Re: Indian classical music

[studio seventeen productions <ambient@adnc.com>]

At 02:02 PM 10/7/96 -0400, you wrote:
>I noticed from the looper index that several folks were interested in
>Indian Classical music.  This is exciting to me -- and I would like to
>start a thread in this direction, beacuse I feel that this music (ie. the
>premises behind this music) is very condusive to looping.
>
> [I'm sure traditional Indian classicalists will shout "blasphemy" for 
>this
>statement, since improvisation is such an important part of the music --
>but I don't think that looping and improvisation need be mutually 
>exclusive
>-- I'm sure many of you will agree with me on this, as many of you have
>stated the desire for continuously altering or varying loops, instead of
>using pure repetition].
>
>Let me describe briefly what I understand as the basis of (North) Indian
>classical music:
>
>1.  The music is based primarily on rhythmic and melodic content, not
>harmonic (as in the European tradition).
>
>2.  The rhythmic aspect of a piece is based upon a "tal", or rhythmic
>cycle.  This is defined by a pulse tempo and a number, where the number
>represents the number of pulses in the rhythmic cycle.  Most Indian music
>uses cycles of 24, 16,  12, 10,  8, 7,  or 6, but any number (integer > 1)
>is theoretically OK.  The "one" or first beat of the rhythm cycle is 
>called
>the "sum".  The key to musical interaction is for all the musicians
>involved to hit the sum.  Within the rhythm cycle, the musicans may go off
>separately, with incredible rhythmic complexity and improvisation, but you
>can be sure that he will end up (along with the other musicians) right 
>back
>on the sum.
>
>3.  The melodic aspect of a piece is based upon a "raga".  A raga can be
>thought of simplistically, as a melodic scale, but it is more than that.
>Often, there will be a "ascending" and "descending" scale, meaning the
>performer will play one set of notes when ascending in pitch, and a
>(slightly) different set of notes, when descending.  There is more to a
>raga than just the notes, though -- you can have two different ragas using
>the same notes, by having different "tal's", or even by virtue of the way
>they are performed (ie. the themes used) -- and this seems to be tied in 
>to
>the "emotional impact" or feel of the raga.
>
>4.  Within these rhythmic and melodic constraints, the performer is free 
>to
>improvise, and to embellish basic themes -- so no two performances are the
>same!!  To me, this is a major distinction between the Indian and European
>classical traditions.
>
>I don't mean to oversimplify the rich complexity of Indian classical music
>-- there are many other forms, structures, and aspects to the music (I'm
>sure plenty, of which, I am not aware).  But I mainly wanted to present 
>the
>basic rhythmic nature of the music.
>
>So, since the whole concept is based on the rhythm CYCLE, you can see why
>this may be condusive to looping.  By combining multiple loops of various
>lengths, there will always be a sum (ie. beat "one"), which will occur at
>the GCM (greatest common multiple) of the individual loop beats.
>Improvisation would surely be different than in a classical raga, but 
>there
>is plenty of room for improvisation using current loopers.  Each loop can
>be generated spontaneously, and then multiple loops can be combined in
>different ways.
>
>I'll write more later about using Indian music ideas with loopers/delays.
>I'm curious what others have to say on this topic...
>
>- chris
>
>---------------------------------------
>Chris Chovit
>cho@gomez.jpl.nasa.gov
>---------------------------------------
>
>
>


Chris- your comments certainly strike a chord with me.  I've used short
loops of Indian music as backing for energy bow loops on at least two 
occasions:

once, a tabla solo in 17 beats (on my album "Pay Your Respects") and again 
a
piece of sitar on a later recording of mine entitled "Charm Zone".  I plan
to use snippets of Indian music (looped from my Discman) in a planned
upcoming series of performances.  (Along with Korean drummers, classical
string pieces...whatever strikes my fancy and/or is a good "backing" to
build e-bow on.)

I was very pleased with the results, although it takes some doing to adjust
your melodic style to "fit" the textures and sounds of the Indian music.

I love Indian music anyway (having grown up in East Africa which has/had a
large Indian population) + of course Mr.  Harrison's forays into same I
would assume inspired us all..

It does indeed lend itself very well to the looping process, particularly 
if
you just loop a rhythmic idea (as I did with the tabla solo in seventeen
beats) and then provide all new melodic content on top.

You are indeed correct about another thing-looping Indian music will be
viewed as sacrilege by "real" Indian musicians.  I have experienced this
first hand, a British sitar player who does sessions told me he was
"disgusted" because the producers of the session he was on just took an
eight second loop out of his taped part...

and I can understand, because if you spend most of your life training in
such an intense classical discipline, and then have all your technique and
skill and experience "snipped" down to a 4/4 time loop...

so i can see both sides.

this, however, will not stop me from working more with Indian sounds...






excellent thread! 


dave at studio seventeen



p.s.

>Often, I will play ambient sounds or environments during a looping
>performance (eg. rain, crickets, etc -- sometimes even thru a processor).
>This adds a nice rich background to the music.    Does anyone else do 
>>this?

Yes, although I've tended more towards things like gregorian chants or 
human
voice type sounds.  I don't have a real good cricket or rain generator!!!

dave @ 17
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