Japanese Buddhist singing a famous Kannada song

[Kartik Subbarao]

My mom showed me this video of a Japanese Buddhist who came to India to
learn more about the country of Buddhism's origin. He learned a lot
about Indian culture: here he is singing one of Rajkumar's famous songs
Huttidare Kannada Nadalli Huttabeku -- "If you're going to be born, you
want to be born in the land of Kannada" (or something close to that;
feel free to correct my translation):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR6WiKN6zKA

Here is the original for comparison:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmRl052t1cY

For me, this was a nice counterpoint to the schoolchildren video I
previously mentioned. I found this to be impressive for a few reasons:

1) He has a really good singing voice, which excuses a lot of the accent
differences. And his soft Japanese accent is not harshly jarring in this
context in the way that other accents might be.

2) His bhakti comes across throughout the song. The guy's devotion to
the song is pure and is his own voluntary effort.

3) He has that Zen-like peaceful appearance which adds to the sense of
presence that he brings to the performance.

What do you guys think?

-Kartik

[Sri Sreekanth]

Hi Karthik,

I did not comment on the previous video you had sent. I could not resist making some comments now.

The previous video was about some kids chanting some manthras. In my opinion there is nothing special about it. At the most I felt that it was an effort by the choreographer of that show to do some thing different. However, the Japanese singer seems to genuinely like singing Kannada songs. In the end, he also spoke a sentence in Kannada (Not sure if he can speak Kannada or just learnt couple of sentences). As you rightly noted, his voice is very melodious.

However, I do not read too much into these efforts (like the caption in the video said about interest in Japan about learning Kannada). For some strange reasons, some individuals here and there like to learn some thing very different. My daughter has developed passion for Japanese language and is learning it for couple of years now. Something in her 16 years of life, has attracted her to the Japanese language. If this can happen to us, it can happen to others as well.

Having said this, when I hear and watch these videos (both videos you sent), it does move me. My wife is running a Kannada class for small kids. She is very impressed with this video and is planning to send the link to the parents of her class children. Thanks for sending this video. I hope you do not mind in me sending the links to her.

Regards

Sreekanth

[Narasimha Swamy]

Karthik,

Several observations on this video: 1. Clearly this fellow has an accent that is easily recognisable as non-Kannadiga! 2. You are absolutely right that he actually gets into the singing and feels the words and the music. As he says at the end of the song he is Learning the language. 3. The Japanese, Chinese and the Korean, indigenous music has similar scale to our own Indian music, unlike the 1/2 notes of the western music scale. Therefore I would think that it is easier for him to conform to the tonality of the music than a westerner.

As Sreekanth points out peoples of many different nationalities and cultures, from time to time, have tried the Indian way of life, or music etc... Notable example from the 1970s is that of Jonathan Higgins aka Higgins Bhagavatar, who learnt Karnatic Classical music and did perofrm on stage in many parts of South India. He was a citizen of the US and when he came back to the States, he settled down in Middletown Connecticut and Wesleyan University, still today has an international music program because of him and the University holds Music festivals and many Indian musicians have performed here in that venue. 

More interesting to me will be your thoughts about: Why is that some Foreigners (let me use the broader term) come (go) to India to learn our music, Vedas, etc... and many of us try and learn other cultural or religious practices. Some actually "become" one of us. Is there a greater significance to this or is this just happenstance? 

Narasimha 

[Pramod Dikshit]

I have been following the thread and wanted to chime in. I have done quite some research from an Indian context on the last part Mr. Narasimha pointed towards as to  "Why is that some Foreigners (let me use the broader term) come (go) to India to learn our music, Vedas, etc... and many of us try and learn other cultural or religious practices. Some actually "become" one of us. Is there a greater significance to this or is this just happenstance? ". 

The answer to it is how the Indian society has evolved over time.India has a rich cultural heritage interms of vedas, gita,music and upanishads which not only has spiritual element but various other aspects like science, conduct in life, tackling various issues we as individuals as well as a nation encounter. The core of this is Hinduism. Unfortunately in India the leftist dominate educational decision bodies and left leaning intellectuals have distorted,concocted the essence of hinduism to such an extent that it is termed communal if you try to teach them to younger generation.Educational institutions are issued directions not to teach anything associated with Hindusim in the name of secularism. For ex: Teaching Gita in schools is termed communal as it is associated with Hinduism. It has reached to such a zenith that a person can spew venom on these aspects and get away. Recently, Lord Meghnad Desai questioned Gandhiji's secular values and his non violent means as he held Gita in high esteem which according to Mr.Desai encourages violence (example of distortion). I feel the atmosphere created by leftist intellectuals where a person leaning towards anything associated with Hinduism is termed old fashioned or regressive stops people from adoption. 

Thanks

Pramod Dikshith

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[Kartik Subbarao]

Sreekanth -- feel free to pass on the links, glad you enjoyed them! This mailing list's archives are publicly visible and searchable, so anyone can share anything that is posted here.

Narasimha -- interesting observations and an intriguing question. I think the resonance that some people feel with foreign cultures is a manifestation of powerful archetypes within themselves. Through a foreign culture, they're able to see, experience, and realize certain ways of being that are already within them in potential, but for which they find no outlet in their domestic environment. Once this outlet is discovered, the floodgates are opened and there is a torrential rush of energy -- to actualize, to externally realize that which was felt inside. It's not unlike the artist who discovers a canvas for the first time and feels compelled to paint what is in his mind.

Now, what gives rise to certain archetypes being particularly prominent in one person, but not another? This is where karma and samskaras/gunas come into the picture. Whether we invoke metaphysical explanations (e.g. past lives), or not (e.g. genetics), the underlying principle is the same. Our internal makeup predisposes us towards certain ways of being, thinking and doing, and when this engages the environment, it results in various types of karma. Over time, this karma forms impressions -- samskaras -- that emphasize or de-emphasize various archetypes that populate our subconscious mind. At some point, we recognize something in the environment that triggers this samskara-archetype complex, and the latent karma comes to fruition.

On a related note -- in cross-cultural interactions, I find many opportunities for introspection. To be able to recognize my various forms of cultural conditioning as the constructs that they are, without having to compulsively identify either with them or against them, is a powerful tool for promoting neuroplasticity and loosening samskaras. Anything that reveals maya to me is something that I want to pay attention to.

    -Kartik