by shen » Fri Nov 02, 2007 12:41 pm
Questions:
1. What made you to learn Indian Classical Music or the specific classical instrument that you are learning or you play proficiently? Why did you get attract to the particular instrument that you are master of?
Chance and fate. I was interested in world music and was doing weekly African drumming workshops. I decided to buy a drum via the Trading Post (second-hand goods newspaper), but instead found sitar and tabla which looked interesting. My African drumming teacher recommended my tabla teacher, whose father in India turned out to be an old master. Had I found a sitar teacher first I may have become a sitar player.
At the time my thinking in learning tabla was that it contains so many sounds and rhythms, that if I studied this instrument I would be able to play any percussion instrument. To some small extent that may be true but in fact tabla’s technique is so unique and specialised that has so much depth that there’s now no question of me playing other instruments. The more I’ve studied tabla the more I’ve fallen in love with it and derived greater and greater satisfaction.
At the same time, circumstances all along the way have always encouraged me to continue with tabla. For example, after first returning from India, even though I had only a few months’ experience on an instrument which takes years to master, I was invited to join several bands and soon became quite busy performing music. This encouraged me to give up my “other life” (postgrad engineering studies) to devote myself entirely to tabla.
2. A very few non-Indians are Indian classical vocalists. Why is it so? Can you speculate on this?
The main reason is probably language. Learning vocal requires the study of Hindi, Sanskrit and/or other languages, which are not necessary when learning instrumental music.
Vocal music is generally less appealing to non-Indian listeners, mostly due to language difficulties but also due to the fact that vocal music spends much more time in the slower stages of rendering a raga. Vocal music often uses very slow taals (such as vilambit ektaal) which are not so easy to understand as even vilambit teentaal in instrumental music. Instrumental music is much more exciting and spans a wider range of speeds and notes. Indian instruments are also visually very appealing and exotic, whereas people sing all around the world. For all these reasons, most non-Indian listeners enjoy instrumental music more. As most non-Indian students of ICM are first listeners, this explains why there are fewer non-Indian students of vocal music than instrumental music.
3. How long have you been learning or you learnt Indian Classical Music?
13 years.
4. Is it hard to find a guru in Australia? What did you do to find a guru in Australia?
I’ve explained the story of meeting my first guru above (question 1).
I think that it is not so hard to find Indian music teachers in Australia, but it can be very difficult to find a teacher one would consider a guru. The standard of musicianship in Australia is nothing like that in India, so while there are plenty of teachers who can give initial training, I think there are few who are of such a high level that they could successfully guide a devoted student through many years of development and continue to inspire their student.
5. Do you know about Tal system and Rag system? How are they different from the aspects of Western Classical Music or Jazz Music? Are they really unique?
I don’t know so much about Ragas as I have never formally studied them. My knowledge of Taal is mostly practical as my guru-ji never taught pure ICM theory.
I find such questions irrelevant as music is in the moment. In the moment of playing there are no rules. If I play with western musicians I try to relate in the moment and try to play in such a way that encourages the musicians to listen to each other. It’s not important if one person calls it 6/8 and another Dadara.
6. In Tal, you begin from Sam (the beginning beat) and you have to stop at Sam (the beginning beat) only. Like in Teen-tal, you can’t stop at on the sixteenth beat, you need to come up to the first beat which is the Sam of Teen-tal. Once I asked my guru- ‘why is it so?’ My guru said, ‘This is how it is.’ Do you know why Tal has to finish and begin at Sam only?
Sam is the main accent of a Taal. Tihais lead to Sam with the expectation of a strong accent. (My guru’s guru Kanthe Maharaj said that a tihai should cause everyone to rise from their seat in expectation of Sam.) Not playing Sam would be like cooking without eating, like sex without climax. As I mentioned before, I’m not particularly concerned with questions of theory. Once you have listened to and/or played ICM for any length of time, why would you not finish on Sam?
That said, leaving Sam empty during improvisations is very effective. While we would usually finish tihais with a strong Dha, it can be constructed to finish with an empty note or alternative note. Another example is the innovative playing of Suresh Talwarkar who often plays whole tabla solos accenting 16 instead of 1.
But even in these cases all the players still know where Sam is, so perhaps it can be said that the purpose of accenting Sam is as the primary reference point to facilitate the musicians playing together.
Another reason for the importance of Sam is based on the way in which Indian laya is used, especially in early days of practicing – the same rhythm is played single speed, double, maybe triple, quadruple, etc. It’s a like a wave and its harmonics, starting and finishing from the same zero point whether there are 1, 2, 3, 4 or more waves in the same duration.
7. They great Indian Masters of music learned music at their guru’s home; they lived with the guru and devoted their whole life for the music. Do you feel it is essential to live with a guru for learning Indian classical music? If yes, then why?
I never lived with my guru, although I did live nearby and visit him every afternoon.
So I don’t think it’s essential to live with your guru, but it’s certainly essential to devote oneself to the music and to one’s guru. It is such vast music, there’s so much to learn, that it’s only possible with strong devotion and continued practice. The music has to be internalised like a language. As long as it remains a hobby which only gets a fraction of one’s energy, this will never happen.
8. Pedagogy of Indian classical music is highly dependant on the oral tradition of disseminating music, which is why learners have to overdepend on their gurus. Do you think there is a need of availability of quality material in other forms like CDs, DVDs, and books? Is there easy availability of written material on Indian classical music?
Generally speaking I would say that it’s very important for the guru to provide feedback and constantly mould the student. It takes many years to develop all the necessary aspects of a musician, and I don’t believe this can be done by the student themselves just be watching DVDs and reading books. Listening to music by a range of musicians is a very important part of study though, and there is no shortage of recordings of high quality artists.
My guru said there are 3 important parts to study: “Dikha, Shikha, Pariksha” – “See, Study, Research”. This means the student should See people performing music (not only their guru), Study from their guru, and Research and practise their own material. CDs, DVDs and books can certainly help with this, but I don’t believe they can take the place of a guru.
9. It is said that Music has no language. But even then, every music form has its technical language which may not be necessary for listening but it may be necessary for learning. Indian Classical music has jargons like Sam, Tal, Laya, Raga, Bandish, Khayal, Vilambit, Kal, Drut, Vadi, Sanvadi, Rishabha etc. How do you co-relate such jargons and their meaning with your culture?
They are just words. I speak English, some Hindi and some Japanese, tabla language and some Indian music theory language. The words represent concepts and when we are playing music we are conceptualising, not thinking in words. Words may arise in our consciousness eg “Aha, he’s starting the drut gat” but they are just manifestations of the deeper concept which is beyond language. Rather than say “Music has no language” I would say “Music transcends language”.
10. Indian classical music has close relation is related Indian culture. Do you think it is essential to understand Indian culture for the better understanding of Indian classical music? It may not be necessary to learn the basics. But at one point within the confinement of Rag and Tal, you need to improvise your music; you need to create your own music. At such a point of creativity, do you feel there is a need to know Indian culture, its spiritual, social aspects, life style and even its mythological connection with music?
Yes and no. I don’t feel that there is a “confinement of Rag and Tal”. Rag and Tal offer so many opportunities for improvisation and creativity. The aim is to be entirely free within the structure of the music, to enter a pure musical conceptual space. I do call, to some extent, on my experiences and memories of seeing and listening to musical performances by inspiring artists, especially in recalling the mood of those musical moments, but I think it’s more important to tune into the present moment entirely. My Guru-ji told me, “practise everything I teach you very attentively, but when you play on the stage, there are no rules and regulations.” Usually he would say “Play pure nadhindhinna beautifully and every sitar player will love you.” Whereas another time, he told me “Don’t play theka!” when accompanying. (He was a master of saath-sangat.) In other words there are rules but you have to be able to disregard them when the musical moment demands it. Or more correctly, if you’re playing according to the rules it should be freely and still without conscious regard for those rules.
The beauty of Indian Classical Music is that it is a highly developed, rich musical structure, but that it is improvisational in nature and so cuts straight to the core of one’s being. Everyone who plays it plays in their own unique way. And likewise each listener listens in their own way, and has different preferences, likes and dislikes. Some prefer Ravi Shankar, some Nikhil Banerjee, some Vilayat Khan. It doesn’t matter what religion one is, nor does it matter what culture one comes from.
On the other hand, yes, ICM is bound up with Indian culture in tradition, especially with regard to Guru-Shishya Parampara. As this music is transmitted person-to-person, and it has until recently been exclusively “Indian”, Indian culture and music are intertwined and to learn ICM one must naturally engage and revel in Indian culture.
Aspects such as devotion, humility, mysticism and connection to the divine are an integral part of ICM but those same concepts are not limited to Indian culture. So we can understand the music and its broader characteristics with reference to Indian culture, but ultimately the musician will have to integrate the music into their own being and practise it within their own culture reference points.
Once again the parallel with a language is illuminating – Hindi is spoken by Indian people all around the world, but some of those people are very Westernised in all other aspects of their life. You don’t need to know about Krishna or Apsaras to speak Hindi, just as you don’t need to know about Jesus or fairies to speak English. It is definitely enriching to know the myths and culture associated with the roots of a language, but by the same token it’s nice for us non-native Hindi speakers to hear and understand Hindu mythology in English! By this analogy, hearing a non-Indian perform a raga can also be an interesting and enjoyable experience – it may have an unusual accent but you can’t discount the validity of the music only based on that.
11. Do you know mythological stories related to this music form? Can you give an example? Knowing these stories has affected your learning or understanding the music?
Only broadly. For example, I know that Krishna is well-known for playing the flute, Ganesh-ji plays pakhawaj and is sometimes seen with tabla and other instruments, Shiva plays the damaru, and Saraswati plays the veena.
For me what is more interesting is the concept of Nada Brahma and the vibrational nature of existence, stemming from the primordial Aum. Playing music puts us directly into contact with that vibrational nature of existence.
Guru-ji told me many times that it is written in the Sam Veda that music is the fastest way to God. He also impressed upon me the importance of riaz in opening us up to the mystical nature of music. We had many conversations about this, but he gave me the impression that talking about it was OK, but he was basically just going along with me because he could see that it was inspiring me to do lots of practice. Talking is OK, but ultimately it comes down to personal experience.
Other stories such as Mian Tansen’s miraculous feats through music, such as causing whole audiences to cry and even causing heat, wind and rain with his music are very inspirational.
On a related note, my Guru-ji told me about practicing for Navaratri – nine nights of non-stop practice in honour of Durga. He had completed this puja 25 times. This was very inspirational to me and I myself have completed it three times.
I have also participated in several Saraswati Puja home concerts, and very much appreciated the pure devotional atmosphere and the power that gave to the music.
))