Orphaned African Cheetah Cub [+Indian music?]

"An orphaned eight-week-old African cheetah cub licks its lips inside its enclosure at the Wilson airport in Nairobi, Kenya April 23, 2006. The male cub was rescued by the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) wardens in Mandera district, 1500 km (932 miles) northeast of Nairobi, and is currently being held at the Nairobi animal orphanage. [Reuters]"

chinadaily.com.cn

Hmmm, so I was scanning through China Daily when I saw this, and it freaked me out originally. Look at how disproportionate his head is in comparison to the rest of his body. Yeah, not a normal sight. But then, look at how it's a baby Cheetah and how it is kind of cute.



On Wednesday after the blood drive I returned home to see Aditya Verma and Shyam Kane at Otterbein, two world renowned Indian musicians.

Verma plays the sarod, a string instrument. Here he is:


Kane played the tabla. I couldn't find a photo of him, but here is a tabla:

You can see there is a hammer. He began the evening hitting his tabla with the hammer, and I believe it is a method of tuning, though that is just speculation. He would hit it until he looked satisfied and then proceeded to play, several times he picked it up and did the same right after his big parts where he tabla-ed (I don't think I'm allowed to make that into a verb) at an unfathomable speed, so fast I thought his fingers would surely fall off.

Anyway, they are both trained under a few of the best classical Indian musicians, and they played three evening pieces, lasting about an hour and a half total. Though the Sarod is definitely a more interesting looking instrument, it sounded much like a guitar but with an obvious Indian sound. The tabla is what shocked me. Kane did not play until the second piece and his right hand fingers worked completely independent of eachother, something I didn't expect. He was just going to town with his fingers, so fast I was unable to tell them apart. It wasn't even like a fan spinning at maximum speed.

Okay, I guess I should explain that. I'm sure you've watched a fast fan, caught a glimpse of one fan blade and followed it around really fast until you get too dizzy and stop. At least I hope that isn't just me. Well, I tried that with his fingers and it didn't work. I don't understand how one could possibly train their fingers to work in that manner. I guess that's why they went to India to learn from the greats.

So maybe this is boring unless you can see it.
If you ever get a chance to watch these instruments being played, definitely do it. At least the tabla, anyway.