SURVIVAL OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC - Page 5

Post Independence History - Page 2

Menuhin - Shankar

Indian Classical Music in the West (contd.)

In 1970 beatles split, ending the Beatles Era, what in the US was called the British Invasion. Thus after just a few years the mass Western involvement with Indian music was over. Though a musicians such as Ravi Shankar can scarcely be described as a household name in the West, he is unquestionably one of the most well-known non- Western musicians in the West, and Indian classical music can fairly be described as having carved a niche for itself in the world of concert music.

But in 1970s a different phenomenon started. With the changes in Immigration laws, it became easier for highly educated Indian professionals to migrate to North America. While in 1968, there were just 10,000 Indians in the US, by 1980 there were almost 300,000. Once these professionals became professionally and financially successful, they wanted to import the cultural heritage to their new home lands. For eg. more than 150 temples were built in the US and Canada. Thus, beginning in 70s it was the Indian Diaspora which brought and patronized Indain music to the west. They formed a number of organizations to promote Indian classical music, mainly by getting artists from India and organizing their concerts in North America. The main centers for these organizations and Indian music in general have been the universities. Center for the Performing Arts of India (CPAI - earlier called University Circuit for Indian Classical Music) and Carnatic Music Association of North America (CMANA, 1976) are the two most important such organizations. Some universities established centers of Indian music - Wesleyan University, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Washington, University of Pennsylvania, Amherst College and University of Texas at Austin have active Indian music programs. Apart from them, Ali Akbar Khan College of Music (est. 1968) and California Institute of Arts (est. 1973) continue to teach classical music in the US. Partly because of these institutions, several top artists have settled down in the US as well. They include Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Imrat Khan, Zakir Hussain, L Shankar, L Subramanium and Swapan Chaudhuri to name a few.

A landmark event was the 1985 Festival of India. In 1982, Indira Gandhi proposed the idea of Year of India when she visited US to Ronald Reagon. It was organized in 1985, starting with the visit of Rajiv Gandhi to US. This was a year long multifaceted celebration of Indian culture in USA. Presentation of Classical Music was an important part of this festival. Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) of India, the ITC-SRA and the University of Pittsburgh were jointly involved in organizing the event. Over 20 top ranking musicians, representing Hindustani and Carnatic styles, were invited, and they presented over 90 individual concerts, three two-day festivals and 25 to 30 workshops in Indian Classical Music across USA.

In 1990s, there was another large surge of Indian Immigrants into US, mainly for software work. By the turn of the century there were 1.6 million Indians in US and 1 million in Canada. There are several hundred local organizations which organize nearly 300 concerts each year in coordination with big organizations like CPAI, CMANA, Kalalaya, Bhairavi etc. During the concert season (Mar-Apr, Sep-Nov), over 50 artists from India tour through North America.

The general influence of Indian music on the US music scene has been minimal. Even Ravi Shankar is hardly a house hold name, though most avid music listeners might recognize his name. In most of the concerts arranged in the US, only 5% or so of the audience in non-Indian, though in universities and some large cities it could be as high as 80%. Even though Indian music is far from mainstream, it has established a niche in the genre of "world" music in the west.
Fusion and all that Jazz

Collaboration between Indian and Western musicians, creating music incorporating elements of both cultures gave raise to a new genre of music, the Fasion music. Traditionalists in India frowned upon this and called it Hippie music. The trend started when Ravi Shankar first started playing alongside Western musicians like Yahudi Menuhin and Beatles. Several musicians have followed in the footsteps with varying degrees of commercial and critical success.

Ravi Shankar teamed with Yahudi Menuhin, starting with Menuhin Meets Shankar (1966) and played in other classical western orchestras like the Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra (1971) that he did with London Symphony Orchestra. His long association with Beatle lead guitarist George Harrison culminated with Concert For Bangladesh (1971). Recently he has collaborated with Philip Glass in Passage. Ravi Shankar has also done many experimental works like Transmigration Macabre (1973).

Also, many westerners studied Indian music and incorporate some elements into their own music. Many Jazz and Rock groups with Indian names sprung up. Mahavishnu Orchestra was one such, started by John McLaughlin in 1970s, incorporated Tabla by Badal Roy. When two versions of Mahavishnu Orchestra split up, he formed a new group Shakthi in 1975 with Zakir Hussain, T.H. VinayakaRam, Ramnad Raghavan and L Shankar. After three albums the group became defunct. In 1999 Shakthi regrouped for another tour, now with Hariprasad Chaurasia.

Brothers L. Shankar and L. Subramanium added the touch of Carnatic music to many fusion efforts. Shankar collaborated with several rock artists like Peter Gabriel , Jan Garbarek , David Byrne , Pete Towshend , John McLaughlin and Frank Zappa. He also worked with other Shakthi artists like Zakir Hussain and Vinayakaram to produce Pancha Nadai Pallavi (1981), Soul Searcher (1990) and Eternal Light (2000). L. Subramanium too has been at the forefront of Fusion Genre. He toured with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison in 1974 for the Bangladesh Tour. Garland (1978) was his first fusion album with several Jazz artists. He followed that up with Spanish Wave (1983) and Indian Express (1984) both of which got critical acclaim.

Zakir Hussain has been a permanent fixture in many of the fusion adventures. Apart from Shakthi, he has collaborated with several rock artists, symphony orchestras. He founded a percussion ensemble Zakir Hussain and the Rhythm experience in 1984. The band is still active and tours giving concerts. The core group consists of Zakir Hussain, his brother Faisal Khureshi, Vinayakaram and Dana Pandey (pakhavaj). Guest artists come from all parts of the world.

Vishwamohan Bhatt's collaboration started with Meeting By The River(1993) that he did with Ry Cooder, for which he won the Grammy, making him instantly famous. He later collaborated with Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas and Taj Mahal. Saltanah (1997) he did with Simon Shaheen, who plays Arabian Audh, is an interesting album showing the similarities of Arabic classical music and Indian. All these efforts were produced by Kavi Alexander's Waterlily Accoustics. Kavi Alexander has also produced many other fusion albums featuring several other Indian musicians with musicians from other parts of the world. Indian musicians include Ronu Majumdar, Sangita Shankar, N. Ravikiran, Kadri Gopalnath, L. Subramanium and Viji Krishnan.

Originally posted by: punjini

Orey baba Qwest. My eyesight is going weak! How to read so much?!

punjini ji, give one more day and I will finish up.

Post Independence History - Page 4

Importance of Electrical Amplification

LPs, Cassettes and other recording formats (contd.)

Compact Disk for commercially introduced to public by Sony and Philips in 1982. Within a few years, CDs started outselling LPs and cassettes in US. But, in India CD was late to come and even now sells far less than cassettes. The prices have been the major stumbling block. While in US, the prices of CDs and Cassettes is comparable (CDs costing about 50 to 100% higher), in India CDs could cost almost 10 times higher. Till recently the CD players have been expensive for most of the middle class. Thus, only the affluent buy CDs, while the middle class mostly buy cassettes. Only when the CDs come below 100 Rs can they take off like the cassettes did in the 80's. Reason for CDs being costly is that they are still mostly pressed in US or Europe and imported to India. With the increasing popularity of video CDs in India, it is possible the economy of production of CDs will bring down the prices of music CDs too in the coming years.

An important development esp. in the 90s was the setup of several labels devoted to Indian Classical Music in US and Europe. They not only bring out new recordings of masters, but also restore old recordings and publish in CD format. These labels cater basically to the needs of a million or so Indians living in North America and Europe - Chhanda Dhara (1970s, Germany), Audiorec (1987, England), Navras Records (1992, England), Nimbus Records (England), Ali Akbar Khan's Alam Madina Music Productions (1971, California), Raga Records(New York), India Archive Music(New York), Zakir Hussain's Moment Records (1991, California), Oriental Records (1977, New York), Waterlily Acoustics (California) and Makar Records (1994, France).

The newest formats, which are yet to catch on anywhere in the world are SACD and DVD-Audio. SACD was developed by Sony in 1999, to address the short comings of the CD format, mainly in comparison to the more natural sounding LPs. DVD-Audio standard was developed by DVD consortium and the first disks appeared in 2000. These will probably not have any impact on Indian Music. Currently the only label making Indian Classical on SACD is Waterlily Acoustics.
Concerts and Electrical Amplification

Innovations in microphone, electrical amplification and loudspeakers culminated in the invention of first public address system in 1921 by Bell Labs. But the common use of public address systems came to India only in the 40's. The use of electrical amplification during concerts has had a marked effect on voice production, and, since the voice no longer needs to project over distances, many modern singers now sing with a relaxed throat and produce a more mellow tone. Also, musicians do not need to develop powerful voices. Ustad Amir Khan or Dr M Balamurali Krishna could have never become important concert artists without microphones.

In practical terms too it made a big difference. Lot more people could attend a concert. Also, because of the rapid expansion of railways, artists could also give more concerts. This meant that top artists could live comfortably purely based on concert income. They were supplemented by the income from sale of records. So, for the first time we had artists who didn't relay on anything but indirect patronage of large number of listeners. They didn't have to live on the patronage of one or two aristocrats. Even now, most artists live on income got from concerts, sale of records and tuition fees from students they teach.

A large number of organizations sprang up with the sole intention of organizing concerts. They organize concerts either during particular festivals or seasons (like RamNavami and Ganesh Chathurthi in various places) or regularly, once a week or month. Some of them are free too, to the listening public.

There are also several annual music festivals which are very influential. Thyagaraja Aradhana is probably the oldest and most well attended. In this Thyagaraja Krithis are sung in a group. While the mots important one happens at the birthplace of Shri Thyagaraja, it is also celebrated in various other places by Carnatic musicians. Sawai Gandhrva festival started by Bhimsen Joshi has also become a well known annual concert feature. State governments have also got into the act and organize music festivals. Karnataka govt organizes an annual festival during Purandara Aradhana in Hampi and continues the old Mysore Wodeyar tradition of Navarathri Music festivals in Mysore palace, Madhya Pradesh govt organizes Tansen Music Festival in Gwalior.
End of Guru Shishya System

With the end of royal patronage, artists could no longer teach a large number of students who would live with them in the age old guru-shishya system. So, students started learning from artists on a part time basis, living in their own houses with parents. They would pay the Gurus a monthly tuition fee. Artists, especially the ones not very successful on the concert circuit, found this to be a good, steady source of income. There were also many formal music schools and colleges teaching music on a full time basis. All these contributed to the end of Guru Shishya Paddhathi.

Many people think of this as moving in the wrong direction. Students would not imbibe enough knowledge, nor would they practice sufficiently to become true masters, they opine. Also the students would be exposed to so many other sources early on that their music would get corrupted. All this has resulted in efforts to re-establish the Guru-Shishya parampara, with the help of some corporate sponsors (like ITC Sangeet Research Academy ) and some successful and well to do artists.

Harmonium and the Decline of Sarangi

Sarangi was a folk instrument in North India. It was introduced into the classical realm only after the advent of Khayal. Since it is a versatile instrument which can imitate every note and nuance of vocal music, it was an ideal accompaniment to classical vocal music, esp. to Khayal, with its soothing mesmerizing timbre. By turn of 19th century it was the preferred accompanying instrument to Khayal and also other light classical forms like Thumri and Dadra. It was also the main accompaniment instrument for the courtesans, giving the sarangi player a low social status. Infact, most of the great vocal musicians of that period like Abdul Karim Khan were first Sarangiyas themselves, only to disassociate from it because of the low social status of its players. But in the 20th century Sarangi gradually faded away and there are very exponents of Sarngi now, mainly because of acceptance of Harmonium as a substitute.

There are several reasons for the decline of Sarangi and raise of Harmonium in its place. Sarangi is an unwieldy complexity instrument, difficult to tune. It is very difficult to learn and could take years to get simple control of the instrument. Before independence sarangi players were part of the ensembles of singing and dancing girls. They could not come out of the social stigma attached to that association. With independence, aristocrats who used to patronize the courtesans, were devoid of their means of large income, which precipitated the end of courtesans as high culture. With that, the main income for the Sarangi players ended with the result that none in the newer generation wanted to put in the hard years of effort needed to master the instrument.

The harmonium belongs to the wind family of instruments. It was imported from the west, where harmoniums with both foot and hand operated bellows were to be found. Since most Indian musicians sit cross legged on the floor while performing, harmonium with the hand operated bellows became more popular. Though its tempered tones are categorically out of tune for Indian music, it started appearing as the accompaniment to light music by the turn of 20th century. It became very popular in film music. Slowly it was accepted even in the serious classical music of Khayal too, as harmonium, was a more economical substitute.

One important, unintended effect of harmonium as the accompaniment is the slow disappearance of many Gamakas(meends) that were earlier used in Hindustani music

Post Independence History - Page 5

Tabla - the new star

Tabla - The New Star

Two principle accompanying instruments for the Hindustani music of 19th century were Sarangi and Tabla. Both Sarangi and tabla were associated with the tradition of the dancing girls. It is interesting to note that, while Sarangi declined and gave way to Harmonium, Tabla became a champion instrument, replacing almost all other percussion instruments in North Indian music of almost all forms.

One of the main reasons for the emergence of Tabla as an important instrument was the association it has with the other emerging instruments of the period, Sitar and Sarod. As their principle accompaniment, Tabla artist became second only to the main instrument player in getting attention. It also became the main percussion instrument of the Film Music which was getting very popular by the time of Independence. Interestingly, even though Mridangam is the percussion instrument used in Carnatic, even in south the light music is accompanied by Tabla. As Tabla artists became plenty, devotional music was also accompanied by Tabla, which probably helped in removing the stigma attached to the earlier association of Tabla with dancing girls.
New Classical Instruments - Bansuri, Shehnai

Bansuri

Although the bansuri is among the most ancient musical instruments of India, its status as a concert instrument for north Indian classical music is a relatively recent phenomenon. Previously the bamboo flute of North India had been a soprano (high pitched) instrument, no more than fourteen inches long and was used for short classical pieces, light music or accompaniment. Pannalal Ghosh (1911-1960), was the first person to bring Bansuri to the North-Indian Hindustani classical music stage. He found the then existing short high-pitched Bansuri, which was popular in Indian folk and orchestral music, to be lacking in tonal depth required to perform North-Indian Classical ragas (melodic forms). He started making longer bass flutes himself out of Bamboo, even 34 inches long. This gave the bansuri its characteristic somber,yet, sweet tone and register, so suitable for Hindustani classical music. He added the seventh finger hole to extend the range of bansuri to be able to accurately performed many ragas. With this, he perfected the tonal quality as well as the technique to play in all three octaves. But his greatest innovation was his insightful adaptation of the classical vocal style and its presentation on the bansuri, helped by his intense training under Baba Allauddin Khan. With unparalleled perfection, he presented and recorded various ragas on his flute, and tried to cover almost all the ground that a Hindustani classical vocalist would cover, from Ati-Vilambit to Drut, from Aalap to Jod to fast Taans. His renditions of ragas became very popular. Pannalal Ghosh and his mesmerizing Bansuri was overwhelmingly accepted by both the audiences and musicians of India. His success inspired a number of brilliant young musicians to take to this instrument to express their creativity and maintain its popularity.

While the credit for bringing Bansuri onto the hindustani classical stage goes to Pt. Pannalal Ghosh, making it an immensely popular instrument goes to Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. Pt Chaurasia not only made it popular at home but also abroad. Chaurasia uses only the 6 hole Bansuri, unlike Pt Ghosh. He has also adopted it to the Maihar Gharana very well.

Shehnai

The Shehnai, double-reeded instrument of the wind category is one of the most ancient instrument used in India. Shehnai was an outdoor instrument played on occasions considered auspicious such as processions and weddings. The auspicious sound of the Shehnai is the reason it is associated with the religious ceremonies. Today, the Shehnai is still played in temples. This status has made it a necessary instrument in north Indian weddings and festivals.

The credit for making it a Hindustani concert instrument goes to Ustad Bismillah Khan. Interestingly, on August 15, 1947, he was invited to play at Red Fort to mark the unfurling of the Tricolour for the first time, when India got independence. Earlier, shehnai was played mainly in the upper register, just like the flute. Bismillah Khan started playing the instrument in lower octave. Also, he started playing the instrument gently, not loudly like it is done in temples or religious functions.
New Western Instrument Adaptations

Many western instruments started to be used in India during the British Raj, either in military bands or in palace bands. They were also used in film songs. Impressionable young minds took interest in many of these instruments and mastered them and adapted them to the needs of Indian Classical Music. But the success of an instrument in the classical tradition comes only when second and third generation artists gain mastery of the instruments and become successful concert artists.

Most of these instruments are constructed to produce 12 tempered notes in an octave as used in western music. Thus it becomes difficult to use them to produce other tones, quarter tones and other microtones, that are used in Indian Classical Music. Also, the instrument may not have the dynamic range to faithfully play Indian Raagas. Thus either the instrument has to be modified or the playing technique has to be changed to suit the needs of Indian Classical Music.

Guitar

Bringing guitar on the Hindustani concert stage goes to Pt Brijbhushan Kabra. Like many other pioneers, he was also self taught. He learnt classical music, mostly by listening to the great masters on the gramophone and practicing on the Hawaiian guitar, which he liked. He modified the guitar by adding a bridge and chikari string to it. Together with Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma he played in many Jugalbandhi concerts. Call of the valley, an immensely popular light classical album recorded by them, along with Chaurasia, introduced guitar as a classical instrument to a large number of people.

To Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt goes the credit for introducing guitar as a Hindustani classical instrument to the western audiences. He experimental recordings with many western and eastern artists have been well received. He also won a grammy for one such effort. Pt Bhatt has modified guitar to suit Indian classical needs and calls it Mohan Vina.

The Guitar was introduced into Carnatic music by Sukumar Prasad in the seventies. Sukumar Prasad and his successors adopted the standard electric Guitar for Carnatic music unlike Hindustani musicians who have always used some form of a modified Guitar. One of the current well known exponents is R Prasanna. Though guitar is constructed basically to produce western 12 tempered notes of an octave, the playing technique has been modified to play Gamakas, thus making it possible to play all the Ragas, including complex ones like Todi

Post Independence History - Page 6

Bhatt on Guitar - SPIC MACAY

Claronet

Clarinet is a wood-wind instrument of European origin. But it was found suitable for playing Carnatic music too. It is played like the Nadaswaram (Nagaswaram). In the 19th century itself Mahadeva Nattuvanar was the first to practise this instrument and introduce it in a dance band in South India. But Clarinet was made popular on the concert stage mainly by 'Clarinet Chakravarthi' A.K.C. Natarajan, who adopted it very well to the needs of carnatic music - raga alaapanas and vocalized techniques.

Saxaphone

Saxophone though, is a recent introduction. The credit goes to Kadri Gopalnath, who began training in nagaswara from an early age. But he was thrilled by the vibrant tone of the saxophone played by the Mysore Palace Bandset and decided to master it. It took 20 years for Kadri to conquer the complex wind instrument. Since the 80s, he has become a regular on Carnatic concert stage, successfully adapting Saxophone to the demands of Gamakas of Carnatic music.

Mandolin

Mandolin was introduced to Carnatic music by the famous child prodigy U.Srinivas. Mandolin is a small instrument which was developed in Italy from existing lutes. It has 4 pairs of strings. It was modified in the 50s to have 4 single strings and the electric block mandolin was born. Mandolin is inadequate to play Carnatic music. Srinivas introduced a fifth string (to the tradition 4 string electric block mandolin), used single strings instead of using pairs of strings. He also tuned the strings differently to get the strings to the right pitch. he devised very ingenious fingering techniques for playing intricate 'gamaka's. All this enabled him to successfully adapt Mandolin to Carnatic music.

Child prodigies always have a magnetic attraction on the concert circuit. Srinivas had become a celebrated concert artist even as he was just entering teenage in the 80s. As with other new instruments, success of mandolin as an established carnatic instrument can only be gauged in the coming decades.

Westernization and SPICMACAY

Starting with 70s, the introduction of cheap cassettes and cassette players had another effect. A completely new genre of music was available to the youth as a form of entertainment - the Western Music, mostly of Pop and Soft rock varieties. Increasingly, the middle class youth stopped listening to Indian music and took to western music in a big way. With middle class being the primary patrons of classical music in the post independence period, this meant that slowly classical music would fade away due to lack of listeners. A lot of artists and classical music enthusiasts got worried about this new development.

One of the organizations which came up to combat this trend was SPICMACAY. It was started by Prof. Kiran Seth (IIT Delhi). When Kiran Seth was studying in US, he was attracted by a chance listening to a Dhrupad concert. He reasoned that if enough college students were exposed to classical music, many of them would be attracted to it. He started the Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth in 1977, in Delhi. The purpose was to organize concerts of the very best artists in various colleges around the country so that the youth could experience the very best of Indian Music for free. The money would be raised from Govt and private companies. Many chapters and sub-chapters opened all over India in various cities and colleges. The central SPICMACAY paid for the artists and their travel. The local chapters would raise the money for actual conduct of the concert. Most of the top artists agreed to participate in this effort at meagre remuneration. SPICMACAY during the 80's expanded at a furious pace, organizing hundreds of concerts and LecDems (lecture demonstration) every year.

In the 90's SPICMACAY has expanded to include a lot of smaller towns as well. Apart from Colleges, many schools now have SPICMACAY chapters. Many of the foreign universities too have their own chapters. Apart from Indian Classical music, SPICMACAY also promotes other aspects of culture - Dance, folk arts, Yoga etc.

Originally posted by: punjini

Orey baba Qwest. My eyesight is going weak! How to read so much?!

punjini ji,

First let me thank you for a wonder full thread. If you did not started it I would not have the opportunity to compiled all that information in one thread now it is there. so it will be a good reference source for all of us not much but still a lot. Thanks again.

Dear Qwest, why is the text in the articles underlined? It becomes difficult to read. Is there any way the text can be made normal?

Originally posted by: punjini

Dear Qwest, why is the text in the articles underlined? It becomes difficult to read. Is there any way the text can be made normal?

Done. Refresh the page. 😊

Originally posted by: Qwest

punjini ji,

First let me thank you for a wonder full thread. If you did not started it I would not have the opportunity to compiled all that information in one thread now it is there. so it will be a good reference source for all of us not much but still a lot. Thanks again.

Thank you Qwest, your contribution is unparalleled! This is becoming a living, growing thread! A wonderful reference point for classical music lovers.