Ryan, I’ll see your U. Srinivas and raise you one Dokaka. Wait, what:

Apparently this Dokaka dude was involved with Bjork’s Medulla album. Which is bully for him, but seriously I got two minutes into that record and got very very frustrated and angry. That’s mainly because there was too much weird and not enough good.

Enough about me, more about ドカカ, or Dokaka, which translates from the original Japanese as, well, I think it’s just onomatopoeic, so probably “Boom-bam-bam” or something. This next video is the cornerstone of my “I am better than Ryan at writing about World Music” argument:

Dokaka - Smells Like Teen Spirit.

I’d say a good 60% of what makes this video awesome isn’t even the music, it’s the reactions of the people walking by. Dokaka pretty much sets up camp in front of some kind of bean shop. A man that could well be the proprietor of said shop comes out several times during the video to passive-aggressively shake his head. That’s so Japanese, dude.

It’s also important to note here that, well, this is a 50 year old Japanese man. If this were the States, see, people would probably recognize the Nirvana cut as at least being familiar. The chances that this poor old dude would even recognize Smells Like Spirit, however, are pretty much nil. So in his mind, there is a stark raving lunatic squealing absolute gibberish into a microphone in front of his place of business. And he does absolutely nothing. This, my friends, is awesome.

Also contributing to the video’s epic factor is the fact that the videographer is clearly a student of the mid-80s MTV school of filming. Rushed pans, zooms, whole nine.

You, of course, can do your own research by looking for more Dokaka on Youtube (I would recommend checking out Part 3 from this series - the zooming spaceship sounds really frighten passersby), but I’ll leave you with one last video, which is also my favorite. This is appropriate because this is my post and not yours:

Dokaka - Dexter’s Favorite Song (from the same scene as above)

This video is not great because of crowd reaction or weird zooming (though that is also good here): the song itself is really cute. The melody line he picks up at 2:14 is absolutely magical, and if you disagree, you lose.

Ryan, I have a feeling that if Dokaka and U. Srinivas got into a fight, then Dokaka would win. And even if Dokaka got beat up I would step in and beat up U. Srinivas with his own mandolin (because I am strong) and then that would mean Dokaka wins because he is on my side.

I challenge you to come up with a better post.

Attention all true reggae fans - KUCR is proud to announce what is quite possibly the best reggae event to hit Riverside in years - The Expanders feat DJs Red Beef and Juice in concert this Wednesday, 13th February at 6 pm the Barn, for free, in partnership with ASPB and ASP.

I realize that right now any true reggae purist and fan in the area is probably not reading anymore, and is very likely readying their camping supplies to ensure a good spot up front. But for unconverted out there, I’ll break it down.

The Expanders are the most respected reggae group in the Los Angeles scene. As such, when reggae legends come out from the island and need a band to play with for their (sold out) concerts - they ring up The Expanders. Some past collabs: headlining the Sierra Nevada reggae Festival with The Maytones, Michigan and Smiley, Leonard Dillon (The Ethiopians), backing the king of Lovers Rock Alton Ellis, and our good friend Jah Faith:

The Expanders with Jah Faith - Bun A One (Live at the Dub Club) (takes a second to get in, but the track is lovely)

But don’t get it twisted, the Expanders more than hold their own as a self-contained act.

And dear me, I’m forgetting about Redbeef and Juice. These dudes hold down the reggae angle on More Fire Mondays ($10 entry, but highly recommended) at Sevillas and various other spots in the area. Not that Beef or Juice are limited to reggae (try hip-hop, electro, funk, damn near anything I like come to think of it) - but they certainly excel in it. They’ll be digging in the bins and serving up the jawns from 6 PM onwards and keeping the irie vibes flowing before and after The Expanders smash the Barn.

Sistren, Brethren - If you come away from this event anything less than blown away - then you, my friend, you do not like reggae.

Also you have no soul.

I’ll see you on Wednesday at 6:00 PM sharp.

What, you want more? Okay - bonus video:

Michigan Smiley with The Expanders at Dub Club (takes a while to get into it).

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=SAQLjzR-424[/youtube]

With any luck, we’ll be having a post a week or so covering international music. Here’s the first installment featuring Indian virtuoso, U. Srinivas, the first musician to play mandolin in Indian classical music.

Srinivas plays five string electric mandolin in Carnatic style–generally, the two major distinctions made in Indian classical music are between the North and South; the North producing the Hindustani style and the South, Carnatic. This composition is entitled Gananayakam and was written by the composer Muthuswami Dikshitar.

U. Srinivas has recorded a great deal of music over the course of his career, but I don’t recall ever seeing a performance as lucid as this one. Srinivas’ mandolin is amplified in such a fashion that the timbre has just the right amount of bite to it; not too much, but enough for average western ears to be able to make the connection to a guitar played above the twelfth fret (although few Western guitarist have ever managed to coax such expressiveness from their instruments) and the quickness of his fingers can fool the inattentive lister into thinking that the mandolin is running through a delay pedal. The tambura and the percussion provide the foundation for Srinivas to explore the composition, while violinist Delhi P. Sunderarajan provides only occasional input. This is clearly Srinivas’ show.

By the time this recording was made, the west had long ago been introduced to Indian music via Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. In fact Srinivas, who was born in 1969, missed the heyday of Indian influence on British and American psychedelic rock, a period ripe for cross pollination of cultural products (or cultural imperialism, depending on your perspective). Taking the Beatles as the sole example, George Harrison adopted the sitar and took lessons from Ravi Shankar, while Bollywood composer Mohd. Rafi did an arrangement of the Beatles “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” for song and dance. After the 60s and early 70s, efforts at fusion continued with occasionally stunning results, but often fell victim to embarrassing failure. This video, recorded in the 80s, takes all the efforts of rock musicians to make their western instruments sound more Indian and very humbly, politely, and perhaps not even consciously hands them their collective ass. Not even John McLaughlin at the height of Shakti’s prowess had anything on this guy.

If anybody is interested in seeing more recordings from this sessions, there are also longer recordings of the compositions Venkataramana and Tiruvadi Saranam available on Youtube, both of which are equally revelatory.

Looking to improve your political savvy? Come to a special political forum on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 7 pm in the University Lecture Hall open to all students and community members interested in learning about and discussing vital issues related to the presidential race.

The forum will be moderated by Louis Vandenberg, general manager of KUCR 88.3 FM and the producer of Los Angeles-based KPFK 90.7 FM’s acclaimed public affairs program, “Background Briefing“. A member of the State Democratic Central Committee, he is also the three-time Democratic nominee for United States Congress, 44th Congressional District.

Student organizer Martha Preciado said she and a committee of students have invited candidates, or their representatives, to attend the forum and debate the important issues of this presidential race, such as war, healthcare, immigration, education, social security, and human rights. There will be a time for questions from the audience.

Armando Navarro, professor of ethnic studies at UC Riverside and the leader of the National Alliance for Human Rights, said the student forum is coming at the right time, in the week just before the Feb. 5th California presidential primary.

“The Inland Empire is going to be pivotal,” Navarro said. “And I contend that our students, and all students, will be pivotal in this race. I’ve never seen it like this. There’s a sense of urgency across the board. I am proud of these students who are taking such an active role in this political race.”

View the full press release for the event here.

The Specifics:
Date: Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: UCR Campus, University Lecutre Hall (UNLH) 1000
Price: This is a free event!

First off, let me say - wow.

Okay, now on with the description:

Wanna add a little adrenaline to your Thursday evening at 8:30pm? Join us for a night of action and adventure as the Film & Photography Society at UCR showcases it’s latest epic action-thriller, Incrimination, in the UNLH. This is a student production filmed on a $700 budget, and features a cast and crew of over 60-70 people, police cars in an authentic bus yard film set, and an actual SWAT team (no word yet on how they pulled that last one off).

But enough talk - dig the trailer:

Seriously, this looks bananas. I can’t even count how many guns I saw in that trailer, this is clearly going to be awesome. The only thing that they need for it to be a real Hollywood film now is for the Black dude to die in the first five minutes.

Some special behind-the-scenes commentary from the director:

All jokes aside, this is really inspiring. Hopefully this will be the first of many brilliant student films to come out of UCR’s talented and diverse student body - don’t miss this chance to say you met these soon-to-be-famous actors and producers before they got big!

The Specifics:
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2008
Time: 8:30pm - 10:00pm
Location: UCR Campus, University Lecutre Hall (UNLH) 1000
Price: This is a free event!