La Bamboula

Rolex Laureate Reese Fernandez discusses Rags2Riches

Rags2Riches is a Filipino brand that turns scraps of cloth into high-end fashion accessories . . . and in the process provides jobs, dignity, decent wages and financial training to women from some of the poorest communities in the country. “(Before we started Rags2Riches, these women) only earned 2 US cents per day,” says R2R founder Reese Fernandez, “and for us that was completely disturbing.” Rags2Riches' full-time artisans now average about 12 US dollars a day. Not only do they earn a living wage, they also have a stake in the cooperative's success and gain access to additional services like micro-savings and educational programmes. This social enterprises' products, meanwhile, are designed by some of The Philippines' best designers like Amina Aranaz-Alunan, Rajo Laurel and Oliver Tolentino.

“It didn't hurt that we made beautiful products in that I like pretty fashionable products as well,” adds Fernandez.  Rags2Riches' fashion and home accessories are currently sold in top Filipino hotels and should soon be available for online purchase as well as in overseas markets like Europe, Singapore and the United States. Fernandez sees Rags2Riches not just as a social enterprise but also as a Filipino Global Brand, which will help showcase her country on the global scene in a very positive light. I sat down to chat with Reese in Singapore on the sidelines of Qi Global.  This piece was produced in collaboration with Gaia Discovery.  The music is a song by Noel Cabangon entitled “Kayod Kabayo Kayod Barya,” which tells the story of  someone who is hungry and looking for work.  Photo credits:  Rolex Awards/Marc Latzel. Related Articles and Websites

• Rags2Riches (website | Facebook )
• Reese Fernandez (profile)
• BBC video
• Rags2Riches: video profile
• Rolex Awards for Enterprise:  Reese Fernandez

Cajun & Zydeko: Interview with Grammy Nominee Lisa Haley

Grammy nominee Lisa Haley's dynamism is contagious. On stage, while playing a blue fiddle, she jumps like a school girl at recess. Just talking to her, Lisa is likely to break into song. She pours her heart into every tune and you can't help but respond. “God gives me a song in my dream,” she says. “I wake up and it's fully formed.” For Haley, promoting Cajun and Zydeko music is a life's passion, one that her parents initially tried to extinguish. Thank heavens, she stuck with it. Props as well to her band, the Zydekats, which features Gigi Rabe (accordion), Maria Martinez (percussion), Chuck Alvarez (guitar) and Andy Anders on bass. I met up with Haley on the island of Borneo, in Sarawak, Malaysia at the Rainforest World Music Festival. In this interview, we talk about her roots, inspirations . . . and why a man might walk around with a paper in his shoe. Related Articles and Websites

• Lisa Haley' CDs
• Lisa Haley's official website
• "Bustin' a Move with Accordions, Gamelans and Washboards" - this is my take on RWMF 2011 as published in Asian Journeys

World Raga: An Interview with Chaturangui master Debashish Bhattacharya

BBC award winner and Grammy nominee Debashish Bhattacharya descends from a long line of musical talent. This master of world raga is a seventh-generation musician.

"We Bhattacharyas, we learn music from sitting in our mother's womb," he says.

In this wide-ranging interview with Michael Switow, Bhattacharya demonstrates the chaturangui -- a 22-string slide guitar, an instrument that he invented and popularised -- and talks about the music of Rabindranath Tagore. We also meet Bhattacharya's 14-year old daughter, Sukanya, who has an angelic voice and is carrying on the family tradition. She performed on stage with her father for the first time in a concert sponsored by The Tagore Society in Singapore.

Debashish and Sukanya Bhattacharya perform in Singapore

Related Articles and Websites

The music at the beginning of the podcast is a song called "Rasika" ('Enchantment') from Debashish Bhattacharya's album, Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey
• Official website of Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya
• Photos of the interview and his performance in Singapore
• Review on BBC Music