Is it a total coincidence that sitar and guitar are similar-sounding words? It's not, in fact. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, guitar comes to English from the Spanish guitarra, which in turn comes from the Arabic qitar, which comes from the Greek kithara, which comes from the Persian sihtar, which is where the Hindi sitar comes from as well. Still with me?

Anyhow, in their modern incarnations, guitar and sitar don't have a whole lot in common. They both have strings and resonating bodies. They're both made of wood. George Harrison knew how to play both of them. That's about it. The sitar has lots of crazy features that are seem totally off-the-wall for people who are only familiar with Western music, and I imagine that Classical Indian musicians might find the guitar sort of limited, as it can only really play Western-style scales.

Okay, okay, I can't fake it anymore. The real reason I wrote a blog about the sitar is not because I wanted to babble about linguistics or comparative ethnomusicology (although I love babbling about both of those things). It's because I wanted an excuse to show you this: Sitar Hero. I know it's just a joke for now, but if they make it, I'm so playing it! Haha! (Ahem - if you don't get the joke, find the nearest eighth-grader - they'll explain it to you!)

Last week was a sad week in the world music community. We said goodbye to two world music legends - Ronnie Drew and Johnny "Dizzy" Moore. Ronnie Drew was the founding member of the highly influential Irish folk band The Dubliners. He was best-known as a guitar virtuoso, and was always open to fun genre-bending experiments - he even recorded with Celtic punk bands like the Pogues and the Dropkick Murphys in recent years. He was 73 years old.

Dizzy Moore was one of the founding members of ska legends the Skatalites. As a trumpeter, he pioneered the use of brass instruments in Jamaican music, making a horn section a must-have component of a ska band. Moore was also a virtuoso, and he learned to play his instrument in Alpha, a sort of juvenile detention center in Kingston. Interestingly, he was a very well-behaved child until he met another young musician who told him that he had gained his musical training in Alpha. Wanting to learn how to play, Moore began acting out and misbehaving with the sole intention of being sent to Alpha. It worked! Dizzy Moore passed away at the age of 70.

On a happier note, former No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani and her husband, rocker Gavin Rossdale, welcomed their second child, Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale. I'm not sure where the name "Zuma" comes from (Zuma Beach, maybe?), but I can say with relative certainty that "Nesta" comes from Bob Marley, whose full name was Robert Nesta Marley. Zuma's big brother is named Kingston, which happens to be Bob Marley's birthplace. Do I sense a theme? At any rate, I wish the Stefani-Rossdale family all the happiness in the world.

I heart New York. Especially in the summer. Everywhere you go, there's a free concert, or a farmer's market, or a street fair. You can't take a turn without running into some delightful little enclave of New York's dazzling melting pot of cultures. I'm an upstater by birth, but I was smart enough to pair myself up with a Manhattan native, who has served as my personal tour guide for many years (highly recommended, ladies), and I've gotten to know the city like the back of my hand. Well, that's not totally true - I still have a bit of trouble with the subway system. I also point excitedly at the stunning Chrysler Building every time I see it. It can't be helped.

At any rate, as a culture vulture, I consider New York a little slice of paradise. I'm willing to overlook the weird smells that emanate from just about every sidewalk grate, the totally confusing subway system (I'm not alone in thinking this, am I?), and the incessant honking, because New York has everything you can possibly imagine, in terms of the arts. For me, the highlight of the city's cultural offerings is the bevy of world music clubs. I love seeing world music in fancy sit-down venues as well - Carnegie Hall offers great multi-cultural programming, as do Lincoln Center, the World Music Institute (who usually present their shows at Symphony Space), and most of the colleges. However, I also really like places where I can dance, chat, and kick back a couple of beers, so I often prefer club shows when they're available. Before any trip to the city, I always obsessively research my favorite clubs to see who's playing, and I realized that perhaps it was time I actually shared my favorite venues. Next time you're in the city (or tonight, if you live there!) browse through this list of my favorite NYC world music clubs to get some ideas for how to spend your evenings. Perhaps I'll see you there!

Yes, you read that right. About.com's illustrious guide to hip-hop, Mr. Henry Adaso, tipped me off to the fact that Snoop Dogg has recorded a Bollywood track for the film Singh is Kinng (sic). The title track, which is a collaboration with filmi music star Akshay Kumar, has apparently topped the Bollywood/filmi music charts, and the movie itself is wildly popular.

I'm personally a fan of Snoop Dogg and all of his exploits. He was the first musician who my parents forbid me to listen to (Full Disclosure: I listened to him anyway. Nice try, Ma.), and I still regard his music as one of my guilty pleasures. He also has a knack for keeping me generally amused with his forays into... well... places you wouldn't expect him to be. The Starsky and Hutch remake, for example. Or on Larry King, discussing the Democratic presidential nominees. Or doing an impression of German folk legend Roy Black for a German television commercial. Or teaming up with John Carter Cash (Johnny and June's son) for a Johnny Cash remix album. So I suppose I'm not surprised to see him venturing into Bollywood and filmi music, and I'm glad to see that he's done it with both style and substance. Watch the Singh is Kinng video yourself, and leave a comment to tell us what you think of it!