Indian classical music - Page 4

Word origin of Carnatic
The south Indian classical tradition has two similar sounding names, Carnatic or Karnatak. Though Carnatic is derived from Karnatak (or Karnata), it signifies a very different geographical region during the British empire.

With the fall of Vijayanagar empire entire south India witnessed a period of anarchy. The name used for the part of Vijaynagar to the north of the Ghats was Karnata. The Muslim rulers called all of the geographical areas south of them as Karnata, which included areas north of the Ghats and south as well (Encyclopedia.org - Carnatic). The plains were then called Karnata Payanghat (lowlands) and the highlands were called Balaghat. This misapplication of the name karnata was carried a step further by the British, who called only the lower Karnata as Carnatic. Thus during the British Raj, Carnatic meant the region between Eastern Ghats and the Coromandel coast i.e. present day inland Tamilnadu rather than present day Karnataka.

When Aurangzeb conquered the area in 1672, he appointed Zulfikar Ali as the nawab of the Carnatic, with the capital at Arcot. With the weakening of the Mughal empire after the death of Aurangzeb, nawaab Saadet-allah (1710-1732) established independence. In 1801 Carnatic was transferred to the British in exchange for military protection and a portion of the revenues collected. In 1853 the nominal sovereignty was ended, by pensioning the Nawab.

Since the development of modern Carnatic music took place in the region that British called Carnatic, perhaps the British thought it appropriate to call it Carnatic Music. But historically the music started to deviate from northern tradition during Vijayanagar empire, who were based in Karnata(ka). Purandara Dasa, the PraPitamaha of the tradition wrote his krithis in Kannada language. Thus, the music was perhaps called Karnata Sangita in the courts of Mysore kings. Thus, interestingly we have two names, derived from the same original name applied to the tradition for totally different reasons. Both the names continue to be used, with Carnatic or Karnatic or Karnatik used more often in English and Karnataka Sangita used in the vernaculars. Change of spelling from C(arnatic) to K(arnati)k(/c) is because of the modern spelling of Karnataka.

Madras - The new center
Madras started as a small fishing village until the British took it to build a fort, St George, in 1639. In 1653 it became the seat of British power in the south and capital of Madras presidency. Just like the other cities built by British, Bombay and Calcutta, it became the center of learning and later of music.

Starting with early 20th century, Madras started to become as important as Tanjavur to Carnatic music. Many of the artists started moving to Madras attracted by the new patrons of music - the beauracracy of Madras presidency. In 1927, on the sidelines of All India conference of the Indian National Congress, All India Music conference was held in Madras. At this time it was decided to start a music academy in madras to promote classical music.

The Academy was formally inaugurated on the 18th of August, 1928 (The Inauguration), though the first music festival was held in 1927, December. The festival has been held in December every year since then. The festival became an important vehicle for the development of Carnatic music. Apart from established masters, the festival allowed new artists to show off their talents and many masters of 20th century started off in these festivals.


Violin - A successful adaptation
No other western instrument has been adapted to Carnatic (and Hindustani) music like the violin. The playing technique has been so well Indianized that no Carnatic vocal concert of today is conducted without violin accompaniment. It has completely replaced Vina, which was probably the accompaniment in early days.

The first carnatic musician to learn violin was the brother of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, Baluswamy Dikshitar(1786-1858). He was patronized by Manali Muthukrishna Mudaliar, interpreter to the British Governor, Pigot and introduced to the European orchestra (or the band), attached to the East India Company. He learnt violin for 3 years and used to play it in the court of Ettayapuram kings, as an accompaniment to vocal music. Varahappa Iyer, a minister in the Tanjore Maratha court, was close to the British Governor in Madras. He too learnt violin and adapted it to accompany vocal music.

Vadivelu (1810-1845) one of the Tanjavur quartet and direct disciple of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, was the most significant factor why violin has been so well adapted and has become so popular today. Vadivelu was appointed the Asthana Vidwan in the court of composer-king Swati Tirunal. His encouragement and patronage saw the violin being performed not only as an accompaniment to the voice, but also as an instrument that even played solo passages during a dance performance.

Adaptation of violin has involved many innovations in the way it was tuned, held and played. Carnatic music required the violinist to sit cross-legged on a platform. The violin was, therefore, balanced between the chest and the scroll held by the anklebone of the right foot. The tuning was changed to suit the lower pitch in which the vocalists sang. The changed bowing and posture produced all subtle nuances, gamakas, modulations and all the srutis.

The Post Independence Era (b. 1947 A.D.)
1947 marked the end of British Raj and birth of modern Indian state. This, along with new technologies, brought about several changes in Indian Classical Music to make it look like what it is today.

The governments of India, Pakistan (and later Bangladesh) took over the part of princely states, supporting musical genres they thought appropriate. Indian government (and the people too) assumed they had inherited all the cultural aspects of ancient and medieval India, and supported all forms of Indian music, esp. classical and light classical. Pakistan thought it inherited only the Medeival Muslim India and supported only music clearly identifiable as muslim - Ghazals and Qawwalis. This resulted in almost disappearance of Hindustani classical from Pakistan.


Collapse of Classical Music in Pakistan
There are several reasons for the collapse of Hundustani Classical music in Pakistan after partition, apart from official apathy. Before independence Lahore was a an important cultural center in North India. Affluent Hindu and Sikh families were the main patrons of music. Most of these patrons migrated to India after partition. Interestingly many muslim artists chose to migrate to Pakistan from India - Amanat Ali Khan, Barkat Ali Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Fateh Ali Khan of the Patiala gharana; Ustad Salamat Ali Khan and Nazakat Ali Khan of the Shyam Chaurasi gharana; Roshanara Begum of the Kirana gharana; Asad Ali Khan (Ustad Fayyaz Khan's nephew) of the Agra gharana and Sardar Khan (Taanras Khan's grandson) of the Delhi gharana. But the patrons had migrated out of Pakistan. The artists realized that the old system of patronage had collapsed. Pakistan government (through Pakistan Radio), unlike All India Radio refused to step in as the chief patron. Wisely Bade Ghulam Ali Khan decided to migrate back to India after a few miserable months and had a very successful post independence career as well. Though in the beginning, official Pakistan govt. policy was very tolerant, later Increased criticism from orthodox quarters influenced the official policy which proceeded to discourage many forms of Hindustani music like Dhrupad, thumris and dadras as un-islamic. The artists were left at the mercy of the market and they had no market. They gradually lost their audience. They either dissuaded their children from following in their footsteps or the children themselves opted for film music or ghazal singing. In the last decade, some of them moved to pop music — about half of those singing or playing in the pop groups are children of the great masters. So Pakistan lost out on its musical heritage. But those who migrated to Pakistan and chose to sing mainly ghazals later gained prominence in, like Mehdi Hassan, Farida Khannum, Iqbal Bano and Mallika Pukhraj.


Maihar Gharana
The Maihar gharana takes its name from the princely state of Maihar, where the founder of this gharana Ustad Allauddin Khan (18??-1972) lived. Since Allauddin Khan had received his musical training at the hands of Ustad Wazir Khan of the Beenkar gharana, an offshoot of Mian Tansen's Senia gharana, the exponents of the Maihar tradition are often said to belong to the Senia gharana. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, son of the founder, calls it Baba Allaudin Seni Gharana of Rampur and Maihar.

Ustad Allauddin Khan revolutionized instrumental music. He was the visionary who pioneered the fusion of the gayaki, layakari and tantrakari. Allaudin Khan had command over scores of instruments, although he was the master of the sarod. Ustad Allauddin Khan also composed new ragas like Hemant, Prabhakali, Manjkhamaj, Hem-Behag and a host of others which are still in use today. The gharana is characterized by the systematic development through alaap, jod and jhala, the unique gatkari embodying the close rapport of swara and laya and above all, the pervading sense of aesthetics.

The Gharana gained immense popularity because success of Allauddin Khan's disciples - Annapoorna Devi, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee (sitar), Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod), Pandit Pannalal Ghosh (Bansuri). Each of them were trail blazers in their own field and gained world-wide acclaim.

Indian Classical Music in the West
Since the mid-1950s, Indian classical music has been performed fairly regularly in the West. Initially, the audiences were composed mainly of South Asians, but gradually an increasing number of Westerners have been attending the concerts. Perhaps the music would not have reached beyond a very limited audience were it not for the interest shown by the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who sponsored a number of programs in the West. Sir Yahudi Menuhin (1912-1999) was a great violin prodigy and a peace activist. He played numerous benefit concerts promoting peace beginning in World War II, which endeared him to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister, with whom he formed a lasting friendship. Nehru invited Menuhin to India in 1952, where he met Ravi Shankar and other artists. He developed a keen interest and deep admiration for Indian Classical Music, which was almost unknown in the west at that time. In 1955 Menuhin arranged for the first Indian concert in the US by inviting Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Apart from giving successful concerts, Ali Akbar Khan also recorded the first Indian classical album in the west. In 1960 Menuhin was awarded the Nehru Peace Prize for International Understanding.

The 60s was a time of profound change in the west, esp. USA. The failing war in Vietnam turned a lot of young people away from materialism, towards the mysticism of the east, esp India. The enormous popularity of Beatles, who were greatly interested in the mystical aspects of Indian religion, meditation and music, gave some exposure in the west to Indian music. Particularly George Harrison, learnt Indian Music from Ravi Shankar and started incorporating some Indian sounds in Beatles songs. Indian music, identified now with Sitar, Sarod and tabla of Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and Alla Rakha, became the staple diet of the Hippie culture. Satyajit Ray, the first Indian director to acquire world fame, and a common name in repertory art cinemas, also brought classical Indian music to the attention of Westerners, for the music of some of his early films was composed by Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan. Great interest in the west for Sitar brought other Sitar masters like Vilayat Khan, Imrat Khan, and Nikhil Banerjee to the west.

This also started the era of Fusion music with several East-West collaborations between Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuin and also attempts by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. Ravi Shakar with Menuhin brought out two albums East Meets West and In Celebration. Ravi Shankar appeared on the famous Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band for George Harrison.

By the end of the 1960s the sitar and tabla were heard frequently in Western pop music, jazz, cinema, and television programs, as well as in radio and television advertisements. Sitars and sarods were shipped to American and European music shops by the thousands. Performances by Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha in the Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and in the heavily promoted Woodstock Festival (1969) brought Indian Classical to the attention of a large number of younger fans. In 1968 the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music was established in Northern California. 1969 Ravi Shankar became Billboard Magazine's Musician of the Year. The Concert for Bangladesh (1971), to raise funds for UNESCO's humanitarian programs in Bangladesh, was promoted by George Harrison. A performance by Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan with Alla Rakha in this concert was a media success. The United Nation's Human Rights Day Concert, featuring Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha was also well received.

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.

JugalBandhi
Jugalbandhi refers to a concert where two equals perform on their chosen instruments (or vocal) and their traditions. It can be either two Hindustani artists, two Carnatic artists or one from each tradition. Usually groups who normally perform together are not called jugalbandhis (like Mishra Brothers, Bombay Sisters or Parveen Sultana with Dilshaq Khan), since it is more of a collaboration rather than a bit of competition too, that makes Jugalbandhi so popular.

Earliest recorded jugalbandhi was with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan in the 60s. Being students of the same Guru, they were ideal JugalBandhi partners. Ustad Bismillah Khan's first jugalbandhi was with Ustad Vilayat Khan. Jugalbandhi of V.J.Jog's violin and Ustad Bismillah Khan's Shehnai, were recorded such that they played the notes from different octaves and were again very popular. Jog and Bismilla Khan recorded a series of Jugalbandhi's, just like Ravi Skankar and Ali Akbar Khan did. Nikhil Banerjee too was involved in several of them with Ali Akbar Khan.

The vocal jugalbandhi's are rare. There have been some involving Carnatic and Hindustani vocalists. There were a couple of them between Bhimsen Joshi and Balamuralikrishna which became popular. There have also been interesting ones like the one between Balamuralikrishna and Hariprasad Chaurasia.

Almost all top artists have now been performing in JugalBandhis.

All India Radio
Radio broadcasting started in India in 1927 with several private radio clubs. The operations of government controlled All India Radio began formally in 1936. At the time of independence there were just 6 stations covering about 10% of the population. But it was quickly expanded and became the primary means of communication of daily entertainment in most of India.

From the beginning AIR supported classical music. First National Programme of Music was broadcast in 1952 and First Radio Sangeet Sammelan was held in 1954. These became prestigious events where the best would participate. These programs would be broadcast all over country. National programme of music was a long event of 90 minute duration and was broadcast weekly. Radio Sangeet Sammelan was an annual event. With LPs only beginning to appear, these were the only avenues for most people to listen to long concerts of all the great masters. More than anything else, these programs made classical music popular among the middle class. Apart from these, local stations also broadcast classical music esp. in the south, AIR stations gave lot of support to Carnatic music. AIR also started promoting young artists by broadcasting their concerts, even though, not during peak time. Many great masters of today got introduced to national audience through this medium.

AIR also started hiring some lucky artists, esp. instrumentalists, as staff artists or program managers. This was an excellent way to promote music, since they had nothing else to do but concentrate on music. Some of them were to become leading artists later, like Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt. Pannalal Ghosh, Pt. V.G. Jog. Also, they started grading artists. Top artists would be called to give concerts frequently at AIR, which was always welcome. Even today, for most artists (esp. the young artists) AIR grading acts as an important recognition and goes into the resume. The negative side of such institutionalized patronage is that it is open to being manipulated. Regularly one hears about how political or personal influence is more important than talent in getting good grades in AIR.

LPs, Cassettes and other recording formats
In 1952, EMI launched its first 33 1/3 rpm microgroove Long Playing record, along with 7" diameter 45 rpm microgroove singles of both classical and pop music. In 1954, first 7", 45 rpm extended play (EP) record was launched. Soon, these vinyl records appeared in India too. The first microgroove record from Gramophone Co was introduced in 1958. These were 45 rpm 7" extended play (EP) records, which at 7 minutes played for double the time of a 78 rpm record. Of the early releases, one by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's (no.7EPE 1201) sarod recital record became very popular. In 1959, an LP record plant was established at the Dum Dum factory of Gramophone Company and it was inaugurated by Pt Ravishankar in May. The first LP record was released in June. In the first year about 125 LP records were issued. Around 1965, the first stereo LP was issued in India.

Unbreakable, long lasting and long playing records became very popular and slowly superceded the shellac 78s. Ultimately, the production of 78s was discontinued in late '70s. Thus, a long era of 3.5 minutes music on a gramophone record came to an end. LPs, with their 20 to 30 minutes a side recording length were a great hit with classical musicians, who were earlier highly restricted trying to present a Raaga in just 4 minutes. HMV ( i.e. Gramaphone company of India, controlled by RPG group) continued to produce LPs as the main format of music albums till 1985.

All the great artists of the day recorded LPs. Many of them became famous through this medium, even though, concerts ultimately determined the success of an artist. Interestingly, many artists were reluctant to record. One of the reasons was that they found the studio environment did not inspire them to give good performances. They had always depended on audience reaction to provide the inspiration and thrust for the improvisations. But, ultimately most of the great artists did finally record. Records of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and Kumar gandharva were to become major commercial successes. Many of these recordings, apart from a full rendition of a Raaga, would contain some light bhajan. Marathi Abhangs of Joshi, for eg. were very big hits. Still, LPs were still the preserve of the affluent sections of the society. The middle class still relied on All India Radio and local concerts for their classical music.

Compact audio cassette was invented by Philips in 1965, using 1/8-in. tape with 4-tracks running at 1-7/8 ips, allowing 30 or 45 minutes of stereo music per side. The compact size made it possible to manufacture small battery-powered versatile players that could be carried anywhere. In the west cassettes became the medium for personal music compilations, esp. for the car. LPs continued to be the preferred medium till compact disks came in the 80s.

But in India, the most significant development of the 1970's was the introduction of the cassette. The introduction, though was slow, as the companies could not import the machinery needed because of Government regulation high tariffs. That helped 'pirate' cassette concerns in Singapore and Thailand to saturate the Indian market for sound recordings with 'illegal' copies of much of HMV's Indian repertoire. The pirated cassettes and availability of cheap cassette players changed the Indian recording industry in a big way. A lot of new recording companies were formed, who undercut HMV in a big way. This shook the Gramaphone Company so badly, that it was plunged in to deep red. It had to be handed over to BIFR from which it has successfully emerged out as a market leader only in the latter half of 90's.

Inspite of their low-fidelity status, cassettes became immensely popular in India. They were cheap, portable and the players were cheap as well. For the first time, the middle class could get the kind of classical music they wanted to listen to and at the time of their convenience. While the LPs had brought classical music to the homes of the affluent, cassette tapes brought music to the homes of the middle class, numerically a much bigger group than the affluent. Though, HMV was late to come to the party numerous new companies came up, which would only produce cassettes. Especially, in the south, where HMV had traditionally relegated Carnatic music to the second rung, new companies like Sangeetha were a great boost to Carnatic music. A great many cassettes, not only of top artists like Subbalakshmi or Balamuralikrishna, but also of other popular concert artists were released. New companies in north like Music Today and Music India, did the same with Hindustani music and Ghazals.

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.

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 (Prasanna on Guitar).

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.

Technical Introduction

Swara - The note

Pitch is the musical name for the scientific term Frequency. It denotes the sound of a particular frequency. Since, all musical sounds (of a given pitch) actually constitute a combination of several frequencies, Pitch is more accurately, the predominant frequency of a sound. Given two sounds of two frequencies, the way we hear them comparatively has more to do with the ratio of their frequencies, rather than their difference i.e. we deal with geometric progressions. For eg. two frequencies which are exact multiples of two (i.e. ration of 2:1) have the highest consonance i.e. they make a pleasing sound together. Infact, in any natural sound, we not only get a fundamental (or dominant) frequency, say x, but also frequencies which are integer multiples, 2x, 3x, 4x etc, usually with decreasing intensity. This series of integer multiple frequencies are called overtones or harmonics (from which words like harmony and harmonium come). Also, the predominant frequency and its second hormonic (i.e. 2x ) are said to be an octave away from each other. Similarly a ratio of 10 is called a decade. The human audible range is usually given as 20Hz to 20,000 Hz, though with age it becomes difficult to hear the highest frequencies. Here, 20Hz and 40Hz are an octave away. 20Hz and 200Hz have a difference of a decade. 20Hz to 200Hz is called the bass decade (or just bass, pronounced base), 200Hz to 2000Hz is the middle decade and 2KHz to 20KHz is the upper decade. The middle decade is the most important part of the spectrum as for as human audibility goes.

Saptaka - The Octave

A note is a sound of a definite pitch. It is also sometimes called a tone. The Indian name for a Note is Swara (or svara). An Octave refers to a range of notes, with the highest one being two times in frequency compared to the first. Traditionally, in both Indian and western music, music is thought to be made of seven notes. The note after that, i.e. the eighth note would be double in frequency compared to the first. That is the reason for the name Octave (Okt- the root meaning eight in Indo-European). The Indian name for the range of frequencies forming one octave is Saptak i.e. made up of seven notes. Other names for saptak are Sthayi (sanskrit) or Mandala (dravidian).

Just a note and its overtones can't be used to create music. We need a series of notes. The series of notes have to be such that when used with each other, a pleasant experience results. This series of notes is called a scale, or more correctly, a series of notes differing in pitch according to a specific scheme is called a scale. Traditionally, the Octave is made up of, or divided into, 7 basic notes, the Indian name being SaptaSwara (sapta - seven, swara-note). They are denoted as Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. After Ni comes Sa', this time, double in pitch compared to the first Sa i.e. an octave higher. Usually three octaves are recognized. The middle octave, most used, is called Madhya Saptaka. The lower octave is called Mandra Saptaka and the higher one Taara Saptaka. So, for eg., if the basic reference note Sa is at 240Hz, Mandra saptak would be 120-240 Hz, Madhya Saptak would be 240-480 Hz and Taara Saptak would be 480-960 Hz.

#	Name	Called	Symbol
1	Shadja	Sa	S
2	Rishabha	Re/Ri	R
2	Gandhara	Ga	G
4	Madhyama	Ma	m
5	Panchama	Pa	P
6	Dhaivatha	Dha	D
7	Nishada	Ni	N

Scales

From ancient times, musicians have noticed that music sounds coherent / sweet / natural only when the notes used are in to each other. The smaller the numbers used in the ratio, better the coherence and naturalness. The ratio 2:1 of course, yields an octave. The use of other simple ratios 3:2, 4:3, 5:3, 5:4, 9:8, 15:8 yield the other natural notes making up the seven pure notes of an octave, which can be expressed in terms of ratios as - 1, 9/8, 5/4, 4/3, 3/2, 5/3, 15/8. But, most musical systems of the world use more than seven notes to an octave. Western music, for example, uses twelve. The Indian octave , from ancient times, has been divided into 22 notes, called Shruthi (microtones), since it was thought that 22 distinguishable notes exist in an octave. But, the 22 shruthis have been approximated to 12 notes by musicologists. The other 5 notes out of 12 notes are also got by the use of ratio of natural numbers.

Depending on the exact scheme used to develop the scale, different scales can be made. Indian scales use notes derived using natural number ratios. In western music too, natural scales were used until a couple of centuries ago, when they were replaced by first well tempered and then equally tempered scales. Table 2 shows the various scales, their frequencies, ratios and cents. Bhatkhande's values are taken as representative Hindustani values and S. Mukund's (Sangeetha Laalithya Lahari, 1989) values as representative of Carnatic.

Scales
Hindustani	Western Eq.	Bhatkhande	Natural	Equal	S. Mukund	Carnatic
Name	Abbr.		Hz	cents	Hz	cents	Ratio	Hz	cents	Hz	cents	Abbr.	Name
Shadja	S	C	261.63	0	261.63	0	1	261.63	0	261.63	0	S	Shadja
Komal Rishab	r	Db	277.03	99	279.07	112	16/15	277.18	100	282.52	133	R1	Shudha Rishabha
Shudh Rishab	R	D	294.35	204	294.33	204	9/8	283.66	200	294.35	204	R2	Theevra Rishabha
Komal Gandhar	g	Eb	314.02	316	313.96	316	6/5	311.13	300	314.02	316	G1	Shudha Gandhara
Shudh Gandhar	G	E	328.49	394	327.04	386	5/4	329.63	400	328.49	394	G2	Theevra Gandhara
Madhyam	m	F	348.83	498	348.84	498	4/3	349.23	500	348.83	498	M1	Shudha Madhyama
Prathi Madhyam	M	F#	369.36	597	370.64	603	17/12	369.99	600	375.17	624	M2	Theevra Madhyama
Pancham	P	G	392.46	702	392.45	702	3/2	392	700	392.46	702	P	Panchama
Komal Dhaivath	d	Ab	415.55	801	418.61	814	8/5	415.3	800	423.79	835	D1	Shudha Dhaivatha
Shudh Dhaivath	D	A	441.54	906	436.05	884	5/3	440	900	441.54	906	D2	Theevra Dhaivatha
Komal Nishadh	n	Bb	471.04	1018	470.93	1018	9/5	466.16	1000	471.04	1018	N1	Shudha Nishadha
Shudh Nishadh	N	B	492.75	1096	490.56	1088	15/8	493.88	1100	492.75	1096	N2	Theevra Nishadha
Thaara Shadja	S'	C	523.26	1200	523.26	1200	2/1	523.26	1200	523.26	1200	S'	Thaara Shadja