An image from the cover of the Rebel Diaz album Radical Dilemma. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

An image from the cover of the Rebel Diaz album Radical Dilemma.

A strange thing happened as we taped Alt.Latino this week something so odd, so earthshaking and so out of this world that no one is quite sure where to go from here. Felix Joaquin Contreras started dancing.

It was the '80s-infused pop ballad "Lost You" by Zeds Dead (featuring Twin Shadow and D'Angelo Lacy) that did it. Contreras, lover of jams and relaxing music, started moving his feet, cocking his head slightly. And before we knew it, he'd ripped his shirt off, run out of the studio and into the newsroom area to breakdance on the editorial table. Decades of not dancing to pop had taken their toll though, to be fair, Felix dances to cumbia quite well.

OK, that last part did not happen, though I wish it had. But Felix does finally confess that I've been influencing his tastes. Once a dancer, I love indie pop and bring it to the show often and frankly, after years of co-hosting Alt.Latino, Felix has been changing my tastes. I now enjoy trippier, mellower "soundscapes," as he calls them.

But the most influence is wielded by you, our listeners. You constantly send us recommendations for great new bands and singles that expand our musical worldview. So please, tell us what music is making you want to jump on your boss' table and break it down.

Visit link:
Rebels On The Dance Floor: New Songs From Chile, Colombia And Beyond

NEW DELHI: Tucked away in a remote corner of the city, this over 80-year-old Harijan ashram served as a laboratory for Mahatma Gandhi's fight against social evils like untouchability, but public apathy and "lack of political patronage" have pushed this Gandhian landmark into obscurity.

Harijan Sewak Sangh, born out of the historic Poona Pact between Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar in 1932, was founded by the Father of the Nation the same year, to lend a conducive environment for the upliftment of the oppressed classes or 'Harijans' as he called them.

But, the place that Gandhi personally nurtured to "bring light" into the lives of the people living on the lower strata of the society, has itself, literally "fallen into darkness".

"Yes, it is sad that after sundown, the ashram plunges into darkness. We have an acute shortage of fund, and owing to that we are not able to afford the electricity bill to run the lights in the campus, barring a couple of them," Secretary of Harijan Sewak Sangh, Laxmi Dass told PTI.

He also points out that "lack of political patronage" added to its neglect and "failure as a tourist landmark".

"Unlike the Gandhi memorial at the Birla House and the Rajghat here, it never enjoyed the kind of political patronage it should have. Maybe being an institution for the Dalits, it did not get much into mainstream.

"And, add to it the fact that the place does not find mention in the tourism literature and city guides either, unlike Birla House or Rajghat. The place has fallen right off the map," Dass said.

Spread over 27 acres of land in the historic Kingsway Camp area in north Delhi, the ashram has a towering "Dharma Stambh" and a beautiful but faded "Sarwa Dharma Sambhav Temple", both of which were constructed under the supervision of Gandhi.

"Gandhiji laid the foundation stone of the temple and later also opened it. But, on October 2, one could see garbage being dumped near it. And, though the iconic pillar (Stambh) still has its glory somewhat intact, the temple needs a refurbishment," an employee of the ashram said, requesting anonymity.

Dass said the institution was planning to send a proposal to the Centre to "develop" the place "on par with" the Birla House and Rajghat, and put it back on the map.

Read more from the original source:
Harijan Sewak Sangh: Mahatma Gandhi's iconic legacy, faded, forgotten