SURVIVAL OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC - Page 2

Nice artilce and agree with it the most part.

Thanks!!!

Thanks Punjini ji for the article.

I think Classical Music/dance must be included in School Curricula from primary, as a seperate subject, and one period should be devoted to it daily.

Originally posted by: SolidSnake

Thanks Punjini ji for the article.

I think Classical Music/dance must be included in School Curricula from primary, as a seperate subject, and one period should be devoted to it daily.

Good idea. Atleast classical singing should be easy to accomodate.

Originally posted by: sangeetaa

One thing that I have always found interesting is this difference between
music in North and South India - when it comes to appreciating Ghazals,
lyrics seem to take center stage. Whereas in S Indian classical music,
where the song lyrics are often in Telugu, a Tamil singer may not even
fully know what the meaning of the words are of a song. Interestingly, I
found out most do not really find the need to know this... the emphasis -
and the emotion is almost entirely in the melody, in the raag and is
explored through what i would call vocal instrumentation... not
necessarily with the words.

This is not to say the singers never care about words... there is a strong
tradition of poetry, where the words matter very much.. and convey
complex or subtle meanings. But when it comes to Thyagaraja kirtanais,
for example, this is not the case.

I wonder if the difference represents a cultural difference between what
we can call "indigenous" music and influences from outside??

The other thing I find interesting is the way music is thought of as a route
to 'gyaan'. This concept, that music is a form or vehicle of knowledge, as
far as I know, is unique to our culture.

Sangeeta, ghazals don't strictly constitute classical music. You could call them light classical. Lyrics are the MOST important part of a ghazal.

In pure classical, both Hindustani and Carnatic, I think the lyrics are not important at all. Just a few lines are repeated over and over again, say "hari ke charan kamal" so if anyone is looking for lyrics, he will get bored to death! 😊

Classical music is essentially about sur and taal, I believe. Words are just added to give some variation.

You are absolutely right about music being the path to salvation or moksha. Only Indians appreciate the spiritual aspect of music. If you see the Kishori Amonkar thread, she has spoken about this. Also Nikhil Banerjee's thread is very illuminating.

On a lighter note, when I saw this thread just now, I was very pleased. "Oh great, someone has started another thread on classical music," I thought appreciatively. To my surprise, I saw the next minute that it was I who started this thread in April! 😆 Thanks for reviving it Charades!

'I am like a fish' The audience is the water without whom the musician cannot exist, says renowned Sri Lankan artiste following his concert in Abu Dhabi by Ginny Chicot

Pandit Amaradeva performs at Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi

'I am like a fish," says Pandit Amaradeva, the 'father of Sri Lankan music', with a disarming smile, "and the audience and the critics are the ocean, the water without whom the artiste, the musician cannot exist. Wherever I go, I feel the audience appreciating my music. That feeling is the most pleasant feeling one can get". That feeling must have come across strongly at the concert Amaradeva held recently at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi, where a crowd estimated at over 1,000 people provided the 'water' for this fish to swim in. Emotions ran high during the artiste's (second) visit to the UAE, as the expatriate audience responded to the heart-rending songs of their homeland. Many were in tears during the two-hour performance by Amaradeva and his orchestra, comprising D.D. Gunasena on violin, Wijayaratne Ranatunga on tabla, Nalaka Anjana Kumara on guitar and Jagath Wickramasinghe on the keyboard. Wimala, Amaradeva's wife, also took part singing the duets and the chorus. Amaradeva, a composer as well as musician and performer, explains why music is so appealing to the audience,whatever their nationality, age or creed. "Music is the language of the emotions, even if a person cannot understand the words". Music has been a part of Amaradeva's life since the beginning. When a child, the sound of his mother's singing had filled the house and his father, a talented carpenter, always had a dozen or so broken violins around the house waiting to the repaired. Tempting toys for a child but soon the young Amaradeva progressed to playing with them, not as toys, but as musical instruments. The violin has remained his preferred instrument. Singing and composing soon followed and later he spent five years studying in India before returning to Sri Lanka where his illustrious career has spanned half a century. Amaradeva pays tribute to the late Mahatma Seeker with whom he wrote compositions. He also acknowledges his wife, Wimala, herself an accomplished folk singer, as being the inspiration for many of his works. The importance of music in his country is clear when talking to the artiste. Music is part of our life. It is everywhere, in everything we do, whether bringing in the harvest, sowing the rice, soothing the child to sleep... there is a rhythm, music". Songs about seemingly everyday matters can be used to illustrate the greater milestones in life. For example, in one song, a weaver is being questioned about the article being made. "Who is it for?" The answer is "The newborn baby". Later, the question is asked, "Now for whom are you weaving?" The answer is for the bride; a wedding dress is being woven. When the question is asked a third time, the answer is a wrap being made to cover a body. The person is dead. Through the ordinary task of weaving, the greater cycles of life and death are revealed. The best music, he states, comes out of sadness. "When I want to write about love, it becomes a sad song. When I write a sad song it turns into a love song". In the early part of his life, Lankan music was folk music, although other influences were reaching the country, such as theatrical music rom Russia, in the Thirties. Amaradeva's contribution to the music and culture of Sri Lanka has been to fuse Indian classical music and popular folk music of Sri Lanka, "creating" he explains, "something indigenous to our culture". The geographical proximity of India to Sri Lanka has had a great influence on both culture and music, particularly that of the region of Bengal,he explains, citing traditional Indian music as a major influence on his work, and that of the Indian masters, especially the late Vishnu Paluskar. Amaradeva says no culture is like another nor can any culture be isolated from another. And synthesis is a feature of his music. Taking the best both from Lankan and Indian music the artiste blends them to create a new form of national music tradition. Now the indigenous music in Sri Lanka is still growing despite other musical influences elsewhere in the world, such as Western pop and rap music which could be seen as a threat, but which in fact exists alongside traditional music. Amaradeva has performed at prestigious events around the world, such as the Berlin International Music and Drama Festival and regularly tours the world. At home, the survival, indeed growth, of indigenous Lankan music is assured by the popularity of Amaradeva's work among the younger generation. Amaradeva himself is quick to praise those who are following his lead, including the keyboard wizard in his orchestra, Jagath Wickramsinghe, an upcoming musician and vocalist in his own right. What remains?

'I'm still composing. I would like to compose Indian music into a symphony; to cerate the fusion of Indian music and western treatment. It never ends," says Amaradeva, laughing "My best creation will be produced... tomorrow. There is always tomorrow," he adds.

Originally posted by: punjini

On a lighter note, when I saw this thread just now, I was very pleased. "Oh great, someone has started another thread on classical music," I thought appreciatively. To my surprise, I saw the next minute that it was I who started this thread in April! 😆 Thanks for reviving it Charades!

punjini ji that was also a great thread too.

Ok Charades, got it. In Hindustani, the lyrics are not that important but in Carnatic, they are.

Instruments In Indian Music
(Based on an RMIM posting by Vandana Sharma)
Note: This is not a comprehensive list of all musical instruments


SITAR
Sitar is the most popular stringed instrument of India and has been in use for about 700 years. It is fashioned from a seasoned gourd and teakwood and has twenty mental frets with six or seven playing strings and nineteen sympathetic strings below. It is played with a plectrum worn on the finger. Sitar has a long and complex heritage; its origin goes back to the ancient Veena. In the 13th century, Amir Khusru, in order to make the instrument more flexible, reversed the order of the strings and made the frets moveable. Ravi Shankar, the great musician-artist brought changes and a new perspective.

SAROD
Sarod is another popular stringed instrument. The body is carved from a single piece of well-seasoned teakwood and the belly covered with goat skin. There are four main strings, six rhythm and drone strings and fifteen sympathetic strings, all made of metal. These are played by striking with a plectrum made of a coconut shell. The Sarod has no frets. Sarod as been found in carvings of the 1st century in Champa temple and also in paintings in the Ajanta caves. It also has a similarity with the Rabab of Afghanistan and Kashmir. The instrument was modified by Amir Khusru in the 13th century. A definite change was made by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan in shape of the instrument for improving the tonal quality.


SARANGI
The name derives from Sau Rangi meaning 100 colours. Sarangi is played with a bow and has four main strings and as many as forty resonant strings. It is generally used to accompany singers but can also be a solo instrument.

TANPURA
Tanpura is a four or five stringed instrument which gives the essential drone background to all Indian music.

ESRAJ

Esraj is played with a bow and has many strings. It is one of the major instruments of North India.

SANTOOR

Santoor is a North Indian instrument originating from Kashmir. It has more than a hundred strings which run across a hollow rectangular box and the strings are struck by a pair of slim carved walnut mallets.

VICHITRA VEENA
Vichitra Veena is a comparatively recent addition to the Veena family. It is a fretless stringed instrument with four main strings, three drone and rhythm strings and eleven to thirteen resonating strings. The strings are plucked by a plectrum on the index or middle finger of the right hand.

VIOLIN
Violin was introduced to India about 300 years ago and is a very important string instrument in the South of India. It is played in a sitting position and is held between the right foot and the left shoulder.

TABLA
Tabla is the overall term for two drums, which are played as accompaniment to North Indian music and dance. The musician uses the base of the palm as well as the fingers to produce great variations in sounds. The right hand drum is tuned to the tonic dominant or sub-dominant and the left-hand drum acts as the base.

PAKHAWAJ
Pakhawaj is a long bodied wooden drum with both ends covered in skin and is the most traditional drum of North India. Played horizontally with the fingers and palms of both hands, the right hand surface is tuned to the pitch required and the left hand surface provides the base.

MRIDANGAM
Mridangam is similar in appearance to the Pakhawaj but the ends have a different texture. It is the most used drum in South Indian music.

DHOLAK
Dholak is a side drum, cylindrical in shape, bored out of solid wood. Its pitch is variable and is an essential accompaniment for folk music of North India.

JAL TARANG
Jal Tarang is essentially a water-xylophone. It is made up of a series of china bowls of varying sizes and they are filled with varying levels of water. These are then played with two light sticks.

PUNG
Pung is a long bodied drum with both ends covered in skin and plays an important role in Manipuri dancing when it is played by men and women, either in a sitting position or standing position.

FLUTE
Flute is found in every part of India, carved from bamboo it is made in every possible size. It is usually played in a vertical position.

SHEHNAI
Shehnai is a double reeded wind instrument with a widening tube towards the lower end. There are eight or nine holes, the upper seven for playing, the lower ones for tuning. The Shehnai is considered auspicious and is played on all festive occasions in India.

link: http://www.indianmelody.com/musicinstruments.htm

Dhrupad

Dhrupad is the oldest style of Classical Music in Northern India. Believed to have evolved from temple hymns called Prabandha, It reached its apogee under the Mughal emperors, whose court musicians turned it to a highly refined art form. The most renowned of those musicians was the legendary Miyan Tansen (1506 - 1589), one of the 'nine jewels' of emperor Akbar's court.

With the advent of the freer, more ornate Khayal style in the 18th and 19th centuries, Dhrupad gradually fell out of favour, although it survived as a musicians' music. Certain older Khayal traditions have kept Dhrupad as an essential part of their musical training.

The survival and subsequent revival of Dhrupad as a living art form can be credited to the members of one family of former court musicians. The Dagar family trace their musical lineage back to Haridas Dagur, Tansen's teacher. According to that reckoning the present generation of musicians is the 20th generation of unbroken musical transmission within the family. Other Dhrupad traditions also exist and have benefitted from the recent rise in Dhrupad's popularity. The most notable among those is the Mallik (Darbhanga) tradition.

The Quintessence of Sound

Dhrupad is either sung or played on the deep, sonorous Rudra Veena (also called Been). It starts from silence, with only the constant hum of the Tanpura (a drone instrument) in the background. Then, sound comes, seemingly out of nowhere. The singer (or Veena player) intones the tonic, the main sound emitted by the Tanpura. Music then begins to stir very slowly, exploring the various pathways traced by the Raag, the melodic entity chosen by the artist. Expanding by gradual degrees from this central locus, The artist is in search of the precise expression of each note in the Raag, of that moment when the note fills with light and reveals itself. It is a symbiosis whereby the right turn of phrase reveals the note, and that revelation reinforces the sense of truth emanating from the phrase.

Being, in essence, a meditative process, this exploration, termed 'Aalaap', has no use for ornamentation as such. Instead, microtonal variation expresses the movement inherent in the notes and in the space between them. Voice resonates by turns in different parts of the body - the navel, chest, nostrils, forehead, top of the head, along the spine, all the while enriching and deepening the musical meaning inherent in the Raag.

After reaching its apex in the high octave, the pulse of the music quickens, and movement begins again, in free and flowing rhythm, adding a rhythmic sense to the music. This is called Jor (pair). The next quickening of pulse brings us to the Jhalla (sparkling), and to the realms of fast flowing, cascading music, leading to a trance-like climax.

Here the percussionist joins in. Dhrupad is usually accompanied by the deep sounding Pakhawaj drum, but in its absence may be accompanied by a Tabla. The composition is usually set to the stately Chautal (12 beat rhythmic cycle), The undulating Dhamar (a 14 beat cycle), the faster Jhaptal (10 beat), or the fast Tivra (7 beat) or Sultal (10 beat). The content of the compositions is usually devotional. After presenting the composition, the main artist engages in Upaj (rhythm play), consisting of Bol-Bant (redivisions of the words to highlight the poetic content). Both the percussionist and the vocalist dissect and reassemble the rhythmic cycle in various ways, contrasting and complementing each other by turns, bringing the performance to a close.