Sunday, 22 March 2009

ABBA ahoy

hi folks, looks like everyone on the blog is going places- arun 2 jharkhand where he chronicles the wrenching toils of the coal-men and of course nargis bcoming the blogger of the year- congrats and can we sample a few of the pieces ( mua and words ) as sulekha is not accesible. well do u need an invite? if yes send all of us 1. so the blog is alive and kicking and there is gr8 news 4 people of my gen - ABBA the movie premieres today at 9pm on discovery.
i dont know abt u folks out there but sarita and i truly grew up on a steady diet of this won quartret in our teens. i did not go into beatlemania, jazz was just noise but ABBA was my intro 2 the world of songs, later paving the way 4 osibisa and boney-m ( where r the former?). sarita got the cassettes from cuttack i think, and i was the reluctant initiate- being totally inept musically and q painfullyb aware of my defs. yet soon i was reeled in, hook, line and sinker and we spent hours lisitening 2 this swedish grp and trying 2 decipher the lyrics..those were the gud ole days when our green ears were not 2 accoustd 2 foreign nasal twangs and some songs really flummoxed us. i remem one in particular- "girl, u better not get 2 eye". we were like - what eye, which eye? - till the penny dropped ( much like the cockney "h"). another stymied us- "and 1 day u find out he wears ??? dirty skies". sarita was patience personified- she went over the line agin and agin, rewinding the tape till she got 2 the gist of the matter- our angel eyes was master at camouflage and hallelujah - he was wearing " a disguise".
and so ABBA had our feet stomping and hearts racing. but there was nowhere we could really groove and discos were prob dens of iniquity anyway. that is when a couple of S's neighbours came up with the idea( i think they were the SP's sons- city-bred and ready 2 show us yokels a thing or 2)- they thought S's drawing room ( hall as it was called then ) would do just fine. so we were doing gyrations and jerky movements in a sorry attempt at dancing.. i was q reluctnt, so did not really get into the spirit of things- then. it was only after i saw J dancing bambaiyya style at a college do that i decided 2 let my (not q inconsiderable mane) hair down - i thought i could do better than those AB baby moves and did!
and now we r on a voyage of rediscov- i have all my fav songs on tape ( yes i still am a tape- worm, much 2 the disgust of my music dealer and daughter) and today i have declared a national holiday while i have a major date with the ABBAs. who else would like 2 join us?

6 comments:

Venu N said...

Alps, thanks for the heads up on the 9pm Abba show today. I have fond memories of that Swedish Four, and also of Osibissa and Boney-M.
Stan and Hen might recollect how we used to jive to their songs in BAM.We'd borrowed a stereo for Xmas and listed to those lovely vinyl LP records. What a whale of a difference it made, as we'd been initiated to their plethora of hits on Shortwave radio--remember S.L.B.C?
When our Anthro Hons team went on a study tour, we made it a point to see 'Abba the Movie' at a Brigade Road theatre in Bangalore. The best part of the movie was the song 'Flying High like an Eagle in the sky'. I'll certainly see it today.
By the way, were you referring to Subhasish and Debasish as the city-bred sons of an S.P? If so, I'm in touch with them.They were the D.I.Gs sons,who were staying not far from Sarita's and Seema's place

alpana said...

hi venu, i cant recollect their names and u should ask sarita- as i said earlier, back then i was a reluctant dancer, very wary of shaking a leg ( or my nonexistent ass). coinci, eagles is my fav too and i came close 2 the spirit of the song only once in my life- when i went hang-gliding (solo)and not only was "it true i could spread my wings - flying high, high" but i talked 2 the wind, shouted into its face, all the while with a knot of pure panic and adrenaline in my gut). do u also know the chahal sisters- anuradha who bcame a doc and madhulika who underwent a VSD closure but later succumbed 2 her heart condition? if so pl give me their add- they were from delhi. as 4 deb and subh , i met them only a couple of times at S's place - they prob wont remem me.

Faiyaz said...

Watch Mamma Mia, If you folks haven't!
I highly recommend - A Must Watch!

Nargis said...

Alps....like Faiyaz says watch Mamma Mia...Merryl Streep is tooooooooooooo good in that! And all those songs...mmmmmmmmade my day!
As for lyrics hehehe...I remember one song in particular- Sugar...aah honey honey, you are my kinda girl...'
Cat you beleive it, until now I was under the impression it was 'you are my candy girl'...Hahahaha! Waise dekha jaaye toh even that is kinda okay...;-}
The posts in sulekha are quite long...will try to post at least a few excerpts now and then......but the heated discussions that go on there is even better than the blog itself...:-}

Enarkay said...

ABBA are universal favourites. I saw Mama Mia and it was great. I think the song Sugar was by the Archies though it was in the movie too. BTW ABBA the movie wasnt on Discovery channel yesterday

Venu N said...

It was on Discovery Lifestyle--I saw it. That is why Nargis was referring to Meryl Steep---initially I thought it was Agnetha, as she was singing just like her.It was 'Abba-The Mama Mia story' and not 'Abba the Movie'.

Enarkay is right--the song 'Sugar, Honey Honey' was first sung by the Archies. Abba replicated it later.

Alps, I have no clue of those Chahal sisters--don't think I ever met them. I'll wait for Sarita to wake up from her slumber to answer the mystery over 'dem (them) city-bred cowboys'.