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Seeing Beauty in a Dry Towel
October 30th, 2009
by Labonita Ghosh / Daily News and Analysis Mumbai India
Seeing beauty in a dry towel
Labonita Ghosh / DNA
Mumbai: The geode is a rock commonly found near singer Carrie Newcomer's home in Bloomington, Indiana, in the US. Formed from sedimentary and volcanic rock, the geode looks like an ordinary stone. But when split open, it reveals a bunch of crystals inside.
This amazing and unexpectedly beautiful thing has inspired Newcomer to write a song about it. "It's just a song about a rock, but I love the metaphor," she says. "Here's a thing that's so common on the outside but so wonderful on the inside. It's like people, in general. You can never know what they're like on the inside from their appearance."
That's Newcomer for you. The folk singer currently visiting Mumbai can find beauty and wonder in even the most commonplace things. And then sing about them in a powerful, passionate voice. It helps that her admittedly-spiritual bent of mind gives even the most regular things a different slant. For instance, a track from her new album, called Holy as the Day is Spent, is, in Newcomer's words, "just a list of ordinary, everyday things", like cups, plates, a shower-head, a dry towel, fried eggs and such. But in each of these things, the singer says she sees "a moment of beauty and a moment that is holy".
"I've always had a sense of the spiritual," says Newcomer. "It has always been a component of my writing. And I try to include different spiritual traditions." She's certainly been exposed to more than one. Newcomer has one parent who is a Protestant, and another a Catholic. She has been involved with multi-faith peace organisations and events, and routinely performs at the Festival of Faith in Kentucky, where participants are given a single theme every year (peace, the environment, etc) around which to build performances and discussions.
Newcomer reads a lot but traces the point of her inner awakening to reading the writing of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi as a young girl. "It really moved me and caught my imagination," says Newcomer. "The non-violence and call to social action showed me there was another way to approach change and make it different." She adds: "So while I would like to sing about world peace, it's such a large concept to get your arms around. I decided to start by singing about smaller, personal things from my life that would have a universal connect."
This fits in perfectly with Newcomer's philosophy -- that being spiritual is really about creating a more 'loving' world. And she uses music to propel herself towards it. "Music has always been a vehicle for achieving a higher plane," she says. "When I write [songs], I go into a zone." Since she arrived in India Newcomer has been trying to do quite a bit of connecting with things and people.
She met sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan; sang with bauls in Bengal and performed for slumdwellers and blind kids. She landed in Kolkata in the middle of Durga Puja, and was taken up with the "good versus evil" idea of the festival that came at her from everywhere. Given the person she is, Newcomer would naturally be excited about "India, with its deep, spiritual history". As she puts it: "The idea of finding something beautiful in an unexpected place is a new and remarkable idea in the US. But here in India, it's quite common."
Newcomer says she's being a sponge during her visit, and soaking up every experience, emotion and conversation. "I've been taking a lot of notes wherever I go," says the singer. Then adds, earnestly: "I know so much of this will become songs."