Yanni's
Tribal Venture
Piano...Orchestra...and
everything melodious... These were the ingredients chosen to create
the perfect little album. But intelligently Professor Yanni added
an extra ingredient to the concussion... Tribal Chants... BOOOOMM!
Thus 'Ethnicity' Was Born!!
Yanni, the ever-popular composer and one of the most
succesful one in the modern centuries, has released another collection
of brilliance. And this new album, titled 'Ethnicity', positively
revolutionizes the musical creation of Yanni. He had released twelve
albums previously, in most of which he combines the melody of piano
with orchestra and light beats, giving an altogether serene sound.
With number thirteen though, Yanni adds some more ingredients. Ethnicity
is the name given to this new album, and just as the title goes, Yanni
has poured down some tribal chants and drumbeats along with a lot
more of the vocal choirs ( which he preciously used in songs like
Aria). It might be bizarre to think such music mixing with the Yanni
we knew before Ethnicity. But Yanni absolutely wiped away such thoughts,
as with Ethnicity, he brings out a fascinating new mixture which at
times suggests triumph, melancholy, and sometimes are simply soothing.
He manipulates the listener's mood with absolute dexterity, and makes
Ethnicity an overall pleasure.
Now, ethnic chants does not only mean a wild guy with
fireworked hairstyle and paint on his face yelling meaninglessly.
Just as each of the ethnic tribal festivals have a particular motivation
and fun, so does the musical mixture of the tribal chants with Yanni.
The ethnic journey begins with Rites of Passage, the first track,
and a very good starter to let you know about the kind of tribal chants
that has been used time and time again in this album. It is a running
track, with a chanting chorus flanked by soft piano tunes in between,
and is a great combination altogether.
For
All Seasons brings in the choir, and as the song progresses, it is
mingled with pan flute, the regular beats and violin, whereas the
tribal chants are also present here, in the chorus. The Promise is
a slow track, with a vocal (english) and has more strings in it, giving
a different texture after the two ethnic starters.
Rainmaker, the fourth track is probably the most different
one in the collection. It has the typical chants and with an arabian
pinch along with flute, but this flute is unlike the one used in For
All Seasons. Moreover, the male chants are deeper and with a techno
effect on them, which turns out to be a brilliant effect when flanked
by the female choirs.
Written on the Wind, is full of choir whereas with
Playing By Heart Yanni returns to his full instrumental mix. In the
latter, Yanni starts off with a bagpipe sound, but it evolves into
violin along with strings, and produces a very good combinaiton.
At First Sight, is more composed of piano along with
some background chants, and violin along with the usual orchestral
music. This song highly resembles a previous hit of Yanni called Flight
of Fantasy in terms of indtrumental usage. Tribal Dream is, needless
to say, a beautiful mixture of choir and some ethnic sounds, but also
has a pan flute which is constantly flanked by a natural yet uncommon
vocal effect.
Almost A Whisper is originally an instrumental work
from a previous album of Yanni. Here in Ethnicity, Yanni adds a female
vocal to the track, to give a new effect to the golden track. Never
Too Late and Play Time has instrumental structure mostly, and though
there are some little background choirs, the piano and violin takes
the lead in these two tracks.
The album comes to a close with the slow vocal track
Jivaeri(Jiva-Eri). It is basically sung as a sad track which, with
its slow tempo, seems to bid farewell itself and is ideal for the
closing track.
Yanni
has shown an immense change in his compositions with Ethnicity, and
most of the old Yanni fans have given thumbs up to this new revolutionizing
collection of music. Those who havent been lucky enough to be under
this man's magical-musical spell, must get this album, not only for
its one of a kind sound but also for the brilliantly arranged tracks
by Yanni. Thanks to Yanni, for giving us an exellent exotic treat
with Ethnicity.
E
l i x i r
EXPOSED
An interview
of the band By Tania Ahmed
Hello readers, I am an ex-student of
Green Herald International School, and I managed to catch up with
the enigmatic band "Elixir", well known as the legendary
"Green Herald School Band" or as a renowned "Charity
Band".
"Elixir" the 5-member band who is known
as the band that plays clean and smooth alternation and rock songs.
Their songs include medley tunes of romance mixed with a sweet sense
of perception. Some songs consist of a flavor of heavy metal with
lyrics that give a hint of patriotic urgency in our society.
Looking forward to the release of their first album
in mid September, the band is full of hope and anticipation. As we
settle down in the vibrant atmosphere of boomers, I am introduced
to the band: Arsalan (Drummer), Bobby (Keyboard), Naved (Lead Guitar),
Moin (Vocals and rhythm guitar) and Farshid (Lead vocals and bass
guitar).
Tania: So how did this band come into existence?
Moin: Well, at first, Naved, Mahin (ex-member) and
I used to learn guitar from the same teacher. So one fine day, while
jamming, we decided to form a band.
Naved: We didn't have much of a vision at the time.
Moin and Mahin were both pretty good at rhythm and bass, so they changed
and played alternatively. While I, luckily or unluckily, got pretty
stuck with lead.
Bobby: I think it was based more on who was around
at the time. My teacher Timir Nandi told me about the band and how
they needed a keyboardist and that is how I ended up joining the band.
Moin: Coincidentally, the four of us were in the same
school and in the same class!
Naved: Finding a drummer was a problem for some time,
but news spreads pretty fast in a community and that is how we found
Arsalan, who was a year older than us, and offered to join us. Farshid
joined us a few years later and we were ready to roll.
Tania: Where was your first performance and what impact
did it have on your band?
Arsalan: Our first show was in our school auditorium
during a talent competition. We got a little nervous at first, but
I guess things turned out pretty good ultimately.
Moin: Impact .. Well yes, it did have an astonishing
impact on our future plan as a band. The crowd loved what we played
and they were highly impressed by our agility.
Naved: There are definitely two things to keep in
mind though. Firstly, this was way back in 1999, so the number of
bands in Bangladesh or should I say the number of upcoming new bands
of Bangladesh were a lot less than what we have today. So competition
was limited. Secondly, during 1999, our age ranged from fourteen to
fifteen, so definitely playing good music for a 14 year old kid is
not that easy.
Tania: Any memorable concerts?
Arsalan: In particular we remember performing in Alliance
Francaise. It was a concert for Amit, a little boy who was suffering
from wild polio and was in dire need of a pacemaker.
Moin: We also performed for Shuchi who had blood cancer
and Jhinuk, suffering from limb paralysis.
Tania: So, do you have a bandleader?
Arsalan: There are five people in this band with five
different influences. There's no one leader of the band.
Bobby: We contribute different things; different flavours,
that way it's more improvisational.
Naved: That's when it's exciting, when you're more
creative and come up with new ideas.
Tania: Has there ever been a performance that you
thought was unsatisfactory?
Naved: Unsatisfactory? I guess not, but yes there
were times when we thought that a particular song or two might not
have gone exactly the way we planned. We try to figure out the problems
and improve on them.
Tania: Is there anything in particular that you do
before you start the show? Like praying excessively, or taking deep
breaths to relieve your tensions or anything?
Farshid: We believe that only praying is not enough,
we double check and tune our instruments and practice really hard.
Honestly that's something a lot of bands don't do, and that's when
they sound bad.
Moin: Even though the band may be playing the right
notes and the exact tones due to lack of coordination of the instruments,
the output becomes poor.
Tania: So could you tell the readers something about
a few songs on the album…a little about the composition and the inner
thoughts behind them?
Naved: We put a lot of effort into all the songs in
the album and we have tried to give the best to our listeners. To
pin point a few is rather difficult…
Bobby: To start from the very beginning, oppecha was
written in 2001 and was our very first and is still one of our very
best tunes.
Naved: The title of the song can be felt in the music and in the lyrics
and instantly gives the listener a feeling of agony.
Moin: Jagore Bangali is one of our very best tunes.
It's a heavy metal song with lots of variations and outstanding music
quality. And most importantly it speaks out to the society in which
we live: we have tried to give the listener a feeling that the end
of our beloved country was coming- but there's also a kernel of hope
in there too.
Arsalan: There is a duet song called Shomoy, sang
by Naved and Fadia. This song is sure to strike a romantic chord in
the listener.
Naved: There is also Ghum ghum, a song that has a
jazz flavor, something we don't really hear from most bands nowadays.
A song, which will definitely make you think about life and after.
Tania: It was great to have heard from you guys. Take
care and good luck with your album.
Well readers, that was Elixir, exclusively for you.
Don't forget to buy the album, cause one things for sure, you will
not regret it!!
Any
questions regarding Elixir, you can mail to, elixir@hotmail.com
BATTLEFIELD
1942:
Secret
Weapons of WWII
Gamespot
score: 8.2. Publisher: Electronic Arts. Developer: Digital Illusions.
Genre: Action. Release Date: 09/04/2003. Difficulty: Medium. Requirements:
128 MB RAM, 500 MB HDD.
EA Games and Digital Illusions' team-based World War
II action game Battlefield 1942 took first-person shooter fans by
storm last year. Despite its initial technical problems, the game
had a combination of fast-paced action, powerful and easy-to-use vehicles,
and surprising depth that made it an incredibly popular multiplayer
game. The game was followed by the Road to Rome expansion pack earlier
this year, which added larger maps and more-balanced vehicles. Now
Battlefield 1942 has been supplemented, yet again, by another expansion
pack, Secret Weapons of WWII. The latest expansion adds a lot of interesting
new features and an additional eight maps. What it offers should be
enough to keep Battlefield 1942 fans playing, though it could have
offered more.
As
its title suggests, the expansion pack focuses on experimental secret
weapons that saw little or no use in the actual war. Some of these
additions--especially the new personal rocket pack that lets you take
high-flying leaps--might seem pretty far-fetched, but they work out
well in the game and seem surprisingly balanced. The personal rocket
pack can't be used to fly indefinitely, and it saddles you with an
unimpressive MP40 assault rifle. In addition, its volatile fuel reserves
explode instantly if you take a solid hit, thus killing you. Likewise,
the game's new heavy-duty tanks, such as the German Sturmtiger and
the US T-95 Supertank are exceedingly powerful, but they are limited
by such factors as a lack of ammo, speed, and turret-turning radius.
The same can be said for the expansion's new aircraft, such as the
incredibly speedy F-85 Goblin and the Natter rocket jet. Both have
so much forward speed that they can be difficult to shoot down, but
both are also relatively fragile and not heavily armed. Just controlling
these jets is a challenging task and should prove to be entertaining
for ace Battlefield 1942 pilots.
While
the expansion does introduce plenty of new aircraft, it also introduces
plenty of new countermeasures, such as the antiair Flakpanzer tank
and the Wasserfall guided missile--the latter of which is controlled
from a first-person perspective (similarly to the redeemer weapon
from Unreal Tournament 2003). Several of these vehicles actually give
you brand-new options on the battlefield. For instance, the C-47 cargo
plane acts as a mobile spawn point that lets you parachute behind
enemy lines, while the LVT-2 Water Buffalo and Schwimmwagen are amphibious
vehicles that can be used to cross bodies of water you might otherwise
have not bothered swimming across--since swimming remains exceedingly
slow. The expansion also adds a few modified weapons for infantry
soldiers on its eight maps, such as the new shotgun weapon for Allied
engineers and the grenade launcher for Axis engineers. Though some
may take getting used to (especially the shotgun), these weapons represent
a good change of pace for on-foot battle, and none is horribly overpowered
or underpowered. So, if you were concerned that the game's outlandish
weapons and vehicles might somehow destroy its balance, you needn't
worry.
Secret Weapons of WWII also introduces eight new maps
that, interestingly enough, seem to be designed around the vehicles
they feature. The Essen weapon factory level, for instance, puts the
Allies and Axis on opposite ends of the map and equips the Allies
with plenty of powerful aircraft, including the C-47 transport plane
(which can carry a whole host of Allied infantry across enemy lines).
The Axis control a weapon factory on the opposite side of the map,
complete with antiaircraft Flakpanzer tanks and a Wasserfall missile
silo. The maps seem extremely well designed, for the most part. Maps
that do feature lots of aircraft also feature numerous stationary
antiair turrets so that airstrikes aren't as overwhelming as they
could sometimes be in the original game's maps. The expansion also
introduces a new objective-based gameplay mode that generally tasks
one team with completing a specific goal--such as destroying fuel
silos or key documents--while the opposing team must prevent it. The
objective mode can, in the best cases, make matches considerably shorter.
In the best possible cases, objective mode is a focused and enjoyable
gameplay mode--if you have skilled and coordinated teammates. However,
it can often become frustrating and tedious if you end up with a team
full of goof-offs who don't bother trying to complete the goal.
While Secret Weapons' new maps all seem well designed
and enjoyable, there are only eight of them. It's true that the development
and production teams were essentially forced to balance the new maps
twice--once for conquest and general gameplay and once for objective
mode. But all the new vehicles and weapons are so interesting that
they really should have been featured in more new maps.
-By
Andrew Park, GameSpot
