Szavanna_blog

Buddha-Pest

2006-06-28T19:45:00.000+02:00

I grew up in Hungary a small European land locked country - actually I spent my childhood in the Southern Hungarian town of Szeged. Then I moved to Budapest and spent my university years there - majoring in English and Arabic literature.

Since in South Africa we are so far away from Eastern Europe - not that many Hungarians are spotted around here - South Africans are sometimes suspicious about us Hungarians - we speak a funny language that doesn't sound like English or French or even Russian or Polish nor Tswana or Zulu , we were one of the "Eastern bloc" countries that spent many years under Soviet rule, many of us are also not devoted to a specific religion due to our previous dispensation.

Others think of Hungary as a magic Oriental place - a secret far away place full of exciting and mesmerising traditions and cultures - especially that the name of our capital is called Budapest - as if it had something to do with the Buddha. If something is unreachable and is so far away - one tends to build a dreamlike image of it.

However my experience is that even though we live quite far away from each other - we are similar in many ways with South Africans, I have realised the people here have been listening to the same music, have been reading the same books, many times cook similar dishes in other words the more countries I visit, the more cultures and traditions I experience I realise that we all have much more in common than we think.

Quote of the day

2006-06-22T11:27:00.000+02:00

Be the change that you want to see in the world.

Mohandas Gandhi

Paradise Now - films I have seen recently

2006-06-18T19:08:00.000+02:00

Some time ago we went to see a film at the annual Puk film festival here in Potch. We normally see one film each year (the rest are normally not worth seeing) - last time it was God is African - this year it was Paradise now.

From the Wikipedia:

Paradise Now (Arabic: الجنة الآن‎ ) is a 2005 film directed by Hany Abu-Assad about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel. It won a Golden Globe for best foreign language film and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category. Click to read on ...

I think it is important to see this film no matter what your thoughts might be about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Naseer and the lute

2006-03-22T22:15:00.000+02:00

"When invented, Music has only gained its value and assets from being the spirit means for approaching God. For this reason, I want my music to remain the spirit of humanity through expansion and extension of the human soul" Naseer Shamma

The Arabic lute is a beautiful string instrument - similarly to the violin it's fretless - so you have no excuse - you must use your ear to play it and find all those notes- half notes and quarter notes that make up an Arabic maqam.

While I was staying in Tunis, every day on my way to my Arabic classes I walked past Amina Srarfi's music school. Having been playing the violin since I was 7 - I always tried to peep through the windows and see how Arabic kids learn music - I was wondering if it was different from the way I used to learn the violin in Hungary. The interesting thing was - whenever I heard kids play the violin - they seem to have been playing many of the classical melodies I used to learn at the conservatoir.

When I managed to find an open window - this is what I saw:

This went on for months - I walked past the building trying to catch a melody or an open window to see what is happening inside - and one day - I decided to walk right in and went to see Amina Srarfi - the director of the school. I told her I'd like to learn music and told her about my musical background - so she agreed.

I was really excited - I decided - I was going to learn the lute.

But there was a problem. I didn't have one. Lutes were very expensive - especially when one is a poor student - barely surviving on hostel food. So I decided I'd call my aunty and I'd tell her that things were tough and I need money. It worked - she sent me money and I rushed to buy my lute. I know this was really not nice of me - but once I saw the lute - I forgot all about this - you will know once you see one - lutes are beautiful instruments - and now I owned one.

Then my Arabic music studies started. I had a lute teacher and I also studied music theory. Both were new and exciting to learn since Arabic music differs so much from European classical music.

During the theory classes we learnt about different maqams.

Instead of learning songs or complete compositions - we started first with a scale - in other words we learnt the notes in a specific scale (maqam) - some scales only had 2-3 notes some had more. And these notes were written down and given to us. The first step of learning scales was to be able to sing the notes. Then each scale also had its own rhythm structure - we turned over our lutes and practised tapping the rhythm on the back of the lutes. Once we got used to the notes and rhythm patterns of a maqam, then the teacher demonstrated the maqam by improvising on his lute - the improvisation was based on the maqam we were busy with. This was a revolutionary difference for me - when it comes to learning music. In my music schools in Hungary we simply learned given sonatas written on paper - we didn't focus that much on the scale itself or the rhythm - all we did was play the notes on the paper - every time the same notes - again - and again.

Here is an example - from Maqamworld.com :

With time I started to get used to the school, the lute players and the maqams - in a way it all reminded me of the weekly evenings I spent with the Calcutta trio back in Budapest - since the way they explained about Indian ragas were similar to the way I was learning the maqams.

Once I got to know more music students I also visited the main conservatoire in town.

It was in the conservatoire where I heard about the famous Iraqi lute player - Naseer Shamma - for the first time.

He was teaching lute there - and I decided to try to attend his classes and listen to how he is teaching. His classes were very interesting - since he was teaching advanced students - they all played at a very high level. Reading music was never part of the training - most of the time Naseer and his students focused on a specific sequence of notes, learned different hand positions - different ways of playing the same note. Once they spent some time with the notes themselves - they started improvising on the notes.

My plan was to ask one if his students to teach me the lute - but they were not really keen on teaching me. When I asked Naseer if he could recommend any of his other students to teach me - his answer was "I can teach you". I was shocked - I really didn't expect to hear those words.

The lute lessons were at Naseer's house - and lessons were a whole social event. When I arrived the first thing was to relax, have a tea and then lunch. Once everyone ate - then I got the lute out of the case and started practising. So each music lesson was a social gathering - everyone was singing the melodies I played. What a way to learn music - I thought - very different from the boring music classes I had at home at school.

Naseer is a great teacher and musician - during his performances very often he is the only person on the stage - the melodies he plays are never ending improvisations - and the more he plays the more we all get mesmerised by his performance - as he varies the notes of the maqams in a million different ways.
His website is one one the most beautiful sites I have every seen - click here to see it and listen to some his lute solos.

And in case you were wondering this is how I looked playing the lute :

The sad thing is - before I came to Johannesburg - I gave my lute away to a local jazz musician - he was very happy to have it and used it for many of his performances.

Now I am thinking of getting a lute again.

Africa studies

2006-03-10T22:08:00.000+02:00

I think people in South Africa don't realise what an amazing place they live in.

Most of the time people tend to moan about life here - but actually - they live in one of the most amazing places in the world.

For me to get as far as South Africa - I had to go through a 10 year "initiation process":-)

My interest in Africa started by itself - noone has really started it in any way - my family was not really interested in African cultures - though there was always an interest in many different cultures - and most people in my family spoke at least 2-3 languages - which is not normally the case in the average Hungarian family.

While most of my family conducted their studies at universities and other institutions - I normally did the learning on the streets, clubs, playing/teaching/learning music - and travelling - rather then sitting in a class and open a book - well I did that as well - but I always found - no real learning/teaching is happening in a classrom.

To qualify for my "studies" I had to:-) learn English, French, Arabic and also - the lyrics and music of Bob Marley - ( and music itself - being the most universal of all languages -) the reason being that these languages (and Bob Marley and music) are widely spoken in Africa - and they are absolutely necessary - for my discoveries later on.

I learned English while in primary school - and also continued while I was in musical high school - ( where I majored in classical violin.)

My first Arabic course was a short intensive course in a Budapest language school - where I learned all about Arabic letters, and the basic conversational phrases. Later I carried on learning Arabic at university (where I majored in English and Arabic literature).

As I spent one year in Tunesia - I spent my time learning languages like French, carried on my Arabic studies and started also with music classes that introduced me to the language of the Arabic lute.

In Hungary I tried to frequent as many clubs:-) as possible as part of my training. One being the local student club - which was a regular meeting place for African students mainly from Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and Nigeria - this is where I got to learn all about Bob Marley, Alpha Blondy and even Fela Kuti - and also about how to mix red wine and coke successfully:-)

In the hostel I stayed in - I spent lots of time with the students from Mali - and we spoke Hungarian to each other - which probably sounds really funny - then I still didn't speak French (nor Bambara:-)) so we communicated in Hungarian.

Another "course" was the Marthin Luther King organization in Budapest - that addressed the local skinhead problem - though very badly organized - it did make me think about racism issues for the first time.

But all of the above was just the "tip of the iceberg". I learned the most during my trip to Tunesia - one year of fun - and discoveries of Islamic culture - Tunesian and that of the many other francophone African countries - that you find in West and North Africa and even places like Comoros islands - as there were hundreds of African students doing their studies there in Tunis from all over the continent.

Many of these students brought some of their family members with them - so I got to spend time with families from Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Chad, Ivory Cost and of course Tunesia.

So what did I learn from all these experiences?

I learned that you can start playing music anywhere - on the street - in the bus stop - you don't actually have to go to a concert hall. I also learned that you can carry on discussing a topic without actually stopping for the whole night - even if you don't speak the language properly and are not even intocsicated in any way:-). I also discovered that it's not only me that learned a lot from the lyrics of Bob Marley. I also learned that travellers must be respected and taken care of.

But most of all - I learned a lot about sharing - sharing skills, food, clothes, sadness and happiness , music and more...

Once in South Africa I just continued where I left off - this country is full of unbelievable surprises - stories and people to learn from. So I'm lucky many of them come and visit at the OpenCafe - during OpenCafe's one year of existence - I met some amazing Africans - they all have a little piece of the big puzzle that makes up all the traditions and cultures of this majestic continent.

And the good thing is..... one never graduates from this kind of "studies" - one does come to realizations - one gets a bit wiser every day - but to graduate .... not in the near future ...

The people in my life

2005-11-18T20:12:00.000+02:00

Click here - to see them:-)

Prof Kalmar on the exactness of mathematics

2005-11-04T20:02:00.000+02:00

Though most of my grandfather's work is difficult to grasp by us everyday people:-) I did find a very interesting piece he wrote on the exactness of mathematics :

“…I’ve completed the high school of mathematical exactness, and I see that exactness hasn’t got any limits.

There isn’t such a precise definition or theorem that couldn’t be found faults in by a more precise point of view; and not because of hair-splitting but with a thorough reason (because refusing a more precise point of view may lead to errors and false results).

That’s why I cannot comprehend dogmatically the precision of mathematics any more: the ones in this side aren’t precise, the ones on the other side are precise.

With this, of course, I’ve rejected the idea of mathematics as an «absolute true science».

I don’t say that I was forced to reject it, because I am convinced that the beautiful part of mathematics consists in wearing all the uncertainties of the human work.

Don’t get me wrong: a kind of precision exists for me too, however not in a static sense but in a dynamic one.

When I teach mathematics to somebody, he’s already standing at a certain degree of precision, maybe at a very low degree. He couldn’t get higher by the way that I call him idiot when he’s less precise; but I have to convince him that it’s worth coming up. Of course it’s worth only if he demands it. However, it doesn’t matter at all if one doesn’t have a demand on it; then we remain where we are…”

Source: Extract from László Kalmár’s letter to Miklós Szabó (Szeged, 19/2/1947) In: Kalmár László: Integrállevél. Matematikai írások, Gondolat, Budapest, 1986.]

My grandfather and the early computers

2005-11-04T17:38:00.000+02:00

My grandfather, László Kalmár was an exceptional person, a very talented mathematician. To us he was Nagyapo (grandfather) - that is how all of us called him at home.

I don't have too many memories of him since he passed away in 1976 when I was only 7 years old.

I do have a few pictures in my mind, we used to have breakfasts together (we stayed right next door to where he lived with my grandmother), I remember him riding his bicycle to university and back.

He was very absent-minded - we used to joke about it - for example on rainy days he used to walk about on the corridors of the university with his umbrella open - as he forgot to close the umbrella after stepping inside the building. (I am not sure if this is true - but probably I am right).

Nagyapo normally was very busy with the science projects he was involved in. He was also lecturing at the university of Szeged, my home town. I remember sitting in the big lecture hall watching him explain complex mathematical formulas to the students. For me it was all so boring - as I was very young (not that later I was more interested in all those formulas - I was never really good at mathematics).

Trying to sum up the projects he was involved in - here is a quote from The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive :

"He founded at Szeged the first chair for the Foundations of Mathematics and Computer Science and then became the first to occupy the chair. This was not all he founded at Szeged, for he also set up the Cybernetic Laboratory and the Research Group for Mathematical Logic and Automata Theory.

.... He was acknowledged as the leader of Hungarian mathematical logic.

.... Kalmár was also involved in theoretical computer science and promoted the development of computer science and the use of computers in Hungary. His special fields of interest in computer science included programming languages, automatic error correction, non-numerical applications of computers and the connection between computer science and mathematical logic."

The Wikipedia says :

"He is considered the founding father of both Logic and Theoretical Computer Science in Hungary."

in 1996 - he was posthumously awarded the computer poineer award by IEEE Computer Society "For recognition as the developer of a 1956 logical machine and the design of the MIR computer in Hungary"

Very big words - an unbelievable life.

Surprisingly I never worked with computers while I was in Hungary. While most others in my family (especially the guys) were quite into computers - I was busy with music and languages.

I only started working with computers when I arrived in South Africa. We bought a PC because I wanted to use the Internet to keep in touch with family in Hungary.

That was 7 years ago. Since then I cannot get enough of it. It's unbelievable what one can achieve with computers - it's an amazingly versatile tool - especially when it comes to using it as a tool for global communication & collaboration.

So now that I am so interested in computers I will definitely spend time finding out all about my grandfather's projects and also make sure that everyone else gets to learn about him and will get inspired to start their own mathematics related projects.

Can you believe it? I can't believe it! We have made it - the cafe is 1 year old!

2005-11-01T17:30:00.000+02:00

The OpenCafe is an example of how dreams come true -.... on a continuous basis:-)
And the more dreams come true - the more new dreams appear out of the blue.

The OpenCafe was not planned. It appeared out of the blue. It was also inevitable as we carried on searching for solutions for problems we had been experiencing throughout our lives.

Even though this one year was spent with a lot of experimentation - and for a long time we were confused about the aims of the cafe - after one year we can say that things are more clear and now we can start doing the "real work".

All about Swahili - and our first Swahili visitor

2005-10-13T22:25:00.000+02:00

I did learn a bit of Swahili at the University of Budapest - where I attended Swahili classes presented by Mr Fussi. Well we didn't get too far and today my Swahili is limited to about 20 words :-) - but we enjoyed getting to know the language and discovering all the Arabic words. If you are ready to learn or just see the most commonly used words and phrases try this link.

This is what the above site says about the language:

"Kiswahili (or Swahili) is an African language spoken mainly by the people of eastern and central Africa. That is, people who live in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, eastern Zaire, northern Zaire, northern Malawi, northern Mozambique, northern Zambia and Somali Republic. Although not widely as in the above mentioned countries, Kiswahili is also used by some people in Congo Brazzaville, southern Sudan, the Comoro Islands, the northern part of Malagasy Republic, the Persian Gulf states, and the Central African Republic
Kiswahili is the national language in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda"

Later on we might start working on language projects - it'd be lots of fun to restart my Swahili studies - actually we have already started collecting everyday phrases from various languages spoken in Africa - including Setswana, Isizulu, Kiswahili, Arabic, Portuguese, French, Afrikaans .... and more to come.

Our first East African visitor - Kevin - is from Kenya - he is a musician and will take part in our ArtMarketOnline project.

We have already set up the first version of his website at ArtMarketonline.

Click here to visit the site!

We also keep in touch with Ndesanjo Macha - master blogger from Tanzania -
click here to visit Ndesanjo's blog "Digital Africa" or here to read an interview with him on the Global Voices website.

Another Kenyan connection is Dorcas Muthoni - Co-Founder ( together with Anna Badimo of WITS ) of the LinuxchixAfrica Intiative click here to visit their site.

During Aardklop I met Peter Okeno - click here to read more about his group, Ngoma Africa. They were quite interested in hearing more about our ArtMarketOnline project so we might work together on websites in the future.

We have also started putting online our PanAfrican pages so that we can summarize all Pan African projects we take part in and the people we keep in touch with Africa wide.

The great thing about open source and open content projects is the fact that they are international and anyone can take part in them - this way I get to meet unbelievable people from all over the world - both offline - in the cafe - and also online.

All about the Calcutta Trio - by Eostar

2005-10-13T13:04:00.000+02:00

I have known Eostar since the beginning of our university years - since that time we both learnt so much, travelled a lot and learnt new skills - she has become an exceptional artist - now living in California - she is also one of the ArtMarketOnline artist - click here to visit her art site and here to see her healing site.

For both of us - the Calcutta trio's weekly club evenings have been a door to new worlds, new concepts - this is what Eostar says about the trio:

"One night Anna took me to the Calcutta Trio's concert. What a shock! My ears were hurting with the unusual scales, my being rebelled to the perceived dissonance that these never-heared ragas presented. It was really hard to sit still for hours listening to the odd melodies and watching people sitting still, emotionless, in a meditative state. My body and soul rebelled. And yet my spirit caught something that was in the air - a vibration so well remembered from past lives lived in India - the smell of chai tea in the interval. I knew this smell so well! And then seeing the beutiful tapestries they were covering the stage with brought up a breath of magic that was unexplainable. I was familiar with incence from India - that was not a surprise - but they added a lot to the magic. The beautiful Indian tunics they wore mesmerized my eyes.
So, eventually, even though the music hurt my ears, I left feeling an odd resonance with everything the Calcutta Trio presented. I was hooked!
Later I became a regular and got used to the "odd" scales and rythms. What's more, Classical Indian Music became an organic part of my life.
The Calcutta Trio's "Indian Music Club" that was happening every Monday in those days added an element of magic and remembrance to my life, bringing out parts of me that wanted to be alive, felt and acknowledged. I feel great gratitude to them to this day. Namaste!"

Abdullah Ibrahim - " is among the preeminent proponents of music as a healing and transformative tool "

2005-10-10T23:48:00.000+02:00

This evening when I walked into the room the TV was on with the program called AfroCafe - with an interview with Abdullah Ibrahim.

I believe that great musicians play an important role in leading their audiences / communities to a higher level of existence - not only with their music but by being teachers - community leaders - and Abdullah Ibrahim is definitely one such musician.

In the short piece I saw of the interview he gave a lenghty description of two Japanese fighters and an old blind Japanese musician playing a traditional japanese string instrument - while he was playing his instrument - we saw on the screen how the fighters imagine their own fight - ( martial art dance performed with two swords ) - and heard Abdullah Ibrahim's description of the fighters' moves.

I am not sure why he talked so passionately about this - I wouldn't mind hearing a long explanation about his involvement in martial arts.

I have found a great site that has a lot of info on Abdullah Ibrahim : it is called Abdullah Ibrahim - Mantra modes - here is what the site says :

"Many who have encountered Abdullah Ibrahim would also call him a teacher...including many of those who make up his worldwide audience. There is no escaping the transformative power of his music should one approach it with receptivity. In this respect he is both teacher and student, standing as exemplar within the chain of transmission which posits that every person is being inexorably drawn home and is capable of both openness and activation, of being taught and teaching, of following the path and leading others along it. "

Click here to visit the site to read more.

An alternative way of teaching the free software philosophy - from silentcoder.co.za

2005-10-07T10:48:00.000+02:00

AJ's blog entry on free software philosophy explains very clearly some of the most important points on this topic - I agree fully with what he says :

"I believe that if you can help a neighbour in need, you are morally bound to do so. With software 'can' is never a question. It doesn't cost you anything to make a copy, and send it to him - and you still have it. So you are morally bound to do so. In the post-scarcity world, charity becomes costless - so proprietory software twisted some laws completely beyond their intended purpose to create an artificial scarcity where none should exist.

They illegalized charity.

They made it criminal to be a good person.

And worst of all, they made it criminal to be a good person, in the one case, where being a good person comes free of charge.

When you explain it to this, people seem to get it. Then you tell them - but you don't have to be trapped into their circle of selfishness, you can still be a good person - for there is a kind of software that actively encourages you to be a good person, to share. It is called, free software.

Click here to visit slientcoder.co.za and read the rest of this entry!

Baaba Maal in Potchefstroom

2005-10-06T23:14:00.000+02:00

We had an amazing time last Saturday listening to the mesmerising voice of Baaba Maal - and his group of unbelievable percussionists, singers and dancers.

The music flew us to Senegal - the music & rhythm that is quite familiar to me - it reminded me of those times I spent learning Arabic music in Tunis and the parties we had with Senegalese and Mauritanian friends sipping tea and having long discussions during those Ramadan nights.

Check out this page to find out more about the Senegalese musical instruments and even have some virtual music lessons!

I am sure you are wondering - what is guru-shishya parampara and why I write about it

2005-10-06T19:55:00.000+02:00

My aunt spent many years in China learning all about Chinese culture. Once she came home she introduced everyone our family to new things. One of them was regular visits to the concerts of the Calcutta trio - a group of Hungarians playing classical Indian music namely the sitar, tabla and tanpura. Each concert included a raga, videos about other musicians playing other Indian musical instruments and most concerts also inluded little lectures about their adventures in India as well as lengthy desriptions about the way they learnt music from their gurus , Pandit Ravi Shankar , Ustad Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussein . They told us about the deep respect and admiration the student feels towards his/her guru and all the responsabilites the guru has to give on his/her knowledge to his disciples.
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Here is what the Wikipedia says about the guru-shishya tradition :

"The guru-shishya tradition (also guru-shishya parampara or lineage) is a spiritual relationship found within traditional Hinduism which is centered around the transmission of teachings from a guru (teacher) to a shishya (disciple). The term shishya roughly equates to the western term disciple, and in some parts of India is synonymous with the term chela. In a Hindu context, the term guru signifies one who teaches or imparts knowledge. Such knowledge, whether it be Vedic, Agamic art, architecture, music or spirituality, is imparted through the developing relationship between guru and disciple. The principle of this relationship is that knowledge, especially subtle or advanced knowledge, is best conveyed through a strong human relationship based on ideals of the student's respect, commitment, devotion and obedience, and on personal instruction by which the student eventually masters the knowledge that the guru embodies." ( Click here to read on .... )
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At first I wasn't really listening to these stories - I was just waiting for the concert to finish so that we can go home with my grandmother and carry on playing.

However later on I started listening to them and tried to make sense of all those they had to say. I found these concepts more and more fascinating and started to compare my experiences in my schools ( primary school and also my music school where I was learning classical violin since the age of 7) to the the Indian way of learning music. There was an unbelievable difference between the two teaching methods.

What I have realised the most teachers today have nothing to do with teaching - seriously - just think - how many of your teachers have ever taught you something - what percentage of the things you learnt at school are you using in your everyday life after leaving high school / or university.

I think there are major problems with how one looks at teaching and learning. These are lifelong activities - and one does both similtaneously .

Today when I listen to the ragas - I also remember all those stories at the Calcutta trio concerts - and I definitely try to use those teachings in the way I teach and learn every single day.

Instead of an "About page"

2005-10-06T17:45:00.000+02:00

Hi guys, so a few peope asked me to explain why I feel so passionate about our projects - OpenCafe and ArtMarketOnline . I thought a blog is the most appropriate for this so here it is.