Ghost of India Hollow: Hindugrass

The experimentations of jazz musicians with Indian classical (Hindustani and Carnatic) music is a well established chapter of contemporary music.  Indian garage bands began making rock ‘n roll in the mid-60’s; today the rock, hip hop and electronica scene is alive, innovative and well across India.  Indian musicians have appropriated all sorts of Western instruments from the saxophone and violin to the mandolin and guitar to make beautiful and authentic South Asian music. 

From time to time I have let my mind run wild and tried to imagine what a fusion of Hindustani music and bluegrass would sound like. I can hear the horrified gasps coming from both Varanasi and West Virginia. How dare you! Perish the thought!  Are you mad? 

And while I acknowledge the cultural dirt in which bluegrass thrives is very different from the Ganges mud and Himalayan snow that has nurtured Hindustani classical music for millennia, I could not help but thinking that there was some common ground that deserved to be explored.

 

Hindugrass

So imagine the joy I felt when I stumbled upon a band called Hindugrass! An outfit of scarily talented and deeply credentialed American multi-instrumentalists based around Chapel Hill/Durham, North Carolina Hindugrass’ music comes out of Appalachian bluegrass country.  But it is most definitely not something Bill Monroe or the Stanley Brothers would recognise as the music they popularised.  Various members of this unusual band have studied tabla, sitar, sarod and khyal singing in India and (amazingly) like me have dared to dream about the fertile soil of both countries.  Unlike me (obviously) they have done something about it, namely make a self-titled album of Indo-Appalachian fusion!

I must say that just as this is not bluegrass it is not Hindustani music.  It is genuinely something new and different and yet the twin spirits of ancient India and not-so-ancient Appalachia are surely present. Like some sort of ghost haunting the mountain hollows, Hindugrass’ music is ethereal and hard to pin down.  Yet unlike that ghost, entirely pleasure inducing.

Fools gold this is not.

            Track Listing:

            01 Drive

02 Mi Ne Mie Kplo Fa Do

03 Bhairavi

04 Appalachistan

05 Headwaters

06 Yamuna

07 Velavali

here

All Day and All of the Night: Ragas for all Occasions

The Washerman’s Dog recently received a question about some aspects of the raga as well as a request to share some more of the same.  I was, as always, pleased to get a request, if for no other reason than such things provide evidence that the services of this blog are being accessed by the wide anonymous world ‘out there’.   On this occasion, however, I am a bit daunted, because providing authoritative analysis of a subject as slippery as the raga and the structure of Indian classical music,  can quickly lead to one’s undoing.  And I don’t want to be undone.

Nevertheless, a dog is nothing if not eager to please. So, with a huge opening caveat that the Washerman’s Dog (by definition) is more comfortable roaming widely over a great many ghats, rather than being a watchdog of any one particular set of steps, I will do my best to illuminate.

The Question in question:

I am familiar with morning ragas, afternoon ragas and evening ragas, but nothing for the wee hours of the morning. I also don’t know if these time periods are subdivided. Are morning ragas played at dawn? Are there different ragas for mid or late morning? Afternoon ragas until sunset? Evening ragas from sunset to midnight?  A post that explains all this, with appropriate ragas for a 24 hour cycle would certainly help enlighten us benighted Westerners, or at least this one.  (B.B)

The raga has no exact equivalent in Western music or translation in English. Indian classical music is all about melody (as opposed to harmony) and the raga is the basic melodic framework within which the music is interpreted. The other key pillar is tal the time measure at which the raga is played.  In the same way that a painter selects several colors from his palette to create a painting with a particular feel, the Indian classical musician selects several notes from an octave to create a raga with a specific emotion. The resulting raga is not a ‘standard’ that is played exactly the same each time, but rather a ‘theme’ that is improvised upon by each singer or musician.  In the words of N.A. Jairazbhoy, a prominent authority on Indian classical music, “the concept of raga is  based on the idea that certain characteristic patterns of notes evoke a heightened state of emotion.”

And it is to achieve these heightened states of feeling that each north Indian raga is assigned a particular time of day to be played.  Tradition has it that a particular raga can only truly be enjoyed at a particular time of the day in recognition of the human body and mind’s constantly changing response to external and internal stimuli. The ancient musicologists were particularly interested in the effects of musical notes and how they effected and enhanced human behavior.  Indian tradition states that the three Doshas-- Kaph (water), Pitta (fire) and Vata (air) --dominate the human body. These elements rise and fall during a 24 hour period and change throughout the seasons. Thus listening to a particular raga has the ability to act as a therapeutic device.

The 24 hour day is divided into 8 prahars (beats) each with a corresponding dosha (element).

Some ragas are composed to be played/sung in specific seasons such as Spring or the monsoon.  These seasonal ragas are not constrained by particular playing times and can be enjoyed throughout the day or night.

The question of the correct time of day (prahar) is generally acknowledged to be a bit of a purist’s concern.  While no one doubts the ability of music to affect human emotions the realities of modern music-making which require performances to be held during reasonable hours have loosened the strict correlation of raga and time of day.   At the same time, technology has allowed any raga to be heard at any time of the day.  Finally, many Hindustani ragas have been adopted from the Carnatic (southern Indian) canon which does not apply a time-of-day framework to the music, so slowly the requirement that raga x be performed during x prahar has faded away.

The Washerman’s Dog has put together a selection of ragas that cover the clock, as part of the appreciation of this post.

         Track Listing (Vol. 1)

        

            01 Bhairavi [Lal Mani Mishra]

02 Gujri Todi [Ustad Muhammad Sharif Poonchwaley]

03 Ahir Lalit_ Alaap [Zia Mohiuddin Dagar]

04 Raga Multani - Vilambit [Ustad Sabri Khan]

here

Track Listing (Vol. 2)

01 Marwa [Chhote Ghulam Ali Khan]

02 Raga Desh [Ghulam Sadia Khan]

03 Malkauns_ Pira Na Jane Deki [Abdul Karim Khan]

04 Rag Sindhu Bhairavi [Ustad Ali Akbar Khan]

here

Saving America: Raga Darbari and Bansuri

Loyal followers of and visitors to the Washerman’s Dog will have seen the video clip of President Obama and Gov. Romney debating who is better placed to integrate the wonders of Hindustani and Carnatic classical music into the culture and economic life of the United States.  Both candidates expressed an admirable depth of understanding as well as sensitivity to some of the finer points of the Indian classical tradition in their responses. But as is to be expected, the Democrat President emphasised that no economic or social recovery could take place without a true understanding of the raga. In particular he held up Raga Darbari Kanada as being a pinnacle of achievement which needed to be more fully appreciated by Wall Street and Main Street alike.  That he promised $17.5 billion for the promotion of the bansuri (Indian flute) in next year’s budget underscored his seriousness.

The Republican Romney opposed this position, placing priority on the complex taals of Indian percussion as the ultimate saviour of American culture. While he was able to impress the moderator (and himself) with the rapid annunciation of several rhythmic patterns his protestations that his familiarity with a variety of Indian drums fell a bit flat.

It was a fascinating debate, indeed, and after considerable reflection I have come down in the Obama/Democrat/raga camp.  And as evidence of the truth of this position I offer tonight a choice selection of the raga played by North and South Indian flute maestros, as well as several renditions of the wonderful Raga Darbari, but vocally and played on the sarangi.

Here’s to a cultural awakening and economic recovery in the USA!

            Track Listing:

Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia

01 Raga Ahir Bhairav [Hari Prasad Chaurasia] The greatest living proponent of the bansuri, referred to by President Obama in his response, plays the exalted morning raga Ahir Bhairav, one of his personal favorites.

Pt. Ram Chatur Malik

02 Raga Darbari Kanhra - Alap [Pandit Ram Chatur Malik] the Don of Darbhanga Dhrupad, Ram Chatur Malik presents a master class in how to sing this grave raga, played deep into the night. Darbari is considered to be one of the more difficult ragas to master, and with the potential for profound emotional impact.

T.N. Sitram

03 Kalalanerchina - Deepakam [Prapancham T. N.  Sitaram] An ancient Thyagaraja ragam from South India played by the blind flute guru from Chennai.

Ustad Sabri Khan

04 Raga Darbari - Jhala [Ustad Sabri Khan]. Representing the Sainia gharana and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, Ustad Sabri Khan plays a difficult raga on a cantankerous instrument—sarangi.

Pt. Jasraj

05 Raga Darbari [Pandit Jasraj]. One of India’s outstanding vocalists renders the mighty night raga Darbari with style and power. Ustad Zakir Hussain accompanies on tabla so Mitt Romney should be pleased!

06 Raga Bhupal Todi [Hinmanshu Biswas and Dulal Roy] The Bengali duo of Biswas (bansuri) and Roy (jaltarang) wind up the concert with a stunningly artful Raga Bhupal Todi, another morning raga.

here