Le Grand Indian Musiq Legacy

Indian Classical music ! The phrase conjures opinions & images of somewhat love & loath. A legacy beyond historical facts. A devotion of paramount sorts, equal only to religion. A hegemony that it suffers because of its perpetraitors. A sophistication it has lost at the hands of the families who control and contrive the magic of classical music. A spiritual force, undocumented and inexplicable to the quantized western ears. Fables of maudlin lives and tales of debauchery that "surround sounds" this music. Psuedo-status of demigods these classical gurus are, yet ignorable en mass because bollywood is easier with hiphop & heavy metal very much at home now. Equally plagerised and simplified from within, to suit the shortspan listening ability of the average indian music lover. Patronised and rejuvinated by western culture in awe of the soulfulness, tonal expanse and complexity of Indian classical music. Thousands of zestful foriegners collect at the feets of the great gurus for salvation, for training, for escape. A handful even manage to score 'fusion' of the two worlds in harmony. Otherwise mostly exploited and kept under an invisible leash, the covert side of the master-student relationship of an eastern maestro and the western soulseeker is common reality inside the classical music society of India.

Yes and so all that happens - whats new ? The state of Indian classical music(northern and carnatic et all) is just like our collective outlook as a society .. class ridden, powerstruck and petty ! Like touts of a legacy - the average indian classical musician is out to make an impression of supreme greatness in a reality devoid of geniune appreciation or hope for individualism. Right from the 'classical' attire, to the air of awe & respect for the 'divine' nature of indian classical music, add the inbred sense of petty competition, to the aquired listening tastes - The 'in scene' is something close to an amusing scam. You have to appear servile and selfless in order to win a recommendation, a lesson, an invitation or even a sexual innuendo from your Guru. How else will you clamber the podium of glorified divinity upon which he or she resides ? Those who exist outside this path & the involved bigotry are obsecure. Glowing in perseverence in remote corners of the country slaving away to the music in endless devotion or mad passion, these musicians are only revered in passing conversations - often ignored by public and media at large. For decades in Solapur Maharashtra, the brightest bunch of young tabla players honing their craft in one tiny school - virtually unknown to the rest of world. Forced to take up unartistic careers in post offices and travelling marriage bands. Otherwise what we are informed about is meastro Zakir Hussain endorsing a Tea Bag and making film cameos and a few moments of virtouso "beat science" with foriegn musicians. As many pauper meastros and famished extraordinairs that might exist, countless more musicians wearing indian classical family medallions are scouring about & brandishing their legacy to get the 'fair' share of fame - a peice of the jaded robe that was default to their forefathers haydays.
Now that the royal courts have fallen, medival music schools in ruins and the local listener is bowled over by bollywood and its 'auto-tuned' voices, the corporate bastions will patronise the vacuus grace of classical music. Lets not forget Spic Macay. Let us not pass out on the frigid vibrations of classical music packaged as Air, Water, Moon, Desert, Rain ! .. Cow?

A new generation digs into the roads of the previous only getting further every now and then. The Demigod League of Extrordinary Indian Classical Musicians and their debauchered lives is hush-talk in the circle of family, afficionados, students, wannabes, hanger ons, nymphettes and who-ever else deems fit to be part of this 'spiritual' court of hegemony.
Somewhere the "guru and chela" all give into the lure and inherent greed of white patronage and some even go unto fornicate at large with the foriegn maidens who come as fans and students. Hari ji, we hear such stories from first person acounts !? The junior league of seekers and not-yet-divine zealots have mostly expanded on this bubble of mediocrity and near deaf sensibilities (no doubt to the years of "riaaz" that one claims). Most often seen in performance with a complete disregard for the fellow non classical bandmates, the overbearing wieght of these young disciples of some old master kills the spirit of music - hungry for the presence and appreciation from an audience unaware of the grotesque renditions they deliver otherwise.  Sad, the aspiring Sarangi player is only in for the solo(w) and the Tabla player will always delivers with parrot precision  "teehayi after teehayi" . This mockery of the divine art is most often seen in lounge bars and bohemian clubs where unique combinations of indian and western styles are performed for the chattering masses. The scene gets further frustrating as the attempts to bring about this macabre music to play. A sampled voice in alaap, superimposed over synthetic swirls, beefed up by crusty electronic beats, throbbing sub-frequencies shaking the floor and add the upfront complexities of the Tabla, the ancient scales of a Flute & Sarangi - what we get is one shady sense of a scam. One fudged pickle. Desperate & spiritless, this music otherwise known as New Age Fusion in a politically correct sense. Once a blue moon, the jazz heros of America  moonlight in India and this would be the golden moment to make one "classical" tremor felt. Anyone remember what happened when Herbie Hancock performed with the Thelonius Monk Jazz outfit last year .. Who leapt onstage sauntering about that i so want to forget  ? As much my ears choked on the garish volume of Shri L.Subramanium, his family and freinds on stage with the brilliant (cornered and suffocated) Al Jarreau and Stanley Clark celebrating L's grandfathers aniversary. Gods of music have mercy on this shock horror of 'con'fusion ! Anyway, thats all the rich and famous glam.. Us lesser mortals will not humiliate ourselfs  any further and perhaps forget it all.
Further down the line the 'persona non grata' of indian classical music remain in the darkness of small towns.  Somewhere we forget the folk singers, the real sufis, Bhakti music cults, lower caste saints (Yesu Das)  and countless unheard of deprived souls & artists dotted allover rural India - they too have a share in this legacy ? yes but they dont look as good as the higher order. Some of them dont even know how to read and write but the music speaks for itself and the artist. Rare birds have flown this cesspool to find geniune listeners and virgin grounds to progress upon. No ! i dare not demean the "Pandits" and "Ustaads" hovering from concert to concert in europe and america, yet Trilok Gurtu is someone i am in awe of - an Internationally Indian musician .. perhaps he just isnt 'class(ick)all enuff ! Bet one cant put an easy label on him as one cant help but guffaw at the twins who pose with their Sarods like guitars (the Rolex as much in focus) on the cover of a weekend newspaper supliment. The sons and daughters of the Higher Indian Classical Legacy are all out  to reap & heap the benefits and theres an industry which helps maintain this drag.  





END OF PART ONE !






PART TWO :
What is worth venturing into is the upstart wave of fusion music soothing the rigid consciousness of indian public. Airwaves in India turn the tide this new century to the beat of fusion. Let us take a moment to define the scope of fusion in indian music (assuming we are within the popular circles of listenership). Fusion has always been around as a concept to boldy step unto, when most traditional forms are done with. The reason we have such a maddening diversity in music and instrumentation is the fusion of people, languages, invasions, traditions, crafts and all the spice & dust that blows over the Indian subcontinent.  
Is an ignorant stand to claim that Indian classical music was created in the divine and spiritual order. The beat frenzy of a Dhol is as liberating as the mathematical precision of a Carnatic Bol - The drench of an alchoholic singer of notorious Thumri fame is as intoxicating as the devotional calling of the devout morning Raag. Classical music of India has been created, improvised, fuelled and colored for thousands of years by native inspiration, foriegn invaders, travellers, storeytellers, religious singers, tribals, hermits - the list is endless, in contrast to the contrived credits & awards showered upon 'this' Maharaj of 'that' Gharana. Post Independence, modern composers and songwriters freely sought to include western ideas of harmony and rhythm. A gradual breakdown of the hard rudiments of classical music gave way to a pop(ular) sensibility - music for the masses and in a capsule to remember it for ages, a new sound to define the temprement of a fledging nation. There was no looking back on this deluge of options to dabble with as other forms of music and melody across the world became more accessible inside well-to-do music families. Fusion happened ! The age of high contrast in indian music culture from the brillaint soulful blend of harmony to a steady change in the melodic taste of public ears - add noveau sense of beat, improved methods of musical clarity and definition - fine examples of combined east-west forms (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Shakti, Ananda Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, S.D Burman to name a few) remained outside mass consumption. What turned mass though was outright plagerised orchestration done to titilating hieghts and the localised 'bossanova & chachacha' beats of hindi film music. The legends (RD Burman & Bappi Lahiri et all)  who claimed the accolades for such pathbreaking efforts are mostly dead - the tease of cabaret queen Helen jiving to latin beats and swing (minus the bee-bop) or the arpeggiated flow of synthesizers in-sync with Mithun the disco dancer are as best reflections of that gaudy era - however they solidified as a benchmark for decades to follow, saturating the airwaves for generations to aquire that chaste "indian sound". How the songbird tonality of Lata and Asha became the standard for future femme voices of bollywood is obvious. How the guitar came to accompany Ghazal singers along with the traditional tabla and harmonium is music history, or why the piano & string combo has become the principle sound of cheesed-out ballads is not important. What is ? That fusion has happened again n again and witness to our ears and senses with the best and worst results. AR Rehman stands witness to his protige Ilay Raja for re-inspiring Carnartic roots with the force of the classical orchestra, and brilliant were the results of this fusion .. As much late Laxmikant & Pyare Lal cannot deny the uplifting movements of western harmony re-arranged to suite the typical indian melody. What was fusion then maybe archiac now and lost is the way of music traditions in the age of the computer and the sampler. In 2002 legendary composer Naushad (1960s fame) sent out a public message calling to ban all electronic instruments in the film music industry ! why ? aparently electronic technology was destroying the legacy of traditional music ( No thanks to the Begum Akhtar CD or Mp3 i can aquire or download that would be otherwise lost forever in some dilapidated tape archive) He futher blamed digital machines and their operators for robbing the poor violinist and dholak player of his bread (the butter was long gone, shared between the legends via royalties ever since "His Masters Voice" legitimized music publishing). Personally i wanted to throw a Psy-Trance party with my virtual synthesizer and CD player outside Naushads' plush seaside bungalow in Bombay.

Is it all done with ? Is indian music (classical & 'auto-tuned' bollywood) eventually a 'rhyme-a-dozen' capsule formula for mass entertainment ? Off course not and thanks to the stubborn & fringe who hold unto the diehard notion of not adhering to anything imposed by legacy ! Dig your own hole brothers and sisters of music and the arts ! Hail those musicians who are hammering away at their art and getting high on the sheer impact of music. Music is for self gratification (creater & listener likewise) after all the clouds of praise and air of superiority is blown over. Yes the synthesizers have been scorned upon as cheap substitutes but thats what creates the ear candy of the 21st century. Yes the sampler has robbed the dholak & conga player of his or her session but thats evolution my dear artist, you have to step outside your done to death ways as of now. None virtual device can create that haunting space of the Sarangi or the sweeping harmonics of a Flute and what remains of Indian Classical music outside the 'scum & scam' is pure and alive in spirit, supreme in form, ageless in soul. Then lets not succumb to the trash & glam !
I cant believe that one Tansen could usher rainfall with his voice, but i do hear & feel a soul stirring passion in the voice of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi .. and theres no guitar player like Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhat .. like the manifold dimensions in the violins of Shankar .. The Bangash brothers are just shit lucky !

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