I digress

The prevalence of bad American pop in India is astounding.  There was a nice rooftop restaurant in Leh that me and my traveling companions liked to go to.  Wonderland Café.  We’ll be sitting around enjoying our tea when all of a sudden… wait, what’s that I hear?  Why, yes, that is the Backstreet Boys singing a song that was popular in 1999.  I hated it then and I’m certainly not a fan now.  It got me and the Swiss French, the Japanese and the Israeli guy all in a conversation about American music.  Before I knew it I was explaining the difference between West Coast and East Coast hip hop.  Ha!  Like I’m some sort of expert.
…”Well you know, West Coast is all about your ride and the ladies and East Coast is more raw.  There’s more of this street survival to it”  My companions eagerly agreed.  Thinking about it now, this may have been true in the early nineties; but I think it’s all about women and money now.

I was in a coffee shop in the Tibetan neighborhood in Delhi.  Very nice place, nice service… but wait!  Is that the Black Eyed Peas!?  Oh yeah.   It’s oddly hard to try to enjoy your book and coffee while the guy at the espresso bar is singing along with the Black Eyed Peas.  They had their own play list going.  Suddenly it went more mellow and Tracey Chapman came on.  The barista crooned along to this one as well.  I thought it was rather sweet that he new the lyrics to “Fast Car“.  Then Bonnie Raitt came on.  Oh!  One of my favorites!  “I Can’t Make You Love Me”.  This one gets me every time!  It made me think about the time my mom and I saw Bonnie Raitt at Red Rocks.  She sang this song back to back with another slow sad one… "Angel From Montgomery".  She got teared up herself.

I think it’s wonderful that music has the ability to be accessible to all.  I’d rather hear great American music if I have to hear American music over here, but I’m completely shocked as to how much American music I hear.  Just yesterday I walked past a man who was washing his car and out of the stereo system was The Dire Straights "Romeo an Juliet".  Another great one.  I am currently reading Herman Hesse’s, The Glass Bead Game.  In the novel the glass bead game is a game that is played using every area of human knowledge.  The players of the game are masters in Mathematics, Astronomy, Philosophy, you name it.  But the highest of the knowledge one can have is the knowledge of Music.  Writing this blog now and thinking about how music can translate to all cultures and to all people, I feel Hesse may be right that music is the noblest of all the human knowledge (although, I may put the highest rank on human creativity).  Wow, thanks for letting my digress on that one!