A lively discussion of what's enduringly excellent, artful and WiseFoolish in music, film, art and media. We don't need or want it all, just the OtherWise best.

OtherWisers, by inclination, are distillers of fine spirits. Like grand scotch, we select what's great, and leave behind what's bland, imitative and lethally dated. We invite you, then, to savor and contribute to these essential extracts.

For starters, let's kick off our initial round by recommending what's good from Eastern Europe.



Classical:
Arvo Paart, from Lithuania is a deep and masterful composer of themes that evoke a mystical, profound sense of being. It is not funny music. Serious in the right way.

World:
Before the English Patient swept the screen, Marta Sebestyen was a pre-eminent figure in ethnic music with contemporary punch. Her earlier album on Rycodisc is a great Hungarian goulash. Driving, elegant, mysterious.



Kolya...About an aging bachelor Czech musician around 1989 with an eye for the ladies, whose life is transformed by the unexpected arrival of a puckish Russian boy in need of a guardian. When you press the stop button at the end of the film, you might notice a sense of having received something very decent, very humane.

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