#Carnatic Music

[sivavakkiyar]

So in the West, the predominantly influential form ICM was Hindustani (North Indian) music. This recording comes from the Nonesuch release ‘Pallavi: South Indian Flute Music’, which was a kind of classic amongst jazz musicians and a kind of introduction to Carnatic music for many of them (to a degree—-L Shankar plays on it, a few years after already having played on Clifford Thornton’s Communications Network and Archie Shepp’s Attica Blues). Funny for me—-the allmusic review was written by Eugene Chadbourne (!):

I am really, really far from being *particularly* knowledgeable about Carnatic music, but it is a great album, beautiful music, and kind of like Ravi Shankar’s ‘Improvisations on Pather Panchali’ and ‘Three Ragas’ are to Hindustani music a really great introduction to it imo (I think the other tracks are also on YouTube, this is track 1)

[aranyaani]

I'm honestly so obsessed with this! this is my favourite version of the Sita Kalyanam song. I love how, while the singer is singing, the whole time these 2 bharatnatyam dancers enact the whole wedding in the most beautiful way! I especially loved the bit where they put tilak on each other and while the dancer acting as Ram shows the mirror to the dancer acting as Sita, he teases her a little by pulling away the mirror for a second and then she shows a mirror to him and while he's looking she's so mesmerised by his face that he has to snap her out of her little reverie. that was so wonderful! and I really loved that it ends with both of them gesturing like they're blessing all the people who attended their wedding. that was just perfect. and the bit where they act like they're sitting on a swing 🤌🤌

lyrics translation:

AND this video is shot at the 1100 year old Sita Ramachandra swamy temple, Ammapalli, Hyderabad

[burlveneer-music]

Saagara - 3 - Wacław Zimpel and four Carnatic musicians from southern India

Saagara’s new album 3, is the third installment of this acclaimed collaboration between Polish producer/multi-instrumentalist Wacław Zimpel and four virtuosic musicians from the Carnatic musical tradition of southern India: percussionists Giridhar Udupa (ghatam), Aggu Baba (khanjira) and K Raja (thavil) and violinist Mysore N. Karthik. It’s a buzzing juxtaposition of dense Indian rhythms and pulsating electronic patterns. An album of deeply transformative compositions that navigate tradition and experimentation as they move towards the universal. On 3 the music is not as contemplative as it was on the previous two albums. Acidic electronic post-club sounds now counterpoint the traditional instruments, and the instruments themselves are filtered through contemporary processing. Saagara’s 3 is also more studio-based and conceptual. Zimpel devised electronic sequences and then got together in a Warsaw studio with Udupa, who began by adding konnakol (vocal percussion) rhythmic patterns to the sequences. Zimpel’s production grew from there – developing additional electronic textures, manipulating the sound of individual instruments, and deconstructing or reducing the instrument tracks altogether. As a result, the boundary between the acoustic and the electronic, the tradition and the future, is blurred. Saagara’s new album brings the ancient ritual of Carnatic music, a music that carries the listener from one state to another, into a dance with electronic music and its techniques, beats and synthesis. The whole thing unfolds in a cosmic trance; an inspired and buzzing juxtaposition of dense Indian rhythms with pulsating electronic patterns. 

[miserable-individual]

NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE KNOW THIS GEM AND IVE BEEN LISTENING TO THESE SINCE THEY'VE BEEN RELEASED LISTEN TO THIS PEOPLE PLEASE IM OBSSESED WITH THE FIRST ONE ESP

[nonameidentified]

Very good explanation of the difference between carnatic and western music.

[mysticalblizzardcolor]

Maha Ganapatim Manasa Smarami With Lyrics | Popular Devotional Ganpati S...

[boy-with-a-bell]

Trying to memorize and sing ragas properly will be the death of me

I swear to god why are there so many variations to the same thing

How did ppl come up with them

[pavansughosh]

TalaGroove

Metronome, Carnatic Video lessons, polyRhythm

[squarepeg-roundhole]

Tha Dhin Tha

This story inspired by the fact that I offhandedly commented on something Neil Gaiman said and he noticed and replied! I have very specific experiences that inform the opinions I have, and below is one of them.

You can't know me for long without finding out that I am a musician. I am very proficient in both Western Classical and Carnatic music. I have sung with a world famous professional orchestra (as part of their choral program) and given multi-hour solo concerts in India. It is perhaps not a surprise that music education was a priority for me when I had kids.

My kids have been learning both Western (European, really) choral music and Carnatic music since they were small. They know a lot of things about both systems. They may not be as serious about it as I am, but they enjoy it. They have brought their knowledge of Carnatic music to their choral groups and talked about it enough that their teachers are aware of their interest. However, the two systems are pretty different, and while many of the fundamentals of pitch and rhythm are the same, there isn't really a good way to cross over from one to the other.

So imagine my surprise one day, when they came home from choir telling me that they were going to be doing Indian music the next semester! I was not consulted, though the director absolutely knew that I am at a semi-professional level. I was very curious as to what it was going to be. In retrospect, I probably should have been more apprehensive. The next update was my kids telling me that they heard a recording of this thing and it did NOT sound like any Indian music they had ever heard before. The director was excited and proud to introduce them to konnakol, the art of vocal percussion. My children were both unimpressed and a little uncomfortable.

The piece was Tha Dhin Tha, written by Lisa Young, an Australian musician who spent some time in India learning about konnakol. It was a typical choral piece, with harmonies typical of western music, but it incorporated a number of elements of konnakol. It was actually reasonably well done and was pretty fun to listen to, but I agreed with my kids - it did not sound like Indian music at all.

The next part of the story was when the director asked me to come to class and talk about Carnatic music. I am of course always happy to talk about my culture. I prepared an informative presentation that explained how harmonies are not a part of Indian music but ornamentation is, that there are four basic rhythm cycles of 3, 5, 7, and 8 that are commonly used, etc. At the end, the director asked for my help in getting the kids to pronounce the words, and I offered a little bit of assistance. I was hoping that with my lecture, the kids and the director would see that the music they are performing was inspired by, but not actually, Carnatic music. She didn't take the hint. At home, my kids said this is making them question every bit of world music that they have ever done. Was any of it even a little authentic? Because this sure wasn't.

When I was talking to my friends about this and how weird and uncomfortable I felt about the whole thing, one of them gave me an analogy that illustrated what was so weird about it. It was as though someone was hosting a Mexican dinner, and made some spaghetti and put a bunch of cumin on and called it Mexican food. And further, that they then asked an actual Mexican chef to come in and talk about Mexican cuisine while the dinner guests were enjoying the food. The food may well be inspired by Mexican flavors, and it may even be good, but it isn't Mexican food and the chef would rightfully feel weird about the situation.

In the end I pretty directly told her that this was not Indian music, and when she finally did introduce the students singing it, she used the terminology I preferred - that it was inspired by konnakol and Carnatic music, not that it actually WAS Carnatic music. And the kids did a good job and all's well that ends well.

Stories like this illustrate how complicated cross-cultural art can be, both from the perspective of labels, and from the perspective of the people who participate. My kids were incredibly uncomfortable being told that they were doing Indian music when they were not (especially because they were put on the spot, being the only kids in the choir who knew anything about Indian music). In this case, I would argue that it was not cultural appropriation, but cultural misrepresentation. Lisa Young, the Australian musician, was not composing Indian music. These choirs are not performing Indian music. And it is fine to take artistic inspiration from India, but actual Carnatic music is an entire system of classical music. Don't pretend that this is somehow Indian, because it simply isn't.

[sivavakkiyar]

which actually ties into a rant from earlier—-this is an important recording to me for a lot of different reasons & interests. A rehearsal from Zappa’s last classical concerts, The Yellow Shark: Zappa invited L Shankar to come specifically to the teach the strings in the German Ensemble Modern how to bend & express in the Carnatic style. The opening solo here is a wood solo by a Western classical musician who had literally never solo’d or improvised in their life before; then Zappa & Shankar duet and solo, possibly the last recording of Zappa on guitar before he passed

[yt]

[aranyaani]

time to lie down in bed and listen to this on loop

[confield]

any of you have carnatic music recs? something percussion-centered?

[kitty-lemon]

Chef's kiss 🤏

[iworshipsappho]

maruGAYlara

[mysticalblizzardcolor]

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