Indian classical music

[Tom Storer]

Last night I went to the Cité de la Musique here in Paris for la Nuit Hindoustani - a marathon concert of ICM that lasted from 8 PM to 8 AM.

Basically, a series of nine one-hour concerts. A great way to see a bunch of people I'd never seen before. The concert wasn't uniformly brilliant but enough of it was to make it well worth the effort of staying awake all night.

Starting things off was Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan on shehnaï, a kind of Indian oboe, accompanied by a shehnaï disciple, Hassan Haider, plus Subhen Chatterjee on tablas and the usual anonymous tampura player. This was the first time I'd heard the shehnaï in concert, and it was beautiful. Before this I had only ever heard Bismillah Khan (apparently no relation), the pre-eminent shehnaï player of the older generation, on record, and had wondered how anyone could warm up to this thin, shrill, buzzing instrument. Live, with the benefit of the wonderful acoustics of the Cité de la Musique's concert hall, I was taken by its rich, round, double-reed sound. Hussain Khan's alap (the long melodic exploration of the raga without rhythm accompaniment that begins the Hindustani raga) was drop-dead gorgeous, and once the rhythm started, Hassan Haider proved a superb shehnaï player as well.

The *great* singer Girija Devi was programmed next, but had to cancel. She was replaced by Swati Natekar, a young woman with an engaging between-numbers patter. Her voice struck me as a little thin, but with an interesting texture, and despite the disappointment of not hearing Devi, I quickly came to appreciate Natekar's skill. She sang with clarity and explored the raga in interesting detail, accompanied by tabla and sarangui.

Next up was sarangui master Dhruba Ghosh. The sarangui is a fretless stringed instrument played with a bow, resembling a kind of rectangular box about a meter long played cello-style by the cross-legged player. It's most often found accompanying a singer but has some solo practitioners, of which Ghosh is the one I was most aware of even before the concert. He gave a beautiful concert, doing his alap with great control and subtlety and ending with some fast, dramatic exchanges with the *great* tablaya Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, but never descending into the vain showing off of virtuosity that plagues international-level ICM.

At around midnight Buddhadev Das Gupta came on. He is a master of the sarod, a kind of lute that doesn't have the same twang as the sitar, and whose sympathetic strings don't chime as loudly or brightly. Das Gupta's set played an excellent set.

Then came Lalith J. Rao - how have I missed her?? She studied with Pandit Dinkar Kaikini, a legendary singer I had the great good fortune of seeing once here in Paris, and I was floored by her beautiful, clear timbre and her wonderfully incisive and intelligent improvisations. Dhruba Ghosh was back on stage accompanying her, which he did with taste and restraint. I'll be picking up some CDs by Rao as soon as possible.

By the time Rao's set was over it was sometime between 2 and 3 AM. Shujaat Hussain Khan was next on sitar, accompanied by tablaya Partha Sarathi Mukkerjee, who had earlier accompanied Ghosh. Maybe my growing fatigue made it hard for me to appreciate this Khan properly, but despite his obvious virtuosity he struck me as too much given to flash and dazzle, pandering to the gallery with pyrotechnics.

The Gundecha brothers were on next, singing Dhrupad, the most ancient Hindustani vocal form, very slow and austere. The problem with them is that they are disciples of one the famous Dagar brothers, and if you're familiar with the Dagars, these guys sound too derivative. It's like watching a neobop trumpet-and-alto sax quintet playing Cannonball compositions - they might do it really well, but if they're not going to add anything you might as well go home and listen to the records. That's my take, anyway - perhaps I'm unfair to the Gundechas. Anyway, they did their thing impeccably but I felt like I had heard every syllable before from the Dagars, and better.

Nityanand Haldipur followed on bansuri, the Indian bamboo flute. Everyone knows Hariprasad Chaurasia, the foremost bansuri player. Haldipur is no Hariprasad Chaurasia. Despite a breathy sound that can be lovely with subtle hues, the bansuri has never really convinced me as a Hindustani instruments - for me it lacks the speed and fine-grain melodic slipperiness to really do a raga justice. But that's just me. Regardless of quibbles over the instrument itself, Haldipur struck me as simply not being on the same level of instrumental control - chops, I guess - as the others on the program. But I hasten to disclaim any real connoisseurship, this is simply my own neophitic impression.

Last up, and by now it was around 6:30 AM, was the amazing Asad Ali Khan on rudra-vina. This is the oldest instrument in use in ICM, with references to it in texts dating as far back as 500 BC. It's made up of two large gourds joined by a hollow wooden tube with frets. Four strings along the tube are used for melody and there are three or four open strings used as drones. It's pitched very low and the frets make it difficult to do the same kind of slithering-around-the-pitch wizardry that is common on the sitar. As a result rudra-vina is a more measured, stately instrument, played in the Dhrupad style. It has few practitioners. Anyway, Asad Ali Khan (b. 1936) is a remarkable musician. He started off by kindly acknowledging to the audience, "I know you are very tired." Those who were still awake laughed. The main part of the concert hall in front of the stage had been cleared of seats and people were sprawling on cushions, many stretched out dozing. Khan went on to say that this was holy music, and that Lord Vishna himself had played the rudra vina! "So please, do not lie down! Face the stage and wake up!" People dutifully did so, and he played a set that was riveting in its melodic beauty. After a long and absorbing alap, he discussed the tala, the Indian rhythmic cycle, and counted out the twelve beats to one of them as the tablaya demonstrated. Then they did the rhythmic exploration of the raga, and the excitement level rose as they entered into an emphatic round of exhanges. When that was finished, Khan took advantage of being the last one in the program to play a brief encore, and we all went home happy.

Real aficionados of ICM will deplore the fact that I didn't recognize or note the names of the ragas that were played. Sorry about that.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Tom... Indian music, whether classical or modern or pop is extremely complicated to people who've not studied the system of ragas, modes, talas, ascending and descending scales, or even know what instruments are used. The descriptions you provide, though, seem to make it clear that it was an interesting and, in some circumstances, delicious night of Indian music.

Thanks!

[Pete C]

Sounds great Tom, but I don't think I would have lasted past 2 or 3AM.

New Yorkers:

Sunday
May 18
2003
7:00 PM

Symphony Space

Shivkumar Sharma with Zakir Hussain

I have tickets for that. Shankar & Zakir Hussain played at Town Hall last night. Due to my financial situation, I had to pass.

[Tom Storer]

I would have passed on that myself, Pete. Zakir Hussain is an amazing musician, but he is one of the main suspects in the flash-and-dazzle stuff I was complaining about earlier. Sharma does it, too. Go for the vocalists, that's what I say.

[Brian Olewnick]

Awesome review, Tom; thanks!

Pete, I'll try to make it for that show (should I get advance tix?) I'm still neophyte enough that the ol' flash 'n' dazzle hits home for me. When I'm 80, I'll probably look back and think, "Yecch, how could I have bitten on all that facile stuff!"

[Salvador Dali Lama]

ah man!! Shivkumar Sharma and Zakir together... that's going to be great. I love them both, I dont care how flashy or whatever they are. I was just listening to Sharma a little earlier, and remember shakti after that.

Shankar is amazing too.

[Pete C]

Brian, you should definitely get advance tickets. It's reserved seating. I suspect it will sell out.

Tom's an ICM snob. Personally, I'm not advanced enough to really appreciate vocal music.

[Tanager]

I happen to enjoy Sharma greatly, and I think the sound of the santoor is wonderful. I'd take exception with Dennis' statement .as it applies to Desi pop - it is often (and increasingly so) rather like Western pop - stilted melodies over repetitive dance beats, and the lyrics can be (but are not always) numbingly inane.

There are many, many "genres" of Indian pop, but the stuff that really sells is, for the most part, predigested fluff made for the filmie industry.

Having said that, there are exceptions, Adnan Sami would be one such. And anytime Jagjit Singh sings, we'll listen. But, for the most part, the older Hindi pop was rather better

[Salvador Dali Lama]

but have you heard of this guy, "Punjabi MC"?

[Tanager]

Not of him specifically, no, but Lord knows, there are many, many Punjabi/Banghra stars on the scene these days. It's sorta funny - whenever my mother-in-law hears this or that bhangra-pop song, she mutters to herself, "truck driver music."

[Dr Dave]

Well done, Tom. Boston needs a Cité de la Musique. In fact, every city needs one.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Tanager, of course you are correct...but most Americans (and I know you are an exception) would not even know what Desi pop is or where to find it. That's all I meant. And I'm not even being condescending about what the American listener knows and understands.

[Jazzooo]

oh, man--having seen zakir Hussein in concert a few times, I can tell you that IMO he is a hell of a lot more than flash and dazzle. To be sure, he is a charming showman, but my god--what beautiful playing.

Tom, I'm sure you and i have discussed Vishwa Mohann Bhatt, right? Sorry if I forgot--short term memory and all that...

[Tom Storer]

Doug, V.M. Bhatt is the slide guitar dude, right? I've heard only good things about him but I have yet to hear him.

Originally posted by Pete C
Tom's an ICM snob. Personally, I'm not advanced enough to really appreciate vocal music.

Pete, you're missing an excellent opportunity to get in on the ground floor as my ICM minion.

[Jazzooo]

Yes, Tom--Bhatt created his own slide guitar with sympathetic strings. Don't miss him--it's a beautiful sound.

[Pete C]

I saw him twice last year. Once with Krishna Bhatt and once with Ravikiran.

[Jazzooo]

And?

[Pete C]

Sublime, of course. The concert at Columbia was especially good. Bhatt did a set, Ravikiran did a set, and then they did a jugalbandi on a carnatik rag with both guys' percussionists.

[Joe Milazzo]

Tom -- thanks for that wonderfully detailed post. Sadly, it has become more difficult for my local ICM Circle to bring artists to Dallas post-9/11. Restrictions have relaxed some, but not much...

And speaking of the great Indian vocalists, here's a "desert island" selection:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd000/d049/d04976xh338.jpg

[Pete C]

Upcoming NY events:


Saturday
May 03
2003
9:00 PM - 8:00 AM

Synod Hall / Cathedral of St. John the Divine 4th Annual All Night Concert of Indian Classical Music
Ustad Vilayat Khan, Rajan & Sajan Misra, G.S. Sachdev


110th Street & Amsterdam
New York / Charge (212) 545-7536

$100, $60, $40 / $35 WMI Friends & Chhandayan Members / $25, $15

An array of stellar instrumentalists and vocalists will perform at this 4th annual event which features evening to early morning ragas in the traditional all-night setting. Featured will be sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan, one of the grand masters of Indian classical music; Rajan and Sajan Misra, the leading Hindustani vocal duo which has been acclaimed for its powerful rendering of the highly improvised khyal; bansuri flute virtuoso G.S. Sachdev; a tabla solo with the formidable Sarda Sahai; Tripti Mukherjee (vocal); tabla players Anindo Chatterjee, Samir Chatterjee and Dibyarka Chatterjee; and Suresh Benegal (harmonium). Refreshments will be available. Co-presented with Chhandayan & Lotus Fine Arts.



Sunday
May 18
2003
7:00 PM

Symphony Space Masters of Indian Music
Shivkumar Sharma with Zakir Hussain


95th Street & Broadway
New York / Charge (212) 864-5400

$45, $35, $25 / $40, $30, $21 WMI Friends

Shivkumar Sharma is one of India’s most popular musicians and the foremost master of the santur, a hammered dulcimer known for its lush, shimmering sound. Over the past few decades he has been responsible for developing the santur from a Kashmiri folk instrument used for vocal accompaniment into a solo classical instrument in the North Indian repertoire. He is particularly noted for an innovative technique he developed to approximate the slides and note-bending characteristics of such Indian classical instruments as the sitar and sarod. He will be accompanied by India’s great tabla maestro Zakir Hussain. "...hypnotic..." The NY Times


I have no more details at the moment, but this was found on sulekha.com:

"Living Legends of Classical Music"

Hammerstein Ballroom
New York, NY

Saturday, July 19, 2003

Featuring Pandit Jasraj, Zakir Hussain, Birju Maharaj, Pandit Chaurasia, Girija Devi, Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Dr.L. Subramaniam, Rahul Sharma and Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.

[Tom Storer]

Some thoughts on Indian classical music...

I was thinking about my lack of enthusiasm for what I think of as the "flash and dazzle" school of ICM playing. It seems to be what initially attracts Western listeners. Zakir Hussain and Shiv Kumar Sharma, for example. It's not that I judge their musicianship, more that I disagree with their taste. Hussain, who is far more prone to flash and dazzle pyrotechnics than Sharma, can nonetheless play in any context. Sharma isn't really all that flashy, for that matter. So what don't I like?

When I first started listening to ICM, I would read the liner notes, articles on web sites, etc., to try and figure out as much as I could about it. One thing I noticed was the way musicians talked about a raga as having its own character, its own personality. They referred to their playing, including their improvisations, as "expressing the raga." They seemed to feel that the raga was much more important than they were.

I had a revelation at a dhrupad concert. The Gundecha brothers were singing. Something in the way one of them returned repeatedly to a melodic phrase made me realize that it was part of the raga, one of the melodic devices associated specifically with it. Suddenly it was if something shifted in my listening. I was no longer listening to the Gundecha brothers--I was listening to the raga as expressed by them. My entire relationship to the music underwent a sea change. Rather than the musicians playing to me as public, it felt as if the musicians were inviting me to participate with them in a journey into a particular state of being or feeling that is the raga. Since then I haven't heard ICM the same way at all. I listen to it in a way that is very different from the way I listen to other music - it's more meditative, more at a kind of meta-music level.

In jazz, the compositional material is basically secondary. If it isn't any good, musicians have more work to do to keep their performance interesting, but superb jazz can and quite often is made with the simplest and most unassuming of material. Great material is appealing in itself and can sometimes make up for lackluster performances, but we don't mind, in fact we enjoy, great variety in interpretation. The composer's intentions are hardly the most important thing to jazz listeners. We want to hear how particular individuals and groups express their own creativity, and composer be damned.

In classical music, the compositional material is the most important single aspect. Performance standards are extremely high, and interpretations do vary, but the score is the thing, and straying from the composer's intentions, or even offering an unorthodox interpretation of them, is not done casually. Classical listeners want to hear wonderful performances of compositions, but it's the composition that they love more than the individual performance. (A generalization, but basically true, I think.)

Ragas are a third phenomenon. First of all, ragas are, in the main, not compositions in the same sense as Western compositions - most of them have been passed on from time immemorial and don't have a named composer who expressed his or her creativity as a composer through them. They have their ascending and descending scales, notes that are most important and notes or intervals to be avoided; they have their time of day and their mood. Performances of ragas, in Hindustani music at least, which is the IMC I mainly listen to, involve lengthy improvisations, but which must obey the rules of the raga. They can be associated with any of the rhythmic cycles, or tala. Talas aren't just made up, either - they have set characteristics, strong beats and unexpressed beats and so on, within which structure tabla players or other drummers can improvise. You have a level of organization in ragas plus talas that is considerably less than in wholly composed Western classical music but which imposes greater constraints than jazz, since it's accepted in jazz for the musicians to change the rules as they see fit.

So when Indian musicians perform a raga, they have to use their creative resources in a way that is respectful of the personality of the raga. They have to *be* the raga, in a way; the raga comes through them. There's something mystical about it I find hard to explain. The musicians' personal creativity is important, and it's appreciated and admired by listeners, but in an important way they have to be subordinate to the material, to the raga and its rules and nature. That's why I don't like it when I feel that Indian musicians are playing to the gallery, showing off their virtuosity *at the expense of the raga*. If they can be spectacular because it expresses an important aspect of the raga, that's different. But Zakir Hussain, for example, too often (IMHO) just does a star turn because his virtuosity is thrilling in and of itself, accessible to people who aren't used to listening to ragas.

Jhala is the term for the final part of a Hindustani performance, in which the intensity rises and there is more complex interplay between the melodic soloist and the tabla player. This is usually the point at which the flash-and-dazzle kind of players become complacent in their attempt to wow the public. As the great vocalist Bhimsen Joshi famously said, "Jhala is for hippies," hippies being a term for Western ICM newbies.

There, those are my wholly subjective reflections of the day on Indian classical music.

- Tom (ICM snob)

[Brian Olewnick]

Wonderful post, Tom. Knowing next to nothing about the genre, your point of view sounds entirely reasonable to me.

[Tanager]

Well, hell, now I'm all inspired to trade in some of what I bought yesterday (picked up 10 CDs, only opened...four so far) and get some more ICM.

Someone gimme a rec of something they acquired recently and really love, mebbe?

I'd agree that Zakir Hussein might be somewhat razzle-dazzle, but it attracts Desis, too - my wife loves him.

[Brian Olewnick]

The item in my extremely limited experience (and I stress extremely) that's really knocked me out is the Shivkumar Sharma/Zakir Hussein, "Raga Purya Kalyan", from 1968 or so, I think. I've also always loved Pandit Pran Nath's "Ragas of Morning and Night" on Gramavision.

[Joe Milazzo]

Tanager -- I would emphatically recommend anything you can find by the Karnataka College of Percussion (KCP) featuring R. A. Ramamani... with the caveat that I would save the collaborations with Charlie Mariano for last (JYOTHI on ECM being the best).

Also, this recording:



http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre200/e240/e240600pqhn.jpg

[Tanager]

Originally posted by Brian Olewnick
The item in my extremely limited experience (and I stress extremely) that's really knocked me out is the Shivkumar Sharma/Zakir Hussein, "Raga Purya Kalyan", from 1968 or so, I think. I've also always loved Pandit Pran Nath's "Ragas of Morning and Night" on Gramavision.

I actually have a *large* pile of Pt. Shivkumar, so I'll put this one off for a bit.

I'm not familiar with Pran Nath, but only one way to get familiar...

[Brian Olewnick]

What's the consensus here on Sheila Chandra? I only have one disc of hers, her first (?) on Realworld from 1994 ('The Zen Kiss'), and while I find it pleasant enough in parts, my impression is that it's a somewhat watered down affair with more than a few sops to the ambient/trance audience. She does seem to be talented however (and, I'm forced to say, gorgeous) and the couple of tracks where she does the tabla imitations (I'm sure there's a name for this type of song--I've heard and seen it several times in performance) are pretty impressive even if there's too much studio enhancement for my taste. The is the only disc of hers I've heard so I'm wondering if she's done better work in the meantime or succumbed to the poppy side of things.

[Tom Storer]

Can't say I've heard much Sheila Chandra. The couple of things I did hear made me think she was (gasp) NOT PURIST ENOUGH.

As for "tabla imitations" - if I understand correctly, tabla strokes are named with syllables, and tabla players practice their tabla exercises by singing them as well as playing them. Hence tabla players, to the delight of the audience, often start a solo performance by singing the tabla part they're about to play. They can do it at tabla-playing speed and it sounds really neat. Maybe that's what Sheila C was doing.

[Pete C]

I like Sheila Chandra very much, but she has nothing to do with Indian classical music except for a borrowing of certain elements into her British alt. pop or worldbeat or folk or what have you music.

[Salvador Dali Lama]

I like her ok. I want to pick up a bonechromedrone or whatever its called one day. I like ambient things. Bill Laswell's City of Light is really good too.

[Pete C]

Originally posted by Salvador Dali Lama
I want to pick up a bonechromedrone or whatever its called one day.

Now that one I found too relentlessly droney. If I hadn't already divested, you could have had mine.

[Salvador Dali Lama]

shoot. what albums by her do you like? i cant get too into the indi-pop thing. I'd like to hear her do something with bill laswell and lori carson. that would be solid, i'm sure.

[Brian Olewnick]

sdl, do you know the various Golden Palominos incarnations?

[Pete C]

I prefer her 2 prior Real World albums, "Weaving My Ancestors Dreams" and "The Zen Kiss," which have much more variety.

By the way, as long as we're off the official topic, I'm very fond of the album "Salt Rain" by Susheela Raman (another Brit of Indian (Tamil) ancestry). It's less "experimental" than Chandra, and is definitely worldbeat fusion, but her voice is beautiful, as is much of the material. She has also sung with the Asian breakbeat band Joi.

[Salvador Dali Lama]

I heard like 2 songs by the golden palominos, they didnt make a massive impression. should I be investigating them? All I know about them is Laswell is involved, Lori Carson sings, and I think Anton Feir plays the drums.

I'll check those out Pete. Are any of you guys into tabla beat science? that stuff is awesome. I should really quit screwing around and get a hold of that live record they did.

[Brian Olewnick]

The Carson period of the Palominos isn't my favorite (I prefer the first, most experimental release and the follow-up--'Visions of Excess--an out and out rocker), but there are usually a few pretty decent tracks on each album. The last one I heard had several very spooky settings of spoken word pieces by Nicole Blackman.

[Tanager]

Sheila Chandra: we bought a CD by her (don't remember the title) and found it disappointing. Have spun it maybe twice.

If you like the ICM-meets techno thing, then someone you should check out is Talvin Singh, especially his CD OK. I highly recommend it.

Another excellent CD is the compilation Mystic Groove. Be aware that many of the Inditechno artists work under several names, so unheard-of folks may in fact be folks you know better than you think.

If it's Desi pop of a truer sort you want (i.e. music actually listened to by Indians), check out Adnan Sami, who is one of the better singers in the current crop of Indian hitmakers. Indian pop, much like Western pop, is all too rife with homogenized dance tracks of late, but now and then a good new artist comes along, although I don't know that any of them are going to make anyone forget Asha Bhosle/Latajii, et al.

[Tom Storer]

See the "Indian non-classical music" thread.

[Pete C]

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/

[Tanager]

Okay, time for another rec, as in I need one.

I'm planning the May purchasing schedule, and I'm going to include some Desi music - any suggestions for something classical, vocal or instrumental, you've loved recently?

BTW, Anup Jalota is coming to Raleigh. This is not "classical" music in so much as he won't be singing Ragas or sa-ra-ga-ma-pa, etc., but he is an outstanding singer of (primarily) Bhajans and Ghazals, both of them song forms with long traditions.

[Pete C]

For some interesting, beautiful music of a different tradition, I can recommend an album called "Orissi Dance Music" on the JVC World Sounds series. The music includes vocals (a female lead and a percussive male chorus), percussion (pakhawaj & manjira), violin, bansuri & harmonium. It may be out of print, but there's a copy on half.com for $6.98.

[Tanager]

Attended a nice concert tonight with Mrs. Tanager. Anup Jalota, a pretty famous singer, did a show of Bhajans and Ghazals with accompaniment of Tabla and Bulbul Tarang (also known as the Indian Banjo or Keyboard Dulcimer). At the midpoint, after a brief intermission, Tabla player Ustad Ayub Khan played a Teen Taal with accompaniment from a Santoor player whose name I forget. Then followed another Bhajan/Ghazal singer whom I didn't recognize - I think his name was Sunni Moongi, Mrs. Tanager wasn't sure either. The show was wonderful, although the crowd was at times pretty rude (don't feel like going into details, it really pissed us both off). No low points, entire show was highly enjoyable.

[Pete C]

Olewnick & I caught Shivkumar Sharma & Zakir Hussain at Symphony Space. Excellent concert, in spite of some sound mix problems in the first half. I'm sure, however, that our ICM-purist friend Mr. Storer will scoff at the combination of a player of a "non-traditional" instrument and a "flashy" percussionist...

[Brian Olewnick]

Pete and I caught Shivkumar Sharma & Zakir Hussain last night at Symphony Space, NYC. Please bear in mind that the following comments are made by someone who knows almost nothing about the genre. First, I enjoyed it very much. In two sets, the first a more "classical" affair with an alap (Sharma solo) leading to a couple of ragas. The second set was, as Sharma referred to it "light classical" which seemed to me to mean much more folk and song oriented. Sharma played the santoor with great delicacy--I was very impressed with the quiet passages where he barely drew the...whatever you call the small, miniature-hockey stick-looking implements...softly across the strings. Are there serrations of some sort on the bottom of those gizmos? But I was more impressed by Hussein, largely because of the varied nature of his attacks. Now this may simply be part of the tradition, but it seemed to me that Sharma had a handful of motifs that he returned to over and over--beautiful, certainly, and I may be being overly and Westernly analytical, but part of me wanted to hear a wider range of approaches. Hussein, in addition to being technically awesome (I assume this, of course. There may well have been a crabby, Indian version of me back there complaining about Hussein being off 1/17th of a second on his unison passages with Sharma), drew a huge amount of tones and rhythms from his tablas. I want a set.

Actually, those unison passages, often emerging miraculously from some loose improvisation, were exciting for a while but seemed to be relied upon a little too much. These are minor carps and there may well be cultural reasons for certain approaches. Overall, it was a super show.

btw, Pete though Sharma looked like Don Imus. I was thing Bea Arthur.

http://www.cmtra.org/images/image31/sharma.JPG

[Tanager]

Originally posted by Pete C
Olewnick & I caught Shivkumar Sharma & Zakir Hussain at Symphony Space. Excellent concert, in spite of some sound mix problems in the first half. I'm sure, however, that our ICM-purist friend Mr. Storer will scoff at the combination of a player of a "non-traditional" instrument and a "flashy" percussionist...

What's "non-traditional" about a Santoor? The fact that it's traditionally been viewed as a folk instrument, rather than a classical one? It's an ancient instrument, and Sharma deserves credit for getting it wider recognition.

I believe, although I'm not 100%, that the Santoor is one of the ancestors of our own hammered dulcimer. I'd be hard-pressed to believe otherwise...

[Pete C]

Originally posted by Tanager
What's "non-traditional" about a Santoor? The fact that it's traditionally been viewed as a folk instrument, rather than a classical one?

Yeah, I believe there are some fundamentalists who are skeptical about the bansuri as well as the santoor in classical music, and certainly the Mohan Veena & the mandolin...