From: owner-basia-digest@smoe.org (basia-digest) To: basia-digest@smoe.org Subject: basia-digest V3 #192 Reply-To: basia@smoe.org Sender: owner-basia-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-basia-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "basia-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. basia-digest Wednesday, September 9 1998 Volume 03 : Number 192 Today's Subjects: ----------------- THE COPERNICAN CHRONICLES: One invented Esperanto ["Ashoke S. Talukdar" <] Re: basia-digest V3 #191 ["Paul S. Auh" ] 1997 Polish Interview [Dan Meyer ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1998 18:08:10 -0400 From: "Ashoke S. Talukdar" Subject: THE COPERNICAN CHRONICLES: One invented Esperanto One of my favorite co-workers is a young lady from Poland who works in one of the labs here. Her name is Agnieszka (pronounced Ag-nee-shka) and she makes terrific pastries! When I told her that I was a Basia fan, the first thing she said (in her delightful Polish accent) was: "That is wonderful, but do you know how to pronounce her last name? It is quite difficult even in Polish, you know." :-D I guess I DO know how to pronounce it since she was quite impressed with my version of it. ________________________________________________________________________ Language is an interesting tool. When I heard "Third Time Lucky", I was mildly amused by the presense of the expression "joie de vivre". It reminded me of the time when I was in between flights in Paris. I was trying to converse with a snooty waiter, who, if I might add, I had happened to have overheard conversing with his American boss, in excellent English. Yet when I wished him a good morning and asked for some espresso, he replied is a volly of French (which I only understood in gist), giving no signs of either having understood my request OR returning his end of the conversation in English! Now, I am not a fluent speaker of French by any stretch of the imagination. But I can read and understand it, in slow motion, and, having sung in French numerous times in college, I actually have decent diction. However, I decided to battle this one out. So I repeated the question, in the WORST possible french I could force myself to utter. After about 3 attempts, he finally asked "Is that coffee you want, sir?". "Espresso!", I answered and added, "Actually I WANTED it - now I have changed my mind. I think I will just have a Coke". He managed that dubious air of defeat and conceit without appearing to be rude, in a way only the french can, and walked away to attend to the disdainful task of serving American POP!! :-) So I have to wonder about Esperanto. A novel concept, although somewhat poorly implemented, in some ways it is much more confusing than most languages I am familiar with. But is that the point? Perhaps the proponents overlooked one important thing. The need to invent such lingusitic tools should not be confused with the need to overcome our sub-optimal communication skills. No language concocted can help us there. Esperanto set out to do for the spoken world, what sign language has already achieved in the world where speech is an impediment! Have someone, who knows how to do it, "perform" Copernicus in sign language. I did - it is an incredible experience, folks. I remember watching Wim Wenders gorgeous 1993 offering "Far Away So Close", in which (as described by E! Online) "a number of angels, forbidden to interfere with the affairs of humans, watch suspended over the streets of post Cold War Berlin as a tale of intrigue unfolds." What unnerved me about the movie was the constant narrative in the soundtrack - the voice of one of the angels whose wish is granted. He BECOMES a human and is cast into the middle of all the intrigue with tragic consequences. Ironically, the narrative is the conversation with his once-fellow angel (played by the beautiful Nastassja Kinski) - she can hear him but he can't hear her! This essentially one-sided conversation, is purposefully cold and disconnected from the sparce dialog and other visual aspects of the movie - an astonishing exercise in "silence through noise". Esperanto cannot link the chasms of this silence. But I believe there are yet undiscovered conduits of language that can. This is where, I feel, that songwriters, authors, poets and philosophers come in. They can initiate this elusive dialog, not through that which is explicitly written, but through that which is implied. Of course, my opinion quite possibly arises from my fascination with the song Copernicus because I always get the impression that the song is trying to say something. Something that Basia didn't write explicitly; but nevertheless it's still there in those lines. Maybe she meant for it to be there or maybe she didn't. Perhaps, unknowingly she wrote in the truly universal of all languages. I wonder if we will, one day, know. It doesn't really matter what this language is. But it does matter whether we are willing to listen. Regards, Ashoke. ________________________________________________________________ Ashoke S. Talukdar | When the darkness takes you talukdar@morph.ebme.cwru.edu | with her hand across your face Home : 216-381-5872 | Don't give in too quickly Imaging Lab : 216-368-8812 | Find the things she's erased MetroHealth : 216-778-8987 | Find the line, find the face Pager : 216-670-5872 | Through the grain... Cellular : 216-317-7079 | Fax : 216-368-4969 | Suzanne Vega ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 17:27:04 -0400 From: "Paul S. Auh" Subject: Re: basia-digest V3 #191 > > Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 17:29:17 PDT > From: "Mruk Mruk" > Subject: Matt Bianco after Basia > > I've been a Matt Bianco fan for years, and only upon my trip to Europe > did I discover "Whose Side Are You On", the Matt Bianco album with > Basia. > I've been able to track down a few CD's over the Internet, but I'd like > to know if anyone has the URLs to any Matt Bianco web sites or CD places > where I can purchase more Matt Bianco. Anyone? > One of the problems with finding Matt Bianco discs in stores is the fact that some stores stock their discs in the "M" section and some stock them in the "B" section (this is especially a problem with used CD stores, where you would otherwise be likely to find a few of their discs). Also, some stores consider them pop, some R&B, and some Latin -- that's where I found my copy of _Gran Via_. PSA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 00:01:12 -0500 From: Dan Meyer Subject: 1997 Polish Interview Has anyone seen the english interpetation of the interview (http://www.radiozet.com.pl/pol/radio/wywiady/basia.html) of Basia done in 1997? It looks as if it would be quite interesting to members of the Basia mailing list! - -- Dan Meyer ------------------------------ End of basia-digest V3 #192 ***************************