Can we please quit using macaca? Please? It's quite irritating.

I just sent my list. I was very surprised at some of my favorites but whatever works, right? :)

Can we please quit using macaca? Please? It's quite irritating.

I am not going to quit using it. However in my post the other day I acknowledged that it's not to everyone's taste:

This is old news to us; in this community at least, we’ve followed the macaca story from the start and have no disagreement as to its significance. Where we differ is in what we make of it for ourselves, the extent to which we identify with Sidarth or the fate we wish on the word macaca itself.

So: your objection is noted. I respectfully refuse to abandon the word, however. If you'd like to carry on that discussion let's do so over at the other post.

However, there are a LOT of regulars who have yet to submit entries

I'd love to participate Siddhartha, but like a good conservative I'm totally stuck in the past...listening to Peggy Lee, Blind Willie McTell, and Ali Farka Toure...all of whom are looking down (or up) at us. The only music I've listened to that came out in '06 is Dylan's Modern Times, which is anything but. So that's my #1 and only pick.

But it's nice to slow down and look in the rear view mirror.

Just took a look at the lists that you linked, Siddhartha, and there's some great music on there. I admit that I've never heard about half the records. I've heard much about Ali Toure's record and will definitely check it out. If the Macaca Music Poll was a top 10 list instead of a top 5, my list would've included Cassandra Wilson's record as well. I probably listen to her more than any other jazz vocalist. And seeing as how you are a Patricia Barber fan, I have her previous Live in France album and it's definitely worth checking out.

It's damn near impossible for any real music lover to put together a list that holds any salt. I tried to make a list that had some cross-genre appeal, but I think if I made another list today, it would be completely different.

Ali Farka Toure

Everyone is talking about it in tandem with one by Toumani Diabate.

Thanks Neale. I'm getting up to speed. Going to pick up Savane and Cassandra Wilson's newest. So, along w/ Dylan's latest, I'll have 3 '06's soon. Hopefully they come in vinyl.

"Macaca" was the reason Alan Webb was overthrown. Racial slur is what the pundits claimed. Now, the same term is freely used by the very same ethnic group that caused a furore!! How hypocritical can this group get.

How hypocritical can this group get.

You should have heard Jamie Foxx on Tavis last night.

Tom Waits' Orphans

Waits isn't technically a New Orleanian, but he embodies our nitty-gritty sinuosity and has so many genres of NOLA-based music going in that album. Besides, his heart is here.

While I'm flogging New Orleans, I heartily recommend Putumayo's latest New Orleans Christmas, especially because "a portion of the proceeds from the sale of [the album] will be donated to New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity in support of their Musicians’ Village Project." (Ingrid Lucia's 'Zat You, Santa Claus? is very good.)

As a friend of those who work with the project, I vouch for this great cause. There are plenty of musicians here who still need your help. Keep the heart and soul in Christmas, y'all! Peace.

I'd love to participate as well but I've either been playing oldies or pointing my radio to oldies. I could breakdown the fantasy value of every player in the NBA but I'm oblivious to the tunes of 2006 =)

On a good note, I did purchase Souad Massi's Mesk Elil thanks to you and the Professor. It's superb and satisfies a long, unfulfilled craving.

How hypocritical can this group get.

Welcome to America.

Tom Waits' Orphans

Waits had an album in '06 too, and nobody told me. I gotta stop hanging with Van Halenites.

@Manju: How could you not know? It was on the front-page of EMusic for the longest time, and Waits was on Jon Stewart's show.

@sic semper tyranni, doesitmatter: Macaca please! We have taken ownership of the slur and now only macacas can say it. And anything that let's me use the expression "_ please!" is fine by me.

@Manju again: Macaca please! There has been a lot of new music by older artists this year. Bruce Springsteen did a folk themed album. Tom Waits, Clapton. So "Oh, I don't listen to any new music, I'm stuck in the 60s" excuse will not fly. Be submitting top five list ASAP!

@sic semper tyrannis again: I'm planning on starting a macaca themed website. No cookies for you!

(don't worry, I have used up my quota for 'Macaca please!' for this year so you won't hear it again from me until January 1 (unless absolutely necessary))

done!

hey, i haven't got my MAIL configured...what's the email address to send our lists to? (or email me privately) cheers!

This poll will clearly separate out the ABD and the Desh born desi. Doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani.

Be the lassi brother kurma.
EOM

FWIW, My top 5 of the year in no particular order:
1. Band of Horses "Everything all the time": Nice compact album. Sweet sound
2. Joanna Newsome "Y's": Very new refreshing sound
3. Slayer "Chris Illusion": The best Slayer album yet. Still holding the flag for death metal after all these years.
4. TI "King": It was either Yung Joc or this album. TI just edged Joc out on this one. Lot of nice club bangers.
5. Hot Chip "Warning": Just makes me want to get up.

Pretty random selection. But I had to have each genre on my Ipod represent.

Be the lassi, I shall, Master H_Yoda :). But only in matters non-musical, can I. Follows more, the average American, music of any kind than the average Indian. Just a fact of life.

However, there are a LOT of regulars who have yet to submit entries

Go for it tamasha and you too brother kurma... i interpreted siddharth's request as the music that made an impression on me. i for one would be really keen to hear what you liked. it's like getting in a buddy's car for the first time and hearing what's on his/her radio - the song ceases to be words and tune and gets imbued with the personality of the buddy. that makes for a unique experience and songs that were alien or odd become familiar and endearing. hey, i sent in my five as well - they werent all 2006 - and they werent all eclectic - but they are all available online (i am cheap and a radiocbc and youtube freebie fiend) - and i'd gladly want you to get in my car with me. :-)

go on... go on... you can do it.

and i'd gladly want you to get in my car with me. :-)

Ok ok, I'll stop with the 12-year old humor and think about my music.

hairy_d, as awesome as the car ride scenario is, and as amusing as your top five must have been to Siddhartha (perhaps even more so than the fact that, like a cute little uncle, you always spell his name wrong :), I think choosing 2006 songs/albums was the very point of the game.

But anyway, Miss Tamasha, whatever your list consists of, I'd email it soon. Technically, Siddhartha was supposed to stop taking submissions yesterday (although, like the procrastinator that I am, I myself sent mine in only this morning). hehe... I'm betting he'll get submissions even after he posts results. Like good little pindoos, we're on IST for deadlines too :D

I'm betting he'll get submissions even after he posts results. Like good little pindoos, we're on IST for deadlines too :D

IST is definitely in the house. Right now I'm felled by a nasty cold and I ain't posting nothing til the mucus subsides. Ms. Tamasha, your picks have been and remain most welcome.

hmm not a litst but a few goodies:

long winters-teaspoon
killers-samstown
the shins- phantom limb
rodgrigo y gabriela-tamacun (mexicans living in Ireland, flamencoish)
gomez-see the world
margot and the nuclear so and so's- skeleton key?
cold war kids-hang me up to dry

www.wtmd.org -adult album alternative round these parts
http://www.wrnr.com/- same kind of station around these parts

hairy_d, as awesome as the car ride scenario is, and as amusing as your top five must have been to Siddhartha (perhaps even more so than the fact that, like a cute little uncle, you always spell his name wrong :), I think choosing 2006 songs/albums was the very point of the game.

it is up to interpretation - and to me, it's about what caught my attention in 2006 - you cant imagine the dylan album really being considered new now would you - but i'm sure it'd be in someone's list - for that matter, even the dhoom machale soundtrack might be a cute selection for those who heard it first today - but the point's moot. how about you get in my car as well. the more the merrier.

Right now I'm felled by a nasty cold and I ain't posting nothing til the mucus subsides.

alright since i still haven't bothered to configure my MAIL account, here are the albums that excited me this year:

Ladytron -Witching Hour
CSS- Cansei de Ser Sexy
Love is All - Nine Times That Same Song
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - show your bones
Cat Power - the greatest

not sure how they all ended up being female vocalists...odd. there's still loads of stuff i have yet to acquire though! my innate gujju cheapness does limit acquisitions.

even the dhoom machale soundtrack might be a cute selection for those who heard it first today - but the point's moot. how about you get in my car as well. the more the merrier.

Are you sure? Waise to zyadahi dhoom machalein gaye.

क्या हुआ श्रुती? सब ठीक तो है न? कुछ कुछ नाराज़ लग रहे हो तुम।

Right now I'm felled by a nasty cold and I ain't posting nothing til the mucus subsides.

uh-oh... if this is the bug i've heard about, the mucus stays through several weeks. the body ache and mild fever go after two-three days though.

Dudes, I have 2 weeks off from the urchins - please can the mucus-talk. As for the music, Sid-Uncle, I am working on it. People tend to judge, you know.

I can only read things in Roman script, so... yeah.

hairy_d, care to transliterate for those of us who can't read Devanagari?

nothing rude bro.

it was - "kya hua shruti. sub theek to hai na. kuch naraaz lag rahe ho tum" or "hey shruti. hope all's ok. you sounded really pissed"

Not a good time of the year to be pissed. one should be skootering around like two butter chickens this time of the year.

dhoom dhoom.

Here's my song for closing off 2006 - as it has been for many - as it will be for many more i hope - i sing the body electric.

As I see my soul reflected in nature; As I see through a mist, one with inexpressible completeness and beauty, See the bent head, and arms folded over the breast—the female I see

dhoom dhoom.

How did you generate the nagari, bhai? Is there a free software that can be used?

quite vunderfully kurma bhai, i came to know of this hindiwriter through sepia pages. i cant seem to locate the link - but here's what the readme file on my downloaded version has to say. i am sure you'll be able to locate a download site thru this. it was free btw.

HindiWriter Version 1.3 [with Hindi Spellcheck] Copyright (c) 2005, Devendra Parakh All Rights Reserved Send Bugs, Questions, Comments, Suggestions to: dparakh@gmail.com

Oy, sorry for causing all this drama :( I'm not pissed at all! Tone is so easily misinterpreted online; I was trying to be witty, considering all the possible connotations for the term "dhoom machale".

And hairy_d - I gotta tell you dude, I speak Hindi, but I'm totally illiterate. You should have seen me frantically trying to find someone to translate what you wrote. I didn't want to ask my parents because I figured the Hindi was to partially censor a scandalous reply. So my next best option was to instant message my Mallu friend, who then asked his mom (who hadn't read a word of Hindi in 40 years) to translate for me. When he relayed her (apparently correct) translation, I told him it was whack. So I emailed Kurma, who speaks like 10 million languages, and waited and waited. In the meantime I bugged (the apparently also Hindi-illiterate) Ennis, who did what a normal person would do and asked you straight up. By that time Kurma had gotten back to me with the translation, and I had decided that I really really really need to learn how to read Hindi. (It seems I'm not graduating this year, so maybe I'll take advantage of the extra school year to take Hindi classes).

Sorry for the threadjack, "Sid-Uncle". *snicker* (Oh why am I laughing at you when, at the prime age of 21, I clearly have no game? :D )

I have Hindi Writer (I think you can DL it here), but it's frustrating to work with.

You should have seen me frantically trying to find someone to translate what you wrote. I didn't want to ask my parents because I figured the Hindi was to partially censor a scandalous reply. So my next best option was to instant message my Mallu friend, who then asked his mom (who hadn't read a word of Hindi in 40 years) to translate for me. When he relayed her (apparently correct) translation, I told him it was whack. So I emailed Kurma, who speaks like 10 million languages, and waited and waited. In the meantime I bugged (the apparently also Hindi-illiterate) Ennis, who did what a normal person would do and asked you straight up. By that time Kurma had gotten back to me with the translation, and I had decided that I really really really need to learn how to read Hindi. (It seems I'm not graduating this year, so maybe I'll take advantage of the extra school year to take Hindi classes).

Band of Horses? Hot Chip? Ladytron? I wonder just how many desis/mutineers are hipsters after all.

Hi Siddhartha,
After much contemplation, I have settled for the following list:

1. Wait a minute - Pussy Cat Dolls (For lyrical lucidity)
2. Sexy Back - Justin Timberlake (For making me think)
3. Smack That - Akon & Eminem (For the subtle promotion of racial harmony)
4. Wind it Up - Gwen Stefani (For being different)
5. Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado (For announcing the death of hi fidelity)

There were many more records that I loved and it breaks my heart that the rules of the game restrict me to just five measly choices:(

I would like to second Promiscuous for adding a new word to the stunted vocabulary of today's youth.

Sorry, by "new" I meant "new and REAL" - Bootylicious and Fergalicious are not real words.

Go for it tamasha and you too brother kurma... i interpreted siddharth's request as the music that made an impression on me. i for one would be really keen to hear what you liked. it's like getting in a buddy's car for the first time and hearing what's on his/her radio - the song ceases to be words and tune and gets imbued with the personality of the buddy. that makes for a unique experience and songs that were alien or odd become familiar and endearing. hey, i sent in my five as well - they werent all 2006 - and they werent all eclectic - but they are all available online (i am cheap and a radiocbc and youtube freebie fiend) - and i'd gladly want you to get in my car with me. :-)

go on... go on... you can do it.

what do you mean tamasha that fergilicious isn't a real word ;)?

So, I guess my song is Aajaa meri gaadi mein baith ja :-) My reason for not submitting had nothing to do with shyness or the other reason I mentioned in the "doodh ka doodh" comment ...

i am like that as well. the only music i listen to is freebie stuff that's playing on cbc when i'm driving or stuff i come across youtube. for the life of me i cant remember most of the stuff i hear on cbc... because i dont hear the same stuff twice again ... but some stuff sticks and i try to hear it again - for example, i was hearing this program about the montreal music scene and arcade fire came on and i went whoa!!! and that was my intro to those guys... etc. some other stuff is actually 2006, but the shitty life i lead - driving is my relief - i treasure these little moments of peace ... then youtube... i'll probably one of the handful who recommmends filmi tunes, but hey - those are delishus bonbons - i dont know if it's the emoting or the music that gets me - but to paraphrase the 'holic - filmi masala is bilkul yummy yaar.

so.. there you go - as i said - music is not a reflection of taste, but a reflection of one's life - and there is no reason it should fit the top 40's - but to have a life is to have a preference - and thusly you got to be in the game .

ok machang - the loser that i am, i got to go out and mail 40 christmas cards today. my bad. ek meri taraf sey tumhen bhi (and one from me to you).

"Can we please quit using macaca? Please? It's quite irritating."

It's not that it's irritating, it's futile. It's an attempt to do what black folks have done or are trying to do by internalizing the N-word. Black folks realize no matter how many times they put it on records and hip hop videos, Kramers around the world can in in an instant recall the original usage and intent of the word - to dehumanize.

I'm not saying rappers should cease using the word in records, thats a dialogue that should occur within the black community alone.

But for us to attempt a similar path of action, is silly for two reasons:

1. Macaca as a word against Indians was chosen arbitrarily. It came out of the subconscious of a politicians mother that lived in North Africa. If S.R. Sidarth was Hispanic, or Eskimo, or African, or any OTHER shade of "brown" they'd have the same word levy'd against them.

2. It was one guy who said it. Kramers re-use of the N word triggered a collective white history. In the US, we simply don't have that history, it's silly to try and co-opt it.

I, for one, hope we don't have to see Desi rap acts like M.W.A, talkin about "Straight outta Iselin"

It's not that it's irritating, it's futile. It's an attempt to do what black folks have done or are trying to do by internalizing the N-word.

As far as I am concerned it is nothing of the sort. Are you threatened by a floating signifier?

Sorry, by "new" I meant "new and REAL" - Bootylicious and Fergalicious are not real words.

I also think macaca is stupid. Sorry Siddhartha :)

I, for one, hope we don't have to see Desi rap acts like M.W.A, talkin about "Straight outta Iselin"

Sorry, by "new" I meant "new and REAL" - Bootylicious and Fergalicious are not real words.

Are you sure? I mean, can't you be tamalicious, also? ;)

another sepiamutiny macaca circle jerk, how predictable for these chutiyas

I think that Gnarles Barkley's "Crazy" was an awesome song for this year. The following lyrics really got to me:

"My heroes have the heart to live the lives I want to live. And all I remember is thinking I want to be like them"

This is a cool anthem. It would be nice to see it included. Incidentally, I am getting some really good tips from the comments.

I have Hindi Writer

Thanks, Shruti.

http://www.quillpad.com/hindi/ Try this out, people. A friend of mine developed it.
They have 12 or so other Indian languages too. Seems to work very well, although it is Windows specific, I think. On a Mac, it's working great with the Safari browser for me for Hindi. Not so great with Firefox (I haven't set up fonts yet).

hairy_d, I cherish my car minutes too, for the same reason.

so.. there you go - as i said - music is not a reflection of taste, but a reflection of one's life - and there is no reason it should fit the top 40's - but to have a life is to have a preference - and thusly you got to be in the game .

It doesn't get any more convincing than this. I've sent Siddhartha a small list. He'll probably throw them out for being outdated anyway :). Tumhe bhi Baba din (Christmas) mubarak.

"As far as I am concerned it is nothing of the sort. Are you threatened by a floating signifier?"

How can you trivialize it to being a "floating signifier" when the context of origin was racially dehumanizing? Like I said before, its usage can continue, but to me its more of an exercise in futility and silliness rather than an irritation or threat.