Fulbright-mtvU Fellows

Cricket or Controversy

Glitz and glamour is back in Mumbai as Lakme Fashion Week rolls into the season of the Indian Premier League, or the IPL. The IPL is a Twenty20 cricket competition that includes 8 teams, or franchises, consisting of the top cricket players from all over the world. The third season of the IPL started in India on 12 March 2010 and is due to last over a period of 45 days. As mostly everything else in India, the IPL is very heavily influenced by Bollywood. Bollywood actresses Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta are both co-owners of IPL Teams, and Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan is the owner of the ever-popular Kolkata Knight Riders team. All 55 matches will be followed by an afterparty and fashion show, organized by Bollywood star Arjun Rampal and his wife. The IPL Opening Party included all of the main Bollywood stars, and randomly, Lionel Ritchie and Akon. I went to a match last Saturday and Bollywood music played almost the entire time as cheerleaders danced to the tunes and the crowd went wild singing the songs and cheering on their teams.
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Tags: Akon, Arjun Rampal, Bollywood, Indian Premier League, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lakme Fashion Week, Lionel Ritchie, Mumbai, Preity Zinta, Shahrukh Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Shiv Sena

3 Idiots

While most Bollywood films are a fairytale romance at its finest, the most recent movie to take India by storm has a different message for its viewers, and its far-reaching effects have proved both positively and negatively meaningful for Indian society. 3 Idiots is a Bollywood comedy film that portrays the pressures of an engineering college in India and depicts the flaws in an educational system that discourages freedom of thought and creativity in favor of rigid standardization and competition. 3 Idiots has become the highest grossing Bollywood film of all time and has set a box office record for the Indian film industry. The film also went on to win six Filmfare Awards, including best film and best director, and ten Star Screen Awards. Although 3 Idiots has been a big hit and many of my own Indian friends have seen the movie several times in the theater, it has also inspired a lot of controversy in the nation. While some applaud the film for criticizing the intense pressure the Indian educational system often puts on its students, many critics claim that it provokes suicide and glorifies “ragging,” a form of abusive hazing that is inflicted upon freshman university students by seniors.
 
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Tags: 3 Idiots, Bollywood

Michael Silvers Discusses His Fulbright-mtvU Fellowship

Michael Silvers Discusses His Fulbright-mtvU Fellowship experience and encourages you to apply. The application deadline for the next round of Fulbright-mtvU Fellowships is March 1st. Click here for more info and to start your application.
 

The Musical Landscapes of Ricardo Bezerra

Ricardo Bezerra was my host father when I first came to Fortaleza as an exchange student to study Portuguese. Ricardo, a practicing landscape architect and professor, is also a composer. In 1978, he released his first album, Maraponga, featuring Brazilian musical heavyweights like jazz legend Hermeto Pascoal and singers Raimundo Fagner and Amelinha. His song “Cavalo Ferro” became a huge hit, one that musicians still record and perform today (there’s a recent version on iTunes if you’re curious). Fagner and Amelinha and a few other musicians from the state of Ceará came to be known as the Pesssoal do Ceará, the folks from Ceará, and they helped bring Ricardo’s music to a wider Brazilian audience.

In 2003, Ricardo released his second album, Notas de Viagens, and is now working on a new CD. His most recent music is instrumental, and much of it combines jazz with northeastern Brazilian traditional music. He and I met up to talk about his new project. We chatted about the search for the Cearense sound and the ways musicians can express regional identity through music. Check out the clip to hear him talk about the ways he’s given his music the sound of Ceará and to hear one of his new songs from his upcoming album.
 

Tags: Amelinha, Ceará, Fortaleza, Hermeto Pascoal, Pesssoal do Ceará, Raimundo Fagner, Ricardo Bezerra

Learn More About The Fulbright mtvU Fellowship

The focus of the Fulbright-mtvU Fellowship is to promote “the power of music” as a global force for mutual understanding. We will be hosting a series of webinars where alumni of the Fulbright-mtvU Fellowship will discuss their Fulbright Experiences. IIE Program Managers will moderate the sessions. A question and answer session will follow the presentations. All interested applicants and advisors are welcome to attend the webinars listed below.

Follow the below links to register:

January 28th, 2010 (430PM-530PM ET)

February 4th, 2010 (430PM-530PM ET)

February 11th, 2010 (430PM-530PM ET)

February 18th, 2010 (430PM-530PM ET)

February 25th, 2010 (430PM-530PM ET)