[nicneufeld]

Any fans of classical Indian music around here?

I've long had a latent fascination with the style, and I'm finally diving in, learning the sargam, the raags, thats, and talas, all that fun theory stuff....went to a workshop with Sandip Burman, fantastic tabla/sitar player and teacher, who toured with Bela Fleck and has played with a number of respectable names.  I've been interested in sitar for 10 years, but I think the workshop was what finally hooked me into going ahead.  I'm working on procuring a good quality studio-style sitar (no gourd, built in transducer, and metal gear tuners) and putting the theory into practice.

A favorite of mine is the sessions Ravi Shankar did with Yehudi Menuhin, some very fiery, imaginative stuff.  I've tried getting into Vilayat Khan, and I like him, but Shankar just seems slightly more creative and unique in his playing...maybe he's more "Western" and thus appeals to my ears a bit more in that vein.

Anybody else into this stuff at all? 

[1vertical]

Nick,
Ever since cap put this video on a post I keep being drawn back to it...mostly because of the soundtrack.
Besides that it is a good vid and will whet your appetite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORtP0k2nxoo
It is guitar and not sitar, but I could envision sitar in the mix easily

I do not know who the artist is that is doing the music but would like to check out more of their stuff.

Also I just heard some new Brian Eno (off topic) that is pretty good

[nicneufeld]

One of the hangups with any sort of Indo-Western fusion is harmony...we use it, they don't really.  There's the tonic, and that's the bedrock of the performance onto which the melody and rhythms are layered.  Hard to imagine many western styles of music functioning without chord changes!  One style that has somewhat intrigued me along these lines in the West is funk, because of all styles in the west, it strikes me as one most similar along these lines.  Heavy emphasis on rhythm and occasionally not even using chord progressions...particularly early funk like James Brown.  They just hold a groove on the root, and layer the instrumentation over that.  You can all but hear the tanpura drone!

But in my heart, I just love the music as is, and I'm pursuing it without ideas for fusion really.  I'm not a drummer, but the tabla?  Amazing instrument.  Get one that is well mic'ed with a good player, and they are quite stunning in all the textures you can get out of them.

[oscarvan]

Here's some Indian influence in a familiar song...... I see these guys once a year. The dude on the sitar is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I0pk-0VVWs

[Kit B]

Wow...That's really great!
This musical style just hits me somewhere deep down.

[nicneufeld]

This collaboration is fantastic.  Raga Pilu, in two parts.  The alap is slow and meandering which seems typical of Shankar.  The tablas (Alla Rakha) come in at four minutes and the thing takes off!  Lot of complexity...the ga (3rd) spends a lot of time both naturally and flatted (shudda re and kemal re).  Same for the ni, both shudda and kemal versions.

Part one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Ml1R9cpTA
Part two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qogtChqJvpQ

I don't have the chops for many of those runs on guitar, much less the much more physically challenging sitar.  Wow!

[jaybeerman]

I primarily listen to classical and I've always liked non-western music as well; non-western classical is just gravy.   If you like percussion, listen to this cd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPV3OVSzdes it's solo Egyptian-style percussion.  As far as Indian Classical I've always liked the Ravi Shankar Sitar Concertos.  I believe the cd I have features Ravi, Yehudi Menuhin and the London Symphony Orch. (is this the one you were referring to or something else?).  I also like Oriental and Southern American influenced classical music.  Cheers, j

[rabid_dingo]

http://broadcaster.pandora.com/t?r=927&c=901946&l=37961&ctl=2025C2E:AF81F7C0C2CCABFF4671294354CAEDC7050542759970026E&

Dunno if the link will work but I listen to this on occasion. Plus it's Pandora. Good mix and if you continue
to rate songs it narrows your station to your liking.

[nicneufeld]

I have a similar pandora station that is pretty good for me!  I've been exposed to a number of artists I didn't really know before (vilayat khan, nikhil bannerjee).

Imrat Khan (brother of Vilayat Khan) is a great sur bahar player, which is a sort of bass sitar.  Here is a nice solo piece without accompaniment.  The deep tones combine perfectly with the more meditative style.  I imagine it has to be mic'ed perfectly to really capture the depth well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCtjrsu4dFk

Jay, I was referring to "East Meets West", a quartet album with Menuhin, Shankar, I think Alla Rakha on tabla, and who knows on tanpura (sad reality of the instrument is it is the simplest and least likely to generate fame...), not the full orchestra, but I'll have to seek those out!

[jaybeerman]

Jay, I was referring to "East Meets West", a quartet album with Menuhin, Shankar, I think Alla Rakha on tabla, and who knows on tanpura

Oops, thought I had replied to this.  Thanks, I will order that cd.  Recorded east indian classical is difficult to find, other than the sitar concertos I'm only aware of east Indian influenced rock/jazz (which is good too).  cheers, j

btw, here's an interesting read http://books.google.com/books?id=QzX8THIgRjUC&pg=PA109&lpg=PA109&dq=east+indian+composers&source=bl&ots=fdSLz1JmtY&sig=wUMxydFffDUg7u7-6ilmWxXRlY4&hl=en&ei=ZwteTYHtBYeqsAPEvuy6CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=east%20indian%20composers&f=false

[nicneufeld]

I think you'll like it!  Raga Ananda Bhairava and Raga Piloo are my favorites from it.  The former I think doesn't have Menuhin on it, the latter, well, its just fantastic.  Ravi's Ananda Bhairava is interesting...all notes are "shuddh" meaning its like a Western major scale (bilawal thaat) EXCEPT for a high kemal Re (basically a flattened second/ninth/whatever) that adds just enough tension to an otherwise very melodic and pure sounding raag.

And...I bought my sitar!  Here's the one:
http://www.raincitymusic.com/rastudio.htm

Now just waiting for it to be shipped to me! 

[jaybeerman]

Ok since you seem to be the AHA Hindustani expert (owning a sitar probably secures you that position) I have a question for you.  In this documentary of Baba Allauddin Khan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhRe_KT_bLA&feature=related his son, nephew and the last two disciples shown play a Sarod?  It seems there are different forms of this instrument; do you know if this is a specific kind of sarod?  I'd think about buying a Sarod, I'd like a sitar too but don't see that happening (too many irons in the fire).  cheers, j

[nicneufeld]

If "expert" is "really overenthusiastic beginner", then guilty! 

Haven't watched the video (at work) but Alauddin Khan is of interest to me so I'll be watching it later.  I know that the sarod can come in a few variations...some have a tumba at the neck side, some don't.  There are plenty of similar instruments that look much like it, various versions of veenas and I think the rabab in some versions looks a bit like a sarod.  I have heard they are ridiculously hard to play, being fingered with the fingernail or fingertip+nail, so good luck!  My love of fretless instruments (particularly in my case bass) gave me genuine consideration of pursuing the sarod or sarangi, but my first love was and is the sitar!  I think if I branched out, it might be to dilruba...the bowed indian instruments have a sweetly vocal quality.

I'll watch it tonight and let you know what I think. 

[nicneufeld]

I watched the video, and I saw a lot of traditional sarods!  Many with the brass neck mounted bell/resonator/toomba.  Also...it was a veritable who's who of ICM, Ravi, Nikhil Banerjee, Ali Akbar Khan, Annapurna Devi, etc.  Very, very cool.

I saw sitars, a surbahar, a veena of some variety, and sarods.  Maybe is there a particular scene where you see something different?  Let me know the second mark and I'll have a look.

[jaybeerman]

Maybe is there a particular scene where you see something different?  Let me know the second mark and I'll have a look.

Nope, just my learning curve.  It took views from a couple angles to realize what the instrument was really like.  Cheers j   
(now I want a sarod and a surbahar)