You Don't Belong to Me

Here's a short video update and new song I wrote at the end of last year. Happy 2013!

Naming Ceremony

Last week I was invited by my friend Heibormi Sungoh to observe a traditional Jaintia naming ceremony in Shangpung, a town not too far from Jowai. This was the third and final part of the naming ceremony, and as things went along they explained bits and pieces to me.

The first thing that happened was the family arriving at the home where the event was taking place. The wife's family brought gifts of alcohol and food, and each person bringing items gave a greeting/invocation which the family responded to in kind. After some time, all the men of the family gathered outside the home, drank rice beer, and discussed the event. Once the event had been deliberated over, the gathering moved inside where all the women of the family were sitting and discussing. Then the invocation was given by the priest for 45 minutes or so.

The invocation is a sort of chant that apparently tells the story of the first birth and how the Pnar people got help from the plants and animals, in particular a certain kind of grass who helped them to deal with birth and began the naming process. During the chanting, the priest continued rubbing mustard seed oil on three blades of grass which he held between his fingers. Once the chanting had completed, he put one piece of grass above the door and cast the other two on the ground when recommended names were given. If the grass fell a certain way three times, the name was given to the child.

Following this part of the ceremony, food was served, and the men once again convened after eating to continue their discussion of what had taken place. After some rice beer, the men reached some sort of agreement. The recordings I made still need to be analysed, but according to some of my friends they contain a lot of 'ktein kynnoh', which are idioms that are difficult to translate into English.

In the evening a local dance troupe came to present the traditional plate dance, and following the dance Heibormi and some other friends joined them with traditional music and song. I was able to film the whole thing, and here are a couple pictures of me with the group.

ENCS Music and Real Life

I was hoping to get a blog post on this earlier, but alas, my macbook died last week, and I've only got to it now. But better late than never...

I've been involved in a few things here in Singapore, and one of the highlights has been getting to know people at church. Every Nation Church Singapore is a relatively new congregation which is connected with Every Nation Ministries worldwide. It's been a blessing to start getting involved in the ENCS music ministry with Sunday morning worship and special events.

In November they released a worship album with some great songs. It's called "All the Way", and you can check it out on iTunes or view the acoustic video version of one of the songs we do on Sundays below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c08ZFMslsbY

This past Sunday I was glad to be part of an event to raise money for the Real Life foundation in the Philippines. We were able to raise scholarship assistance for over 20 disadvantaged kids to go for college degrees, which was really exciting. Performances by myself, Alarice, the Next Movement, and ENCS music, and we ended with a group rendition of "This Christmas" (Donny Hathaway) - you can see me there in the middle. It was a great night.

Josh Garrels and Context

It has taken me awhile to write this post, but first let me say that if you haven't heard Josh Garrels' new album "Love, War, and the Sea In Between", you should check it out here: http://www.noisetrade.com/joshgarrels

I was really looking forward to hearing this album, as I've been kept updated by his newsletter and run into him in various times and places in the last couple years - Lancaster, Bushnell, North Carolina. So when he announced it was out and available as a free download, I got it. At the time, I was on fieldwork in India, and internet connection was a bit spotty so I sat in a friend's internet cafe in Shillong for 2 hours in order to get the whole (large) file. It's a testament to the world's increasing globalization that even that was possible, as it probably wouldn't have been even a year or two ago.

So this was the context in which I put my earbuds in, turned on my ipod, and listened to the whole album in one shot. And... it kind of fell flat. I wasn't sure what to think, since I've always liked the music Josh makes, and all the reviews I read beforehand had nothing but good things to say about the album. So I forgot about it and continued to work on documenting Pnar.

About a month later I had been in the US for my sister's wedding, which was pretty awesome, and after two weeks I was on my way to NYC to catch the airplane back to Singapore. On the greyhound bus I had just finished a large portion of the 40+ page paper I was working on, and needed a break. I found Josh's album on my ipod and started to listen. It was really good! I remember we had just got on the NJ turnpike to head into NYC, and I thought - "why is this so much better than when I listened to it in India?!"

It struck me that in India, a lot of the things that Josh writes/sings about, and even the music styles he uses, simply didn't connect with the world I was experiencing. It was as if the issues he deals with have no grounding in a non-western, non-american context. Which totally makes sense - I think how my music doesn't necessarily translate to people outside my own particular contexts. I think that speaks to the role of the artist as both a creator and reflector of culture, and thus how important it is to know the context to which you intend to speak, which Josh seems to have figured out pretty well.

At the same time, we would like to say that art transcends culture, and that this is our goal as artists. But how well does that work? Take your art outside your own culture and I guess you'll find out.

New Music for Pentecost

Our friend Bruce Benedict over at Cardiphonia has put together a compilation to celebrate Penteost, and 'Come Holy Spirit, Come' from our Pageant Music release '12 Gates' is the first tune. Check it out and donate to World Relief in Durham, NC to help refugees from all over the world.

New Music Video

I recently decided I needed software for video editing that was a bit more powerful, so I invested in Final Cut Express, which has quite a few more options for video editing than iMovie 08 or the FlipShare software that came with my MinoHD camera. For example, I couldn't previously fast-forward clips or reverse them, and I had no easy way to line them up and cut between them, or to color-correct and filter. It also means that I'll hopefully be planning my videos a bit better - not just shooting from the hip - and maybe getting a few more people involved in shots.

I am still learning the software, but here's my first project: a music video of one of the new songs I've been working on recording with SoundFarm here in Singapore. It's called "Hold Me" and I wrote it awhile back (I began writing it in 2006 and probably finished it in 2010) but haven't played it a whole lot. So you may have heard it live, but maybe not. In any case, here it is below - hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-aeIj6VLpQ

Bob Dylan and Imogen Heap

This past weekend I went to Rock and Roots, a festival put on by Timbre, the same group that had me play shows in late January. It was a pretty fabulous concert. The two performers I most wanted to see were Bob Dylan and Imogen Heap.

Bob Dylan played all his well-known songs and had a fabulous band. Seeing him at this age made me wish I had seen him when he was younger - he could barely sing, and his speaking voice was actually more comprehensible. When he spoke verses instead of trying to sing them, I could here the words and tell which song he was singing. And then I could sing along. Fortunately his backing band really did support him (such as when he coudn't quite play that guitar solo). He just went from one song to the next - no chitchat, no interaction.

Imogen Heap, on the other hand, was much more interactive. You could tell she was working the crowd and we all loved it. From the beginning she made it clear that we were part of the show, not just spectators but people who were there because we liked her music, and she respected that. And she talked to us as such.

In a way, you could say that these two performers represented different generations. Bob Dylan more an older generation for whom there was a pretty clear divide between the performer and the audience, and Imogen Heap the younger generation which acknowledges the similarities between performer and audience. But maybe good performers have always been the latter - maybe Bob Dylan was more like that 20 years ago. I wish I had seen him then.

Here's some video of the shows: http://youtu.be/_1L4gT9YZVo

Shows at Timbre

This week my friend Nii and I have been playing music at Timbre music spots around Singapore, and really enjoying the collaboration. It has really been a fantastic week - seeing old friends and making new ones, and having a blast on stage. Here's some footage (thanks Ben Low!) of 'Play Switch', performed on Tuesday at Timbre's Substation venue. Nii really brings the African percussion to this performance - so sweet!

Timbre Music Academy

This week I'm playing a few shows at Timbre, a music venue with a few different locations around Singapore. Timbre books artists (they organized the Rock and Roots festival which will be bringing such great artists as Bob Dylan, John Legend, and Imogen Heap here in April), does some management and promotion, and also instructs students in the finer points of music and performance. Here I take a tour of the academy with Mung - you can find out more about them at the academy website.

A New Song from the upcoming Album

I had a great time at home for the holidays, getting to see lots of friends and family and spending some relaxing days on the couch. Speaking of the couch, I recorded a video while I was relaxing, of a song that will be on the new album. It's called 'This Lamp' and is the story of an old abandoned house, told from the house's point of view.

One of my favorite parts of the video is how you can watch the sunlight disappear as the sun sets outside the window. Check it out below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p56yfUSEd00

Christmas Sampler Download

I'm heading back to the US in a couple days, and wanted to let people know about the Christmas Sampler of two of my songs that you can now download on NoiseTrade: http://noisetrade.com/hiramring - spread the love with your friends! All you do is put in your email address and you will be sent an email with a link to download the two songs.

New Albums

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W51IrxP-_bM

I've been in the throes of paper-writing for two of my classes, and the papers are due next Friday, December 10th. However, I did want to give an update on the extra-curricular activities I've been involved in, most notably recording songs for another album or two. You can watch the video above for a preview.

My main project is a new solo album of 12 songs which will tentatively be titled 'Home' as many of the songs deal with this theme. I've had some really crazy experiences over the last year and a half (some of which are on this blog) with touring to promote my first album, trying to figure out direction, experiencing intimacy and loss, and traveling half-way around the world, which have really made me ponder the meaning of home. What is it and how do I get there? In this album I suppose I continue one of the themes from the first album, 'Breathe Deep'.

The second set of songs are more worship-oriented prayers and psalms that I've written mostly over the course of the last year as I've struggled with the theme of 'home'. They're directly or indirectly influenced by the time I've spent alone with God, fellowship with friends, and particularly encouraged by the album of sacred songs, '12 Gates', that I worked on with Matthew Monticchio and others. There's two kinds of these tunes - new hymns (some of which we've done in church) and general worship songs (some of which could be congregational). So I'm not sure if that'll turn into two EPs or if I'll just release a full-length album. I welcome your feedback!

It's been really great to record guitar and vocals with the guys at SoundFarm here in Singapore, and later this week I'll be doing another session to get vocals. I'll be taking the tracks back with me to the US for Christmas, where I'm hoping my friend Ross can lay down some drums while I'm there, and maybe I can get some other musicians to contribute as well. I'll try to upload some samples as the arrangements get finalized.

Back Home

As you can see, I haven't had much time (either on the road or now that I'm home) to blog, but that may change. There are so many things I'm trying to do at the moment, though, that it's hard to remember there are people out there in the blogosphere (or elswhere) that are interested to some extent in what I'm doing.

So... a brief recap: The last week of the banquet tour was really good. I got some great responses and actually met a lady who still sings my parents scripture songs (when my parents first became Christians they wrote a lot of folk-oriented scripture songs and sang them all around Florida at churches in the early days of the Jesus movement of the 70's). It was really cool. Here's some video of me singing 'I'm on a Journey' (which I did every night), as well as another video of parts of Charleston, SC that we got to see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAw74iPV1Gc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvEHnWOO15M

I flew back from the banquet tour on a Sunday (Mother's Day), and the following day my parents flew down to SC to help lead a 2-week spiritual retreat. I started back to work the same day and so it's been somewhat hectic. I've been working overtime for Math-U-See while overseeing house affairs (cooking, cleaning, upkeep, shopping, keeping tabs on things) with the help of my younger siblings, catching up with folks, applying to this PhD program, and working on some new recordings with a few new pieces of equipment. My parents come home on Saturday. =)

A Weekend Jaunt

This past weekend I played a couple shows - one near Lewisberry, PA (which I forgot to take video at) and one in Severna Park, MD. They were both a lot of fun, but very different. In Lewisberry I played for a church event in which the audience were mostly older than me. They sat quietly and listened carefully and laughed appropriately - it was very easy to engage them, and they expressed a lot of appreciation afterwards. It was a lot of fun.

The Severna Park event was also at a church, but the listeners were mostly younger than me, and were doing other things while listening (pretty smart, in my opinion - when I was that age I wouldn't sit and listen to someone like me for very long). So it was a very energetic audience, but the energy was different than at the PA show. I also noticed that most of the people older than me who were there moved closer to the stage and when I directed comments to them they really responded and got into the music. It was a lot of fun.

So those are just a few thoughts. Interesting how events can be so different and yet both be incredibly enjoyable. Unfortunately, since I forgot to video the first show, you can't compare them yourself, but here's some video from the second event. Two videos - one of me explaining the event and soundchecking, and a song by Brian LoPiccolo (who just released his first album, so click here to check it out) which features harmonica and bagpipes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPrQeRbeA0I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4uliKFyLwk

In Dallas

I'm in Dallas, TX for the month of January, but not because the Cowboys are in the playoffs (are they still? I don't really follow sports).. I'm actually taking a language survey course at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics while exploring ethnomusicology and other opportunities for missions involvement. I'm still trying to figure out where I 'Go From Here'. I'm hoping this month will give me some clarity.

I arrived in what I thought were 'warmer climes' only to discover that it is currently the coldest it has been here in Dallas in over ten years. I guess I brought the cold with me... needless to say, I am glad for all the sweaters my mom made me bring. =) Thanks Mom!

Recording Sacred Songs Pt 1

This past week I spent some time with my friend Matthew Monticchio. He came over and we worked on recording, mixing and trying new sounds for the collections of sacred songs we're working on. It was extremely productive on many levels. Here's some video of the process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTO3E_eNC4U

Recording 'Of Whales'

Originally this post was simply going to be called 'Recording of Whales', but I thought that might be misinterpreted. No, I didn't go on a whale-spotting venture, and I didn't record whales... though I wish I did, because that would have been cool and GreenPeace would have been all over it.

'Of Whales' is the name of Josey Shawgo's musical endeavors - he's a singer-songwriter who approached me through a friend about recording some of his songs. The songs have a distinct folky sound, kind of Bob Dylan meets M. Ward. It's been cool working with him and the friends he brought along to the session last weekend - below is a video of us getting guitar parts, drums, and a last vocal take.

What ELSE happened on Tour

So if you've read all the posts on this blog recently, you know I was out on the road for a 9-day, 9-show tour with 3 friends which included stops in all the major cities and even a radio interview. It was a lot of fun, as much for the people that came to the shows as it was for us to play them.
The order of performance varied depending on whose fans were based in which city, so every evening was different. Of course we would play songs in different orders, maybe throw a few different ones in the mix, even play completely new material - but this was mostly for the edification of the artists, since the fans didn't really know what was different, one night to the next (I don't think anyone came to more than one show, seeing as the cities were far apart). The closest shows we played were an hour from each other, and the farthest was 7 hours. It was pretty grueling, and it feels like it happened a lifetime ago.
What the fans didn't get to see, though, was how much fun we had hanging out with each other, teasing each other, and generally making fun of life. Points in fact are our trip to Huddle House and Garrett's comments at the Baltimore show. We really had fun. For an added bonus, check out the Scrabble(tm) game we played in Pittsburgh (via Joy Ike's YouTube site):

4 on Tour Day 9 - Baltimore

In Baltimore we played at The Light Gallery, north of the Inner Harbor. It also happened to be Ravens game day, so it took us 15 minutes to get through this one intersection coming north off of 395. We literally sat at a green light for 15 minutes because the one-way cross street was full of people blocking the intersection. You would think when the light turned yellow they would stay on their side, but no, they just blocked the intersection. BUT we finally got through because I stuck my nose out and kept them from budging.
I didn't get video of that, but I did video the gallery itself, which is also home to a church, and the current show they have up of work by MaryKate Newcomb, which is quite cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCeV5i63Af4
The space itself is pretty rad, and we had a lot of fun playing there for our final show. People were really into the music, and we played/sang on each other's songs for the last time on this tour. Great folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSkGzjJcYRo

4 on Tour Day 6 - Pittsburgh

We drove from Toledo to Pittsburgh in the night - Joy and Brooke were glad to be getting home for a couple days, so we decided not to stay overnight in Maumee. We all woke up pretty tired in the morning, but got ourselves ready for the evening and had a decent turnout at the Shadow Lounge. It was a lot of fun to play songs and tease each other from on stage, and we mixed it up a bit. Here's some video of the evening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dutwMpI7A3k