As a result I had an unusual treat, I actually had time to sit on the sofa and watch some tv, not a regular occurrence in my life! This led to the thrilling discovery of an ancestor's Hansard record and a portrait of him that I never knew was hanging in the National Portrait Gallery this evening. This was all sparked by watching BBC4's fascinating programme on Klezmer music (the photo is of some Klezmer musicians). I only found out a couple of years ago that I had an ancestor - my great great uncle, my maternal grandmother's uncle - who had an 'interest' (putting it very mildly) in politics. I was a bit of an anomaly up until then and we initially scoffed when my grandmother told us about him. His name was Philip Hoffman and he was a bit of a mystery to us as there was rumoured to be a rift between him and my great grandfather caused by my great great uncle's refusal to change his surname from Hoffman to Stanley to help assimilate in post-WWII Britain. He and my great grandfather had come to England from Germany and I suppose must have faced the same difficulties as many people at the time migrating from a conflict-zone in which several groups of people had been totally villified - most obviously Jews. My great grandfather's answer to this was to change his name to something more quintessentially English, while my great great uncle refused to do so. At the risk of offending my late ancestors I would definitely have been on the latter's side!
Because of their roots there has been some musing that they may have been Jewish, but no one in my immediate or slightly extended family seems to know. Definitely feels like a project looming for 2013 to find out! Philip Hoffman became a Labour MP, firstly winning South East Essex in 1922 then becoming the MP for Sheffield Central in 1929. As the party would imply he was very interested in employee rights, he introduced a Private Members' Bill on Shop Workers rights and wrote a book called They Also Serve, which I was really pleased to have found and bought for my grandmother before she died. The latter now has pride of place on my bedside table. So that's why all of tonight's googling was sparked by a programme I was watching with my family about Klezmer music - a tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. In and of itself it was pretty fascinating and reminded me of a book I read a few years ago by an American sociologist called Barbara Ehrenreich, entitled 'Dancing in the Streets'.
Listening to the programme and watching the frenzied dancing and singing reminded me just how important music is in shifting a mood, motivating and inspiring, depressing us, sparking a memory or transporting us back to a feeling we once had. I know I get this a lot. Certain bands, artists or songs have really strong associations for me. Lots of those associations are with places when I've been on adventures, Mausam by Nitin Sawhney takes me back to the Namib desert every time while Basement Jaxx remind me of leaving Beijing for the first time. There are songs I associate very strongly with people and they with me. When you know the power of this I think you need to choose quite carefully what you listen to - knowing you'll be reminded of it for time immemorial!
So I wonder what I'll be listening to in India? Perhaps it won't be anything I take with me but instead something somebody else who I don't yet know brings with them? Whatever it is I'm sure the memories will be very potent and very special to me - so let's hope it's not something dreadful like the latest offering of an X-Factor contestant!
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