My improvised drum kit ... Part 3 ... the frenzy cools ... for now ... !!

This excitement lasted exactly for two days … now, I only got to hear the dhub dhub sound of the cardboard box (my substitute for the bass drum) and the dull thuds of drum sticks on a rubber pad (my substitute for the snare drum) … it was not very satisfying … what could I do to enhance the sounds of my version of the snare drum and the bass drum, so that I could hear actual sounds of drums or something thereabouts … and the solution has to be inexpensive …

I was also not too pleased with how the cowbell was fixed … it sat just on the edge of the bent rod I was worried that it might just slip off and fall …

So, anyway, another light flashed in my head … it might be tricky … but in case what I had in mind didn’t work out, the things I was going to purchase would have other uses … and since I knew these were not going to be expensive, I felt I should go ahead and then see what happens …

I was supposed to pick up Mamoon from school and I asked Raju to come half an hour early, so that I could take a detour … go to Music Cabin, Secunderabad, first and then go on to her school … I had done my homework and more or less knew what I wanted and also knew that it would work … I was actually keyed up … for some reason, there was some delay in the shop and I was getting a bit annoyed … then I asked them if they had what I wanted … and yes, they did … and I bought these two simple khanjira-s or tambourines …

  

All right … the red one is 8 inches in diameter and I wanted to use that in place of a snare drum … I had taken the measurement of the surface of the practice drum pad and I wanted this khanjira to sit on the practice drum pad like this …

And the yellow one … the bigger one, is 12 inches in diamater … I wanted to use this as a substitute for the bass drum … I could arrange the bass pedal in front of it and thump this khanjira instead of the cardboard box … but this would still be propped against the cardboard box … I soon discovered that the yellow khanjira required some sort of stand, as it couldn’t stand propped against the cardboard box for long … some sort of a box, which would hold it or at least a part of it … I rummaged around in the loft among lots of empty cardboard boxes and found one which fit the bill … and I put this contraption together and pushed it against the bigger box and pushed the pedal in front …

and lo and behold … I had my bass drum … and this is how it looks … ha ha ha … very good, ya … you are a genius, ya … arre burbak, rulaoge kya …

This was a big relief … I could hear real drum beats now … and this set up could articulate the beat patterns in a much better manner than before …

There was this problem with the cowbell still unresolved … I wanted a sort of rod or pipe similar in thickness or diameter to the metal pipe on which now rested the cymbal … I checked in the hardware store at the top of our lane … I had carried the metal pipe (around 1 ½ feet in length) in my bag and showed it to him and asked for something similar … he is used to my strange queries for odds and ends … he smiled and said he didn’t have such a thing with him, but asked me to check in ‘plywood’ stores … the area around Nacharam and HMT Nagar has a number of such hardware and plywood shops … I wore out my sandals a bit climbing up and down these shops … at least 10 shops … one of these plywood shops had a sort of rod which was very long … around 4 feet in length … and was smaller in diameter than the pipe I had with me … I was not very convinced … I checked other shops … zilch … that long rod was the only option now …

I waited for a couple of days more and then unable to bear the tension, I went out in the evening and bought that rod … and on inspecting closely I discovered that the rod had these threads all through its length and at mid-point there was a nut wound around the rod … I then realized that this rod was made for some kind of fastening jobs … I didn’t venture to ask, maybe I should have … and maybe I will when I pass that way again … anyway, this was a sort of blessing … I asked the chap to give me two nuts as well … he threw in two nut gratis … two nuts for one nut!! 

I hurried home … first thing I did was to remove the cowbell from the bent rod, and then removed the bent rod from the tripod … I put the pipe back into its parent tripod, and inserted the threaded rod into the other tripod … fortunately, the base tube was hollow till the bottom and the threaded rod could go through almost till the end … around a foot and a half stuck out and I threaded a nut, then placed the cymbal, and then threaded another nut on top of the cymbal … great … just like I wanted...

… the cowbell went back to its previous tripod … and all was well with the world …

and my drum kit now looks like this … cool, na ... the floor tom is missing though … but, I will figure out something …

My improvised drum kit ... Part 2 ... frenzy continues ...

Well … the excitement lasted some days … and I was banging away … and Abhinav had taught me the roll, but I couldn’t do the roll with the combo I had … the magic of the drum roll slowly started building up inside me … during classes, twice every week, I really couldn’t indulge in doing things I wanted to do, which was to do the drum roll … we are well into doublets and double bass beats and interstitial beats and so on … and it takes a lot of concentration to get these going … if I’d get the beats right, I’d goof up on the rhythm sometimes … so, it takes a whole hour to get one pattern right … no time for indulgence, then …

I wanted a crash cymbal, where I could go dishhhhhhhhhh … I checked music stores online … all bloody expensive … but what do I do with a crash cymbal when I don’t have the tom drums (the ones on top of the bass drum…) … how do I roll?  Just snare (or whatever I had as a substitute…), which doesn’t make any sound (it is a practice pad, remember…) and a crash cymbal is no good for a roll … as I was pondering over this intense dilemma, another bulb lit up … I had a set of bongo drums that I shanghaied as a gift from Shruti long long ago … yessss … I could use them as tom drums … 

and there was a music store in Secunderabad, Music Cabin, where I could get a crash cymbal that wouldn’t be too expensive …

I was in a sort of frenzy now … I went to buy that crash cymbal, without thinking about its stand … that chap asked me if I wanted a stand too … when I heard the price for both, I demurred … no, I said, only the cymbal … now all thoughts were on where to fit in the cymbal … I tried my camera tripod … na, won’t work …  doesn’t have a pipe or rod … I knew I could do something, but if only I knew where I had kept that stand … it was another of those experiments when I had bought a really low priced note stand after Shruti had bought me a guitar (again shanghaied … Shruti can be termed as the really long-suffering wife, who has to put up with her husband’s delusional musical aspirations … one day you will see me on stage, Shruti, even if I am 60, at least for 10 minutes, playing the drums …)

I began hunting for that long neglected and discarded note stand … after three days, I found it under the cot, all dusty and lint-clinged … one if its foot was dodgy and I strained to remove the rivet and put in a screw and nut … but it had a sort of rod which was bent at right angles at the top to accommodate the sheet tray … it couldn’t hold the cymbal … short of breaking it off, I tried everything … 

then I tried switching the tripods … I removed the cowbell and put in the crash cymbal … it wouldn’t stand, so I put in a used ball pen shell into the pipe and with the help of a nail created a sort of stopper which would prevent the cymbal from slipping down … 

and now I fitted in the cowbell to the bent rod … it sat awkwardly … it is supposed to be fit in horizontally, the the flat surface parallel to the ground ... now it sat sort of vertical ... very shakily ... I feared it would fall off … but somehow it held on …

Phew … that was something … I now had substitutes for the snare drum, the hi-hat, two toms, bass drum, and a crash cymbal … of these, only the crash cymbal provided the original sound … the snare drum was more or less silent, the hi-hat gave off a cowbell sound, the bass drum resonated with the sound of a cardboard box … and the two toms sent out bongo sounds … but what the kangaroo, I had all elements except for the floor tom!!  I was really excited … I could do some kind of roll now … and this is how my cut and paste drum kit looked like at that point …

Looks like Samuel Johnson's description of Metaphysical Poetry ... "heterogeneous ideas ... yoked by violence together," no?

My improvised drum kit ... Part 1 ... the beginning of frenzy ...

I mentioned in my previous post that ‘I thought I’d improvise’ because Abhinav was going ahead with teaching more and more patterns and I only had my practice drum pad and a table for practice at home … and as I said not enough pocket power to buy a full drum kit … this really set me thinking …

I had a pair of drum sticks and I was using the practice drum pad as a substitute for the snare drum … and a table surface for the hi-hat cymbals … and kept time with my right foot for the bass drum … after 3 weeks this was going nowhere … I kept missing the bass beats …

Abhinav suggested that I buy a cowbell to substitute for the hi-hat cymbals … it is not very expensive, he said … he had one and he showed me … and it is anyway better than hitting a table … this brewed in my mind for some time … I checked in one shop in Secunderabad, confident that I’d get it there … they hemmed and hawed for a while and then said they didn’t have it and could I come tomorrow … what the hell … all spirits went down … it was already late in the evening and I didn’t have the time to explore other shops …

The next day, after college, I went to Musee Musicals, Begumpet, Secunderabad, and asked for a cowbell … they had it in two sizes … I bought the bigger one … the drum kits on display there looked fabulous and tempting … hold on, I told myself … I made some general enquiries, as I didn’t want to leave so soon … I asked about the bass drum pedal … would they sell it separately?  Yes, they said … price? … they told me that and I found it was manageable, but not on the same day …

So, I bought the cowbell and wondered where I was going to fit it … can’t keep it resting on the table … it has to have a tripod kind of stand … suddenly, a bulb glowed … oh yes, that score-sheet stand that I got along with the guitar stand as a combo offer!!  Yes, I could put that score-sheet stand to better use now … I was impatient to reach home and see if this worked … and tried to remember where I had stowed that stand and mentally searched lofts and cupboards …

Fortunately, I did not have to search too much … I remembered where I had kept it ‘safely’ … I took it out, freed the tripod of its score-sheet tray, and screwed the cowbell in to that metal pipe … and voila, I now had my substitute for the hi-hat cymbals … no hitting the tables anymore!!

As I practiced with the new combo, the bass drum pedal kept going in and out of my mind … couldn’t ignore it … if I could get that, I can really move on properly with my practice … and moreover, I had seen it and it wouldn’t leave me now … and the next day, I was back again at the same place and bought the pedal …

Now that I had the pedal, what do I do what that … I didn’t have a drum … but I had a really big cardboard box, which was propped against the wall and which we used as a newspaper and magazine stand … so the cardboard box became my bass drum … 

ha ha ha … and now I had something for the snare drum, the hi-hat cymbals, and the bass drum ... this combo was my basic drum kit for a couple of weeks … and this is how it looked ...

Well ... this was only the beginning ... and there were further improvisations ... 

Learning to play the drums … ei babua, pagla gaye ho kaa?

One of the dreams of my teenage years is coming true at this late middle-age of mine … as with many middle-class households of that time (1970s – 80s), the most that many youngsters could pursue as hobbies were stamp collecting, coin collecting, reading novels, comics, etc. … any other interests that meant attending classes and paying fees were considered as eroding the middle-class family’s tight monthly budget … of course, some families encouraged their children and some children turned rebels and left home to pursue their interests and all that … I too collected stamps, coins, read novels, and comics and life was generally moving along … I didn’t have the guts to rebel and go away and learn to play drums … I drummed on tables … and all those beats and rhythms would play in my head … diga-diga diga-diga diga-diga diga-diga dishhhhhhhhhhh … dhing-chaak diga-diga chaak … diga-diga diga-diga dishhhhhhh … and so on and so forth … he he …

It so happened that Mamoon expressed a desire to learn dance and we tried various options near our apartment, but none worked out … and then Shruti learnt about a kathak class at Tarnaka … then, both went there and discovered that the teacher was a senior kathak dancer and a Bengali to boot … and she had already started a batch of 5-6-7 year-olds and Mamoon was too happy to join … and all that chitty chitty bong bong feeling strengthened the bonds … two weeks into the learning and one evening Shruti came home with Mamoon after a class and asked me if I would like to learn to play drums … what is this out of the blue!! … it turned out that the kathak teacher’s son is a drummer and he has started classes for ‘aspiring’ drummers … and Shruti was fervent in her request … I was excited but I was in two minds ... no, more than two actually … all kinds of doubts – what will I do with learning drums at this age? Would I have the time to attend classes? Would I have the patience and concentration to learn something new now? I haven’t been a ‘formal’ learner for the last 25 years or so and I am extremely restless … all these doubts nagged me … 

But Shruti was almost adamant … just meet this chap … talk to him … join and see how it goes … and thus firmly cajoled, I went and met Abhinav, the drum guru, and we talked and talked of Indian percussionists and drummers of various Indian bands … and discovered that to some extent, our likings were similar … and he was just starting out as a drums teacher and if I joined I would be just his second student … and the timings of the two classes per week just suited me … and most of all, he asked me to feel free with the drums on the first day itself … and my dream came true … I told him that … I took the sticks and struck my first tentative beat on the drums … I tried to do a roll … what the hell, I was sitting on the ‘throne’ and banging away … aahhh … this was my teenage dream and all doubts receded (they still remain though) … I decided to enroll myself as a student … and my classes started … two days a week, one hour each day …

  

This is the drum kit I practise on ...

And this is Abhinav, my drums teacher ... 

The first classes were not that difficult … and after three 4-beat variations learnt separately, I was asked to do a combo and then a 3-beat roll … I managed to do the combo and did a 3-beat roll and Abhinav was surprised and shook my hand and said I did the 3-beat roll perfectly and said that not many are able to do a 3-beat roll so early while learning because they have a 4-beat roll in mind and get confused … this was indeed high praise for a ‘old’ novice like me … but, I liked it …

All this while, I had only a pair of drum sticks with me … which I had purchased on a whim a couple of years ago … how prescient, no?  ha ha ha … and Abhinav told me to practice at home using a table and another surface, as we were using only the snare drum and hi-hat for those early classes … After two weeks, Abhinav wanted me to buy a practice drum pad … after buying the practice drum pad, my desire to have the full drum kit intensified, but I didn’t have the pocket power to go the whole hog … I stayed with this practice drum pad for a couple of weeks …  

 … and then I thought I’d improvise …

Aye Laila-Misty Rhythms...an unusual music album

Album cover-Aye Laila - Misty Rhythms

Ramana Gogula

Kush Khanna

I accidentally found my once-upon-a-time favourite music album online…some blessed soul had uploaded it…and I discovered that it is still one of my favourites…

Music has this strange quality about it that flashbacks you exactly to the same time and place and Aye Laila did that exactly to me…I was transported back in time to my days in the hostel where musical explorations was a thrill and an adventure by themselves… Aye Laila landed in my collection as part of one such musical expedition…I was, maybe, a year or so into ‘fusion’ music and anything out of the ordinary was acceptable musical fodder…some were not ‘fusion-istic’ enough…some were ‘good’…some were ‘imitations’… some did not have what I felt was essential for ‘fusion’…an inexplicable thing called ‘namak’… Aye Laila had two totally unknown names…Ramana Gogula (then) and Kush Khanna…both were based in the US and had formed a musical collaboration and named their band as Misty Rhythms… Ramana Gogula would eventually go on to become a household name in Andhra Pradesh due to his ‘different’ compositions for Telugu films…but Misty Rhythms was probably a kind of portfolio of Ramana Gogula…Kush Khanna is a trained tabla player…and whereas Ramana Gogula, growing up in India, was fascinated by reggae, rock, and obviously admired Bob Marley, Kush Khanna, in the US, grew up learning the tabla and Indian rhythms…and they met in San Francisco and musical interactions resulted in their forming a band called Misty Rhythms… ‘misty’ being a tribute to the misty mornings in San Francisco…and ‘rhythms,’ obviously to the Indian, African, and Reggae rhythms…

This album was released by Sony India and at that time I did not have enough money to buy a CD, and therefore bought a cassette…when I hear those songs now, I look back and try to ‘see’ how I felt when I heard then for the first few times…this album had a total of 12 tracks… and for somebody like me who was exploring different musics, it was a musical treat…the opening bars of the first song ‘Aye Laila’ got me hooked…the song starts of as strumming of an ektara kind of sound and slowly the rhythm sneaks in and before you know what is happening the tune segues into a full blown reggae rhythm…and from somewhere else comes the harmonica…breathes in a tune for a few seconds…and the song begins with Ramana Gogula’s vocals… just lovely…! I thought that the first song is a sample Reggae song and that there would be many more ‘kinds’ of music that this album stores…I was wrong…the album is soaked with Reggae rhythms…at least 5 songs are infused with Reggae and this was for me the first non-Bob Marley album that had so much hypnotic Reggae rhythm…and that too an Indian music album…! There are other kinds of music also…for once you some kind of a European folk song (which I learnt later, was a Bulgarian folk song), and one also gets to hear 3 straightforward instrumental renditions…with lots of Indian classical sounds… and this album also brings in Telugu lyrics …the first song ‘Aye Laila’ is reprised as ‘Aye Pilla’ with Telugu lines replacing the Hindi ones…

And this album so fascinated me that I’d have presented copies to at least 6-7 friends on their birthdays…and they were more than pleased to listen to such refreshing ‘Indian’ music…but the saddest part was this remained their one and only album so far and I don’t see any hope of a second…and therefore, it is also one of a kind musical treat… search online and you find the album somewhere…and you will not regret listening to Misty Rhythms…

Raghu Dixit soars with Santha Shishunala Sharief...

A friend of mine gave me news of a surprising and pleasant nature while chatting last week...she directed my attention towards an album by a singer named Raghu Dixit... I had seen this album in my favourite music store in Hyderabad, Sangeet Sagar, but for some reason did not pick it up...what with young singers releasing albums at the drop of a hat, I didn't have the patience to even check out the names of the tracks... while directing my attention towards the album she said that Raghu Dixit has sung two Kannada tracks in the album...she obviously knew what to say so that I'd move expectantly towards the album...'Kannada tracks' caught my attention...I had to listen to this album...but I did not have the time to go Sangeet Sagar, but she had also helpfully given me the url of a site which had limited time downloads of tracks, so there I went and first checked the names of the tracks...and to my great surprise and delight, the two Kannada tracks were songs written by Santha Shushunala Sharief...a sufi saint, highly respected and popular for his mystical and metaphysical songs... Santha Shushunala Sharief's songs were made popular in Kannada by Dr N S Lakshminarayana Bhatta, who unearthed and researched most of Santha Shushunala Sharief's songs and Sri C Ashwath, who sang them with emotion and great verve, so much so that C Ashwath's voice became synonymous with Santha Shushunala Sharief... so, with all this at the back of my mind, I waited to listen to 'Sorutihudu maneya maaligi,' an extremely popular song...the opening of the song is superb...with thunder and rain and rain drops falling...in tune with the opening line 'Sorutihudu maneya maaligi...agnandadinda....sorutihudu maneya maaligi' which means 'the roof of the house is leaking...with ignorance'...then Raghu Dixit comes on with his soaring vocals... I was hooked... the music is superb... and the other Kannada track 'Gudugudiya sedi nodu' was equally superb... the songs doesnt take away anything from the initial popular renditions by Ashwath...in fact, Raghu Dixit's interpretations enhance the songs and take them to a different level...

I am sorry Raghu Dixit, I didnt pick up this album when I saw it... I will pick it up soon...thank you for bringing Santha Shishunala Sharief that much more closer to the contemporary Kannada youth...

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Chutney Music...my experiences-IV

In the initial days of listening to Chutney Music and reading web-based articles, I had this great urge to write a scholarly article on this…all kinds of ideas were hopping around in my head…making connections…trying to give it an attractive title and sub-title and a good opening paragraph…and after listening to the D’Bhuyaa Saaj concert, I was enthused and pepped up and made several tentative openings…I wanted to situate Chutney Music in the midst of various India Diaspora musics, the most famous example being the Asian Underground Music scene in England with its mixture of Bhangra, Indian classical, and electronica…and as I was also listening to loads of Asian Underground bands and individual artistes, this was a natural kind of inclination…

But the one issue that caught my attention was the question of identity… and this was triggered off by Ajeet Praimsingh’s comments…we were discussing Chutney Music and then Ajeet Praimsingh related an incident… “yesterday I went to ma hotel room and switched on my TV, maan, and was watching songs…and I see this maan singing on TV…Lotay La… maan…he has taken our song, maan, he was singing our song, maan…” Initially, I did not understand what he said…then it dawned after a couple of seconds… those days, a bhojpuri style song and music video was a rage on TV music channels for a brief while…called ‘Lootela,’ it was a lavish music video in the remix style, done quite well actually with Urmila Matondkar as the focus of attention, and the actors too did their job well and the singer himself, called D' Raja, appeared on the video singing the bhojpuri style song (see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVOo_JgvBng) … I tried to figure out Ajeet Praimsingh’s statement and realised that he was talking about a Chutney song that became a mammoth hit in the 1960s-70s in Trinidad and catapulted the singer Sonny Mann into instant fame…the song was called ‘Lotayla’… (catch the song here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOcH3NbzupM; though it appears in youtube, there is no video here, only the song sung by Sonny Mann, but this is a later version, sung along with Denis Belfon and General Grant, which is actually a Soca; but you can see the similarities and differences)… and this was what Ajeet Praimsingh was referring to when he said, ‘he has taken our song, maan…’ it sounded amusing then, and then I thought about it and felt that this posed an interesting question… the question of the song’s identity … Whose song is it anyway? Where did the song originate from? Where did it go? Who took it there? Whose song is it now? Who does it belong to?

I am still searching for answers…

Chutney Music...my experiences-III

Princess Priya Kelly in the foreground, on the right sitting on the floor is Rasika Dindial

You can see Rakesh Yankaran on the Harmonium to Rasika's right on the floor, and Surender Ramoutar on the Steel Pan standing between Rakesh and Rasika

My best experience with Chutney Music came in February 2005 (14th Feb 2005 to be exact). I heard from Shruti that a series of Indian Diaspora music concerts were being held at University of Hyderabad and that a group from Trinidad has come…I couldn’t hide my excitement…Shruti and I reached the venue almost an hour before the scheduled start…and on the steps of the auditorium I saw a man in a distinctly colourful shirt chatting with a group of students…I too sat down to listen and discovered that this man was part of the music group called D’Bhuya Saaj [a bhojpuri term meaning ‘sitting on the ground (bhuyaan) and singing/entertaining (saaj)’] from Trinidad which would be performing that day…

I still remember…we were talking and I told this man that I had visited a site called www.ajeetpraimsingh.com and learned a lot about Trinidad and Indo-Caribbean music...about Dhantal…about Doubles...about this person called Ajeet Praim Singh, an industrious merchant and music producer who is working hard to keep Indo-Trinidadian traditions alive in Trinidad...the music of Kabir Das…and he said ‘it is myself’...I was stunned and surprised and delighted and clasped his hand …it was totally unexpected and it turned out that he was the manager of the group and also was on stage with the shak shak…I spoke to him for quite some time about chutney music and it was a delight to hear the sing song West Indian English…he urged me to write a book… ‘you write a book, maan’…

After we talked, I entered the auditorium and to my surprise, saw that Dr Helen Myers was also there...I had read her book and here she was in person and I couldn’t believe my luck that day...the entire Diaspora music concert series was organised as lec-dems with one expert talking about the music before the actual performance and Helen Myers was the expert for Chutney Music…she was one of the earliest to write about chutney music and according to the person who introduced her, Dr Myers has followed the Bhojpuri Diaspora around the world and has researched, written about and recorded their music in such distant lands as Fiji, Mauritius, and of course Trinidad and Guyana…I could speak to her briefly and told her about my interest…she was happy to know that I had read her book and gave me her e-mail and asked me to keep in touch…

And then the music began ...it was mind-blowing...a live chutney music performance at my doorsteps literally!! I heard and saw famous names like ‘D’ Rani Rasika Dindial, ‘D’ Raja Rakesh Yankaran, Lily Ramcharan and just like any Bhojpuri song performance in India, the group also had a dancer, ‘Princess’ Priya Kelly… who came in on some songs and danced in typical thumka style (for quick reference…‘beedi’ and ‘namak ishq’ songs in Omkara!!!) which had the audience roaring in approval… I had heard Rasika's song on tape and it was so nice to hear her live on Lazy Man, her mega hit of the late 90s…Rakesh Yankaran sang a devotional song ‘ganga jamuna saraswati’ at the beginning and also his most famous Mousie … and also Dholak Baje… Lily Ramcharan sang The New Dawn, a song written to mark the arrival of the first Indians in Trinidad…and talks about the trials and tribulations and progress made by them… and the group also sang some typical crossover chutney soca songs like Lover Boy, Lazy Man and we also heard typical Tan singing by Rakesh Yankaran who sang Savari Surat, a devotional Trinidad style thumri…

The live sounds of Dhantaal, Dholak, Steel Pan Drum…and the other members of the group Molly Ramcharan, Devarnand Nagessar, Rishi Ragbir and Jagdeo Deebaram (on Dhantaal and Dholak…in fact all singers took their turns with the Dhantaal…) Surender Ramoutar (steel pan)…and of course, Ajeet Praim Singh on the shak shak… and all of them were moving and dancing on the stage and it was infectious…they urged the audience to come on and dance on stage…I had half a mind to go, but didn’t see anybody else volunteering and so suppressed my urge to dance with a live chutney band….maybe sometime in future when I go to Trinidad, I will muster enough courage to go on stage and dance to chutney tunes…

And the icing on the cake… ever the entrepreneur, Ajeet Praim Singh had brought some chutney music CDs produced by him and I hadn’t forethought this…Shruti and I fished around in our wallets and pockets and pooled together enough to buy 3 CDs ... of my favourite singers that day...Rasika's and Rakesh's and the special CD on India Arrival Day...

It was truly a memorable evening for a chutney fan… I didn’t have a digital camera or any camera at that time, but I wanted my readers to have a feel of the performance and so I searched the net and found some photos in online editions of newspapers of their tour in India and I have pasted a couple of photos of the D’ Bhuyaa Saaj performances in India (they performed in 7 cities in India)…these are 2 photos of ‘Princess’ Priya Kelly dancing with other members of the group in the background…

More to come…ha ha ha…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Chutney Music...my experiences - II

I was getting more and more interested in chutney music and located a lot of samples on the Internet, some of which I could download and listen… I enjoyed listening to the swinging rhythms and the West Indian accented Hindi lyrics sometimes interspersed with English lyrics… I wanted to know more about this wonderful music from India which had taken root in alien soil and had grown into a totally fascinating flowering tree… happy to incorporate influences and yet retaining its basic core… my friends helped me in acquiring books on Chutney Music…and so I read Helen Myers’ Music of Hindu Trinidad: Songs from the Indian Diaspora (The University of Chicago Press)…but unfortunately, I was not able to get the CD of songs which accompanied this book…

The next book that I read was Peter Manuel’s East Indian Music in the West Indies: Tan Singing, Chutney, and the Making of the Indo-Caribbean Culture … as is my usual practice, I had harangued my friend Vijay in the US to send me this book, as I didn’t want to miss the CD that accompanied this book… the book was riveting and I read it in two instalments…Peter Manuel has given a detailed historical and musical account of chutney music and his writing style is very engaging…but the most enthralling part was in the music in the CD…Manuel has written about and included songs that are part of what Indian-West Indians call Tan singing…this is a repertoire of songs, basically religious, that the Indians have nurtured and developed into a kind of ‘classical’ music, as opposed to the more ‘popular’ chutney music…

So, you have Trinidadian/Guyanese/Surinamese thumris, bhajans, tillanas, holis, dhrupads, and ghazals as part of this Tan singing…for people familiar with Hindustani classical music, these genres mean something specific, but when you listen to Tan singing, you realise that these genres have taken a life of their own with little or no connection at all to the genres of the same name in Hindustani classical music…they have built a separate repertoire of ‘classical’ music with remembered music and developed these genres as years went by…Manuel quotes Trinidadian sitarist, composer, and music authority Mangal Patasar, who once remarked about tan-singing, “You take a capsule from India, leave it here for a hundred years, and this is what you get.”

More to come...

jaisiri: Chutney Music...my experiences - I

http://aingram.web.wesleyan.edu/chutney.html
http://www.toronto-lime.com/music/articles/the_history_of_chutney.htm
http://www.triniview.com/douglamusic.htm

Chutney Music...my experiences - I

It must be sometime in 2004 or so…that I heard about chutney music as the music of Indians living in Trinidad…and then began my deep interest in this music…I scoured the internet in search of information and samples…I got a considerable amount of information and some articles and details about books…and for the first time, I heard the music…it was Bhojpuri songs with a twist…a tangy twist…what they called ‘chutney music’…as tangy as chutney…I then discovered that this music is prevalent in Guyana and Suriname too…that is, wherever Indians were taken in the Caribbean as indentured labourers in the 19th century by the British (pl read Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh)…so, what is chutney music? A lot has been written on this subject by many experts and researchers…so let us say that chutney music is the music of the Indians in Trinidad, Guyana, and Suriname…basically songs of the area around Uttar Pradesh and Bihar known as Bhojpur, now famous all over India as Bhojpuri songs… so what is so special about this?

When the people from this area were taken to these Caribbean islands as indentured labourers, the only imperishable items that they could take with them were their songs…and in an alien land with alien people in the sugarcane fields, singing their songs was the only solace at the end of the day…these songs were the only links to their motherland that they had left behind…these sings sustained them and their families and when slowly and surely their financial situations improved and the second generation of Indians began to flourish in these distant lands, these same songs became songs of celebration and of identity… and over a period of time local musical elements also started influencing chutney music… even the religious and ritual songs began to sung with an upbeat tempo…apart from the dholak and harmonium, instruments which they had brought along with them, chutney music began to use the Steel Pan drum and ‘dhantaal,’ a musical instrument believed to have been invented by Indians in Trinidad, and Tassa drums…Tassa drums are used in the Muslim Hosay festival in Trinidad…so chutney music is now a mix of Indian, Latin American, and Islamic influences…and now a new strand has evolved called Chutney Soca…which incorporates elements of calypso rhythms…and English lyrics…

More in future posts…

Ustad Amir Khan...memories by Pt Amarnath...A Book...

A few posts earlier I had written about my fascination and admiration for Ustad Amir Khan’s singing…I think one has to hear him singing once to realise the difference between his style and the others’…it is said that most of the singers who came after him, irrespective of Gharana, imbibed a number of features of his singing…Pt Bhimsen Joshi has publicly said that he was influenced by Ustadji’s singing…Ustadji had a number of disciples, though we may not be aware of many of them…Pt Amarnath, a disciple of Ustad Amir Khan and considered to be a genius of Indore Gharana singing, has chronicled his discipleship and relationship with his guru in great detail…and in recent times, his daughter Bindu Chawla has made every effort to place these chronicles, along with Pt Amarnath’s renditions, before the music world… and in this effort she has received solid support from Underscore Records, a unique record company run by Shubha Mudgal (yeah…the eminent Hindustani classical singer who captured the nation’s imagination through the unusual ‘Ab ke saawan’) and Aneesh Pradhan, the tabla maestro… the first of these reminiscences by Pt Amarnath was in the form of an audio CD called ‘Pioneer of the Khayal – the music of my guru Ustad Amir Khan Saheb’ (Underscore Records)…the CD is in the form of a lec-dem and was recorded live in 1982…here Pt Amarnath speaks about Ustad Amir Khan’s style of khayal singing and sings to demonstrate the unique style…listening to this CD gave me a lot of insights into Ustadji’s singing – the merukhand style, his taans, taranas, and other features…the brief liner notes say… “Called the Bernstein of India, Pt Amarnath … tells you the story of how his legendary guru, Ustad Amir Khan Saheb, not only pioneered a new gharana, but also created a new road to the khayal altogether, changing all earlier perspectives to the form…”

I was listening to Pt Amarnath’s singing for the first time in this CD…I liked it immensely…and I remember writing a mail to Shubhaji asking her if it was possible for Underscore Records to come out with at least a couple of albums of Pt Amarnath’s khayal renderings…Shubhaji wrote back saying that Bindu Chawla held all the rights and that Underscore Records would be happy to produce the albums…this was a long time back…at least 2 years ago… and they did produce 3 albums of hindustani classical vocal by Pt Amarnath sometime last year… the moment I saw them on the website, I wanted to buy them…but as it sometimes happens, it took a long time for me to actually buy them…which was…as recent as 10 days ago…I bought 2 CDs… Pandit Amaranth – Stirrings from the Soul: Vols 1 & 2…there is one more called Seep ke Moti: Pearls from the Oyster, which I intend to buy soon…

But what made me to finally buy these 2 albums was the fact that Underscore Records recently put up a book for sale in their print section which really caught my attention…and I had to own and read this book…Prophets of Indore: Memories of Ustad Amir Khan Saheb by Pandit Amarnathji … this amazing book (I am half way through…) is translated from the Hindustani into English by Bindu Chawla and published by Pandit Amarnath Memorial Foundation …

It is a bilingual book with the page on right in hindustani (devanagari script) and its translation in English on the left… the language is everyday spoken hindustani with all mid sentence pauses and stops and interrogatives…and makes for very interesting reading…as though Pt Amarnath is sitting right in front of you and speaking to you… Pt Amarnath talks about the world of Ustad Amir Khan’s khayal in the 40s-50s-60s…and it is a different world of music...of discussions, soirees, chamber concerts…and significantly, Pt Amarnath’s narration of the recognition of Ustad Amir Khan as a pioneer of a new gharana and style of khayal after Khansaheb’s death by critics and experts…and more than anything else, the emphasis in the Pt Amarnath’s narration on Ustad Amir Khan’s reflection and thinking about khayal & Hindustani classical music which made Khansaheb a great singer and an innovator…

Thank you…Shubhaji and Bindu Chawla for bringing out such gems for the aam aadmi… a forgotten magnificent piece of music history and music is now before us…

I really didn’t think that I’d write so much…but, I think I got carried away…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

When Vidwan Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan played for me…

The passing away of Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan was a sad piece of news for me. This great Violin Vidwan was the most popular classical maestro in the world of Carnatic Music. All the obituaries have discussed the multifarious talents of this wonderful vidwan. The Thyagaraja Aradhana at Tiruvaiyyaru was an especially memorable yearly event, where Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan would lead the young and old and the greats and students in rendering the Pancharatna Kritis of Tyagaraja. I particularly liked his devotional renderings and thematic compositions, especially his album called Colours, where he played with Zakir Hussain, Sivamani and Dilip (now known to the entire world as A R Rahman). He rendered thematic pieces with Carnatic ragas like maayamalavagoula, shanmughapriya, hindolam, and bandhuvarali. This album came out sometime in the early nineties and was presented to me by my senior at the then CIEFL, Anita Devasia, whom some of us affectionately called Chechi (elder sister). This is an album I deeply cherish for its lovely music.

I also had a personal moment with Sri Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan which I would like to share with all of you. This happened long ago, when I was 6-7 years old…I don’t remember the year…my father was posted in Tiruvananthapuram and he was a member of the Swati Tirunal Sangeetha Sabha…a number of classical music concerts would be held by this organisation every year and my parents would attend most of them…so, I too attended some concerts with them, though I had no idea what was going on…Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan was playing his violin in one such concert and my parents had taken me along…it must have been a particularly popular concert, given the stature and popularity of Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan and all seats were full and since I was not a member as such, a small chair was produced and it was placed in the central passage (aisle?) for me to sit…I was sitting straight in front of Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan’s line of vision…the concert was in full flow and suddenly Vaidynathanji stopped for a second and played the opening line of a popular tamil film song thoongade thambi thoongade (don’t sleep, brother, don’t sleep)…the audience was surprised and didn’t know what to make of it…he kept at it for some more time…then suddenly my parents must have realised what had happened and looked at me in my small chair…I was fast asleep…they were totally embarrassed and hurriedly woke me up… Vaidynathanji had spotted me sleeping and in a light hearted way played this line… he smiled and then continued the raga from where he had left it…

My father keeps reminding me of this whenever Vaidynathanji’s topic comes up when we are generally talking of music…

I can proudly claim that Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan played a line especially for me…

Thank you Vaidynathanji for making such glorious music…May your soul rest in music…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Ustad Amir Khan and me...

My relationship with Ustad Amir Khan's music is like my liking for Amitav Ghosh's works...Ustad Amir Khan is one of the most influential Hindustani classical vocalists in the 20th century...I just fell in love with his kind of singing at first hearing...not that I had heard other singers and in comparision, Ustadji sounded better or anything...it is something that I haven't been able to understand...I began looking out for cassettes, books, CDs, etc., to listen to his renderings, know more about this great singer...and all this without knowing even 5% of what constitutes Hindustani classical music...and its nuances... I was thrilled when a fellow music enthusiast sent me a copy of the documentary on Ustad Amir Khan made by the Films Division...I was able to see Ustadji actually singing and talking and moving around...I was ecstatic...and later Patrick Moutal hosted a couple of videos of Ustadji singing Malkauns and Rageshree...these videos can be downloaded from Patrick's website (http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/macmoutal/rag.html) and I must have watched these many many times... I like his Lalit, Malkauns, Bilaskhani Todi, and Hamsadhwani very much... and with great devotion to his immortal singing, I managed to host a webpage on Ustadji almosgt 6 years ago ... which I am proud to say is the first website on Ustadji... and whatever I felt about Ustadji and his music, I have written in the brief introduction to the site... and over the years, many admirers of Ustadji's music have written to me and everytime I feel embarassed, because I am not aware of the nuances of hindustani classical music and I tell everyone so... the webpage is only a labour of love, not an exposotion or analysis of Ustadji's music ... in case you are interested...please visit www.geocities.com/jaysrinivas and please leave your comments here...I will be happy...

My favourite Indian Classical-Jazz Fusion Groups -II Mynta - Nordic Ice, Indian Spice

Hi World...

This is my 25th post and I wanted it to be on music…my favourite kind of music…that is Indian Classical-Jazz fusion music…I had already written about my most favourite band, Shakti…

Mynta is another of my favourite Indian Classical-Jazz fusion groups. Mynta’s music is aptly described in their website as ‘a fusion of Nordic Ice and Indian Spice.’ The description is apt because Mynta is a blend of Swedish and Indian musicians.

Mynta was founded in 1979 in Sweden of only Swedish musicians – Santiago Jiminez (Violin), Max Ahman (Guitar), Ola Bothzen (Percussion), and Christian Paulin (Bass). Mynta toured India in 1987 and jammed with Fazal Qureshi (Tabla) [son of the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha & brother of Ustad Zakir Hussain] and Shankar Mahadevan (Carnatic Classical Vocal). Fazal Qureshi was heading an Indian fusion band called ‘Surya’ at that time and this Indo-Swedish combination performed around the world as ‘Mynta-Surya.’ They also brought out an album under this group’s name called ‘First Summer’. This combination subsequently came together as a group and called itself ‘Mynta.’

The Swedish musicians largely play Cool Jazz, and Mynta as a group also focuses on Indian classical, African and Latin American rhythms, Arabic sounds, and Swedish folk music. Shankar Mahadevan’s vocals play the important Indian Classical part in Mynta’s jamming with his soaring alaap-s and singing in both Carnatic and Hindustani traditions. In each piece that Mynta plays, one particular kind of music played by a group member or members is in the foreground, while the other members provide harmonic and rhythmic support.

Anders Hagberg (Flutes, Sax, Keyboard, Vocals), Mikael Nilsson (Percussion, Talking Drum, Udu), and Jan Radesjo (Keyboards) among the Swedish musicians, and Nandkishor Muley (Santoor) and Taufiq Qureshi (Percussion) are also part of Mynta’s musical melange. Mynta has been prolific and has brought out 8 albums, so far apart from performing live in major music festivals all over the world. And all their albums have very nice titles – First Summer, Indian Time, Hot Madras, Nandu’s Dance, Cool Nights, Tea Break, Hot Days, etc. You can sample some of their musical pieces on their website http://www.mynta.net/ … listen to the cool flute on ‘Playing’… and how the bored sounding conversation between the musicians leads to the most unusual vocal-percussion (konakol) with real percussion along with backing jazz in the aptly titled ‘Rapatal’… and the one and only, the most wonderful Shankar Mahadevan, who John McLaughlin calls ‘the voice’, singing Raga Hamsadhwani in Mynta Live… and the very European folkish rhythms with Shankar’s vocals in Ganglat fran Laggars…listen how Shankar’s carnatic aalap slowly fades away and the saxophone which was lingering in the background slowly and unobtrusively comes forward and takes over in Yellow Fellow….I can go on and on…but the taste of the music is in its listening…so, over to you…and tell me how you liked them…

Jai

Finding Keys to the Music Room

Hi all...

I happily discovered that the City Centre had a Landmark too…I didn’t wait for long and headed straight to Landmark…I hung around for a while and found out the bargain counter, which was actually an ‘EMI discount stall’… I found two more Womad Realworld albums – Shu-De: Voices from the Distant Steppe (Womad Realworld – Virgin Records) – [from deep in the centre of Asia – a unique recording of traditional Tuvan ‘throat singing’, poignant and intimate folk-songsm and ritual chants of shamen] and Shringar - K Sridhar & K Shivakumar (Womad Realworld – Virgin Records) [jugalbandi between sarod and violin]…I went through the entire stall for more, but had to be satisfied with these two albums…then suddenly I remembered that I didn’t have a mobile phone and didn’t know where the others were…and they wouldn’t be able to contact me…I was stuck in Landmark…I decided to let them find me and wandered around…saw some fountain pens…as I had already bought a Parker Rialto (for myself on behalf of Shruti!! Thanks, dear!) at Spencer Plaza’s Landmark, I just window-shopped and went back to the music section…and decided to check out the Hindustani classical section…I flipped the CDs in their racks desultorily trying to locate something interesting…this went on for around 10 mins or so…and suddenly my ‘nazar’ fell on this CD…call it coincidence or my ignorance about these things that I didn’t know about this CD earlier…it was a CD of Hindustani renderings by Vidushi Dhondutai Kulkarni…I was delighted, thrilled, surprised…it was only a couple of weeks ago that I had read this wonderful book by Namita Devidayal (The Music Room)…a touching account of the life and musical career of Vidushi Dhondutai Kulkarni (if interested, see my earlier post, “Reading Namita Devidayal's 'The Music Room'” Monday, March 17, 2008)…and Namita Devidayal had written that there are hardly any commercial recordings of Vidushi Dhondutai Kulkarni and some private recordings are all that are there for posterity to remember this remarkable singer of the Jaipur Atrauli Gharama…so, finding this CD was a moving moment for me…now I have the songs and voice to give to the face and the life of the singer…the CD is called Raag Ras and is produced by T-Series (No. SVCCD 07; pub. in 1990 by Super Cassettes Industries Ltd., and © 1990 Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.)…the album has four tracks – 1. Ari Eri Main Apno Shiva Payo (Raag Kabiree Bhairav – Vilambit Ada Chautaal); 2. Tum Ghan Se (Raag Meera Malhar – Jhaptaal); 3. Sakhi Mohan Mohni Daari (Raag Des – Madhya Laya Teen Taal); 4. Panan Biri Main Ko Kabhun Na Dini (Raag Suha – Rupak Taal)…I have listened to the album twice… and my attention was diverted both times…and I was unhappy…tomorrow is Sunday and I hope to get some time to listen attentively to Vidushi Dhondutai Kulkarni’s singing and see if I can gain admittance into her Music Room…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Shakti - The Legendary Indian Classical - Jazz Fusion band - Part I

Hello World...

I have been a fan of Indian Classical Jazz fusion music for the last 15 years. This bug bit me when I was in CIEFL doing my research, and a friend of mine, we used to call him KP, introduced this genre to me. I had known about Shakti, the legendary group, earlier, but heard them seriously on tape only then. Since then, it has been a great musical journey, a journey of discovery and joy. The first thing I did was to read up whatever was available on this niche genre and started collecting cassettes. Some albums, I got easily, some I had to really struggle to acquire, like Karuna Supreme and Rainbow (Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, John Handy, Zakir Hussain, L. Subramaniam). Now, I can confidently claim that I have almost all the landmark albums in this genre, if not all.

The group Remember Shakti had played in Hyderabad some years back and it was a dream that came true for me. I had heard all their albums, their various avatars over the years, read their interviews, etc., but nothing prepared me for their live performance. They had undergone a massive change…there was a drum kit next to Zakir Hussain and Shankar Mahadevan was singing with his full throated ease…What followed the next two hours was absolute bliss…Though I cannot explain in musical terms how it all went off, I was happy that I could see my favourite Indian classical Jazz fusion band perform live…

If not the first, Shakti is one of the earliest groups to experiment with Indian Classical and Jazz-fusion and make a huge success of it. The initial line-up consisted of John McLaughlin on the Guitar, L. Shankar on the Violin, Zakir Hussain on the Tabla and Vikku Vinayakram on the Ghatam (see above photo - the exuberant quartet). How the group itself came together is another story, worth a separate post. The eclecticism of this fusion ensemble can be seen in each artiste’s musical background and the instrument each plays – McLaughlin with his Jazz background on his specially modified scalloped Guitar; Shankar with his Carnatic Classical background on the Violin; Zakir Hussain with his Hindustani Classical background on the Tabla; and Vinayakram with his Carnatic Classical percussion background on the Ghatam (clay pot). This 2/2 melody and rhythm combination gave an almost perfect fusion effect and gave Shakti its characteristic sound. McLaughlin and Shankar played around each other, i.e., going back and forth to the foreground from the combined jamming, while Zakir Hussain and Vinayakram provided the contrasting rhythms. The first avatar of Shakti was known for its ‘fast furious fusion’, symbolised by Shankar’s sometimes alarming speed on the violin, McLaughlin’s snapping pace, Zakir Hussain’s and Vikku Vinayakram’s fingers almost a blur on the tabla and ghatam respectively. One can listen to this ‘triple-f’ effect and visualize the stalwarts on their instruments in all their three abums – Shakti with John McLaughlin (Sony-Colombia), Handful of Beauty (Sony-Colombia), and Natural Elements (Sony-Colombia).

This ensemble came forth with only three albums, but they were active throughout the seventies playing around the world. The members went their separate ways in 1978.

contd in next post...

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Shakti - the legendary Indian Classical-Jazz Fusion band - Part II

Hi World...

Shakti came together again briefly in 1997 (after two decades) in the 50^th year of India’s Independence when Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia joined the group. Pt. Chaurasia on the flute replaced Shankar in the melody segment, as Shankar was unavailable at that time. The concert and the subsequent two-volume album were christened Remember Shakti (Polygram), the new name by which the group would be known thenceforth. Their second avatar was in complete contrast to their first. Unlike Shakti’s dominant fast fusion sound bordering almost on the aggressive, Remember Shakti (with Pt Chaurasia) was unhurried and meditative with Pt Chaurasia holding forth with his marvellous bansuri on long raga explorations, with Mukti (with others contributing as well) unfolding for over an hour and Chandrakauns (name of a Hindustani Classical raga), a little over 30 minutes. In fact, flute is the most influential sound during this brief phase of the ensemble. McLaughlin and Pt. Chaurasia jam together for a musical piece called Zakir (composed by JML; presumably a tribute to Zakir Hussain) and the entire band comes together for Lotus Feet (which, I consider the group’s anthemic melody [composed by McLaughlin], which appears as a signature piece across their three incarnations and IMHO, gives continuity to the group’s musical journey).

Pt Chaurasia was not new to the members of Shakti. He had already jammed with McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain in another influential Indian classical-jazz fusion album called Making Music (ECM Records), where the aforementioned Zakir was one of the pieces rendered. Jan Garbarek joined them for this rendering in this album. Remember Shakti regrouped after two years in 1999 with a change in both the melody and rhythm segments. Vikku Vinayakram’s son Selva Ganesh came in the place of his father in the line-up, ensuring a continuity of Carnatic percussion rhythm and flavour. The strings came back with U. Shrinivas on the Mandolin replacing Pt. Chaurasia, thus reinstating the original 2 and 2 string and percussion blend (see photo above). This incarnation has come out with 1 exclusive album – Believer (Universal – Verve) and another ensemble (with Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Shankar Mahadevan, Sivamani, Debashish Bhattacharya, Bhavani Shankar, Taufiq Qureshi, and others) live concert album called Saturday Night in Bombay (Universal – Verve) (reminds people of another landmark concert and album of which McLaughlin was an integral part - Friday Night in San Francisco [John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, and Paco De Lucia])

All I can say after listening to their music for over 15 years now (and will continue to listen…) is to reiterate the title of one of the compositions in their first album – What Need Have I For This – What Need Have I For That – I Am Dancing At The Feet Of My Lord – All Is Bliss – All Is Bliss…

Happy listening...

Jayasrinivasa Rao