Raga CDs of the months (11/09): Women in Indian Classics (part 1) – 11/16/2009 (10:00 pm)

The Indian Classical Music – epecially the North Indian Classics (Hindustani) – experienced a noticeable change. Before it had been a courtly art part of the activities of the courtesans (Tawaifs). Indian Classics developed in the 19^th and 20^th century to an appreciative art form, which is learned by young girls and women from respected families and practiced as occupation.

dates of broadcasting…
16th November 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (METZ)
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

The Hindustani music particularly stood in the early Indian Middle ages under Persian influence. A Patronage at the court of the Mughals in the 16^th century promised the courtly arts and artists prosperity. Many young girls were trained in performing arts, the Kathak dance and Indian Classical Music, literature with poetry forms like the Ghazals and Thumris.

The Thumri form is a genre of the light classical music, frequently sung at the spring fest and to the colors of Hori celebration. Originally the Thumri-s were expressing emotional expressions by gestures and facial expressions (mimics), so called Abhinaya. In the further development this presentation form disappeared and remained for Indian dance. The singers switched over to purely vocal improvisation forms without lyrics, the so-called Bol Banav-Ki Thumris.

On 29 August 2009 the documentary film „Rasoolan Bai – The other song“ (Das andere Lied) had its show case in the Bangalore Internationally Centre (Bangalore). Rasoolan Bay (1902-1974) from Varanasi formed together with Badi Moti Bay of Benares, Siddheswari Devi (1907-1976) and Begum Akthar (1914-1974) the quartet of the singing queens.

The rebel Gangubai Hangal (Gaanewali) had broken the gender-specific barriers in North Indian Classics. Gangubai is called „the father of the Khayals “, the modern vocal style of Hindustani music. When the singer Gangubai Hangal died in July 2009 at the age of 97 years after long illness critical voices had been heard which manifested that the era of the woman power in Indian classical music came to its end.

Rasoolan Bai	Begum Akthar	Badi Moti Bai	Siddheswari Devi	Gangubai Hangal

In our Western understanding in India exist a transfigured woman picture of the eternally female divine: Already in the epical times no religious rituals were hold without participation of the women. With the Ashtanayikas, the eight heroins appear a woman picture till today we find in India.

In the South Indian Classics (Carnatic) the practice of the art was particularly reserved to the members of the Brahmins, a kind of priesthood. Women had it very difficult to attend the stage and appear with music in the public. In the beginnings of the phono industry women hardly found male companions for disc recordings.

Under the influence of the Hindu myths one can meet in Indian the opinion that the trinity of the goddesses, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati revealed themselfs to the humans as avatars in form of the singing virtuosos DK Pattammal (1919-2009), MS Subbalakshmi (1916-2004) and ML Vasanthakumari (1928 – 1990).

Their arrival terminated male dominance in South Indian classics. It began an era of the divine, creativity and innovation within the borders of traditional values.

They were artists, who completely got carried away in music, not because of success, fame or the money. These women were masters of multitasking, fulfilled various tasks in most different roles, as mothers, wives, sisters, teachers or grandmothers.

D.K. Pattammal	M.S. Subbalakshmi	M.L. Vasanthakumari

While today many artists seem to live most different identities at the same time, Pattammal, Subbalakshmi and Vasanthakumari were led only by one identity.

Typical for Asia the presence and function of a selfless, divine love (Bhakti) was for these mistresses their driving power, in order to overcome steadily largest social discrimination up to their artistic acknowledgment.

Raga CDs of the Months (10/09): Jugalbandi – The duet in Indian Classical Music

The Indian classical music is performed for many centuries as the in Western style well known chamber ensemble.

A Jugalbandi is at least of two soloists (vocalist or instrumentalist), who play hand-in-hand. One cannot differentiate between an accompanying instrument and a single solo player. It is like the meeting of two strangers, who step synergeticly together into a dialogue. They can be accompanied by two percussionists, e.g. on the Tabla and Pakhawaj. This constellation is named as „double Jugalbandi“.

dates of broadcasting…
19th October 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (MESTZ)
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

The term „Jugalbandi “(or jugalbhandi) literary means „twins tied together“. In the Dhrupad (vocal style) same as in other categories of music work the term appears as “yugul “. It means „pair “.

Jugal (S) = pair + bandi (A) = to bind

The introduction of the Jugalbandi cannot be dated exactly. While the Khayal, a modern and elegant vocal style of North Indian Classics (Hindustani) mainly exist as solo form (Ekala) usually reserved for solo singers, the vocal duet was already known in the in oldest style of Hindustani, the Dhrupad. The birth of the Dhrupad can approximately be dated back to 100 AC .

Bombay Sisters	Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Kahn	Wadali Brothers	Senior Dagar Brothers
Sikkil Sisters	Vilayat & Shujaat Khan	Rajan & Sajan Mishra	Nathamuni Brothers

Note: IMC OnAir’s radio show „Jugalbandi” defines the duet in Indian Classics contentwise to the identically compositorial term. The Indian musicologist Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande created Jugalbandi compositions. Bhatkhande lived till 1936 (10 Aug 1860 – 19 Sept 1936); he is the inventor of the classification scheme of North Indian ragas, the so called Thaat system. For his Jugalbandi compositions Bhatkhande picked up a traditional raga form and confronted to it with a modern modification. By this contrast the traditional Raga melodic was clearly audible for the public (editorial note: melodic is a „content describing“ contrary to the melody as „form describing “).

Jugalbandi with Ragamala paintings (miniature painting)…

Raga Cds of the months (09/08-09): Alankaras – 10 types of Raga Ornaments (part 1 & 2)

IMC OnAir’s monthly radio shows in August and September for Indian Classical music are concerned with the Alankars. They can be grouped in four main types (with 10 different characters).

The Indian term Alankar or Alankara originates from Sanskrit, the old science language of India. The meaning is various: decoration (jewelry), literary embellishment or decoration. As Sabda Alankara it designates  as ornaments by sound, decorative use of sound or use of decorating words. The last classification in Indian Classics before approx. 100-150 years was known also as Shabdalankar.

dates of broadcasting…
part 1 – 17th August 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (MESTZ)
part 2 – 21st September 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (MESTZ)
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

Compared with the earlier classification Shabdalankar, in that the Indian schools of music (Gharana-s) exhibited substantial differences. In our current times it is reduced as common clustering to the treatment of the Indian notes, the swara-s. There is:

1. Asthai Alankar – the return to the initial note,
2. Arohi Alankar – a note sequence in the ascending scale,
3. Amrohi Alankar – a note sequence in the descending scale and
4. Sanchari Alankar as a combination of type 1-3.

In the baroque area of Western classics the ornaments served mainly for the decoration of melody lines. Vocalists improvised with the ornaments like we  know it till this day from the Irish music tradition. Indian notes are “not static”, here briefly played Staccato notes (in Italian staccare means “tears off”) or single notes played “stand alone” are not audible.

4 examples of Alankara-s (Source: Sitar Technique in Nibaddh Forms (written by Stephen Slawek, 1987))

The Swara-s are located in constant connection to each other. Each note is linked with the previous one and following. Such ”grace notes“ -  Kan-Swara-s – are the basis for each form of ornaments, the Alankara-s. They are the core for the development and beauty of Ragas.

The earliest reference to this term can be found in the Natyashastra with 33 Alankars, an elementar work to the visual arts of acient India written by the sage “Bharata”. It is dated between 200 BC and 200 AC. Further important treatises for the classification of the Alankars are the Sangeet Ratnakar of Sharangdev in 13th century and the Sangeet Parijat of Ahobal in 17th Century, in which 63 and 68 types of Alankars are described.

• see IMC OnAir’s show of November 2008:
  Microtones in Hindustani Sangeet – the Microtonal Structure of Indian Ragas.

Alankars Technique for the Sitar (video tutorial @ eHow)
by Amelia Maciszewski (Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology) – www.sangeetmillennium.org.com

Kan-Sawra-s in a Classic Raag Bhairavi
by violinist Milind Raikar – www.violinmilind.com

Raga CDs of the months (07/09): Tradition & Modernity – A Tribute to Ali Akbar Khan.

(1922-2009)

„A Tribute to Ali Akbar Khan“- IM OnAir’s radio show in July 2009 honours one of the Legends on the Sarod, the Johann Sebastian Bach of North Indian Classics or simply Khansahib as Ali Akbar Khan was called in India affectionately.

Ali Akbar Khan died in the morning on 18th of June 2009 at the age of 87, within his family circle at home in San Anselmo, California. Since 2004 Ali Akbar Khan was dialysis patient. In 2006 last time he visited India for a performance at the Dover Lane Music Festival (Music Conference) in Kolkata…

Tribute (extract) by Ustad Zakir Hussain (Tabla Maestro) on the burial day (June, 21st - Mt. Tamalpais Cemetary (2500 5th Ave, San Rafael, CA 94901) )

(Source: Kamla Bhatt @ Youtube, 26th June 2009)

Beside annual world concert tours and as film composer he worked for more than four (4) decades particularly as an outstanding music teacher – in the Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) which was founded by him.

date of broadcasting: 20th July 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (MESTZ)
(repetition: —)
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Khansahib was an exception at the firmament of Indian music. He understood music as an universal language.  Music as food of the soul, a musical sound affecting everybody’s heart and spirit.
For Ali Akbar Khan the Indian Ragas are of timeless eternity, into which the life is embedded with its short moments. In an interview with Gautam Chatterjee of the Indian daily news paper The Hindu, in the issue on 17 February 2006 Khansahib describes as following:

„The bliss, the joy of Ragas one experiences if one dies for it. Death is the condition for this blessedness. For a Raga we live, and we die for it. That is the whole secret, which it concerns in the teacher pupil relationship, Guru Shishya Parampara.

The musical, the emotional effect of a Ragas develops from the understanding for the temporal interspace – between the notes. On a note for one moment to remain, it is as if one would inhale deeply, in order to understand that the pause between the next two notes is to be considered as the time for breathing in and out. To walk from one note to the next is difficult enough, to arrange it with a disruption is almost impossible. One may succeed only by indulging oneself in this task a whole lifelong.“

How about the invaluable legacy of Ali Akbar Khan? – Khansahib leaves seven sons and 4 daughters form three marriages. His oldest son Aaashish Khan is a renowned Sarod player, two further sons, Alam and Malik play also the instrument of their father. The family Khan feel constrained resuming the Ali Akbar College for Music (AACM) and the Ali Akbar Khan Library.

Ali Akbar Khan leaves us an immeasurable fund of audio documents. Since 2007 with conveyances more than 1000 concerts with 1500 hours play time and approx. 6000 documented lessons are reformatted for the structure of a digital library. Until today approx. 2000 hours audio material are archived.

IMC OnAir delivers to you smoothing your ears some beautiful tunes: the ragas Chandranandan, Darbari Kanra, Gauri Manjari, Medhavi, Manj Khammaj, Sindhi Bhairavi and Jogiya Kalengra.

Raga CDs of the months (06/09): Raags, Ghazals and Goethe…

The word Ghazel originates from the Arabean-Persian word Gazal. Its roots back to the Arabian world of the 6th, 7th century. In Turkish we find this poetry form as Gazel.

Beside in Parsi, the Persian language of the Pashtunes, and in Hindi and Urdu, which is spoken in Pakistan, Ghazals have been established in many other languages as expression and verse form of poetry. Far beyond India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to Anglo-American, Hebrew and German linguistic area inside Ghazals experienced a large interest; in Spanish Federico Garcia Lorca experimented with the Ghazal form.

The traditional Ghazal form has love as a melancholy expression, life and metaphysical questions as literary objects.

In the literature Ghazel pretty often is defined as a form of Indian light classical style within the Indian classical music. IMC OnAir’s show will demonstrate that it behaves differently with this structural form of poetry.

date of broadcasting: 15th June 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (MESTZ)
(repetition: —)
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

The Ghazal wins it’s expressiveness by an „impersonal note“, into which the reader respectively listener can interprate the own individual mental state. Ghazals live in their emotional expression by a coding, a symbolic, indirect address and of opposed characters, as for example the separation pain of an unfulfilled love in divine form, on a metaphysical, universal, spiritual level…

The film industry of India and Pakistan contributed substantially to the popularization of the Ghazals. Their variety in the expression of love and emotional state like togetherness, desire, pain of separation, apathy and in the form of sullenness or regret, the priority meaning of the word and gentle nature of the Ghazals found a multiplicity of interpreters in Mumbai, the Bollywood metropolis and in Lollywood, the analogue of Pakistan’s film industry.

Outstanding Ghazal composers of India & Pakistan (Urdu ghazals)…

Hafiz or Hafez (1315-1390)	Muhammad Jalaluddin Rumi (13th century)	Mirza Assadullah Khan Galib (1797-1869)

Daag Dehlvi (1831-1905)	Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)	Faiz Amed Faiz (1911-1984)	Mehdi Hassan (1927)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

J.W. v. Goethe

J. W. v. Goethe is considered as a founder of the „world literature“. Beside his work for music, theology and sciences he showed large interest in the Persian and Arabian literature.

By a non-fictional writing style in aphorisms together with Friedrich Schiller as the prominent figures of the Weimar classicism Goethe had a relevant influence onto Germany’s philosophy and far beyond the European borders.

Goethe & Hafiz – „West-Eastern Divan“

Goethe wrote the compilation “West-Eastern Diwan” as one of his late works, between Schiller’s death in the year 1805 up to its dying in March 1832.

The compilation was probably written between 1814 and 1819. It was published in the year 1827 in an extended edition. The West-Eastern Divan covers completely in the sense of its original meaning 12 books (see Gutenberg project).

The „West-Eastern Divan“ may be understood according to its time as an expression of intercultural exchange, a Western-Eastern approach between the Orient (Asia) and Occident. In the second book, the book Hafis (Hafis name) Goethe had concretely taken reference to the Persian poet and Ghazal maestro Hafiz.

Hafiz Goethe monument (Weimar)

Goethe had been influenced by Hafiz (or Hafez) for his interest in Persian literature Goethe had been influenced by Hafiz (or Hafez) considerably. Till today the Hafez-Goethe monument in Weimar reminds of this relationship.

Goethe found large acknowledgment for the „West-Eastern Diwan“ in the Middle East and in South Asia. As the answer to Goethe’s Diwan the national poet of Pakistan Muhammad Iqbal published 1924 his work „Payam e Mashriq“ (The Message of the East).

Also companions of Goethe were concerned in similar way with eastern, Arabean or South Asian topics and availed the Ghazal for their poetic arts. The German poet J. M. Friedrich Rückert (05/16/1788-01/31/1866) was translator and professor for Eastern languages and wrote 1839 the „Brahmanische Erzählungen“ (Brahmin narrations). It covers 6 volumes, in which Rückert used extensively the Ghazal as poetry form.

The poet August von Platen (Karl August Georg Maximilian Count of Platen Hallermünde – 10/24/1796-12/05/1835) published 1821 “Die Ghaselen” and 1823 „Die Neuen Ghaselen“.

The philosopher Georg Friedrich Daumer (03/05/1800-12/14/1875) showed with „Hafis“ his exeptional poetic virtuosity published in 1846 in Hamburg, a free interpretation of the songs of famous Persian poets.

Raga CDs of the months (05/09): RAGAS & SAX… Indian Saxophonists

Out of the series “Ragas on Western Instruments” the promotion initiative IMC – India meets Classic presents via IMC OnAir – IMCRadio.Net the topic Ragas & Indian saxophone players (1st broadcasting: 5th August 2008).

In our shows of the past already two instruments of the West were presented, which have found a firm place in (South) Indian Classics: the Harmonium as accompaning instrument and the Violin. This bowed instrument is a component of each performance of the South Indian Classical music (Carnatic). The violin is established as solo main instrument in the North Indian Classical music (Hindustani).

Originally the saxophone was dedicated for symphonic orchestras. It was invented of the Belgian Adolphe Sax in the year 1840 and patented in France.

date of broadcasting: 18th May 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (MESTZ)
(repetition: —)
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With the arising of Jazz music the triumphant advance of this instrument began in its most different remarks: as Alto, Tenor, Soprano, Baritone or Bass saxophone…

With the implementation of African, Eastern and also Indian influences the Jazz Avantguardist John Coltrane expressed his spiritual attitude in his quartet.

IndoJazz as new genre was justified of the Indian composer John Mayer with the Quintett IndoJazzFusions in the 60’s (20th century). This formation considerably had a major influence onto the establishment of the saxophone in India.

f.l.t.r.: Dr. Kadri Gopalnath, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Prasant Radhakrishnan

..

Particularly the concerts of Prasant Radhakrishnan in India with compositions in a slow tempo and a controlled demonstration of the ornaments of Indian Ragas (e.g. gamaka-s) have contributed that the image of the saxophone in India has changed as a loud and fast instrument, which is suitable at best to practise technical exercises.

The connection between Jazz and Indian Classical music, the interpretation of raga scales on an instrument which is typical for Jazz, lies in the modal structure. To cite the German music journalists and producer Joachim Ernst Berendt (1922-2000), internationally known as ‘Jazz Pope‘:

“What all these musicians play – the Asian like the Western – differ of the traditional European music by the fact that it is ‘modal’. This means: it is not based on the constantly changing Accordgerists, which is dominating our occidental music, more it is set up on a scale, a ‘mode’ – finally on only one chord… Want to say: It is much more calmly, very less nervous…“

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Our listening examples: Indian Jazz musician Rudresh Mahanthappa (sax) together with Dr. Kadri Gopalnath (sax) in the Dakshina Ensemble, Dr. Kadri Gopalnath & Pravin Godkhindi (Bansuri – Indian bamboo flute), Prasant Radhakrishnan (sax), the Indian composer John Mayer (violin), John Coltrane (sax), Charlie Mariano (sax) & Indian singer/composer R.A. Ramamani (founder of JazzYatra).

Raga CDs of the Months (04/09): NavaGrahas – Ragas for 9 Planets

Astrology in India …

With the new constitution on 26th January 1950 India is more than 60 years on the road to democracy. In modern India the astrology plays a prominent role. Since 1957 by the indian government is published the astrological annual calendar (National Panchanga).

As the traditional ayurvedic medicine in India there is no business, no house move or marriage without the astrological calendar… even in Indian sciences astrology is present as  the traditional indian astronomy, named Sidhanta.

In the samhita (astrology) which deals with India’s fate, wars,
earthquakes, political events and finances employed and by Hora, the birth horoscope which relates to nearby all segments of life Indians consult astrologers.

date of broadcasting: 20th April 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (CETZ)
(repetition: …will be broadcasted from May on)
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NavaGraha Kriti-s…

IMC OnAir presents in its April show the work “NavaGraha Kritis” of the composer Muthuswami Diskhitar. Nine (9) planets of the Indian astrology are praised. Herefre Dikshitar’s preferred compositional form is the krithi. He wrote the poetry in Sanskrit.

Dikshitar rendered his homage to nine (9) planets of Indian astrology with seven (7) krithi-s, one for each day of the week; in the musicologist’s perspective further two had been completed by admirerers and successors of Dikshitar.

Muthuswami Dikshitar lived from 1775 till 1835. He was the youngest of the „Trinity of South Indian Classics“, beside Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri. Dikshitar was born in Tiruvarur in the federal state Tamil Nadu originating from a Brahman family. Diskhitar was named after the temple goddess Muttukumaraswamy. He grew up with two younger brothers and one sister. His brother Baluswami Dikshitar introduced the violin into South Indian Classics.

Diskhitar received his 1st musical training from his father Ramaswami. In his youth Dikhitar was sent by his father to the pilgrimage with the monk Chidamabaranatha Yogi. He should deepen his knowledge of music and philosophy. Chidamabaranatha teached Diskhitar playing the Veena, one of the oldest Indian lutes.
The young Muthuswami visited on his pilgrimage many regions of North India. The impressions are mirrored in his compositions manifold. As the only one Muthuswami Dikshitar worte compositions in all existing Raga forms of Indian classical music, a total of 72 main ragas in the Melakarta system. Almost 500 songs of 191 Raga forms exist still today.

Many stories about the compositorial work of Muthuswami exist. It is reported that during a state of meditation he was called by the divinity Subramanya to open his mouth, put him a piece of sugar into his mouth and disappeared. Subramanya is teacher of Shiva, the highest deity as the creator of the universe.  As Muthuswami opened his mouth, he had a vision of Muruga, the God of war. Hereout Muthuswami wrote his first composition: “Shri Nathadi Guruguho” in the raga form Mayamalavagowla.

About the motives for Dikshitar’s compositions of Navagraha Kriti-s exist a legend. It is reported that one of his pupils Tambiappan suffered from an indigestion. A medical treatment herefore was ineffective. Thereupon Dikshitar examined the birth horoscope of Tambiappan and detected that the planet Jupiter (bRihaspati) had been in an inauspicious planetary configuration. A ritual encomium of the  divinity bRihaspati is extremly diffcult for a layman. So Dikshitar composed a Raga form Atana and promted his pupil to sing the stanzas for one week. The diseased Tambiappan was healt.

This success led to Diskhitar writing kriti-s for seven (7) planets, for each day of the week. These  Kriti-s have seven basic rhythms of South Indian Classics: “Suladi sapta Tala”. The beat is an analogy to the astrological periods for each planet. Diskhitar preferably had chosen a slow tempo.

Dikshitar used for this work only complete Ragas, sanpoorna, which is known and popular in India until now as “Navagraha krithi-s”. The ascending and descending scales contain all seven (7) main notes. The ornamentation, the Gamaka-s are characterized by Dikshitar’s own signature (Mudra); as  Guruguha its the synonym for the deity Subramanya.

• Sun (Surya) – Kriti “Suryamurthe Namosthuthe” – Ragam Saurastram
• Moon (Chandra) – Kriti “Chandram Bhaja called manasa” – Raga Asaveri
• Mars (Angaraka) – Kriti “Angarakam Ashrayamyaham” – Raga Surati
• Venus (Shukra) – Kriti “Sri Sukhra Bhagavantham” – Raga Pharaj
• Jupiter (Brihaspathi) – Kriti “Brihaspathe Tarapathe” – Raga Athana
• Saturn (Shani) – Kriti “Divakaratanujam Shanaishcharam” – Raga YadukulaKambhoji
• Mercury (Budha) – Kriti “Budham Ashrayami” – Raga Nattakurahnji
• 1st shadow planet (Rahu) – Kriti “Smaramayaham sadarahum” – Raga Ramamanohari
• 2nd shadow planet (Ketu) – Kriti “Mahasuram Ketumaham” – Ragam Camaram

...

Wikipedia: The British Museum – (from left to right) Surya, Chandra, Mangala, Budha, Brihaspati, Shukra, Shani, Rahu, Ketu

Indian Astrology…

Jyotisha is the Hindu system of Astrology, the Vedic astrology, which existed simultaneously to the moorish period. 1st time the movement of sun and moon was recorded.

The Vedas connect (Bandhu) the microcosm and universal macrocosm.

The oldest astrological treatise – written in Sanskrit – is documented in Yavanajataka (“Sayings of the Greeks”), in the Indo-Greek period of the 2nd and 3rd century (A.C.), where a close relation between the Greek, Hellenistic and Indian culture existed.

With astrological studies in the 5th century Indian authors made a significant contribution to the whole development of the atronomy in the early middle ages.

Late 1961 and 1963 N. N. Krishna Rau and V. B. Choudhari translated scriptures of the 8th centure, e.g. Saravali. Publications such as “New Techniques of Predictions” with the system of Yoga-points of H. R. Seshadri Iyer became in the West popular during the 60th of the 20th century.

The planets Graha-s are nine (9) rotating celestial bodies. The two main planets are the sun and moon, completed by five (5) visible planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn plus two (2) shadow planets added, the waxing and waning moon. Rahu and Ketu are illustrated as a head and tail of a snake daemon.

• The planet sun (Surya) is the leading planet, with the power to illuminate all darkness and shed and to destroy the sins of the world. Surya stears a seven harnessed chariot.
• The moon (Chandra) is the second planet of the sun, next to Surya. He is the brother of the divine mother Lakshmi. Chandra is white like the autumn moon, has four hands (chatur bhuja) and is adorned with bracelets, garland and crown. Chandra produces nectar and can manufacture herbal medicine. He is the creator of the night… and god of kalas, the sixteen moon phases. Chandra controls the comprehension and calms the human mind.
• While Venus (Shukra) represents in Indian astrology the fully knowledge of truth and the authority for a successful marriage, Mars (Angaraka) is the son of Mother Earth, the goddess of Tuesday. Mars appears in the depiction as reddish, armed with sword and trident.
• Jupiter (Brihaspathi) represents the four (4) manifestations of speech. He is free of aging and carries thunder flash. His father is Brahma, the goddess of creation.
• Saturn (Shani) is the son of Surya (sun), and brother of the goddess Yama. Extremely courageous and fearless he teaches people fear, who are affectionated to the worldly life too heavily. He is a dark shape, rides a cow and totally dressed in blue.
• Mercury (Budha) is characterized by his intelligence with which he can write poetry sweetly. He is always full of joy and of glowing phenomenon like Saffran. Budha protects the believers of Lord Shiva.
• The snake daemons Rahu and Ketu posess great power. Rahu wears a harness, sword and  trident, and liberates the spirit of the fear of snake poison. Ketu wears an extra ordinary  crown and silver robe, he sits on a human body. He is the friend of the good people who have liberated from the Guna Doshas, the good and evil.

The Indian astrology is taught at many universities of India. Till recent times in India took place a valor dispute among the representatives of modern sciences whether the astrology at all can be recognized as a science. A judgment of the supreme court in the year 2004 ended this dispute: the astrology is denied the qualification and forbidden to spread religious teachings.

Temple …

The Graha-s, the nine (9) planets can be found in famous temples in India, in the federal state Tamil Nadu as dwellings of the deities.

For each of the seven planets, Sun and Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus and for the two shadow planets (waxing and waning moon) exist temples near Mayiladuthurai, Nagappattinam.

To all these temples a variety of Hindus pilgrims. A temple visit promises happiness for all life in the universe and for good deeds, same disaster for negative behavior and bad actions.

As tourist offering these temples can be visited with excursions in following places:

Sun: Suriyanar Koil
Moon: Thingalur
Mercury: Thiruvenkadu
Saturn: Thirunallar
Venus: Kanjanur
Jupiter: Alangudi
Mars: Vaideeswaran Koil
Rahu: Keezhperumpaalam
Ketu: Thirunageswaram

Raga CDs of the months (03/09): Rabindra Sangeet – A Voice for All!

R. Tagore in Kolkata, c. 1915

Rabindra Sangeet is in India a musical-literary concept, which has been established in the 20th century as an own genre. The Indian classical music is embedded in it, likewise the Northern Indian music – Hindustani – and the classical style of South India,  the carnatic music. The concept was created by India’s universal genius Rabindranath Tagore.

Tagore’s complete work covers a time period of 60 years till his death in 1941 (7th May 1861 – 7th August 1941) with approximately 1000 poems, two dozen plays, dance dramas, eight novellas, several expenditures of short stories and various literary works with social, religious, political and educational-scientific essays and contributions to film works and as painter.

date of broadcasting: 16th March 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (MESTZ)
(repetition: —)
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Tagore is the single composer of two national anthems, that of India („Jana Gana Mana“) and of Bangladesh („Amar Shonar Bangla“) and a dignitary Nobel prize for literature he received in 1913. Tagore was distinguished as first non European for his work „Gitanjali“ which was published in the year 1912 in New York and 1913 in London.

Gitanjali– transliteral means „an offer of songs“ (song offerings | Git = song + Anjoli = offering) – is a collection of 103 English poems. The majority of the poems were translated by Rabindranath Tagore himself. The early edition in Bengali language originates back to the year 1910.

Gitanjali, verse 100:

„Ever in my life have I sought thee with my songs. It was they who led me from door to door, and with them have I felt about me, searching and touching my world.

It was my songs that taught me all the lessons I ever learnt; they showed me secret paths, they brought before my sight many a star on the horizon of my heart.

They guided me all the day long to the mysteries of the country of pleasure and pain, and, at last, to what palace gate have they brought me in the evening at the end of my journey?”

(PDF-Download | Source)

The University Visva Bharati founded by R. Tagore accommodates today a multiplicity of institutes, among the Sangit Bhavana (institutes of Dance, Drama and Music). The first director was Tagore’s nephew Dinendranath Tagore. He lived from 1882 to 1935. Dinendranath was a talented and outstanding singer with Bariton voice, who can be characterized as an art director of Rabindranath’s plays and manager of the  dramaturgical department of the Visva Bhar ati University. We owe Rabindranath’s compositions documented in written form to Dinendranath’s knowledge of Western music notation.

The music department (music board) of the Visva Bharati University was established three years after Tagore’s demise in the year 1944. Today it is concerned with Tagore festivals and with educational lessons for Rabindra Sangeet in Kolkatta.

Tagore’s heritance is celebrated in India with many Tagore festivals as the annual ceremony of Kapipranam, Tagore’s birthday on 7th May. Pilgrimages from Kolkatta to Shantiniketan and solemn song evenings to festive causes are deeply rooted in the Bengal culture. Abroad the birthday of Tagore is celebrated, e.g. with the annual Tagore-Festival in Urbana (US Federal State Illinois). This festival celebrated it’s 20th anniversary in the year 2008.

With the poem „Prosno“ in Bangla, the native language of Tagore is still existing one of the very few recordings of Tagore’s voice. Tagore’s voice arrange the sound aesthetics and metric of his lyrics applicably. This documentary is note dated exactelly.

Raga CDs of the Months… (02/2009): Moorchana-s…

Moorchana-s
- The Matrix of Soul by Music…

The Ragas and Ragams of North Indian and South Indian Classics trace back to the oldest musical treatise of the sage Matanga Muni. He is the author of the Brihaddeshi. Matanga lived before 2000 years… and he described already the Moorchana-s (or Mūrcchanā-s).

Matanga Muni introduced the term Moorchanas to the musical tradition – Ghandarva -, regarding an earlier preform of the Ragas, the Jati-s (Jati Gaan).

“Moorchana” is derived from the root “Moorcha”. In Sanskrit it means: “unconsciousness”.

The Moorchana-s overtake an important function for the arrangement of Raga compositions. Each of the seven (7) main pitches of a Raga scale can be transformed into the basic tone  “SA” (1st pitch), from where new Ragas with the same interval distances of the original Ragas are developed. This “modal SHIFT” – Shadja – causes a change of the emotional expression of the original Ragas by an audible perception. This technique is called Moorchana Paddhati.

Beside this ancient form of modal shifting there is a more modern variant for the derivation of scales, the fixed Tonic method. Here the first pitch SA is maintained and individual intervals are changed.

A raga form, which is emanated from different Moorchana-s is called Moorchanakaraka Raga.

date of broadcasting: 17th February 2009 – 11:00 p.m. (CETZ)
(repetition: …will be broadcasted from March on)
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In the exterior world the Moorchana-s are a mirror of the world. The basic tone SA tells its history same as a mixture of colours, which is told by this individual note “SA”.

A Raga is the expansion and contraction of the main tone SA (1st pitch) as the universe was created, as it expanded and is limited. The secret of the Moorchana-s is to link the end with the beginning in an endless cycle of the renewal. This point “SAM “, with new beginning again on “SA”, is the origin word for “Samadhi“, the fusion with the divine (Devi):

“Moorchana sangeet ki papaharini devi hai.” (Hindi)

(translation: In music the Moorchana-s are the divine, which release from all sins; the divine that visits the soul in the condition of free from sin.)

With methods of modular arithmetic the Moorchana-s and raga scales deriving from it can be determined easily. For the mathematics layman by a 12×12er-Matrix – Moorchana Transform matrix (MTM) – the Moorchanas of a Ragas can be computed very fast.
The scientific processing of the Moorchana-s with mathematical and computer-assisted models helps us in the rational sense to equalise the complexity of the Moorchana-s and for understanding the compositorial and formative potential for Raga scales.

On the basis of the 7 main notes (svara-s), the melodic basic material of a Raga the Moorchana-s are seized into 14 sequential order samples.

sadja-grama (1-7): Uttaramandra | 4 (sa) – 3 (ri) – 2 (ga) – 4 (ma) – 4 (pa) – 3 (dha) – 2 (ni)
Madhyama-grama (8-14): Sauviri | 4 (ma) – 3 (pa) – 4 (Dha) – 2 (ni) – 4 (sa) – 3 (ri) – 2 (ga)

The system of the Moorchana-s is the most comprehensive source to discover new Ragas. The term of the harmony in Indian Classics can be understood as a kind of Symphony of the Road, the melodic terrain of Ragas. Like all roads, they lead out into the world; one can return on them in addition, again. Thus we cleave with the help of the Moorchana-s through a Raga scale cyclically in the ascending and descending form.

In their resting condition of the unconscious the Moorchana-s remain quietly, until they open us by a “pure spirit” the path to new Ragas and opening us their place within the universal family of Raga scales – a similar state as it can reveal itself to us by meditation.

Raga CDs of the Months (01/09): The Talking Violin! – Dr. Kunnakudi R. Vaidyanathan (portrait)

IMC OnAir – IMCRadio.Net of the promotion initiative “IMC – India meets Classic” presents it’s 1st show in 2009 with a portrait “Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan – The Talking Violin!“.

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan © Wikipedia

Our portrait is dedicated to Dr. Kunnakudi R. Vaidyanathan ( 3/2/1935 – 9/8/2008 ), a Violinist of South Indian Classics. Kunnakudi’s brand an expression of his deep religious admiration, rooted in the Hinduism, was visible from distance. The forehead painted with a Vibhuti, with dedicated ashes from cow dung and with a large red Sindoor (Vermilion point), the symbol of love and strength.

Kunnakudi R. Vaidyanathan was an innovatively, technically brilliant musician with high sympathies by the public and masses. Substantial earnings/services come to him he gave the violin a new positioning as solo instrument.

Kunnakudi changed the interpretation of Carnatic music (South Indian Classics) and Indian Light Classics. He simplified the kriti, a musical composition form in his playful rendition, in order to give the musical wishes of the public more space.

date of broadcasting: 19th January 2009 – 10:00 p.m. (CETZ)
(repetition: …will be broadcasted from February on)
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The father, Sri Ramaswamy Sastri decided to train KV becoming an outstanding Violinis. KV was nine (9) years old. Already at the age of twelve (12) Kunnakudi accompanied some of the outstanding masters of that time, among the great vocalist of South Indian Classics: Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer (1896 – 1970).

At the age of 22 Kunnakudi received attention 1st time by a film star of the Indian cinema: M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavatar. Close to the warderobe of a studio in Madras Kunnakudi played “Bhoomiyil maanida Janmam”, a film score by which Bhagavatar became famous.

Kunnakudi decided at the age of 32 not to arise anymore as accompanying musician. His most urgent desire was to transform the violin of an accompanying instrument into a solo instrument. Kunnakudi wanted to provide a unique status for the violin. Between 1974 and 1985 Kunnakudi accompanied by the Thavil player Chakravarti Valayapatti A.R. Subramaniam gave more than 3,000 concerts. This combination of instruments rarely played, a South Indian drum and Kunnakudi’s simple, melodic violin play got recognitation by a large public.

From his childhood on Kunnakudi had a deep love for film music. Kunnakudi already carried a substantial contribution for acknowledgment of South and North Indian Classics in the Indian film genre and developing the devotional Tamil music. The formative ability to link Raga scales with film melodies was apart from the technical brilliance one of the secrets for Kunnakudi’s large popularity.

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan possessed a deep confidence into the therapeutic effect of the Indian classical music. Kunnakudi founded 1996 the Raga Research Centre in Chennai, which he managed as a president and which was financially promoted by the federal state government Tamil Nadu for most diverse researches.

In the course of his career Kunnakudi was considered for his achievements with more than 200 titles and honours. In the year 2005 he was distinguished with the prestigious “Padma Shri” of the Indian government, 1993 he received the Sangeet Natak Adademi Award of the “Sangeet Natak Akademi”, the national academy for music, dance and drama with seat in Delhi and Imphal.