The Grind

I have officially joined the workforce. I work as an Executive Search Consultant for Walker Talent Group. Please check out www.walkertalentgroup.com and contact me if you have any interest in upgrading your company's most valuable asset: Talent. I can be reached at: jason@walkertg.com

Spring Quarter Book Review

Please go to my Virtual Portfolio to read my book review. I read Chindia: How China and India Are Revolutionizing Global Business. Click on Spring Quarter Book Review and enjoy!

India: Land of Music

Music is a cultural artifact that spans this entire globe. Every culture has a form of music for which it means many things. Music can be a form of storytelling, keeping ancient tales alive. Music can be a form of entertainment. Music can change listener’s emotions and can inspire. Indian culture is rich in musical history and traditions. The basis for Indian music is "sangeet". Sangeet is a combination of three art forms: vocal music, instrumental music and dance. Over time, they have evolved into very refined and individual entities.

The most notable Indian instruments include the Tablas (thank you Emily), the Sitar, the Shehnai, and the Sarangi. These instruments have been part of the Indian culture for ages and have evolved over time to be used in multiple musical genres. Emily went into detail about the Tabla, however I would like to focus on the other instruments, and how they have found their way into mainstream music culture.

The Sitar’s early origins date back to the 13th century and the instrument has remained virtually unchanged since then. The sitar is most closely related to a modern guitar. It is comprised of a neck (Dandi), a base (Kadu), strings (Tar), and frets (Parda). The sounds that this instrument makes are beautiful and sometimes haunting. Please follow this link to listen to the Sitar. One of the foremost Sitar players from India is Nikhil Banerjee, click here. The Sitar has become more popular over time and one famous band found ways to incorporate it into their music. Check out “Across the Universe” by the Beatles.

The Shehnai is the northern Indian term for a flute like instrument. Its southern Indian name is the Nadaswaram. This instrument can be found on any sidewalk being played by professionals or peddlers. The origins of this instrument cannot be perfectly placed. The Shehnai is a wind instrument that is played with your mouth. The holes in the body of the instrument help to create the sound you hear. It is popular for snake charmers to use this instrument to entertain for a fee. Uslah Bismillah Khan is a professional Shehnai player; here is some of his work. Khan plays the instrument in a classical fashion, and the sound can be compared to the sound Dave Mason made in the Rolling Stones song “Street Fighter Man” from 1968.

Lastly, the Sarangi is an instrument that didn’t become main-stream in Indian music until the 18th century. It is the instrument whose sound is said to most resemble the human voice. The Sarangi is a bowed and string instrument and the use of two hands is necessary to making the correct sounds. A traditional rendition of the Sarangi can be found here. In 1997, the band Aerosmith included the Sarangi in their song “Taste of India”.

Indian musical instruments have had a great impact on the evolution of Indian music, Rock and Roll, and lately American popular music. Today we hear Indian instruments in many songs and now Indian musical artists are making headway in the American music market. Panjabi MC has collaborated with rapper/business mogul Jay-Z in the song “Beware of the Boys”. A.R. Rahman has made a name for himself in America by making the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack a hit with songs like “Jai Ho” and “O Saya”.

I hope that everyone will listen to some Indian music before we head overseas. Music allows an individual to experience the sounds in their own way. I find Indian music to be ancient, mysterious, relaxing, and entrancing. I hope that everyone gets to experience this kind of music and the sounds that these instruments make.

Religions of India Research Paper

The following is a research paper on three predominant religions in India: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. The paper was put together by myself, Fred Peemoeller, and John Barry, all participants in Cal Poly's International Collegiate Business Competition. I hope that you learn valuable information from this paper. Please follow this link to the paper: Jason Silver Virtual Portfolio

The Story of India Questions

My answers to The Story of India questions can be found by following this link to my virtual portfolio, and then by going to the Story of India page. Thank you and enjoy!

Jason Silver's Virtual Portfolio

Comment to “ I’m a 27th Generation Blacksmith”

The life of a nomad is clearly tough. In a time of increasing modernization and the build-up of infrastructure in a country such as India, nomads are finding it harder and harder to make a living. They travel constantly, and from the pictures that Cat provided, look more like gypsies and a traveling circus. Their carts are the only thing of great value they posses, other than their own family members. It seems that these nomads are finding less open country to travel, as India becomes a country defined by extreme economic, social, and structural growth. Nomads can live on the income from selling spoons, or performing their entertaining acts, but cannot compete with the speed at which every other social class is climbing the socio-economic ladder. I would think that nomads would be the best people possible to raise livestock, yet their governments haven’t given them the means to do so. It seems as if the Indian government is focused on building up the cities in which most people will see in pictures, movies, and in travel brochures, while leaving the nomads to fend for themselves as they have done so for generations.

Other groups of nomads that I know about include the Bedouins of the Middle East and the nomadic tribes of Mongolia and Tibet. Talk about a census count, approximately 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population is nomadic or semi-nomadic. Mongolia’s nomadic people range in the 3 millions. I think that what it really comes down to is that it depends on the country itself. Countries like Mongolia, Tibet, or Yemen are not currently experiencing double digit economic growth. These countries are not receiving billions of dollars in foreign investment. These countries do not have traditional, modern educational systems. There is a lack of basic tools to facilitate socio-economic growth in these countries. India and China have these systems in place, and as a result, they are modernizing and throwing out the traditions and people that once pervaded its land centuries ago.

A Comment to Gold Rush of 2009

The large purchase of gold by India from the IMF can be quite a shock to people who are not familiar with the ties India has with gold. Through generations of conquests, wars, and political and social change, gold has been a constant. Gold has been used as currency in India dating back thousands of years and has been used as a constant measure of wealth over that time span. This relationship goes even deeper. The god of creation, Brahma, is said to be the one born of gold (Hiranyagarbha). Gold is used in all sorts of cultural and traditional ceremonies from weddings to births, birthdays, and even for offerings to Indian deities. It is so ingrained in Indian society that gold is sometimes willed to unborn children and to those who will be married in the future. This purchase should not surprise most Indians, as one person puts it, “Gold to us Indians is that ultimate love object… not only does it adorn our bodies, it also acts as a good investment… Gold is ancestral”. This affinity for gold will last as long as Indian culture and tradition persists. So when you see all those “Cash 4 Gold” commercials on your TV’s, at least you can be comforted in the fact that a whole subcontinent is investing in gold as well.