Monday, May 26, 2014
Friday, May 9, 2014
Musicologist... by an unorthodox route
In 1967, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, made the mistake of giving me admission to the 2-year full-time MBA programme. There was no possibility of correcting that error. So, 45 years after I graduated, the institute decided to acknowledge similar mistakes by running a special feature on performing arts in the The IIMA Alumnus magazine. In the pages of this feature, I find myself in the distinguished company of people like Mallika Sarabhai. They asked me to recount my life in music. I am sharing here what I wrote.
By the time I joined IIM-A (age: 19), I had received about
12 years of training as a sitarist,
become a respectable performer, and also advanced substantially towards
a respectable diploma in Hindustani music. I was at IIM because a performing
career in music was an unacceptable risk, and an academic career in musicology
looked unattractive. But, music wasn’t
going away anywhere.
After graduation, I continued to learn and practice the
sitar, as I pursued careers in media research, business journalism, periodical
publishing, and financial consultancy. Between 1986 and 1992, I enjoyed a short stint
as a performing musician, winning respect for my command over the instrument,
and the soundness of my approach to music.
The performing life was heady, but not sustainable at my
level of musicianship. The economics of it were absurd, and each concert demanded
preparatory practice of at least six to eight hours a day for a whole month. Besides,
I wasn’t anybody’s idea of a future Ravi Shankar or Vilayat Khan. So, it made
sense to seek a less insecure place for myself in the music world.
The opening came in the early 1990’s in the form of an
invitation from the late Mr. N Pattabhiraman, Editor of SRUTI magazine, to
contribute critical essays on Hindustani music. Thus was launched my career as
a musicologist. Around the same time,
India Archive Music Ltd. (IAM), a New York based specialist producer of
Hindustani music, commissioned me to write musicological commentaries on CDs
produced by them. Between 1995 and 2004, I wrote commentaries of 8000-10,000
words each for over a 100 of their CDs. The commentaries helped IAM emerge as
the most successful and influential producer of Hindustani music outside India.
By 2004, SRUTI had published perhaps fifteen of my critical
essays, and IAM had received over a million words of commentary written by me.
The SRUTI Editors, and the owners of India Archive Music encouraged me to recast
the knowledge-base I had created in the form of books. The manuscript of my
first book “Hindustani Music – a tradition in transition” was accepted by DK
Printworld, New Delhi and published in January 2005. Then came “Khayal Vocalism
– Continuity within change” in 2009, and “Hindustani Music Today” in 2012. My fourth book “The Raga-ness of Raga-s” is
scheduled for release by June-July 2014. The fifth book, written partially
under a Senior Research Fellowship of the Ministry of culture, Government of
India, is likely to be published by end-2015.
Not having
trained as a musicologist, I could never address the academic community in a
language that it respected. My stance, as a writer on music, could only be that
of a serious student of music – at best a connoisseur -- sharing his
understanding of the tradition with other seekers of knowledge and insight. Despite this, it appears that the content and
style of my writings have come to appeal -- in varying degrees -- to both these
segments. Access to connoisseurs is the more gratifying of the two because they
engage actively with the performing tradition, and are a part of the quality
control mechanism that regulates the art.
By any
financial yardstick, music has been a loss-making department of life. This
seems a small price to pay for the credit side, which is unquantifiable… and
priceless.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Raga Lalit: Tonal geometry and melodic mischief
Lalit
is amongst the older and more popular ragas of the Hindustani system. It bears
a close resemblance to raga Lalitha of the Carnatic system. The two ragas
are considered manifestations of the same traditional melodic idea.
Lalit
(also called Lalat) is a hexatonic raga prescribed for performance in the
pre-sunrise hours. In the contemporary context, it has found a niche for itself
in the three-hour period after sunrise. Some musicological texts approve
of this timing. The melodic contours of the raga have also changed during
this century. Its older form is still in occasional practice. Its popular
contemporary form is, however, most relevant for present day listeners. (swara
material:S r G M M^ d N).
The
melodic personality of Lalit is dominated by the rare, probably unique, use
of the two Ma swara-s (shuddha and tivra). Lalit features the use of the two Ma
swara-s sequentially
in the ascent as well as the descent. This is an exception to the
general rule for ragas using both pitches of any swara (natural and flat or natural
and sharp). In such cases of twin-swara usage, the the general rule is that the
raga is permitted to use only one of the two in the ascent, the other being
used in the descent. Their
sequential use in either direction is generally considered improper. The importance
of this feature of Lalit is enhanced by the fact that the shuddha (natural)
Ma is the vadi-swara, the pivotal around which the raga revolves.
In
its predominant contemporary form, Lalit uses flat (komal) swara for Dh. Bhatkhande,,
writing in the 1930's considered the natural (Shuddha) Dh swara as
proper for Lalit, while acknowledging that the flat (Komal) Dh usage also had
textual validation. He also recognized that, because of the dominance of twin-Ma
usage in the melodic personality of the raga, the choice of either of the
alternative Dh swara-s does not materially influence the distinctive Lalit effect.(Bhatkhande
Sangeet Shastra Vol.III Ed.LN Garg, Sangeet Karyalaya, Hathras,
Third Hindi edition, 1984.Pg.304-321),
Bhatkhande
described Lalit as uttaranga-pradhan, a raga whose center of gravity
is in the upper tetrachord. Bhatkhande might now be obsolete with respect
to this description. Traditional and modern compositions, considered collectively,
betray the compelling grip of the twin-Ma usage in the mid-octave
region over the composer's mind. The raga may now be more appropriately classified
as madhyanga-pradhan.
Lalit
has two facets to its personality: the geometric, and the melodic. Bhatkhande
provides the basic clue to both these facets. He recommends treating
the scale, notionally, as a two-part, discontinuous scale, split between
the two Ma swara-s, with Shuddha Ma on one side, and the tivra on the other.
This gives you S-r-G-M and M^-d-N-S.
This
division does not yield symmetrical or congruent units. To achieve this balance,
the scale gets redefined, for
phraseological purposes, in first-fifth
correspondence: N.-r-G-M and M^-d-N-S'. These divisions, considered separately
but in correspondence, provide the acoustic basis for the geometry. Lalit
releases its distinctive fragrance by treating these scale divisions as discontinuous,
and in fusing them together. The welding takes place between the
Shuddha and tivra Ma swara-s, with the support of either Ga below or Dh above.
This joinery gives the raga its defining, and unique, melodic personality.
The
raga has a third, but unintended, facet, which can surface due to the inept
or mischievous handling of the dominance of the shuddha (natural) Ma in the
raga. With excessive or inattentive improvisation around shuddha Ma, it is easy
to create an aural illusion of Ma as the scale-base. The results can be quaint.
If
Ma becomes, even momentarily, the notional scale base in the listener's mind,
Lalit starts sounding like Todi. Interestingly, one significant gharana of
vocal music explicitly teaches Lalit as Todi sung to scale-base at Ma, and does
so without ridiculous results.
Lalit phrasing: G M d M^ M
Todi
illusion: N S g r S
Lalit phrasing: N d M^ d M^ M
Todi
illusion: M^ g r g r S
Lalit phrasing: r' N d M^ d M^ M
Todi
illusion : d M^ g r g r S
Orthodox
musicians calculatedly avoid such risks. Contemporary musicians occasionally
take delight in the raga's potential for mischief, allowing the illusion
to persist for a while before restoring the relationship of the phrasing
to base-Sa.
The
Ma/Sa confusion is relevant also to the tuning of instruments. Because Lalit
does not use the Pa swara, vocalists tune their tanpuras to Ma-Sa-Sa-Sa. If
Ma replaces the Sa as the scale-base in the listener's mind, the Sa on the tanpura
begins to sound like Pa, which is forbidden in the raga. The danger of such
slippage is generally negligible in sitar and the sarod music, where the second
string and the chikaris, tuned to Sa do not allow the scale-base to relent
for any significant duration.
The
chalan (distinctive phraseology) provides the defining contours of the raga's
melodic personality. The scale divisions permit the improvisational process
to explore its potential for symmetric, geometric as well kaleidoscopic
tonal patterns. And, the Ma/Sa double-entendre makes the raga pregnant
with an element of wit. Lalit is thus rich in musical potential.
Bhatkhande
has described Lalit as a raga of serious temperament. The standard Lalit
of his times uses Shuddha Dh, and omits Ni in the ascent (M^-D-S'). The contemporary
Lalit uses komal Dh, and permits the ascent to use Ni (M^-d-N-S') without
prohibiting the traditional ascent (M^-d-S'). With this change, the raga
has shed some of its robust quality, but sharpened its poignancy.
The seriousness
of the original Lalit has now tilted towards pathos. To appreciate this,
we merely need to observe what the "Lalit effect" does when blended
with raga Gauri in Lalita-Gauri
and when dovetailed to Sohini in Lalita-Sohini. It makes them weep.
(c) India Archive Music, New York.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Seasonal raga-s in Hindustani music
Musicologist, Prof. Ashok Ranade often observed that Hindustani music is deeply engaged with the three major cycles affecting human life – the cycle of birth and death, the cycle of day and night, and the cycle of the four seasons. While specific Raga-s are not associated with birth and death, the tradition does prescribe the appropriate time of the day/ night for the performance of most, if not all, Raga-s, and also features several seasonal Raga-s.
The seasonal perspective on Raga-s is a distinctly North Indian perspective not shared currently by the Carnatic tradition, and for probably understandable reasons. Being closer to the equator, the Southern Peninsula does not experience as dramatic a change in the physical environment through the year as does the Northern heartland.
As matter of academic interest, the Hindu calendar divides the year into six distinct seasons, and the tradition appears to have prescribed Raga-s for performance in each of these seasons.
Manasollasa, a treatise written by Someshwara (1131 AD) provides insights into this dimension of musicological thought.
1. Spring (months: Chaitra and Vaisakha): Raga Vasanta/ its Ragini-s
2. Summer (months: Jyeshtha and Ashadha): Raga Bhairava/ its Ragini-s
3. Monsoons (months: Shravana and Bhadrapada): Raga Megh/ its Ragini-s.
4. Autumn (months: Ashwin and Kartika): Raga Panchama/ its Ragini-s
5. Early winter (months: Margashirsha and Paush): Raga Natanarayana/ its Ragini-s.
6. Deep winter (months: Magha and Phalguna): Raga Shree/its Ragini-s
(From: Semiosis in Hindustani Music, Jose Luiz Martinez, First edition, 2001, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi)
While the scholarly tradition supports a wide scope for seasonal Raga-s, the enthusiasm of the performing tradition has been limited largely to Vasanta (spring) and Varsha (rainy season/ the monsoons). There seems to be a good reason for this bias.
In the climatic experience of Northern India, spring and the monsoons have special significance. Spring brings relief from the severity of Northern winters, while the monsoons bring relief from the oppressive heat of the Northern summer. Both seasons signify nature rejuvenating itself. Understandably, therefore, the popular seasonal Raga-s are associated primarily with these seasons.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Becoming familiar with the genres
When exposed to Hindustani music, the novice listener needs
to figure out what is going on. The
answer to this query depends on the genre in which the music is being
performed. Each genre has a different way of manifesting the Raga (the Commanding
Form) as a communicable Form. These different
“ways” are represented in the pre-composed element of Raga rendition, along with the different improvisatory movements hosted by each genre. And, indeed, each musician also
has a different approach to deploying the genre for delivering the Raga to his
listeners in communicable form.
The principal genres on the contemporary scene are Khayal
vocalism, Dhrupad (vocal and instrumental), and the modern genre of the plucked
string instruments, heard mainly on the Sitar, Sarod, the Hawaiian guitar and
the Santoor.
The
first step, then: Assemble ten recordings of Khayal
vocalism, each of a different Raga, performed by different musicians. Listen to
each recording several times over. Your musical mind will identify for you what
is common to all the recordings, isolated from the influence of the different
Raga-s and different musicians performing them. That, which is common to all
these recordings, is the architecture of the Khayal genre.
The
second step.
Assemble ten recordings of Dhrupad – vocal and Rudra Veena -- each
featuring a different Raga, and performed preferably by different musicians. Listen
to each recording several times over. Your musical mind will identify for you
what is common to all the recordings, isolated from the influence of the
different Raga-s and different musicians performing them. That, which is common
to all these recordings, is the architecture of the Dhrupad genre.
The
third step: Assemble ten recordings of instrumental music
on the major string instruments – Sitar, Sarod, Hawaiian guitar, and Santoor. They
should all be of different Ragas, preferably performed by different musicians. Listen to each recording several times over.
Your musical mind will identify for you what is common to all the recordings,
isolated from the influence of the different Raga-s and different musicians
performing them. That, which is common to all these recordings, is the
architecture of the modern instrumental genre of the plucked string instruments.
Once you start anticipating the movements typical of each
genre while listening to a concert -- any concert -- you have made decent progress towards becoming a connoisseur. This does not mean there will be no surprises. But, being able to identify them will itself be a source of delight.
Understanding the Raga
An aspirant to the appreciation of Hindustani music will generally
start with two questions in his mind: What is a Raga? And, how do I
differentiate one Raga from another?
What is a Raga? A renowned music critic once observed that writing about music was as useful as dancing about architecture. So, critics
and musicologists have their limitations as cultivators of public taste. There are as many definitions of the Raga as
there are authors on the subject. None of them is a substitute for direct
encounters with Raga-ness.
How do I differentiate one Raga from another? Once a
listener gets a reasonable grip on what a Raga is, the differentiation of one
Raga from another becomes possible through exposures to multiple Ragas.
The first step, then: Take any one Raga. Start with a simple Raga, like Malkauns. Go
out and get ten recordings of the Raga by ten different musicians performing
the same Raga, preferably in different genres. A few in Khayal vocalism. A few
in instrumental music. A few in Dhrupad
or Dhamar. Listen to each recording several times. Your musical mind will
begin to identify what is common to all the recordings. And that, which is
common to all of them, is the Raga-ness of Malkauns.
Second step: Now,
take another Raga, an allied Raga like Chandrakauns. In this Raga, you could find Khayal,
instrumental, Dhrupad, and even Ghazal recordings. Repeat the same procedure as
followed for Malkauns. Your musical mind will now identify the Raga-ness of
Chandrakauns. In addition, it will tell you how the Raga-ness of Malkauns
differs from that of Chandrakauns. These
differentiators are what constitutes the Raga-ness of Ragas.
If such a procedure is repeated across several Raga-s –
whether purposively or otherwise -- your musical mind will also identify the
dimensions of Raga-ness: the various attributes by which Raga-s are
distinguished from one another. And,
from this point on, you have taken an important step towards becoming a connoisseur.
Appreciating Hindustani music
The joys of any art grow with the awareness of its governing
principles. This is true also of Hindustani music.
A Hindustani musician shapes his rendition under the discipline of two governing forms. The first is the Raga which constitutes its “Commanding
Form”. But, though the Raga is a definitive and recognizable form, it is a “formless Form” in the sense of not being a composition. It manifests itself in communicable form through
the appropriately sequenced movements (the architecture) of the second regulatory form – the genre in which it is
performed.
A connoisseur of Hindustani music has intimate knowledge of both
these forms – the Commanding Form and the Manifest Form. Through an
understanding of these two, he is able to gain insights into the
individualistic manner in which the Commanding Form has been visualized by the
musician for communication. It is these insights that are the source of his
delight in the exposure to Hindustani music, and differentiate him from the
average music lover.
The aspirant to the status of a connoisseur needs therefore to cultivate
his understanding of two facets of the tradition -- Raga-ness as the principle of aesthetically coherent and emotionally suggestive creation, and of the various genres, as the principle for the organisation of musical material. Neither of these facets is
satisfactorily understood by reading books on music. They may be partially understood by
undergoing a decade or two of training in music under a competent Guru. For those who do not have this benefit, but
have the sharp ears and cultivated mind as the basic equipment, appreciation
can be cultivated by an intensive and extensive exposure to performances and
recordings.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Is Hindustani music your kettle of fish?
Hindustani music is obviously not music for everyone. Music industry sources have reported that, for several decades, the share of this segment of the market has remained stable at between 1.5% and 2%. They also observe that the audience for Hindustani music primarily middle-aged and senior (45+). This is understandable because the appreciation of this music requires two basic qualifications at a respectable level of sophistication – pitch differentiation and pattern recognition. Age need not be a barrier except in the sense that it could define music lovers who have outgrown frivolous music, which elicits only an animated physical response.
In simple language, this music demands sharp ears, and a cultivated mind. If these minimum conditions are satisfied, the aspiring aesthete still has to commit time, intellect and emotional energy over a period of time to the refinement of receptivity.
And, what are its rewards?
Like any art, Hindustani music is a pathway to a richer emotional life. The aesthetic exposure to a wide range of emotional experiences (Sagunatmaka) brings within reach the experience of pure delight that transcends everyday notions of pleasure (Nirgunatmaka). According to the Indian tradition, it even takes you towards bliss, which belongs to the territory of mystical experience. If these rewards have any appeal for you, you can train yourself to receive them.
Hindustani Music and Aesthetics Today
Sushil Kumar Saxena
First Edition 2009
Sangeet Nataka Akademi
in association with
Hope India Publications
Pages: 471. Hard cover: Rs. 995/-
This book has no precedent. It is a pioneering attempt to look at Hindustani music in the way of contemporary aesthetics. The ways we talk about experience, or evaluate music. as also its composition and overt performance, have been given due attention in this work.
In other words. reflection on music here proceeds along the three major ways in which aesthetics is being pursued (in the West) today - that is. not only the linguistic-analytic and phenomenological approaches, but the one that looks at art as a kind of world-making.
Correspondingly. the contents of this book can be put under three different heads: (a) an attempt to determine the full aesthetic significance. as against the traditionally specified (verbal) meanings of the key words that are used in respect of the elements and different genres of our music; (b) discussion of concepts like aesthetic attitude. experience. and point of view as they relate to Hindustani music; and (c) analysis of the devices through which the structure and actual singing of a Dhruvapad, Dhamar, Khayal, or Tarana is (or can be) invested with some extra appea l- all duly buttressed with notational analysis of some actual compositions.
The author is incisive in his discussion of problems such as: (a) Is musical time different from, or identical with, time as we experience it in daily life; (b) How can we distinguish the form from the content of a work in the region of an occurent art like music or rhythm, (c) Can rhythm be regarded as an autonomous art and (d) How can our music be said to be spiritual?
This book may be expected to encourage readers to think about Hindustani music along lines that have not been systematically explored so far.
Sushil Kumar Saxena (1920-2013), formerly Professor of Philosophy at Delhi University, was amongst the most respected and original thinkers on the aesthetics of Hindustani music, rhythm and Kathak dance, with several pioneering works to his credit. He was a Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi and of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research. He was also decorated with the Padma Bhushan by the President of India.
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