Requiem for a Tree

Why is the death of a Dutch Chestnut being mourned so deeply?


Nigel Britto

It was the last living remnant of the Anne Frank story. The iconic Chestnut tree in Amsterdam that inspired a lonely Jewish girl as she wrote her secret diary that was to shake the conscience of the world, collapsed in a furious storm this week. 

Conservationists, hell-bent on protecting it as a 'Symbol of Hope', had helped it battle fungus and moths by encasing its trunk in steel. Over 150 years old, it had borne silent witness to war, prejudice and unprecedented genocide. Conservationists had hoped that it would live another two decades at least, but that was not to be. 

The tree's death comes months after the passing of Miep Gies, the heroic Catholic woman who helped the Franks during the two years the family hid in the annexe before they were betrayed. Miep was also the person who discovered and preserved the diary. 

Now that it's left to the next generation, I wonder whether the death of the tree in some way marks the end of the Anne Frank story. Slowly but surely, despite enormous evidence to the contrary, the band of Holocaust-deniers is growing, especially in the middleeast. Thankfully, in the US, the powerful Jewish lobby has ensured that Hiter's Final Solution that sent six million Jews to their death won't be forgotten for a long, long time. 

I was born a good seven years after Otto Frank, Anne's father and custodian of her legacy, died in 1980. I never had the good fortune to meet Miep Gies, nor have I been anywhere near Amsterdam. Why then did the fall of that tree feel like a personal loss?

I believe the answer lies in the power of Anne Frank's writings. To me, her diary is the most touching chronicle of the horrors of war. Every child studies about WWII in school, but only those who read the diary (along with other masterpieces by Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel), come anywhere close to experiencing its human agony. 

I first read The Secret Diary of Anne Frank three years ago, although I was introduced to it when an excerpt was included in our school syllabus in Goa, many years ago. Unimaginative teachers made it sound like just another lesson, and most of my guy friends dismissed it as 'girly', a misconception that persists and something that I'm still taunted about. When I finally read the book, however, I realised it was not merely the ramblings of a frustrated teen. It was an ambitious literary project. Anne was an extraordinary writer, for any age. She showed me the consequences of prejudice, widely prevalent even today, and how far astray it can lead us. She put a face to genocide, and a face to hope. I believe Dear Kitty, which is how she addressed her diary, should be required reading in every school around the world. 

She had enough cause to rail against the world and how the people in it sucked. Instead, she wrote: "Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death." Like any other ambitious 13-year-old she dreamed of "the day when she'd be able to realise her ideals". A year after she wrote that, she died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. Of her family, only her father survived. 

Anne's unflagging positivism in the face of extreme adversity was like a slap in the face for me and all those who are eternally depressed about the state of our country and its leaders. Instead of ranting about the concentration camps and gas chambers, Anne found comfort in things like birds in the sky and the Chestnut tree that she mentions thrice. "I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too will end, that peace and tranquillity will return once more." If I still believe India can be saved, it's largely because of a young Jewish girl with dark eyes and a heart that was stronger than Hitler's Holocaust.

This article was first published in The Times of India's Crest edition dated August 28, 2010.

Three nations, three cheers

Spectacular Tri Nation Trio's concert was a treat to behold

Nigel Britto

It wasn't mere classical music; it was an elaborately-crafted dossier of proof that classical music, often thought to be a thing of the past, has a very bright future. Those that believe that today’s young musicians are letting down the great classical tradition in favor of lesser genres probably weren’t present at Kala Academy on Friday. The Tri Nation Trio, comprising talented musicians from India, Germany and China all studying in Europe, presented a chamber recital that brought to life and celebrated the works of the great masters of yore.

After the usual hiccup of a late start, Sanya Cotta, Sabine Ehlscheidt and Lin Lin Fan got down to business, proceeding to tackle Brahms’ Trio II for Piano, Violin and Viola Opus 40, whose two movements, Andante and Scherzo, incorporated both melancholy and liveliness (with Ehlscheidt’s viola replacing the usual horn). This piece was written by Brahms in honor of his deceased mother; and the grief was compounded when the stage lights failed during the concert, leaving the musicians confused and the audience wondering whether they had come for a magic show. The performers, though, recovered admirably and proceeded from the second movement. Strangely for a concert pitted as a ‘Trio’, this was the only work where all three played together; it was followed by either solos or duets.

Beethoven was next, and the opening movement Moderato cantabile of Sonata op 110 was executed clinically without much excitement (it started and stopped at first movement). The following piece, Lin Lin Fan’s interpretation of Chopin’s Scherzo No 1, was clearly the highlight of the concert. The Chinese award-winning pianist made a perfect ally of the other German on stage, the shiny black Steinway, attacking the keyboard ferociously for the first two chords (fortissimo), and then proceeding to blitzkrieg faster than a hungry cheetah on steroids, decelerating only for a lush melody in the middle, and then resuming the savage attack.

There was no sheet music to read from, and the pianist’s sheer exuberance gave the performance a rich air of spontaneity. It’s unlikely any key went untouched during the final assault, a string of rapid arpeggios from the lowest to the highest note, back down, and back up again, several times. The high velocity of this piece meant a sudden drop in intensity for the next one, Schubert’s Sonata in A Minor D 821. Its three movements, Allegro Moderato, Adagio and Allegreto, were played by Ehlscheidt on the viola, accompanied on the piano.

Sonata in G Major by Beethoven marked a return in zing; Cotta, who had begun with uncharacteristic caution earlier (while performing Brahms), seemed to be back in her element as her playing got fresher and more natural as the recital wore on; the intonation was perfect, and she was ably assisted by Chinese prodigy Fan, who, by her reticent yet aggressive style, made the entire crowd Fan fans. The interpretation was clean and well-executed.

Jean Martinon is considerably lesser known than his more illustrious 20th century counterparts, but he’s nevertheless one of the more important conductors of his age. The Frenchman’s fiendishly complex compositions, sometimes without any accompaniment, leaves the performer with a formidable task at hand; but Cotta, with poise and supreme concentration, proved why World War veteran’s name appears only in the concert repertoires of only the best and most confident. The increasing confidence was highly evident in the fact that the encore of Brahms’ Scherzo turned out much better than the rendition performed earlier in the evening.

The flipside was the consistently shaky performance of compere Kiran Thapar, who started off saying the ‘the music is composed by three young girls’ (Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert definitely weren’t) and continued her Friday the 13th moment throughout, goofing up as the concert went along, never really settling down.

Also, for this caliber of musicians, the decision to perform selected movements in isolation was surprising (Schubert’s Sonata by Ehlscheidt/Fan being the only complete work on display), and one hopes the next recital would feature chamber works in their entirety. From the audience point of view, the impromptu accompaniments by ringing mobiles and crying babies were not really necessary and could have been done without.

This article was first published in The Times of India's Goa edition on August 15, 2010.

All our loving. 50 years of the Beatles

Exactly 50 years ago, four lads from Liverpool came together around a guitar to make music. They gave us yellow submarines and marmalade skies and told us that strawberry fields were forever. The tabla and sitar found their way into their melodies. They continue to inspire musicians in metal, punk and rock like no other band. Imagine a world without the Beatles. It isn't easy. No matter how hard you try...

Nigel Britto

In the sixties, there were the Beatles, and there was everybody else. The Liverpudlians didn't start with a bang. Their tryst with the music industry was far from glamourous. Brian Epstein, the band's first manager, huffed and puffed his way to London several times to meet record companies, but was faithfully rejected. When the Beatles did secure an audition with Decca A & R on New Year's Day in 1962, the company representative wasn't impressed. In what was to be one of music history's most famous snubs, Decca man Dick Rowe flatly told Epstein that "guitar groups are on the way out" and that "the Beatles have no future in show business". Many years later, John Lennon would compare his band with another man, a religious leader, who also was slow off the block, but went on to conquer the world anyway. 

One of the 20th century's most important introductions took place on July 6, 1957 at a church fete in a Liverpool parish. That evening, John Lennon met Paul Mc-Cartney for the first time. John was 17, Paul 15. Lennon was impressed by McCartney's natural ability to sing the songs Lennon's band, The Quarrymen, was struggling with. It was the beginning of the most iconic songwriting partnership in music history. Soon, the Beatles would become the first British band to write their own music, and the duo's suave vocal harmonies and crystal-clean sound would make even established superstars like Simon & Garfunkel sound predictable. 

When the Beatles first emerged from the woodwork, nobody was prepared for the musical and cultural onslaught they would unleash, least of all them. But they got used to it pretty quickly. Beatlemania swept through England like the flu. When John Lennon opened his mouth, everyone else shut theirs. On their 1964 tour of the US, tens of thousands thronged the airports hoping to catch a glimpse of the Fab Four. In the hotels they occupied, teenage girls chased them down corridors screaming, dying to have sex with a Beatle. In Adelaide, Australia, 300, 000 fans, one-third of the city's population, lined the streets as the Beatles' motorcade drove by. At concerts around the world, teenagers yelled and wept hysterically, several of them fainting at the first sound of George Harrison's guitar. 

Some musicologists believe that the Beatles were partly responsible for the fall of socialism. In the erstwhile USSR, the Beatles and electric guitars were banned. Since vinyl production was highly controlled, fans became scientists to satiate their love for the band. High-quality films of medical X-rays were used to make records. If a record was held up to the light, bones appeared. Telephone receivers' microphones were used as guitar pick-ups, which resulted in large-scale vandalism of public phones;piano strings were used to make bass guitars. The Iron Curtain simply could not keep Sgt Pepper and his music out. 

The Beatles were a band for ten years before they fell apart. Over these years, they evolved steadily, both as musicians and lyricists. In the early sixties, cheerful, straightforward harmonies characterised the band;the music was peppy and the lyrics simple. Slowly, they began to push the boundaries of rock 'n' roll;every new album brought musical innovation. By the late sixties, their style had become increasingly complex;it now incorporated elements of Indian classical music (Norwegian wood) and psychedelia (Lucy in sky with diamonds). The lyrics, too, changed from simplistic (Love me do, I want to hold your hand) to the philosophical (Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby) and political (Blackbird). Amazingly, the Beatles managed to carry out all this experimentation while retaining the fresh sound and quality of their early work. Their formula was simple: two guitars, one bass, one drum kit, four geniuses. One of their main inspirations was Elvis Presley. "If there was no Elvis Presley, there would not have been the Beatles, " Lennon was later to say. 

Music had the stellar role to play in the cult of the Beatles but there were other factors too. The untidy mop-top hairdo, the happy-go-lucky songs about teenage love and romance, their good looks (they probably wouldn't be so popular had Lennon looked like Wayne Rooney), their interest in Eastern spirituality, their irreverence and controversial interviews. No other band has had such a lasting effect on the pop culture scene. Primarily responsible for this was the manner in which they fused British and 

American pop culture. They were the first British band to storm the US, and led the way for what is known as the British Invasion;in fact, the Beatles were the first 'band' to hit mainstream popularity, the previous greats - Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra - were all solo artistes. Their fusion of pop, rock 'n' roll and R&B simply swept away the competition and more or less wrote the obituary of London's professional songwriters. 

The Beatles also broke the dominance of recording studios. Prior to them, studios ruled the roost. They told bands what to record, how to record and when to record. With the Beatles' soaring popularity, EMI-owned Parlophone records gave them a free hand. Perfect for songwriters like Lennon and McCartney, whose open-ears policy allowed their sound to expand from simple rock 'n' roll to complex genres like psychedelia (Rubber Soul), punk (Revolution) and even, perhaps, metal (Helter Skelter). They sometimes even recorded in independent studios. Despite all this, they are till today the highestselling rock band of all time. 

Today, the biggest names in music doff their caps to the Fab Four. The entire metal genre, for instance. Ozzy Osbourne, iconic frontman of metal pioneers Black Sabbath, consistently states that he got into music because he wanted to become a Beatle. 

The Gallagher brothers of Oasis, who spearheaded the Britpop revolution in the nineties, used to drop the Beatles' name in practically every interview (also, Liam Gallagher named his son Lennon). The Rolling Stones, a cover band, started writing originals after meeting McCartney and Lennon. Sir Elton John, The Byrds, Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Elvis Costello, Lenny Kravitz and The Grateful Dead among others have all credited the Beatles at some time or the other in their careers. Yesterday continues to be the most covered song in history. 

In the post-split era, the individual Beatles recorded prolifically, occasionally with one or more of the other members. Ringo Starr's Ringo, in 1973, was the only record to feature all four, but on different songs. Lennon was shot dead by a deranged fan in 1980, and Harrison lost his battle with cancer in 2001. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are still active, but two Beatles performing in isolation are not half the band they used to be. The Beatles were the only band to have all the Beatles in one band. It makes us long for Yesterday.

This article was first published in The Times of India's Crest edition dated August 14, 2010.

While my sitar gently weeps

The greatest rock 'n' roll band ever has deep ties with Indian spirituality

Nigel Britto

The Beatles weren't exactly religious. In 1966, when a journalist asked John Lennon what he thought of Christianity, the Beatle showed scant respect for the world's biggest religion. "We're more popular than Jesus now;I don't know which will go first-rock 'n' roll or Christianity, " he said, in what would later become his most famous remark. That quip went largely unnoticed at the time, though some radio stations in a few countries did ban the group. It was when the comment was republished in an American magazine later that year, out of context, that all hell broke loose, and the Beatles were condemned as being 'anti-Christ'. 

The Fab Four are as well known for their rejection of mainstream religion as they are for their interest in eastern spirituality and India. That interest was fired in 1965, when they were filming Help!. There were Indian musicians playing on the sets, and George Harrison thought the sitar sounded "funny". He later bought one, and quite by chance used it to great effect in Norwegian Wood (This bird has flown). It was the first of three Beatles' songs with a classical Eastern sound, the other two being Love you too (Revolver) and The inner light, which was recorded in Mumbai, where Harrison was producing the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall in 1968. 

India, which introduced itself to the Beatles through its music, then captivated the Fab Four with its spirituality. It all began in August 1967, when they attended a lecture by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the Hilton in London. Thoroughly entranced, they travelled with him to Bangor, Wales, to attend a series of seminars for 10 days. The Beatles left the series mid-way, after hearing of the death of Brian Epstein, the rock on which the group was founded. But the Welsh outing had sown a seed that was soon to blossom. 

On Feb 16, 1968, Lennon and Harrison, with their wives Cynthia and Pattie Boyd, arrived in New Delhi. They made the 227-km taxi trip to the Maharishi's academy of transcendental meditation in the foothills of the Himalayas at Rishikesh. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr arrived with their wives four days later. Once inside, it wasn't all smooth sailing. For one, the meditation sessions were very long, and McCartney later recalled in his biography Many Years From Now, by Barry Miles: "The difficulty, of course, is keeping your mind clear, because the minute you clear it, a thought comes in and says, 'What are we gonna do about our next record?' 'Go away!' Meditate, mantra mantra mantra. 'I still want to know what we're doing on this next record. ' 'Please go away, I'm meditating, can't you see?' There's inevitably all sorts of little conversations you can't help getting into. " 

Life in the ashram was remarkably quiet for the four most popular men on the planet. A few photo ops were provided, but that was all. They were joined by Beach Boys' lead singer Mike Love and actress Mia Farrow, along with her siblings. Meals were in a glass-walled, open-roofed room, where monkeys sometimes joined them. Lennon and Harrison were vegetarians, but Starr found the food spicy, and had to be fed eggs. Some accounts say that cheap hooch (which tasted like petrol) was also smuggled in for the celebrities. Accounts of people who attended the ashram suggest the four were friendly, affable and humourous. 

The days in the camp were some of the best for the Beatles as songwriters. They wrote so many songs, they wouldn't fit on one album. What resulted was the double album The Beatles, popularly known as The White Album. Even that couldn't accommodate all;the left-over songs were included in the Abbey Road setlist in 1969. Lennon wrote Dear Prudence for Mia Farrow's 19-year-old sister Prudence, who, suffering from depression, spent long periods of time meditating, which the Maharishi had warned against. 

Ringo and wife left the camp within a fortnight, Ringo's problem with Indian food being the main culprit. Also, they missed their children, and his wife Maureen Starkey didn't like the insects. On March 26, Paul McCartney and Jane Asher left the camp, leaving only Lennon and Harrison, who left two weeks later. What exactly happened in those weeks remains a mystery to this day. Lennon alleged that the Maharishi misbehaved with Mia Farrow, and Harrison (the most 'Indian' of the four) apparently became disillusioned with the holy man's behaviour. The Beatles also thought he was too interested in fame and money, and accused him of making passes at women. The song Sexy Sadie (Sexy Sadie, what have you done/you made a fool of everyone) made their feelings public - Sexy Sadie probably being a euphemism for the Maharishi. 

This was the accepted theory until 2006, when new-age thinker Deepak Chopra put the guilt ball firmly in the Beatles' court. He exploded the 'myth' of the Maharishi's promiscuity, saying that the guru asked the Beatles to leave after he found that they were doing drugs in his camp. Chopra also said he arranged a meeting between Harrison and the Maharishi in 1991, where the Transcendental Meditation guru forgave his former pupil. Harrison was the only Beatle who, till his death, kept in touch with Indian culture and spirituality. According to Chopra, the Maharishi said, "I knew the Beatles were angels on earth... I could never be upset with angels". Suspiciously, this revelation came after Harrison's death in 2001, so we will never know his side of the story.

This article was first published in The Times of India's Crest edition on August 14, 2010.

Western classical is Bach

London duo to perform in Panjim this weekend

Nigel Britto

Come this weekend, and a pair of rising young talents in their mid-twenties will serenade India, putting to rest the notion that western classical music is the preserve of white-haired folk. The melodies of Bach, Lizst and Ravel will float through Goa and Delhi as Indian soprano Joanne-Marie D'Mello and Japanese pianist Kumi Matsuo set out to prove that the future of this exquisite form of music is in safe hands.

Both musicians are studying in London. D'Mello, 23, from Sangolda, is studying voice at the Royal College of Music, although she maintains that microbiology, which she has a degree in, is her first love. "It was either music or science, " she says. "I could not have my feet in both boats and try to be as good as I would like to be in both fields at the same time. Singing is a full-time job and if you really want to achieve a high standard you must give it all your attention."

D'Mello, who is known for her versatility (she plays violin and piano and sang briefly for a symphonic metal band apart from representing Goa at the Republic Day parade as a cadet), has performed extensively in India. However, this will be the first tour for Kumi Matsuo, who is justifiably excited at the prospect of performing before a fast-maturing Indian audience. Matsuo, 26, is an accomplished concert pianist who has played along with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, as well as given a recital at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

D'Mello, who is hugely popular on Goa's classical music circuit and has performed at the prestigious Monte music festival, draws a line between being an instrumentalist and a singer. "As a singer, you are left entirely with what you were born with, " she says. "It's all the more difficult in London as a singer is useless without his/her voice, and hence the importance of keeping colds at bay. You must guard your health like a fanatic. It's easy to pick up viruses from millions of people passing through London. Singing is a very personal thing. You have no object to cling on to, no music stand to hide you. You have to face your audience and bare your soul! It can be nerve-wracking ! It takes a great deal of effort and practice to be able to do that. "

The pianist and the singer met by chance when D'Mello wanted a pianist for an audition some years ago. "Since then, we have done countless recitals together—at college and outside. She has accompanied me at auditions, competitions and my exams. She's a very intuitive pianist who is very sensitive to my singing and understands my ways. " Matsuo also painstakingly translates the text of the each song before performing them. As a result, she puts the poetry into each and every phrase and that's what brings each song to life. For all these reasons and more, "it was the logical choice to invite Kumi on this tour", D'Mello adds. Both the concerts will feature Matsuo doing a solo part.

For D'Mello, the Goa stop of the tour will be the special one. "I am really looking forward to our recital at the Kala Academy on Saturday. For me it's home ground, having studied music there for so many years!" Yet, despite choosing music as a career, she remains practical about its prospects in India. "I know that currently performing western classical music in Goa is not a career option. Whereas in Europe you could freelance with any of the hundreds of orchestras, choral societies, and make a living out of it. " So is it easier there? "No", she says;"There's a lot of competition and it can be quite a struggle, especially during these dark economic times where huge cuts are being made and the arts are suffering. The only way to save the arts is through private sponsorship and efforts are being made to turn the situation around. But more needs to be done and soon. "

This article was first published in The Times of India, Goa, on August 13, 2010.