Indian notes on a world high

Playing to the gallery: Indian notes on a world high

On June 29, 1987, world music formally became a genre to be marketed. India has capitalized on that and struck a chord globally

Simon Broughton


With wild hair and intense eyes, the godfather of world music smiles benignly. It was George Harrison, the former Beatle, who came up with that description of Ravi Shankar. It was sweet of George, says Shankar modestly, and perhaps in a way it is true, but it was Yehudi Menuhin who saw the possibilities. It was over half a century ago that sitarist Ravi Shankar and violinist Yehudi Menuhin first performed on stage in Paris. It was the start of the Wests serious interest in world music the first time a musician from another tradition had been given equal billing with a western classical performer. No surprise that the riches and complexities of Indian music have fascinated the West ever since.
Shankar still remembered that Menuhin collaboration as a significant moment when i talked to him at the time of his Farewell to Europe concert in June last year. It was a unique concert because i think it was the first time East and West met on the concert stage. I remember Yehudi was most impressed because i improvised spontaneously and never had anything written down. Their subsequent album West Meets East won a Grammy in 1967 in the Chamber Music category , as there was no World Music category till 1991. And the godfather went on defying categories to influence jazz musicians John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Buddy Rich and, famously, the worlds most celebrated pop group, The Beatles although it was George Harrison who actually played sitar on Norwegian Wood . But with performances at Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, Woodstock in 1969 and working with Harrison on the Concert for Bangladesh , the first major music charity concert in 1971, Ravi Shankar was the groundbreaking pioneer for Indian musicians on the world music scene.
There have been many others in the intervening years embracing many different styles of music Indo-Jazz , fiery percussion , Bollywood and the spiritual one of the enduring fascinations of India for the West.
Shakti, formed in 1975, featured English guitarist John McLaughlin, with top Indian musicians from North and South, including tabla player Zakir Hussain. They exploited the jazz-like , improvisatory character of Indian music, but like all the best collaborations, its success wasnt based on any formula but on the instrumental skill of the musicians and their responsiveness to each other.
Zakir Hussain has probably been as prolific as Ravi Shankar, being the tabla player of choice for musicians across the globe. He started working with drummer Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead and with percussionists from Nigeria, Brazil and Puerto Rico recorded Planet Drum , which won the World Music Grammy the first year they had one in 1991. Its probably largely thanks to him that the tabla has become one of the most-widely used drums in the world.
The other musician from South Asia to have a profound influence on the world music scene was the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The Pakistani qawwali singer was already well-known on the subcontinent when he started touring the West in the mid-80 s. First, he was mainly performing for Asian audiences , but thanks to Peter Gabriel and the WOMAD festival, reached a much wider audience. It was Mustt Mustt that took his music worldwide . Despite his death in 1997, Nusrats music is still being reworked and qawwali, and other forms of Sufi music from the subcontinent, remain very popular on the world music scene.
Today, the musician whos caught the attention of the West is A R Rahman, thanks to his soundtrack for the multi-Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. In India he came to fame with his music for Bombay (1994) and Rangeela (1995), his first Hindi feature. While the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack has been lavishlypraised and awarded, the scores for his stage musicals Bollywood Dreams and Lord of the Rings (with Finnish band Vrttin ) are pretty vapid. But commercially, Rahman is more successful than Ravi Shankar ever was.
Shankar, aside from leading the way, has left a legacy in the form of his daughter. Anoushka is carrying on his illustrious tradition not only in her sitar playing, but with her recent fusion project with Karsh Kale, Breathing Under Water . And a new name to watch out for is Kiran Ahluwalia born in Bihar , but relocated to Toronto aged nine. Shes a ghazal singer, who studied with Vithal Rao and writes her own music. On her album Wanderlust , Ahluwalia sings in Urdu and Punjabi, but gives her music a new twist. My music is a representation of my personality, she says. Beyond my birth in India, growing up in Canada and now living in New York, im a person of the world and the world is there to influence me whether its Portuguese fado or trancey African grooves. I dont only sing traditional songs, i want to create a new genre. World music from India just keeps on coming.

WATCH OUT FOR



1.

Kaushiky Chakrabarty (classical vocalist)

2.

Kala Ramnath (violinist)

3.

Kiran Ahluwalia (nu-ghazal singer)

4.

Susheela Raman (singer)

5.

Niraj Shag (composer and producer)

Unravelling mystery of music

CITY CITY BANG BANG

Unravelling mystery of music

SANTOSH DESAI




Pandit Ravi Shankar’s face tells us the story of music. It is a face creased with orgasm; and not of the sexual kind. The bliss of music has imprinted itself into his face, and every line in it is in fact a connection to something infinite and sublime. His face is in some ways a map of the universe with every wrinkle a longitude of rapture. His face speaks for the power of music, something all of us experience in our own ways but are rarely able to explain or even fully comprehend.

It is as if music defies all attempts at definition. We recognise music when we hear it but it is otherwise very difficult to describe. Music has rhythm, but not all rhythmic sounds are music; it has melody but a bird’s call, however melodious is not music. Music is a language that cannot be translated; it can be expressed only in terms of itself. It speaks to a part of us that language does not reach; it is experienced at a level deeper than the intellect. We feel music rather than grasp it. We respond to music, rather than understand it.

And this is not true only of the high classical form practised by Ravi Shankar, but of all music. Our fingers tap, our feet move, our eyes close as if by themselves when we listen to music. Music transports us to a place beyond our individual selves. We are connected to a larger universal force, we feel immersed in something powerful and inviting. We are lost to ourselves as we shut our eyes to exclude ourselves from this world for a temporary citizenship of the universe. Through music, the universe seems to be speaking directly to something deep inside us; nature appears to be reclaiming itself from within us.

In some ways, music is a device that makes time beautiful. It is nothing but sound draped over time; it serves to make time voluptuous. Music gives shape and form to time; time is rendered liquid in the hands of music. We experience time emotionally when we listen to music. Music steals meaning from time; it snatches beauty from its bland emptiness.

Music is perhaps a tangible representation of the life force that runs inside us. Starting from the rhythm of the heart beat which forms the most basic musical structure, melody lends a sense of fluid continuity to the idea of life. We dance to music in acknowledgement of the power of this new language to speak to our bodies and make it do things that our mind may not always understand or even approve of. Cultures that can dance are those that are connected to nature and ooze primal power.

Music intensifies our emotions and makes us feel things more keenly. It speaks to grief in the language of sorrow and to joy in the language of bliss. Words in songs serve to raise the emotional payload delivered by the music. Words work when they express the intent of the music in terms we can retain. By articulating the meaning of the music, words help songs occupy a place in our lives. They give music a name and identity; songs socialise music by giving it a context.

Music is all about fluidity, continuity and immersive universality. It tells us that bliss of the kind that Pt Ravi Shankar experiences comes from losing ourselves in the vastness of music and not in the singularity of our individual existence. It argues against breaking down things into its component parts and for experiencing them in their fluid entirety. It is a compelling advertisement for the fact that as human beings we respond from deep within ourselves to universal themes in a universal way. But perhaps because music does not speak in the fragmented language of the individual, because it hums its songs in its own language to itself, we enjoy music without grasping the idea behind it. The musically gifted are almost always deeply spiritual; for others, the message of music is lost in translation.

santoshdesai1963@indiatimes.com

Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com

LAGAN LAGI TUM SE MAN KI LAGAN

An excellent song from a little known movie named paap. However, the song by Nusrat Fateh ali Khan is very good. Download link is

http://www.bollyextreme.com/download/4343.html

RABBI SHERGILL

The download link for the song mentioned in the last post and other songs of Rabbi Shergill is


http://www.bollyextreme.com/album/75/album.html

BULLA KI JANA MAIN KAUN -- RABBI SHERGILL

This is a beautiful punjabi song. the music left me spellbound. Am trying to locate an easy download site for the song as well as lyrics.

RARE OLD HINDI SONGS

Today I found a site with dozens of old hindi songs freely available for download. The address is

http://www.indianscreen.com/

TREASUREHOUSE

Stumbled upon this virtual treasurehouse of old Hindi film music while browsing the web.
all the songs are freely available for download and the files are also not very heavy.

http://films.hindi-movies-songs.com/index-listen.html