BN Goswamy
Among the British Library’s extraordinary collection of materials relating to the history of Indian music in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries lie dozens of European accounts of the nautch intimate musical parties at which troupes of high-status North Indian courtesans would sing, dance, recite poetry, and match wits with the assembled company, often to mark special occasions. Note on a performance at the British Library (2018)
A nautch troupe. From the Skinner album in the British Library, London.
Having read, and sometimes written on, many accounts of Europeans, including Englishmen, who came and lived in India in the 18th century, I was often struck by how little interest, serious interest I mean, they took in Indian music. This, despite some visual evidence that has survived showing men like the British General, Sir David Ochterlony, and the Swiss engineer/adventurer, Antoine Polier, seated more or less Indian fashion on the floor, watching dancin
Skin hunger: why touch has never been more important in our socially-distanced times
From birth to death, philosophy to art, a world without touch is a world without humanity. No wonder we hanker so much after it now
15 January 2021 • 8:00am
The Human Touch, Fitzwilliam Museum
Credit: Fitzwilliam Museum
Among the many words and phrases that came to define 2020 – lockdown, circuit breaker etc – one struck me as especially heart-rending: skin hunger. It refers to our visceral need for skin-to-skin contact, which stimulates oxytocin (aka the “cuddle hormone”), reducing stress levels. According to scientists, simply hugging someone can prolong your life by a few seconds. As we enter a third national lockdown, though, touching others is what many of us are still denied.
Pointed Helmet type.
- Credit: Roger Mould
An exhibition planned for April will feature a recently acquired medieval coin handed to the Ramsey Abbey Community Archaeology Project.
Roger Mould, team leader Warboys Archaeology Group and Ramsey Abbey Community Archaeology Project, was handed a medieval coin in September 2020 by a retired head of history teacher called Barry Williams, at Abbey College in Ramsey.
Short Cross Side
- Credit: Roger Mould
The Ramsey Abbey Community Archaeology Project has an exhibition called ‘Treasures of Ramsey Abbey’ which it hopes to open on April 3 at the Norris Museum, St Ives with an information area at Ramsey Library.
David Scrase loved giving impromptu gifts. Colleagues at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge recalled returning to their desks to find fresh fish or asparagus from a local market stall sitting on