What is Fusion?
We exist because of it. Earth as we know it is only possible because of our sun. The sun is nothing but a fusion factory. It generates energy every second by fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. A lot of energy. Enough to keep us ticking until we decide to end it ourselves.
But I wanted to discuss another type of fusion. Another type of mixing. And blending. To form something new and different than the parts that went into it.
Fusion is a concept has been in vogue in pop culture for the past couple of decades. You see it with food. Indo Chinese or Tex Mex or Asian inspired American. Then there is fashion. A whole slew of artists have made careers fusing and melding together different art forms to someone's delight and to some not.
Then there is fusion of ideas. Some great writers borrow from legendary styles and meld it with their own flavors to create something worth reading. I like reading Atul Gawande. He was recently appointed as chief of a yet unnamed non profit which will focus on providing health care to a million people who could not afford it in today's America. He is a surgeon, a teacher and a writer. I learned a lot about the human condition reading his books. But I digress. I wanted to yak about my own attempt at fusion. What you may ask am I fusing? Poetry. What? How about this idea -
We exist because of it. Earth as we know it is only possible because of our sun. The sun is nothing but a fusion factory. It generates energy every second by fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. A lot of energy. Enough to keep us ticking until we decide to end it ourselves.
But I wanted to discuss another type of fusion. Another type of mixing. And blending. To form something new and different than the parts that went into it.
Fusion is a concept has been in vogue in pop culture for the past couple of decades. You see it with food. Indo Chinese or Tex Mex or Asian inspired American. Then there is fashion. A whole slew of artists have made careers fusing and melding together different art forms to someone's delight and to some not.
Then there is fusion of ideas. Some great writers borrow from legendary styles and meld it with their own flavors to create something worth reading. I like reading Atul Gawande. He was recently appointed as chief of a yet unnamed non profit which will focus on providing health care to a million people who could not afford it in today's America. He is a surgeon, a teacher and a writer. I learned a lot about the human condition reading his books. But I digress. I wanted to yak about my own attempt at fusion. What you may ask am I fusing? Poetry. What? How about this idea -
- Set ba ba black sheep and a whole host of nursery rhymes to the beat of an Indian bhajan (a form of devotional music performed in western and northern India). The typical musical appointments include a bunch of cymbals (because they are cheap) and a percussion device in the form of an elongated drum.
- Play bhajan lyrics in an Italian operatic setting. Imagine hearing about Vithal's love for Rakumai in an amphitheater with dim lights in a bel canto style?
- Set Bollywood romance music to rap giving the hero and heroine new ways to vibrate their extremities and achieve harmonic dissonance
- Include the sitar (an Indian string instrument that has its own genre of classical style made famous by a Ravi Shankar) in some of the heaviest of heavy metal bands.
The world might find discover there are new audiences for this type of out of the drum thinking.
Comments
Post a Comment