JBL MX100 music system.

JBL MX100 music system.

After spending a couple of weeks with the JBL MX100 iPod Dock and CD Player, I’ve grown fond of the speakers. It’s like a boom box that sits perfectly in the corner and blasts out some ear-popping audio.

The JBL MX100 is the biggest iPod Dock I’ve ever tried and it’s pretty heavy too (18lbs). The front grills are made of a aluminum bee-hive mesh design with glossy black plastic all around. It’s got a pretty solid construction and finish.

The slot-loading CD player is inconspicuously placed at the front bottom part while the iPod Dock is a detachable cradle which hooks up in a port on the left side. And while that made sense for the design to be symmetrical, I worry that it could accidentally be chipped off.

Nevertheless, I thought it’s a nice idea so you can just take it off and store it away if you’re not hooking it up to your iPod (there’s a 3.5mm jack you can plug in its stead).

The top surface is forward slanted at 45-degrees which is somewhat glossy/transparent and serves as the digital display. It’s obviously a finger-print and dust magnet so you gotta wipe it shiny everyday. The physical controls are placed vertically on the right side but you can always use the remote for playback controls.

As for sound quality, the JBL MX100 has a pretty wide range with enough volume to fill an entire hallway or ballroom. There’s no noticeable distortion at maximum volume although I thought the base did not have that heavy umph (floor-shaking thump) I expected for its size. That’s because the woofers are placed front to back and not top to bottom (facing the ground).

At two-thirds volume, you can already significantly feel the the air-pressure from the speakers a foot away. The most comfortable listening range is between 30% to 70% volume (that’s with ambient noise).

The MX100 has a power out put of 30 watts per channel with 2 tweeters and 2 low-frequency woofers. The built-in FM tuner needs an external antenna to work but it’s got a good number of input options – 3 analog auxiliary, 1 digital auxiliary and iPod dock. It’s also got output for TV so you can deliver videos or movies from your iPod thru the MX100 and into your TV.

While JBL MX100 might have a very nice design and appeal, the suggested price of Php34,990 puts it in the luxury category not a lot of people can afford.

JBL MX100 music system.

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Ghazal, About Ghazal, History of Ghazal.

Ghazal, About Ghazal, History of Ghazal.

Ghazal is a poetic form consisting of couplets, which are two line stanzas that share a rhyme and a refrain (a repeated word or phrase). However, with no specific pattern of the rhyme scheme to these couplets and a poem can contain any of them. It is very easy for a verse in a ghazal to be understood since every couplet is different from the other. Though the refrain provides a link among the couplets, there should be an epigrammatic terseness, yet each couplet should be lyric and evocative. Thus, a ghazal can stand alone, but it becomes a recurring theme, when arranged together. Thus, each couplet explains or illustrates or speaks about one piece of the whole, forming something more meaningful.

A ghazal is a form of an ancient verse that originatinsted in the 10th century Persion verse. It is derived from the Persian qasida. It used to formally be a short lyric composed in a single metre throughout with a single rhyme, in its style and content. The unique of all genres, it is capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central theme of love. Later, the ghazal spread into South Asia in the 12th century under the influence of the new Moghul courts and Sufi mystics. Although the ghazal is most prominently a form of Urdu poetry, today, it has influenced the poetry of many languages. The ghazal is a common song form in India and Pakistan today. Strictly speaking, it is not a musical form, but a poetic recitation. Today, however, it is commonly conceived of as an Urdu song, with prime importance given to the lyrics.

Ghazal Forms
A Ghazal, in short, is a collection of couplets (called sher), following the rules of Matla, Maqta, Beher, Qafiya, Radif, Khayal and Wazan. The second line of each couplet in a ghazal ends with the repetition of a refrain of one or a few words, known as a Radif. This is preceded by a rhyme, known as a Qafiya. The first couplet that introduces the theme, end in the rhyme and the refrain. All the couplets, and each line of each couplet, must also share the same meter. The traditional complete ghazal has a Matla, a Maqta, and three other Shers in between. The first two shers of a ghazal have the form of a Qatha. In some modernized ghazals the poet`s name is hidden somewhere in the last verse, usually between the front and end of a word.

However, a ghazal is only the name of a form, and is not language-specific. Ghazals also exist, for example in the Pashto, Marathi and even in the Braj-Basha dialect. Amir Khusro did compose ghazals in the braj dialect. In modern Urdu poetry, there are lots of Ghazals which do not follow the restriction of same Beher on both the lines of Sher. But even in these Ghazals, the Qafiya and Radif are present. Many modern Ghazals do not have a Maqta or, many Ghazals have a Maqta just for the sake of conforming to the structure or tradition, hence the usage has become rather loose in the today`s ghazals. The name of the Shayar is sometimes placed unnaturally in the last Sher of the Ghazal.

Gair Muraddaf Ghazal: It is a rare case where a ghazal does not have a radif; but the same cannot be impossible. And such Ghazals are called "gair-muraddaf" Ghazal.
Musalsal Ghazal: Every sher can be an independent poem, but it is also possible for all the Shers to be on the same theme, or have the same continuity of thought. This is called a "musalsal ghazal", or "continuous ghazal".

Themes of Ghazals
It is not possible to get a full understanding of ghazal poetry without at least being familiar with some concepts of Sufism. All ghazal poets were either avowed Sufis themselves or were sympathizers of Sufi ideas. Every ghazal has a single theme - Love and more specifically unattainable love. The subcontinental ghazals have an influence of Islamic Mysticism and the subject of love can usually be interpreted as a spiritual love rather than sexual love with sexual desires. Thus, this love is more for a higher being than the love for the mortal being. The theme always sings about love as something that will complete the being, and if attained will ascend the ranks of wisdom, or will bring satisfaction to the soul of the poet. It is the intense Divine Love of sufism that serves as a model for all the forms of love found in ghazal poetry. Most ghazals can be viewed in a spiritual context, with the Beloved being a metaphor for God, or the poet`s spiritual master.

The ghazal is always written from the point of view of the lover who is unable to attain his beloved, because either the beloved is just playing with the poet`s feelings, or because the societal circumstances do not allow it. The lover is aware and resigned to this fate, but continues loving nonetheless. The beloved is often portrayed in exaggerated terms, with extended metaphors about the "arrows of her eyes", or referring to the beloved as an assassin or a killer.

Ghazal, About Ghazal, History of Ghazal.

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jagjit singh, jagjit singh history, about jagjit singh, jagjit singh images, jagjit singh ghazals

jagjit singh, jagjit singh history, about jagjit singh, jagjit singh images, jagjit singh ghazals

Born     February 8, 1941 (age 70)
Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India
Genres     Ghazal, Classical, Devotional, Folk
Occupations     Composer, Singer, Music Director, Activist, Entrepreneur
Instruments     Vocals, Harmonium, Tanpura, Piano
Years active     1966–present
Labels     EMI, HMV, Saregama, Universal Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Polydor, TIPS, Venus, T-Series

Jagjit Singh (born February 8, 1941) is a prominent Indian Ghazal singer, composer, music director, activist and entrepreneur. Popularly known as "The Ghazal King" he gained acclaim together with his wife, another renowned Indian Ghazal singer Chitra Singh, in 1970's and 80's, as the first ever successful duo act (husband-wife) in the history of recorded Indian music. Together, they are considered to be the pioneers of modern Ghazal singing and regarded as most successful recording artistes outside the realm of Indian film music. He has sung in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi and Nepali languages. He was awarded India's third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 2003.

Widely credited for the revival and popularity of Ghazal, an Indian classical art form, through his music in landmark films such as Prem Geet (1981), Arth and Saath Saath (1982), and TV serials Mirza Ghalib (1988) and Kahkashan (1991), Jagjit Singh is considered to be the most successful ghazal singer and composer of all time, in terms of both critical acclaim and commercial success. With a career spanning over five decades and a repertoire comprising 80 albums the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining. He is the only composer and singer to have composed and recorded songs written by Prime Minister - Atal Behari Vajpayee, also a critically acclaimed poet - in two albums, Nayi Disha (1999) and Samvedna (2002). India's current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur are known to be his avid admirers.

On May 10, 2007, in a milestone joint session held in the historic Central Hall of India's Parliament (Sansad Bhawan), Jagjit Singh rendered the last Moghul Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar's famous ghazal "Lagta nahin hai dil mera" to commemorate the 150th anniversary of India's First War of Independence (1857). President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and dignitaries including former Prime Ministers, Members of Parliament, Foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners were in attendance.

Jagjit Singh is the first Indian composer, and together with his wife Chitra Singh the first recording artist in the history of Indian music to use digital multi-track recording for their (India's first digitally recorded) album, Beyond Time (1987). He is regarded as one of India's most influential artistes. Together with sitar legend Ravi Shankar and other leading figures of Indian classical music and literature, Singh has voiced his concerns over politicisation of arts and culture in India and lack of support experienced by the practitioners of India's traditional art forms, particularly folk artists and musicians. He has lent active support to several philanthropic endeavors such as the library at St. Mary's School, Mumbai, Bombay Hospital, CRY, Save the Children and ALMA.

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