Nitin Sawhney...
This is as bad as missing a free concert by Jamiroquai. Fk that it was free, I would pay to see him
i really REALLY want to cry right now :(
Nitin Sawhney- "Homelands"
this track is representative of his sound.
He's the one on guitar (extreme left)
Edit:
From Talvin Singh's MySpace..click to enlarge
Sasha, you esp should see this :D
A sampling of Talvin Singh, fellow world music/electronica proponent of Nitin Sawhney (except that Talvin is specifically a tabla whiz)
The track is "Uphold" and it's danced to by my favourite group from 2006's Dhool (indian dance competition on central)
The group's name is Acidhouz. I was truly impressed with the fact that they decided to go with such a contemporary track and choreography as compared to their usual aggressive, complex routines of tamil songs with sick beats remixed with hip hop songs
For example: This 80's tamil song remixed with Missy Elliot's Lose Control at the beginning and "Everybody Dance Now" by C&C music factory (LOLLL, 90's song!)
excuse the garish costumes, and the Z in the name,which is DAMN ANJACK, but you gotta admit, DAYUMN they got STYLE yo! The way they move was copied by SO many dance groups that came after them. Watch how much the crowd is enjoying itself. i wish i could dance like that (well actually i can :P)
I watch Dhool cos its representative of this unique singaporean indian subculture of dancers- some of whom are professional in the way they run things: designated choreographers, makeup artists, costume designers and dedicated dancers who take part in dance competitions regularly, and others who're goodfornothings who're just on telly for their 2 minutes of fame. (seriously some of them should just worry about finishing school first before they take part in national dance competitions) I'm fascinated by them cos as a s'porean indian, I only belong to that group of people in some disconnected, six degrees of seperation way and hence i don't fully understand them. But they're pure talent lah. And i only know the lastest tamil songs if i watch the programme lol.
Yeah ok so in this year's Dhool, there was the reappearance of this group from the last Dhool called Tridiac, whose trademark is pure, genuine hip hop; popping, locking, breaking, krumping, the works. This time though, their lineup included members from the abovementioned Acidhouz and Movesh (this other dance group that regularly performs on variety shows on central..their moves meant for some snazzy tamil song can translate to english hip hop/r&b tracks, no problem)
Their dance for the finals was MINDBLOWING lah. The style, the theme, the costumes EVRYTHING was so..different! and innovative and new and fresh and ok just watch it:
(double click so that it opens in a new window and then click on 'watch in high quality' in blue font, at the bottom right hand corner, above 'Views')
It goes quiet after the haka, at about 1:10 but wait for it...then it explodes! THE TRACK WITH THE AIRHORNS IS MAD WICKKEEDD!!!! It's called Set It Off by Kardinal Offishall (thanks dude on youtube who helped me out with that)
watch for the move at about 1:26..that's my fave
INTENSE YO! so much ENERGYYYY! in the words of tyra, fierceee.
but the real gem of the video is the one minute dance that all 7 competing groups had to interpret. It comes on at 4:30 and the track is Raaga Dance by violinist Vanessa-Mae and demigod indian music director A R Rahman (srsly, he's the best there is). Essentially i'm in love with the guy in orange cos ohmygod he can move (he was also in acidhouz..one of their lead dancers. you'll prob figure out which one he is if you watched the acidhouz vids cos he really stands out as an incredible dancer) and he's pretty GORGEOUS, albeit skinny (i dont care what you say jagssss!)
edit:Yes D, i didn't think i was the kind who went for pretty boys! and char, NOW I RMB WHO HE LOOKS LIKE! "Potassium Pemanganate- Purple to colourless!!" Serious!! they have the same nose, face shape and everything! and i bet he got away with a lot of things when he was in school, just by being a pretty boy, like our friend and JIAQI LOLLLL!
The track by Kardinal Offishal though...I love it lah! You could choreograph SUCH a slick routine to that.
This reminds me of when Izzah Hafsah (i have to say her full name cos it's got such a ring to it), mah homegurl and I used to choreograph routines for the Girl Guides campfire night performances that the A.S.S girls had to do.Campfires work like this: we invite scouts and guides from other schools (about 20 per school) as well as the Band, Choir, and other uniformed groups in A.S.S to come over to our school compound one friday/saturday night and we put on a show..with games, lame song sessions, dance performances, food and drink.
OK back to the choreography- Iz and I teamed up and did it two years in a row ok! Like, entire routines and formations around an actual blazing fire (made of wood, charcoal and kerosene..not a fake one dey!) to JT's "Like I Love You" and the following year it was Britney's "Boom Boom" (Hear the song here.) Both are SICK tracks, which require a generous amount of fluidity of movement and attitude to pull off..neither of which the other girls had :P So Iz and I were lead dancers and we freestyled alot HAHA :D somehow i always ended up in front of the NCC boys PFFFFTTTTT HAHAHA!
Just the process of picking out a song was so much fun cos Iz and I were MTV kids with knowledge of MJ moves plus we were serial Missy Elliot video watchers. But oh my gosh it was SO much work!! Trying to teach ppl without natural flow/timing hip hop moves was a massive challenge too (please ah, i'm not some hip hop dance afficianado..i'm just naturally not stiff when i dance, and i can keep time tyvm) so we had to modify the routine multiple times. It was so hard to get everyone to come for practice all at once cos they were either working on other parts of the production or they were just being slackers (i'm sorry ah, i just don't like slackers, esp in a team effort) AND there were people other than the 2 of us who tried to give "creative input" Let the choreographers do their job can?! AIYO. HOLY DRAMA AND POLITICS LAH. Though what Iz and I did was so amateur compared to what these dancers on tv are doing..with them having to put together costumes, concepts and 4-minute long dances, i really feel their pain lah.
We even choreographed cheer routines for North Division Day aka the day where all the guides companies in the North of S'pore met up at Camp Christine and competed in games and cheering and shit. Guh.
Back in the day..Sigh.
WOKAY back to work
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