoushka Shankar): Miloš Karadaglić
YouTube	I can see why Anoushka Shankar would be a natural choice for playing Sitar in a Beatles tribute album but I am surprised by the choice of the song. The original Lucy in the sky with diamonds has no Sitar. It does have a lose Indian connection becuase of the use of Tanpura in the background and perhaps that alone was enough. In any case, this particular rendition borrows only loosely from the source and Miloš and Anoushka truly make it their own.
The Shadow of Your Smile: Scott Hamilton
YouTube	This recording has an intimate feel redolent of the hey days of Blue Note records4.
These Days: St. Vincent
YouTube	Intentionally left blank as an exercise for the listener.
Forro Brasil (feat. Airto Moreira): Fabiano do Nascimento
YouTube	From 0 to foot-tapping in 10 seconds.
A Ponte: Carminho
YouTube	Modern Fado at its traditional best.
The Köln Concert: Part 2c: Richard Steinbach
YouTube	I had read about Köln Concert in Tim Hartford’s book, Messy5. Apparently the original concert had everything going against it - a tired performer and the wrong kind of piano. The Wikipedia page has more details: Jarrett arrived at the opera house late in the afternoon and tired after an exhausting long drive from Zürich, Switzerland, where he had performed a few days earlier. He had not slept well in several nights and was in pain from back problems and had to wear a brace The piano they had was intended for rehearsals only and was in poor condition and required several hours of tuning and adjusting to make it playable. The instrument was tinny and thin in the upper registers and weak in the bass register, and the pedals did not work properly. Despite these odds, Keith Jarrett gave a sublime performance that is both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. He transcribed this 1975 performance in 1990, which has allowed others recordings of this work to become available. While the original is a must hear, I love this recording by Richard Steinbach as it showcases what’s possible on a modern, grand piano. It sounds a lot fuller especially in the in lower registers. Despite being a studio recording under more controlled circumstances, it retains the verve and warmth of the original.
Lady Divine: Alela Diane
YouTube	I had discovered Alela Diane 11 years ago when Apple had featured another song (Dry Grass and Shadows) from this album (To Be Still) as part of their free weekly ‘Song of the week’ giveaway. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate her voice and whimsical (if somewhat dark) lyrics even more: When the day, when the day falls to the light, at the end of the end of my time, I fall, to the dark, take the bones off my back. And I chant, to the black, you were my lady divine. Cause my children, are in hiding, mortar and pestal they grind.
Loosening the Ropes: By Wim Mertens - Wim Mertens
YouTube	Wim Mertens glorious voice soaring over piano (which he plays himself). Apparently, none of the songs in the album this track is from (What Are We, Locks, To Do?), have lyrics. A Dutch review I read summed it up nicely: There is of course nothing wrong with singing nonsense, but due to the amount of space that the voice gets, this starts to get boring after a while. Still as part of a larger, diverse playlist, I’d keep it.
Neethane En Thoovanam (From “Lisaa”): Swagatha S. Krishnan & Santhosh Dhayanidhi
YouTube	This song evokes the idyll of rural hill stations of South India. Swagatha’s voice in this track reminded me of Bombay Jayashree a lot.
No Hay Tanto Pan: Silvia Pérez Cruz
YouTube	Silvia Pérez Cruz’s voice in this song gives me goosebumps. ‘No Hay Tanto Pan’ or ‘There is not enough bread’ featured in a 2016 Spanish film (Cerca de tu casa) about the effect of the 2007 economic crises on families in Spain. Silvia Pérez also had a leading role in the film!
Bhaga Bhaga: A. R. Rahman & Shakthisree Gopalan
YouTube	The bigger hit from this album was Neeli Kanumallo (Mazhai Kuruvi if you prefer Tamil) but for me this song stood out for its unusual structure.
33 Sonaten Für Klavier: Sonate K. 380 (L 23) E-Dur: Andante Commodo: By Domenico Scarlatti - Christian Zacharias
YouTube	There is a passage with shops, cafés etc. in Centraal Station that runs between the South and North exit. At night, they pipe classical music (usually harpsichord works) over the PA system - purportedly to discourage teenagers from loitering. One night they were playing a recording of Scarletti piano sonatas and I immediately fell in love with this one. In fact, I might have lingered on a little longer than I would’ve. Now what are they to do about 40-somethings that loiter because they have classical music on?
Bird’s Lament: Moondog & The London Saxophonic
YouTube	Brilliant counterpoint between tenor and baritone Saxophones (I am guessing the instruments based on sheet music I found on the internet: this is where I miss physical media with liner notes) - like two birds quibbling over something early in them morning.
Visiri (From “Enai Noki Paayum Thota”): Darbuka Siva, Sid Sriram & Shashaa Tirupati
YouTube	Tamil film music at its genre defying best.
Si Tú Supieras Compañero (feat. Raül Refree): ROSALÍA
YouTube	Rosalia was my artist of the year. She has a beautiful voice, tremendous vocal range and excellent control. Listen to De Plata from the same album to get a sense of her vocal talent. This song is rooted in traditional Flaminco but has a dissonant string section in the end evocative of mourners wailing.
A Noite Gosta de Mim: Rão Kyao
YouTube	Fado is normally sung to the accompaniment of Portuguese guitar(s). To hear it performed with bamboo flute is quite unusual. Replacing the sonorous, steely sound of the acoustic guitar with soft, sinusoidal sound of flute alters the texture of the music entirely and yet it’s distinctly Fado.
Lost Boy: Ruth B.
YouTube	Sublime lyrics and singing.
MALAMENTE (Cap.1: Augurio): ROSALÍA
YouTube	This is from Rosalía’s 2018 Album El Mal Querer. It was a difficult pick because pretty much the entire album is a heady blend of flemenco, pop, trap, electronic and hip-hop. The music video for this song is quite brilliant and is full of visual metaphors for all things that would go badly (badly being the literal translation of ‘Malamente’) - from bullfighters on bikes to a person in monk-like robes on a skateboard riddled with spikes.
Black and Tan Fantasy: Don Byron & Aruan Ortiz
YouTube	This grows on you. One morning I woke up convinced that it had been playing in the house. It was a few moments later.
Piano Sonata in E Minor, H. XVI No. 34: I. Presto: By Franz Joseph Haydn - Alfred Brendel
YouTube	Only a handful of the 60 odd Haydn piano sonatas are in minor keys. The opening movement of each of them draws you in the moment the first bars are played. This Alfred Brendel recording of the E-Minor sonata is magical.
Ether & Wood: Alela Diane
YouTube	This is the sort of song that makes me feel like I am standing alone in an expansive landscape - think American prairies - with a storm brewing far in the distance.
Congratulations and Condolences: Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom
YouTube	A complex piece that is rich, full and bursting with energy.
Wo Ladki: Arijit Singh
YouTube	A Bollywood song built around a moderately complex piano piece is rare6. Arjit Singh’s voice put any doubts I might have had about incorporating this into my year-end retrospective to rest.

January 1, 2019