Sensible gun control

Synopsis: The gun violence in many countries is taking many lives yet this problem can be solved as some countries show the way. This blog treats this subject with solutions.

Sensible gun control

Source : Google photo shows guns being destroyed in Australia

The recent tragedy in a Florida High school where a person killed scores of innocent students who had no idea that their lives were to end soon in such a meaningless way highlights a very serious problem in America . They had absolutely no chance to defend themselves so died pitifully. They were very young, full of hopes and aspirations like any young teenager.  Their parents never knew that some of them will never return from school that day when they saw them off going to school in the morning like any other day so imagine their shock and anguish when they were told that their sons and daughters have died in a massacre.

This sort of mass shootings happen all the time in the United States that have taken the lives of innocent people by hundreds with perhaps more to follow. The kids are now growing up thinking that at any moment their lives may be cut short by someone who is angry for some reason and decides to shoot so many people to vent his anger. Remember the Korean kid who shot so many people in a university campus in Virginia? Remember the Las Vegas shooting or the killings in a movie house where teenagers were enjoying an evening with pop corns with their friends?

The latest shooting in Florida once again makes people protest and want gun control but who listens? A politician was asked point-blank by a survivor of the Florida shootings if he took money from the gun makers to which he tried not to answer directly but the kid insisted on a straight answer. Finally under intense pressure from the audience the politician said that the gun makers believed in his agenda so donated money to his campaign for election. It was an indirect admission that he took money from the gun makers in return for gun control laws favoring them. The meeting was televised nationwide so millions watched this awful admission live but the kid who asked the question is now getting death threats from the pro-gun people.

The gun makers sent their agent to say that guns don’t kill people, only people do and the right to bear arms is written in the constitution etc. but these are the same lines they keep on repeating every time there is a mass killing somewhere so it brings no comfort to the grieving parents and re ignites the debate on gun control and laws to prevent private gun ownership. The question to ask is why private people need guns and why buying automatic military grade weapons is legal and for what purpose? How many countries in the world allow guns in the hands of private citizens?

Let us now take a look at some countries that have very successfully banned the sale of weapons to the public and where mass shootings are very rare so we will go to Australia first. There the government offered amnesty to gun owners for a limited period to turn over their weapons in return for a small amount of money so hundreds of thousands of guns were turned over to the government that then destroyed them. No one carries gun there except the authorized people like the national guards and the military.

There is absolutely no reason for anyone to carry a gun but try it in the United States and they will tell you that it is their right enshrined in their constitution.  It does not matter that the constitution was written a very long time ago when the country was practically lawless and is outdated. It does not matter how senseless such laws are and it does not matter how many people want the gun laws to be changed so that no one carries a gun with intent to shoot innocent people just because he is angry at someone or something.

We all know that nothing is written in stone except perhaps what Moses brought down from the mountains and people by popular referendum can change the constitution and the laws that protect the gun owners. In some countries the constitution is changed to prolong the power of an elected official like in China but in more democratic countries, people at least theoretically have the power to make meaningful changes to the laws. So can’t people make their theoretical rights into a reality? Why can’t the government take away the power of the pro-gun lobbyists who offer money to the election campaign of anyone running for office? Why some people are allowed to corrupt the democratic process of election with money and impunity? Why large corporations are allowed to donate huge amounts of money to the campaign run by politicians? What do they want in return for such largesse? We all know the answer to that.

The answer to this question is not very complicated. The election in the USA costs a lot of money so the candidates seek such money from any source they can find and will take money from the gun makers and other companies that harm the environment through their toxic wastes and making products that harm the health of people. The tobacco lobby comes to mind that gave the politicians a lot of money to overlook the harmful effects of tobacco on health but retreated under pressure later.

Could the gun makers be made to stop selling guns to anyone who had money? Could a nationwide campaign to change the gun ownership laws really succeed where money and profit-making speaks louder than the collective will of people? I know that it is an uphill battle but this battle is not impossible to win although hundreds more may have to die before the victory flag is planted on the hill like in Io Jima. Is this battle any less important than Io Jima?

There are many countries where people walk in complete safety because no one is allowed to carry a gun. In India, in China, In UK and most of Europe you will not see anyone with guns. Even the policemen carry only a stick called baton and nothing else. It does not mean that crimes like shootings at stadiums or other public places do not happen but that is called terrorism that has its roots in some political grievances. The mass killings at Charlie Hebdo in Paris, the Manchester shooting, the train bombing in Spain or the mass killings by the Pakistani terrorists in Mumbai has all been linked to some political ideology they believe in and are willing to kill and die for it.

But the gun laws that protect the gun makers and allow them to sell the guns to anyone with money does not make sense because some politicians need money to win elections and who put their personal  interests above the common sense interests of the people and the nation. As I wrote above, the laws can be changed and even the constitution can be changed that has outlived its usefulness so that it can be in tune with the demands of the changing times.

Why the governments worldwide have tightened emission control laws and penalize the car makers or others who pollute the air? Why people are going for solar power and wind power worldwide and shutting down coal-fired plants that pollute the air? It is because it makes sense. Why the Australians compel the cigarette makers to warn the smokers of the health hazards with graphic illustrations of cancer on their packets? Because it makes sense and because the government there knows that smoking is very harmful to one’s health.

Could not the same logic apply to guns? A father carelessly leaves a loaded gun in the house that his 3-year-old son grabs and shoots his little sister because he is imitating the violent cartoons he watches on TV all the time. What if there were no violent TV programs that kids watch and there was no loaded gun left in the house by a thoughtless person. The guns don’t kill people; people do is such a lame excuse that no sane person believes it.

I remember a time in Vietnam when walking down the streets in Saigon was dangerous because there was a war going on so the guns were plentiful and the people were fighting for their freedom. If you go to Vietnam today, you will find a vastly changed and a very peaceful country because the end of war allowed people to go back to their normal lives. The war creates the condition for violence like in Iraq or Syria or in Somalia. The continuous fighting in Afghanistan for decades has created the condition for lawlessness there that feeds the demand for guns legally or illegally.

There is a village near the border with Pakistan where there are more than 5000 gunsmiths in just one place .They can make or reproduce any gun for a price so anyone who wants a gun illegally can go there and get what he wants. There is no back ground check and no identification is required. They do not ask what the guns will be used for. The fact that some guns explode in your hands because they are so poorly made is another matter. Also there is a gun culture among the tribes there due to their blood feuds that can run for generations so everyone carries a gun or rifle. This gun culture is a tribal thing and not sanctioned by the governments in either side of the border so there is little control.

Now if the gun culture is promoted by the constitution and supported by the immoral politicians who take money from the gun makers and protect their industry in return then it is altogether a different matter. There the private citizen’s lives are at risk like in Florida or elsewhere because anyone can buy a gun and shoot some people in a crowded place just because he is angry. People who get fired from their jobs take a gun and shoot up the manager or the office people. Some jilted lover shoots up the girl who rejected him and people who are plumb crazy go on a rampage for reasons that no one can understand.

Did you know that you can get shot if you fail to see a No trespassing sign somewhere in the States?  Just ask yourself why the policemen there carry loaded guns all the time and some trigger happy policemen shoot first before they ask questions? Why couldn’t they just carry a baton and a whistle just like in other countries?

There is a social reason for the gun violence in America. It has something to do with those who are failures in their lives because they drop out of school and get into the life of drug, sex and crime. Such people live in a marginal society at the fringe of the community in the company of like-minded people because they are failures and cannot assimilate with others and live a normal life. Their poverty, joblessness and misery related to their lack of education  makes them angry and frustrated so sooner or later they blame everyone else for their problems starting with their parents and their dysfunctional family that lives in dire poverty, where domestic violence is common and where alcohol flows  that is called moonshine in some places.

The lack of assimilation led to the Korean kid to shoot up people in Virginia University campus because he felt angry at people who rejected him perhaps due to his ethnicity or looks. In any suburbia where the community is diverse and full of immigrants who fail to assimilate due to their faith, culture, language and food breeds isolation among the residents. People look at them with suspicion because they are different so are avoided. Their kids may have a hard time mixing with other kids socially at school and in the community so they may be frustrated and may someday take out this frustration on others with guns.

The gangster movies and violent TV programs create the culture that guns are normal. Now some politicians are suggesting that the school teachers should carry guns to their classrooms to prevent further shootings. It is like adding fuel to the fire. The policemen who were at the Florida school and heard the gun shots did not intervene and stop the shooting are now being reprimanded for not doing their job. Could an untrained teacher stop the shooter when professional policemen in full battle gear and trained in handling guns failed to do so?

The cowboy movies are still popular because they remind people how wild the west was in the olden times not realizing that the cow boys are still around and their weapons are more lethal than the ones they used to shoots up the saloons. I  think that the debate on the issue of guns is not going to end anytime soon  so more people will die while they argue for or against it in town hall meetings or on TV. The sensible gun control laws will be enacted only when the proponents of guns are defeated soundly and more sensible politicians are elected who are not beholden to any gun maker for money.

It can happen only when elections are funded by the common people to support their candidates like they did for Obama but for that to happen, people have to believe in the candidate and believe that he or she can bring about meaningful electoral reforms that include campaign financing. As long as the politicians are beholden to the gun makers for campaign money, nothing is going to change and the gun violence will continue.

Or one could move to Australia.

 

Note :  My blogs are also available in French, Spanish, German and Japanese  languages at the following links as well as my biography:

Mes blogs en français.

Mis blogs en espagnol

Blogs von Anil in Deutsch

Blogs in Japanese

My blogs at Wix site

tumblr posts    

Blogger.com

Medium.com

Anil’s biography in English.

Biographie d’Anil en français

La biografía de anil en español.

Anil’s Biografie auf Deutsch

Anil’s biography in Japanese

Биография Анила по-русски

Cultural and religious imperialism

Synopsis : Humanity suffers from continued cultural and religious imperialism that degrades the native culture and its religions. This blog is about how to face such threats in a sensible way and yet assimilate what is beautiful in other cultures.

Cultural and religious imperialism

Source : Google photo

Cultural and religious imperialism is the practice of promoting the culture ,religion and language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is usually a large economically and militarily powerful nation and the latter is smaller and less affluent one. It can take the form of an active formal policy or a general attitude. It can come about through the imposition of a foreign religion, culture, education, food and even clothes.

There is an onslaught on local cultures by the Western media be they the movie or TV industry or the fashion industry that is eroding the traditional values in some countries and causing a social rift between the traditionalists and the young generation everywhere.

Now it comes purely in the guise of commercial interests expounded by the proponents of such industries whose primary motive is to make money by expanding their business wherever they can. The expansion of American fast food like McDonald’s or KFC worldwide is a good example. The world is now awash with bilateral or universal free trade agreements making it easier for some industries to do business in many parts of the world where it was not possible a decade or two ago. More and more such trade agreements are being made between the countries and some are in the pipeline that is having a great Western cultural influence on local cultures that were traditionally shielded from such influences before.

The internet has played a major role in expanding such influences as more and more people everywhere gain access to the net and watch Hollywood movies on-line or watch U tube or Netflix to see what is the latest movie or TV show in the English-speaking world. Others go to the movies to see the latest James Bond caper or Matt Damon in action movies that are the current trend.

Women notice the short dresses and ripped pants or low-cut blouses that they want to imitate because they think that it is the latest fashion while men try to imitate the mannerisms of their favorite male stars and their fashion. This is happening where the traditional values in dresses and mannerisms are on the wane due to many reasons that can be linked to the term cultural imperialism on a global scale because no country is totally immune to it that is trying to preserve what is their tradition.

But the cultural imperialism is nothing new and has its root in the spread of Christianity through very active and aggressive missionaries in Africa, Asia and elsewhere. They taught the locals that going bare breasted was a sin so they must cover up. They taught that the Western clothing, manners and religious practices were superior to their native clothes, religion or cults and manners and took thousands of children away from their parents to teach them” better values” and make good Christians out of them.

They took children away from their Native Australian and Native American parents to make them learn English , wear Western clothes and become good Christians and opened up Boys Homes and Girl’s home in many countries where these children were raised under severely regimented life run by the nuns or priests where physical abuse, loneliness and repressive atmosphere prevailed.

They were banned to speak in their native tongue and all such cultural practices were outlawed so that they could learn the Western way of life. The families were torn apart and devastated by such high -handedness by the so-called do gooders who looked down on anything they perceived as backward, immoral and sinful. Only lately the Australian government has publicly apologized to the Native Australians for this injustice imposed on them on such a large-scale over such a long period but has fallen short of proper atonement.

Painting by Gauguin of women in Tahiti ( source : Google photo )

There is a painting by Gauguin of women in Tahiti where the missionaries were very active in converting the locals into their brand of Religion and forced them to give up their Tahitian culture making the women sad. This sadness was captured by Gauguin so clearly in his paintings. Missionaries believed that they were saving the souls of the native savages.

When I read the book Hawaii by Michener who happens to be my favorite writer, I came to know how the missionaries treated the locals in Hawaii with total contempt for their culture believing them to be of inferior race and with inferior culture whom they had come to save and teach them better values first by converting them to Christianity and secondly by introducing to them an alien culture and language that bewildered them.

When a white missionary woman was in labor pain, the pastor who was not trained in midwifery and had absolutely no knowledge about such things tried to deliver the baby by reading the instructions in a poorly printed manual in Boston while the Hawaiian women waited outside the tent with their offer of help that the missionaries refused. They could not believe that these so-called primitive women knew anything about child-birth. The result was that the baby died and the mother nearly died due to the inexperience of the mid wife making the Hawaiian women cry knowing that they could have saved the baby.

This is the kind of cultural imperialism that has prevailed since a very long time and has made a tremendous detrimental impact on the locals, their language and their traditions.

When Columbus, Pizarro and other such expeditioners arrived in the new world meaning the Americas and claimed the land in the name of their King and Queen, they did so through the use of their military and were always followed by the missionaries recruited from the rabble in Europe who forced their brand of Christianity on the locals using force thus paving the way for a cultural and religious imperialism that changed the lives of the locals forever. They also introduced diseases that the natives were not immune to so died in large numbers but that is another story.

The same thing happened in the Philippines where the Spaniards forced the Christianity on the tribes who had to give up their culture, their heritage and even their traditional clothes in favor of everything Spanish. People had to learn Spanish and build Spanish styled churches and wear clothes that were in fashion in Spain. Later the Americans did the same, colonized the islands and tried to change them into speaking English and introduce them to the American way of education and administration.

The result of such blatant cultural imperialism is not hard to see. Hardly anything original in clothes, tradition and cultural heritage they were so proud of has survived. This pattern is repeated wherever the missionaries went following the army. The British did the same in India and left their legacy of the Anglican churches everywhere where the Anglo Indians and the converted untouchables still congregate and where the protestant missionaries from America are very active in converting the tribal and fishermen in certain parts of the country.

The cultural imperialism that the colonizers introduced to many countries in the name of spreading Christianity and thus saving the souls of the heathen had its root in their unshakable belief that they were a superior race and only they know what was right thus ignoring the glorious native culture and the traditions.

It will be wrong to ignore their positive legacies as well because they introduced modern laws and the administrative system that trained the locals to learn the governance of their country and set up numerous colleges and universities and sent many young people to England or America for their education. They invested heavily in the development of the infrastructure that helped bring the country together through railways and roads. They outlawed harmful traditions and introduced laws to protect women and children from abuse.

Their contributions to the development of the countries they colonized are too numerous to mention here but it came at a price of subjugating their colonized people to their brand of laws, their cultural values and their ways of doing things , ignoring the rich culture and values of the natives everywhere. They did it to profit from their colonies.

They even supported the slavery in America and in Africa because it was good business until the missionaries like Dr. Livingstone made people aware in England of the evils of such practices that led to the general outcry to ban slavery and the subsequent promulgation of laws to ban it. So the missionaries have played an important role in stopping the practice of slavery in Africa and later in the United States.

Not to be outdone the Moslems also brought their imperialism to their subjects no matter where they went and established their brand of Islam through the establishment of madrassas where children are educated in the “superior culture that Islam promotes” and train some of them as jihadists but that is another topic beyond the scope of this blog so I will not write about it.

I just want to mention that I saw in Mali, women wearing black hijab that covered them head to foot with just two peepholes for their eyes. This sort of fundamentalism of the Wahaabists is pushed in many parts of Africa and Asia where women are subject to such dress codes. Traditionally women in Mali in rural areas go about bare breasted but the pressure to change their culture is intense. Just imagine the discomfort of women wearing polyester black hijab in the 45 degree Celsius heat their men force on them.

The American protestant missionaries are also hard at work in villages to do just that and are translating the Bible into the local languages that does not translate well. May be they should ask Google to do it for them and not waste their time.

Now the cultural imperialism in the name of business and making money is sweeping the whole world through the internet, through various media and through tourism that has made very negative impact on the local cultures in many parts of the world. It has made some people angry at such blatant invasion of their culture and values and are fighting back by boycotting the concerts of Rihanna and Shakira because they feel that it has a negative impact on the youth who try to imitate them. I have written earlier about the impact of mass tourism in my earlier blog that is perhaps worth a look in this respect.

There was a time when the Japanese Emperor banned all foreigners from Japan that has a very rich culture and traditions that could be negatively impacted through the introduction of a foreign religion like  Christianity. Some missionaries were caught and impaled on stakes and others were warned off so they complained to their governments that sent war ships to intimidate the Japanese Emperor. It is a part of the Japanese history that does not need to be repeated here but the movie The last samurai  tells the story quite well and is worth watching.

I have always felt that the notion of one culture better than all others is quite outdated but there was a time during the colonial period in Asia and Africa when some European countries colonized other countries for profit and stayed there for a long time to make a permanent stamp on the country of their presence in the art, culture , language, dress and even food. Some countries succumbed to this sort of invasion without much of a fight while other countries like India, China and Japan fought hard to keep them out.

In Africa there was a despotic ruler of Uganda called Mutesa who was so enraged by the white missionaries converting the Ugandans into Christianity and introducing a very alien culture among the people there that he ordered them out and burned alive the young converts when they refused to obey the  king and repudiate their faith. This was  back in 1800s when the white explorers were starting to explore the deep interior of Africa that the outer world did not know anything about. The early explorers were usually the missionaries who were sponsored by their churches back home to explore and convert the natives.

Fast forward to the present day and you will come across the same sort of activity in various parts of the world where the missionaries especially the white American protestants are very active and are bent on “saving the natives” by weaning them away from the Catholics whom they denigrate in no uncertain terms.

The case of Haiti where I used to work as an agronomist trying to improve the agriculture is quite tragic. There the Bible thumpers from the Bible Belt in America take over a large stadium where they play loud music to attract the audience and then castigate the Catholic Christians and their voodoo practices as evil in rapid fire English with lots of halleluiahs thrown in for effect that a Haitian chap then translates into Creole also in rapid fire method.

This blatant intrusion into their catholic culture and religion has created tension in their families and is a great cause for concern. You will see young white American girls sun bathing in skimpy bikinis in remote villages there who have gone to Haiti as assistants to the resident missionaries to build their churches and that too in a country that is awash in churches in every nook and cranny.

When the American missionary woman who was a reformed whore from some parts was refused funding by the USAID for her activities, she was livid with rage and said to me that saving souls was more important than my project of seed multiplication of rice to improve their agriculture that the USAID funded. Her assistants turned me out their gate one day thinking that I was a Haitian due to my dark skin.

There have been historic push backs in many countries as I mentioned like in Japan , China and even India to some extent. The Chinese Empress ordered the ban of sale of opium in China because it was destroying the Chinese people that led to the Opium War between China and the British who were selling the opium for profit that is written in many Pearl Buck’s novels. They also insisted to be paid in silver that impoverished China.

The Chinese Royalty also came down harshly on the missionaries who were very active in China at that time. Pearl Buck herself was a missionary and came from a strong missionary family that ran orphanages to protect Christian children and women from abuses by others. It was a tumultuous period in China that left a very lasting impact there. Until now the Chinese government strictly controls the religious activities of the Christians and is at odds with the Vatican about the new bishops and archbishops that Vatican tries to install.

The sheer tenacity and conviction of some of the diehard missionaries who try to save the souls of heathen in the deep jungles of Papua New Guinea or the Amazon is nothing short of  impressive although I have heard cases in Uruguay or Paraguay where they put the native Indians in chains and starve them until they agree to become Christians.

Such reports were published in a book by a Peace Corps volunteer who could not tolerate such abuse of the natives but the book was quickly taken off the shelves of book stores in America under tremendous pressure from the Protestant groups that claimed that no such abuse had taken place to their knowledge and castigated the volunteer for such hearsay.

In conclusion I can say that the cultural as well as the religious imperialism that goes hand in hand is very much alive and continues to spread its tentacles through many means at its disposal. It is just that people are more aware of them and are fighting back in many countries where their governments are refusing foreign aid if such aids are offered with a religious and cultural component to it.

I am delighted that many music enthusiasts all over the world appreciate the classical Western music ( myself included) and admire Amira Willighagen but  I do not suggest that it is a form of European colonial imperialism that is spreading its influence through music although a concert tour by Shakira is another matter.

People should be aware of the pernicious effect of religious and cultural imperialism that has a far more turbulent effect on people than classical music so they should be warned. Any kind of imperialism is outdated and should be treated as toxic because no one is better than anyone else and should not pretend to be in this modern age.

 

Note :  My blogs are also available in French, Spanish, German and Japanese  languages at the following links as well as my biography:

Mes blogs en français.

Mis blogs en espagnol

Blogs von Anil in Deutsch

Blogs in Japanese

My blogs at Wix site

tumblr posts    

Blogger.com

Medium.com

Anil’s biography in English.

Biographie d’Anil en français

La biografía de anil en español.

Anil’s Biografie auf Deutsch

Anil’s biography in Japanese

Биография Анила по-русски

Note : Many readers have told me that the Internet Explorer (IE) browser seems to be not compatible with wordpress.com so they have difficulties in viewing my blogs properly. I suggest that you download Opera mini or Firefox or Google chrome browsers to your devices to get fast browsing experience. Opera mini and Firefox browsers are free to download and are superfast. Hope this solves the problem.

 

Nurturing talent

Synopsis : Nurturing talent of a child by the parents is very important that helps the child reach his full potential even under adversity. This blog treats this subject with ways to provide the right environment for the child to grow and reach his potential.

Nurturing talent

Source : Google photo

A nine-year old very beautiful girl from Holland called Amira Willighagen made such a powerful impression on me yesterday that I can’t get over it and keep asking the question to myself how is it possible for a child to have such mastery over her voice, such control and such wide range of notes that has captured the heart of millions all over the world.

It is all the more impressive since she had no formal voice training under any famous singer and learned to sing only by watching U tube but she has very nurturing parents and siblings who all are musicians in their own right and give her tremendous support and the environment where she is becoming a star and a sensational star at that.

Can you imagine what she will be like when she is older? She has attained at the age nine what took Maria Callas a lifelong of practice and singing. All the famous singers like Pavarotti and others are falling in line to sing with her on the world stage because now she is a shining star.

This brings up the question that has prompted me to write today this blog called nurturing talent and discuss how the parents can create the nurturing environment for such a gifted child as Amira. I think some children are born with the gift of voice or the ability to learn a difficult instrument like piano or violin quickly that a less gifted child takes many years and still comes up short. In my last blog called the Two extraordinary child prodigies I wrote about Amira and a three-year old child who plays Beethoven flawlessly and can read notes when an adult with many years of practice has a hard time doing so.

Some say that it is in the genes. A child can inherit the inborn talents of her parents and only needs the support she needs to develop it further. Not many parents can afford to provide a grand piano to their child or pay for piano lessons or voice lessons in a reputed music school where the admission is difficult and the cost astronomical. A three year old or even a nine-year old does not have a chance to get through their doors easily.

So a nurturing environment at home from loving parents who give support and encouragement to make a star out of a child like Amira is necessary.

Now we see the TV programs like The Philippines got talent or America got talent type of shows where a new comer is given a chance to sing or play an instrument, compete and shine. That is how Amira got her break when she won the national contest in Holland got talent show when people heard her voice for the first time and could not believe that she was only nine years old and self-taught.

There was a self-taught girl from the Philippines called Charisse who so impressed Oprah that she asked David Foster to listen to her and become a mentor. She went on to become a star.

Some children may have talent like Amira but never get the chance to develop it further because they come from very poor families where music may not be their priority. Now some kids may record a song and upload it to the U tube to get to be known but self-taught children need more than a U tube upload. They need a home environment where the parents take it seriously and provide the training etc. needed to develop the talent in a child.

Even a talented person often does not get the break he needs to succeed in life. I know a case in my home town where a very talented violinist lived and practiced on his violin all the time but seldom got a chance to show the world his talent. He was asked by the local radio station to play and earned a small fee each time but it dwindled and he took to drinking. I do not know what really happened to him but it was so sad. While going to my school, I passed by his house and listen to the sound of violin coming through the windows but didn’t know who he was.

In Asia very  few people grow up learning to appreciate western music be it classical or contemporary because such music are not played in the radio and are not usually available in stores. The musical instruments like piano, organ or violin are very expensive and are imported so the ordinary people cannot afford them. There are no music schools in small towns where a person can get lessons in the western classical music.

This is not so in Europe. There are numerous music schools where children are taught the classical music, get singing lessons or learn how to play musical instruments. Many schools offer lessons as well and can train an aspiring child and later recommend admission to a reputed musical school somewhere with scholarship.

There are ornate and majestic opera houses where very talented musicians, singers and pianists play and are acclaimed. Who has not heard of La Scala or the Paris Opera or the Albert Hall in London?

But in Asia and Africa such is not the case because people there prefer their own music or performing arts like dances so the western music is not common. Music is purely an acquired taste from the childhood that very few are really interested in unless it is in their own language. To be a sitar or sarod player one has to train for at least 20 years under the maestro often practicing many hours every day.

Very few people have such tenacity or dedication to become a Ravi Shankar or Ali Akbar Khan. They had to learn it the hard way. There are no Maria Callas and Amira in India although there are singers with good voice who sing for the movie industry but their numbers are few. It is not easy to make a living singing or dancing or playing sitar or sarod so many talents are wasted like that fellow in my hometown who played violin well but had no audience.

I would like to return to the topic of western music and how young talents like Amira are being nurtured in a loving musical environment in Europe and elsewhere. They organize the Euro music festival every year where the new talents are given a chance to compete and win fabulous prizes and recording contracts. Talented boys and girls from every country in Europe and Russia get a chance to participate and some like Amira shine. Now with the TV broadcasts and satellite reception, the audience is literally worldwide.

In South Africa they hold musical events like in Europe where they invited Amira to sing. It is also where the local talents get a chance to perform and many win great accolades.

Once we were in Mexico City where we saw a dazzling performance at the Palacio de bellas arte of Aztec dances and songs but they also perform western musical concerts there because many Mexicans have European heritage and greatly appreciate the classical western music. All over Latin America you will find great opera houses and centers for performing arts. Similarly classical music is taken seriously in north America  where  there are many reputed music schools and centers for performing arts like in Washington, D.C. and New York.

I admit I am an anomaly in my own family and love classical western music. India is the wrong country for such taste. But over the years I have collected CDs of classical music and enjoy listening to them but it is as I said before an acquired taste. People who do not travel outside their own country stick to their own music and even those who travel do not get to appreciate something foreign.

Learning to sing in your own language or a language you are fluent in is the priority anywhere so it is quite natural for people to learn it in their own language first. In India very few appreciate English music so it is not played in radio or other media like TV because India is not an English-speaking country.

This is true for most of Asia, from Turkey to China where a tremendous diversity exists in the musical taste of people. The English movies are dubbed in the local language so that people can understand. The musical talent shows organized in each country prefer the singers in the local language because that is what people are used to.

The diaspora living abroad always prefers music and musicians from the parent country so you will see the Filipinos in the USA invite their Filipino musicians to perform for them and the Japanese or the Indians do the same. There is also this tendency to stick to their language and culture no matter how long they live in other countries and encourage their children to do the same.

So the children who aspire to be musicians and have some talent for it need the support of the parents first and the community as well that prefers its own language and musical instruments. People tend to carry their language, music and the food with them no matter where they settle in the world because it is a part of who they are as people.

My point is that talents like Amira can be found in many countris where they can succeed if given the opportunity, support and active encouragement. This is the role of nurturing parents.

Very few parents in Asia or Africa encourage their children to become musicians and earn a living because it is hard. They prefer their kids to go to college to get the kind of education that makes them employable later. Music is not their priority.

This is practically the story all over the world but if you are very good at what you do be it with a musical career or in athletics, you can succeed in life. Some have become millionaires just singing. But the Shakiras or the Madonnas are exceptional singers who have made a niche for themselves using their talent. Not every singer is like Amira Willighagen so she is a very special child who has a great future.

Whatever the talent your child has can be developed with the help of the parents, the teachers and the friends who believe in the child and his potential. That is the key.

 

Note :  My blogs are also available in French, Spanish, German and Japanese  languages at the following links as well as my biography:

Mes blogs en français.

Mis blogs en espagnol

Blogs von Anil in Deutsch

Blogs in Japanese

My blogs at Wix site

tumblr posts    

Blogger.com

Medium.com

Anil’s biography in English.

Biographie d’Anil en français

La biografía de anil en español.

Anil’s Biografie auf Deutsch

Anil’s biography in Japanese

Биография Анила по-русски

Note : Many readers have told me that the Internet Explorer (IE) browser seems to be not compatible with wordpress.com so they have difficulties in viewing my blogs properly. I suggest that you download Opera mini or Firefox or Google chrome browsers to your devices to get fast browsing experience. Opera mini and Firefox browsers are free to download and are superfast. Hope this solves the problem.

Two extraordinary Child prodigies

Source : Google photo of child prodigy Amira Willighagen

Synopsis : This blog is about two extraordinary child prodigies who are already famous and are well on their way to greater acclaim worldwide.

Two extraordinary child prodigies

I published earlier a blog called A child prodigy called Antara from India whom you liked so much. Today I will tell you about two incredible child prodigies who barely need an introduction because they are becoming so famous on their own. I want you to appreciate their talent at such a young age and wonder what they will be like when they are much older.

Many world-famous artists, pianists, vocal artists and others had their talents expressed when they were very young and went on to capture the hearts of millions because of their extraordinary talents.

Today I will present to you in this blog two such extraordinary child prodigies who are making a name for themselves as you will see here.

1. The first on my list is a child of 12 years of age called Amira Willighagen who is from Netherlands

Source : Facebook photo

12-year-old sings a song with famous singer. He drops to his knees when he hears her voice.

Amira Willighagen was a 9-year-old who taught herself to sing by watching some YouTube videos. Yet, the self-taught soprano used her passion for opera to get her an audition on Holland’s Got Talent in 2013.

Her jaw-dropping performance of “O Mio Babbino Caro” completely stunned the show’s judges, as well as the audience, and earned her a “Golden Ticket” to advance to the show’s final round. The young Dutch singer went on to win the entire competition with 50% of the viewer’s vote.

Amira’s talents allowed her to grow her career and launched her into stardom. She recorded her own album titled Amira in February 2014 and went on to get more than 36 million views on YouTube in June 2015.

According to Wikipedia, half of the revenue sales from her album go toward her charity that builds playgrounds for needy children.

Amira’s impressive opera singing brought on invitations to perform with world-renowned musicians, including Neapolitan-Austrian singer Patrizio Buanne. You can see why she quickly rose to fame in the video below of her performance of “O Sole Mio” with Buanne during the Classics is Groot concert held in South Africa last summer. She is a true talent with skills that would make you think she’s been a trained performer for years!

Here is the link to her incredible video where she sings  O sole mio with Patrizio Buanne

O sole mio

Source : U tube

Source : Wikipedia

2. The second on my list of incredible child prodigy is a child pianist of only three years who plays Beethoven like no one you have ever seen at that young age. She is Chinese and unfortunately I do not know her name but she will definitely win your heart and one day will become a world-famous pianist in her own right.

Here is the link to the video

Three year old

Source : Facebook

Both are extremely talented and have excelled due to the support they have received from their parents and loved ones which goes to show how the parents can help a child reach her potential. Many parents show false pride in promoting their children who are not born with talents but there are those who can see the uncut diamonds and see instinctively what the polished gem would look like someday.

 

Note :  My blogs are also available in French, Spanish, German and Japanese  languages at the following links as well as my biography:

Mes blogs en français.

Mis blogs en espagnol

Blogs von Anil in Deutsch

Blogs in Japanese

My blogs at Wix site

tumblr posts    

Blogger.com

Medium.com

Anil’s biography in English.

Biographie d’Anil en français

La biografía de anil en español.

Anil’s Biografie auf Deutsch

Anil’s biography in Japanese

Биография Анила по-русски

Note : Many readers have told me that the Internet Explorer (IE) browser seems to be not compatible with wordpress.com so they have difficulties in viewing my blogs properly. I suggest that you download Opera mini or Firefox or Google chrome browsers to your devices to get fast browsing experience. Opera mini and Firefox browsers are free to download and are superfast. Hope this solves the problem.