ENG – Raga CDs of the Months: The Divine Instrument – Bamboo of 14″

The Indian flute is one of the oldest instruments in India. Poems in Sanskrit and Hindi praise the sound of the bansuri. One of the poems reads: “When Lord Krishna is playing the flute, even the little calves were so charmed by the divine melody that they stopped to drink water from the river Yamuna and to suckle milk from the udder of the mother cows. Even the flow of Yamuna dried up as it was so enchanted by the flute music.

With the Indian flute and it’s emotional expression you always combine the love of God, a love without the intention for personal happiness. It is Shringara-bhava, it is symbolized between Krishna and Radha, one of the Gopis, the cow herd girls. The In Hinduism the Gopis belong to the most intimate circle of lovers of God. Krishna is the incarnation of Vishnu, in representations always easy to recognize in lilac as full body colour.

date of broadcasting…
21st November 2011 – 11:00 p.m. METZ @ Tide 96.0 FM (Germany)
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It is not reported exactly when and how the Indian bamboo flute came into existence. Kalidasa, a poet in the Sanskrit language, has created a legend about the origin of the bamboo flute, about 650 years (A.D.) in his epic work Kumarasambhava: “A black bee is said to have stung the sting by a shrouded bamboo blade. When the wind blew through the hole and music sounded, the kinara, music-loving demigods were so impressed that they cut this piece of bamboo. They made an instrument of it, the Indian bamboo flute was born.”

In the ancient musicological script Naradiya Shiksha (600 A.D.) the bamboo flute is described as a kind of tuning fork, for the recitation of verses  n from the Samaveda, which is one of the Vedic scriptures. In the medieval treatise Sangeet Ratnakara (1247 AD) the Indian flute is described in 15 different designs.

For the Indian flute there exist a variety of denominations. The different namings are lead back to the frequent description in poetry, where Krishna playing his flute is described. The word bansuri originates from Sanskrit. Bans means bamboo and Swar is a musical note. The bamboo flute is also called Bansi, Venu, Murali, Algooz or Vamshi. The bansuri is applied in its design as a transverse flute and is originally from the Indian folk music. Only in the 20th Century the Bansuri has been introduced in Indian classical music. The bansuri is now an established representative of the North Indian classical music. Also in the South Indian classics the bamboo flute has taken hold. Here it is called Venu. Compared with the bansuri the Venu has two holes more. The bansuri is equipped with six regular holes (+ blow hole), that Venu has eight.

Raga CDs des Monats: Ein göttliches Instrument – Bambus von 14 Zoll Länge…

Die indische Flöte ist eines der ältesten Instrumente Indiens. Gedichte in Sanskrit und Hindi lobpreisen den Klang der Bansuri. Eines dieser Gedichte besagt: Als Lord Krishna auf der Flöte spielte, waren sogar die kleinen Kälber durch die göttliche Melodie so entzückt, dass sie aufhörten, Wasser aus dem Fluss Yamuna zu trinken und Milch aus dem Euter der Mutterkühe zu saugen. Selbst der Strom von Yamuna versiegte, so verzaubert war er von der Flötenmusik.

Mit der indischen Flöte und ihrem emotionalen Ausdruck verbindet man auch immer die Gottesliebe, eine Liebe ohne die Absicht für das persönliche Glück. Es ist Shringara-Bhava, sie wird symbolisiert zwischen Krishna und Radha, einer der Gopis, der Kuhirtenmädchen. Die Gopis gehören im Hinduismus zu dem intimsten Kreis der Gottesliebenden. Krishna ist die Verkörperung von Vishnu, in Darstellungen immer in Lila als Ganzkörperfarbe auch für Laien leicht zu erkennen.

Sendetermin…
21. November 2011 – 23:00 Uhr MSTZ @ Tide 96.0 FM (DE)
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Es ist nicht genau überliefert, wann und wie die indische Bambusflöte entstanden ist. Kalidasa, ein Dichter in der Sanskrit-Sprache, hat eine Legende über die Entstehung der Bambusflöte geschaffen, ca. 650 Jahre nach Christi Geburt in seinem epischen Werk Kumarasambhava: “Eine Schwarze Biene soll ihren Stachel durch einen ranken Bambushalm gestochen haben. Als der Wind durch das Loch blies und Musik erklang, waren die kinara, musik-liebende Halbgötter davon so angetan, dass sie dieses Bambusstück abschnitten. Daraus fertigten Sie ein Instrument, die indische Bambusflöte.”
Im antiken, musikwissenschaftlichen Text Naradiya Shiksha aus 600 n.Chr. wird die Bambusflöte als eine Art Stimmgabel beschrieben, für das Rezitieren von Versen aus der Samaveda, eine der vedischen Schriften. In der mittelalterlichen Abhandlung Sangeet Ratnakara aus dem Jahre 1247 n.Chr. wird die indische Flöte in 15 verschiedenen Ausführungen beschrieben.

Für die indische Flöte gibt es eine Vielzahl von Bezeichnungen. Das führt man auf die häufige Beschreibung in Gedichten zurück, in denen Krishna und sein Flötenspiel beschrieben wird. Das Wort Bansuri stammt aus dem Sanskrit. Bans heisst Bambus und Swar ist eine musikalische Note. Die Bambusflöte wird auch Bansi, Venu, Murali, Algooz oder Vamshi genannt. Die Bansuri ist in ihrer Bauart als Querflöte angelegt, und kommt ursprünglich aus der indischen Volksmusik. Erst im 20. Jahrhundert hat sich die Bansuri in der indischen Klassik etabliert. Die Bansuri ist heute eine etablierte Vertreterin der nordindischen Klassik.  Auch in der südindischen Klassik hat die Bambusflöte Einzug gehalten. Hier bezeichnet man sie als Venu. Gegenüber der Bansuri besitzt die Venu zwei Grifflöcher mehr. Die Bansuri ist regulär mit sechs Grifflöchern ausgestattet, die Venu besitzt acht.

14th November: Children’s day in India… A letter to children written by Nehru

India celebrates prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday as children’s day on 14th November. Pandit Nehru was a great lover of children. He often compared children and roses stating that children are like buds in a garden. He regarded children to be the future of the nation and citizens of tomorrow. This letter that he wrote to children of India and the world is a very memorable one which epitomizes his admiration for children.

(Source: eislibrary.wordpress.com)

A letter to children written by Nehru (December 3, 1949)

“Dear Children,

I like being with children and talking to them and, even more, playing with them. For them. For the moment I forget that I am terribly old and it is very long ago since I was a child.

But when I sit down to write, I cannot forget my age and the distance that separates you from me. Old people have a habit of delivering sermons and good advice to the young. I remember that I disliked this very much long ago when I was a boy. So I suppose you do not like it very much either. Grown-ups also have a habit of appearing to be very wise, even though very few of them possess much wisdom. I have not quit made up my mind whether I am wise or not.

Some times while listening to others I feel that I must be wise and brilliant and important. Then, looking at my self, I begin to doubt this. In any event, people who are wise do not talk about their wisdom and do not behave as if they were very superior person….

What then shell I write about? If you were with me, I would love to talk to you about this beautiful world of ours, about flowers, trees birds, animals, stars, mountains, glaciers and all the other beautiful things that surrounds us in the world. We have all this beauty all around us and yet we, who are grown-ups, often forget about it and lose ourselves in our arguments or in our quarrels. We sit in our office and imagine that we are doing very important work.

I hope you will be more sensible and open your eyes and ears to this beauty and life that surrounds you. Can you recognize the flowers by their names and the birds by their singing? How easy it is to make friends with them and with every thing in nature, if you go to them affectionately and with friendship. You must have read many fairy tales and stories of long ago. But the world itself is the greatest fairy tale and story of adventure that was ever written. Only we must have eyes to see and ears to hear and a mind that opens out to the life and beauty of the world.

Grown- ups have a strange way of putting them selves in compartments and groups. They build barriers….. of religion, caste, color, party, nation, province, language, customs and of rich and poor. Thus they live in prisons of their own making. Fortunately, children do not know much about these barriers, which separate. They play and work with each other and it is only when they grow up that they begin to learn about these barriers from their elders, I hope you will take a long time in growing up…..

Some months ago, the children of Japan wrote to me and asked me to send them an elephant. I sent them a beautiful elephant on behalf of the children of India…… This noble animal became a symbol of India to them and a link between them and the children of India.

I was very happy that this gift of ours gave so much joy to so many children of Japan, and made them think of our country …… remember that everywhere there are children like you going to school and work and play, and sometimes quarrelling but always making friends again. You can read about these countries in your books and when you grow up many of you will visit them. Go there as friends and you will find friends to greet you.

You know we had a very great man amongst us. He was called mahatma Gandhi. But we used to call him affectionately Bapuji. He was wise, but he did not show off his wisdom. He was simple and child like in many ways and he loved children…. He taught us to face the world cheerfully and with laughter.
Our country is a very big country and there is a great deal to be done by all of us. If each one of us does his or her little bit, then all this mounts up and the country prospers and goes ahead fast.

I have tried to walk to you in this letter as if you were sitting near me, and I have written more than I intended.”

– Jawaharlal Nehru

Different sources… Related articles…

• 14th November 2011 (atinytoes.wordpress.com)
• Children’s Day 2011 (kish.in)
• Google’s Children’s Day doodle represents musical instruments (kish.in)